Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol 70 Issue 03 i Australian Motorcycle News

AFTER EIGHT GSX-RS I finally got the daddy Hayabusa. Got her fitted with a Yoshi full Alpha system, a Power Commander V and a K&N filter. She pulls harder than a teenager with a copy of Hustler magazine. After owning seven previous GSX-R750s and 1000s, I can say that this is the quickest best-handling GSX-R1000 I’ve had. The bike was one of seven 2018 US models finished in this colour and my mates at Elite Motorcycles in Toowoomba gave me a look and I bought it straight up. Got them to fit the same Yoshi system, Power Commander V and K&N filter. Dyno’d to within an inch of its life and it pumps more horsepower than my 2018 ’Busa which has the same modifications. I’ve recently replaced my wife with…

he oppression. The sheer boredom. The frustration. As the Covid-19 fiasco began to subside in Australia last month, we knew it was our chance to celebrate Australia’s relative great escape from the misery many other countries had experienced. The regular AMCN testing crew and staff hadn’t seen each other for months. With some in Victoria, the rest in NSW, we needed a catch up. We needed to escape. And we needed to do it all somewhere wonderfully remote. A distant bush hut on the Snowy River seemed the perfect destination. To get there, we collected a mix of adventure bike greatness, assembled by the choices of each rider or couple to suit their own selfish ‘get out of here’ desires. Couples? Yep. Pete needed time away with his other half,…

THERE IT WAS, a bright shiny Africa Twin 1100 Adventure Sports parked out the front. It certainly is imposing in its tri-colour livery, adventure stance and bulbous 24.8-litre tank. Kel and I had a lot of kays to knock over this trip so its mile munching credentials made it a great choice. And I was really looking forward to finally understanding the technology that controlled the innovative Dual Clutch Transmission and mastering it within this high-end adventure application. With handbook in hand and a couple of hours to spare, I set about getting my head around the functions, switches – so may switches! – the full-colour TFT screen and operating system. Navigating the plethora of toggles and buttons did eventually make sense once I took the time to learn them.…

TWO YEARS AGO I was in the market for a new adventure bike. I had been considering the new Ténéré as a more dirt-capable upgrade, but Yamaha was taking forever to get it to market in Australia and I ended up buying a KTM 790 Adventure R. When this opportunity came up, I needed confirmation that Yamaha’s new platform was, much like the wait, only hype. Yamaha’s new Ténéré is a solid package both on and off the road. Thumbing that starter, the mildly modified MT-07 crossplane CP2 motor comes to life, barking out 54kW and delivering it blissfully through its cable-operated throttle. It’s super torquey and so cheerful, it’s impossible to ride this bike with anything other than a matching grin. It’s not particularly light at 207kg (wet), but…

THANK GOD. PUTTING Bee, a native sun-worshipping Queenslander on an adventure bike to the Snowies was a recipe for potential disaster. I simply had to get the bike and gear choice right. Faced with the 1800km ride in, at times freezing conditions, with a pillion who has such control over my happiness, there was only one choice – the mothership, the biggest and plushest adventure bike of them all, the BMW R 1250 GS Adventure Rallye. Again and again the beast blew me away with how it handled the roads we crossed, and we hit all types. Once I knew Bee was comfortable, we had a good crack off road and the GSA just tractored over stuff with a gentle, damped motion – no kicks in the butt and the…

AMONG OTHER things, lockdown made me reflect on what I missed. For lots of us, that was multi-day motorcycle travel and all the great things that go with spending days on the road with old mates. So when given a choice of chariot, I wanted charm over cutting-edge. I wanted to wander along backroads enjoying being in the world again as it whizzed by, and Moto Guzzi’s V85TT, abundant with personality and good looks, was that bike. According to Moto Guzzi, its 853cc transverse engine benefits from a healthy boost in both power and torque over the V9 variant from which the motor started life. And while that very well may be the case, it’s not really relevant here, because performance is not the jewel in the V85TT’s crown. It’s…

The trip from Sydney to the historic gold rush town of Hill End is a popular adventure bike haul these days, but many who travel to the area often tear through on the phenomenal roads and tracks unaware of the history that brought towns like Hill End into existence. With some annual leave up my sleeve and an urge to get out and explore after restrictions lifted, I loaded my kit on Yamaha’s WR250 R Rally and headed for Hill End and some of its gold rush era neighbours, with the goal of keeping as much dirt under my tyres as possible. The plan; head west from Sydney via Bells Line of Road, Blackfellows Hand Trail, bitumen for a bit before hitting the dirt again for the trip to Hill…

Over 100 years ago, a 22-year-old climbed aboard a 1912 Henderson motorcycle, pulled down his flat cap and left Ireland to ride round-the-world and become the first adventure rider. Motorcycle travel was completely unheard of. Forget luxuries like travel insurance, GPS, petrol stations and the internet. He was on his own, the first of his kind. Maps were greyed out with unchartered lands and some countries didn’t even have petrol let alone petrol stations. Today, an adventure rider’s biggest worry is often their next social media post, back then they had revolvers tucked in their belts and fought off bandits. It was a different world and these plucky few were the first to discover it. These are the tales of pioneers, the first men and women to traverse the globe…

FROM WEDNESDAY afternoon Luca Marini (Sky Racing VR46 Kalex) declared he was “ready to win”. His confidence was well-founded as he charged past pole sitter and early leader Jorge Martin (Red Bull Ajo Kalex) on lap four to take hold of a commanding lead. Marini’s immediate liking of Dunlop’s new front tyre, which features a bigger profile more suited to Triumph’s 765cc triple-cylinder engine, must mark him out as an early title favourite. And he’s now fitter than ever after finally shaking off the effects of extensive shoulder surgery in the winter of 2018. Still, he was made to work here. Race-one winner Tetsuta Nagashima (Red Bull Ajo Kalex) stalked Marini through the order, taking Martin for second on lap four. Having opened up a lead of 1.7 seconds by…

SEVEN DAYS AFTER an expired motor forced Valentino Rossi out of the opening race, the nine-time world champ was celebrating on the podium of what was touted by many as the toughest race of their careers. Rossi has always struggled with a lack of rear grip in hot conditions. Though with track temperatures reaching as high as 63ºC in sector three during the Andalusia Grand Prix, unusually Rossi’s hot-weather gremlins weren’t cause for concern. The 41-year old revealed a solution came after a lot of arguing with Yamaha’s technicians. “When you ride the same bike as Fabio and Maverick and they are able to be so fast, so strong, Yamaha think that I have to ride like them,” Rossi revealed. “But they need to support me because I am here…

THE GLOBAL PANDEMIC has claimed the scalps of another three rounds of the 2020 WorldSBK Championship. Previously postponed with a date yet to be announced, the FIM and Dorna have decided to scratch the British, Dutch and Qatari rounds from the schedule. As it stands, the only round still to be confirmed is the South American round at Circuito San Juan Villicum in Argentina, currently slated for 11 October. The cancellation of the UK’s round at Donington Park will mean it’s the first time in the series’ history that a round won’t be held on British soil. The Assen cancellation ends the Dutch TT Circuit’s run of being the championship’s longest continually serving venue in WorldSBK. The cancellation of what’s normally earmarked as the season finale in Qatar now means…

Nothing has dampened the enthusiasm of the new Junior class riders Tasmanians demonstrated how starved for track time they had become when more riders than expected turned up for a recent Sports Rider Club of Tasmania’s ride day at Baskerville – in the rain. “I knew it was going to be wet but I just wanted to get out on the bike for a ride” one participant said, summing it up for most, and as the rain slowly cleared riders revealed their long-term plans. State Superbike gun Brett Simonds fronted with his Historic-class Honda RS250 he had just converted from avgas to unleaded. He used the ride day to set it up for the National Historic Championships rescheduled for November at Mount Gambier, South Australia. Karen Webb’s partner, Wayne McDonald,…

AFTER 14 WEEKS off, the West Aussies began a tentative return to some sort of normality with two Champions Ride Days at the Collie Motorplex in late June. Earlier there had been a couple of evening practice sessions for the Supermoto Club of WA but they had been heavily restricted to club members with a maximum of 20 people at the venue. The Historic Competition Motorcycle Club (HCMC) then held a two-day so-called practice weekend under the Ride Parks Australia banner at the Collie Motorplex. Originally slated as a race round, was held just shy of the 1 July date from when Motorcycling Australia began reissuing race permits. Motorcycle action returned to the Wanneroo Raceway on 5 July with Trakdayz then the Supermoto Club of WA ran Super Saturday Sprint…

BMW’S STRIPPED SUPERBIKE TO KEEP PACE with the big boys in the streetfighter stakes, BMW is turning its mainstay S 1000 R into a naked version of the S 1000 RR, literally. Here we see a near-complete example of the 2021 model on test, disguised only by black paint and tape over the BMW logos. The frame is visually identical to the S 1000 RR’s alloy design, along with the swingarm, forks, brakes and wheels. We anticipate BMW will also use the 152kW ShiftCam version of the 999cc Superbike engine to challenge Ducati’s Streetfighter V4 and MV Agusta’s Brutale 1000 – both making 153kW. There’s no question it will feature cutting-edge tech in terms of IMU-assisted stability control and cornering ABS. The seat unit and petrol tank are straight from…

HAS HONDA SAVED the best for last? A final fling of the legendary CBR600RR looks likely in 2021 with next-gen styling and specced-up electronics. Japanese magazine AutoBy, which has provided this detailed illustration, has a long and strong record of getting it right with its predictions about future Hondas. It says the next CBR600RR will get minor engine revisions aimed at emissions improvements, with peak power around 86kW. Uprated electronics will include a quick-shifter, cornering ABS and lean-sensitive traction control, thanks to an inertial measurement unit, and multiple riding modes, while the basics of the engine and chassis won’t be changed. While it is likely to retain its under-seat exhaust, the front styling is expected to reflect family links to the latest CBR1000RR-R. This will include new headlights and downforceproducing…

WE’VE ALREADY REPORTED how Chinese motorcycle manufacturers are thinking big. Now Benda is taking it a step farther after the big-bore prototypes from CFMoto and Qianjiangowned Benelli we’ve revealed over the past few months. This muscle-cruiser, from a company owned by a giant machinery conglomerate, opens up a whole new market. It is final proof the Chinese have gathered the technology and styling nous to challenge the world’s leading motorcycle brands. Hangzhou-based Benda follows Benelli as the second Chinese company to develop a four-cylinder model. Leaks via patent filings reveal the Benda BD700 (as it’s codenamed) has a dash of Ducati XDiavel in the side profile, with its forward-biased visual mass, low seat and massive rear tyre. However the inline-four engine and aluminium frame are a world away from the…

KAWASAKI REVEALED THE electric-powered prototype it’s been working on for a decade at last year’s EICMA show and, despite denying production plans, a new patent indicates it could arrive at dealers in kit form. One of the interesting elements of the prototype, which dates back to 2012, is that the electronics package, including the battery, is designed to be easily removed. Initially, it looked like it might be a hot-swap battery system, but now it seems the idea is to allow dealers to do the final assembly, eliminating a whole stage in the production process. This makes sense as the battery and electronics of an electric motorcycle are usually made in different factories – potentially even in different countries – and they’re relatively fragile. To assemble a bike around the…

The darkest day for speedway happened away from the track, on a Tuesday in July, 50 years ago this month. At the time one report in the British media likened the tragedy to the 1958 plane crash in Germany that all but wiped out the Manchester United soccer team. It was 14 July 1970 in Europe, the next morning in Australia, when the news broke. Victorians Peter Bradshaw and Malcolm Carmichael were among those killed. Bradshaw, aged 23, was married with a two-year-old son; Carmichael, aged 26, was single. Others killed in the accident were English riders Gary Everett and Martyn Piddock, West Ham team manager and former rider Phil Bishop as well as the driver of their minibus that collided with two lorries on a road in Lokeren, Belgium,…

Some of the talk around our campfire down in Bungarby centred around a similar theme; “gee, she’s top heavy”, “it’s a big sucker” or “I still don’t need fuel, and I want to keep the weight down”. Our big on range, comfort, tech and capacity adventure options are vast these days. But what if you want to tackle rougher trails but want to be able to do that without needing a servo every 100 kilometres, like you would on an enduro bike? Sure, you could buy an enduro bike and bung a big tank on it, but it’s nearly always a compromise in suspension performance, seating position, ability and looks. New for 2020 is Husqvarna’s 701 Enduro LR (code for Long Range), which is built around the same 701 platform…

THE ROYAL ENFIELD is perfect for my adventure bike-riding experience. So it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of some of the bigger, more expensive bikes, it’s the perfect size and weight for someone finding their way in the world of adventure. It’s got a low seat height, which is great for us newbies, and a nice wide and relaxed riding position when sitting down. It’s powered by a 411cc single-cylinder engine, which meant its power wasn’t intimidating for the dirt-road sections, on which I’m not enormously confident. And, once we hit the technical stuff, its 21-inch front wheel meant I’d have a pretty good chance of getting the bike into the hut without making too much of a fool of myself. Being the smallest of the bikes, out…

I’VE TAKEN A bit of a gamble on the bike choice here. I know we need to cover some ground over three days. There will be dirt but not enough technical stuff to warrant a mountain goat. I want a bike that can carve up the corners, offer good protection and comfort, and when the need arises, eat a bit of dirt. Plus, we need to carry clothes, sleeping gear, shopping and camera equipment. The V-Strom 1050 XT is new to market, ticks the boxes, looks awesome and Alex Rins rides one. That’s enough for me. The V-Strom simply eats kilometres. The seat is roomy and comfortable enough to do tank-full stints one after the other. The riding position is neutral with no weight on your hands and there’s ample…

I SPENT THE weeks leading up to the ride having nightmares about being freezing cold, riding through mud, and Sam and I fighting the whole time. The result couldn’t have been more different and the bike played a big part in that. I’m surprised how warm I stayed, with Sam and that big screen in front of me. The seat was more comfortable than I dared hope, the full acceleration runs we enjoyed through the gears out the middle of nowhere were a real buzz and my only whinge about the bike was getting on and off it – literally a real hurdle. I always felt safe on the bike, it is so smooth – Sam made a good call choosing that bike for our first adventure ride together. And…

WATTIE AGV AX-9 HELMET $799 BERING MINSK JACKET $999.95 IXON PRO APOLLO GLOVES $219.95 BERING MINSK PANTS $699.95 GAERNE SG10 BOOTS $599.95 SMAC LS2 PIONEER EVO HELMET $239 BMW RALLYE JACKET $1320 BMW GS DRY GLOVES $200 BMW RALLYE PANTS $1050 TCX DRIFTER BOOTS $449.95 BIANCA AGV AX-9 HELMET $799 BMW RALLYE JACKET $1320 BMW GS DRY GLOVES $200 BMW TOURSHELL PANTS $660 BMW GRAVEL BOOTS $585 PETE BELL MX-9 HELMET $379.95 RJAYS ADVENTURE JACKET $499.95 RJAYS DUNE GLOVES $89.95 RJAYS ADVENTURE PANTS $369.95 GAERNE G-ALL TERRAIN BOOTS $499.95 KEL BELL RS-1 HELMET $499 BMW TOURSHELL JACKET $850 FIVE WFX SKIN GLOVES $129.95 HELD SALERNO PANTS $699 ALPINESTARS S-MX 6 BOOTS $399 STRAPZ SHOEI NEOTEC 2 HELMET $995 HELD CARESE JACKET $950 HELD AIR ’N DRY GLOVES $290 HELD TORNO…

IT WAS BOUND to happen sooner or later. You’re at your uncle’s digs and there it is, the mid-80s whatsimacallit you learned to ride on. Your uncle says it ran just fine when he left it four years ago and he’ll let it go cheap. Thing is, do you really want it? The worst thing that can happen to an engine is for it to do nothing. Rust starts forming everywhere, the rubber seals and O-rings dry out and harden and the sun starts rotting plastic parts. The old saying ‘use it or lose it’ is true. A bike that has been sitting for any length of time is a restoration, not a repair. Just how much restoration is needed will depend on how long the bike’s been sitting idle,…

1 Adventure lid Cassons $899.95 (02) 8882 1900 cassons.com.au Arai’s XD-4 adventure helmet has an aerodynamically tuned Special Fibre Laminate shell and features a removable and washable Dry-Cool liner, Facial Contour Support cheek pads and a removable floating peak which channels air into the helmet’s venting system. 2 Mission Control Ficeda Accessories From $220 1300 437 711 ficeda.com.au Dunlop’s TRAILMAX MISSION is said to offer no-compromise performance on the street and off-road via improved tread grooves, staggered step side knobs and an aggressive upper sidewall that offers better grip, rigidity and steering, without sacrificing ruggedness or longevity. 3 Bag Strapz Andy Strapz $235 (03) 9786 3445 andystrapz.com Australian-made AA bagz are constructed of 600-denier Cordura and offer approximately 18 litres of capacity. Four nylon bars prevent sagging and the bag…

FOR A CLASS that produced 12 different winners from 19 races in 2019, Moto3 was the class least likely to provide back-to-back wins for one man at the start of 2020. But Albert Arenas (Aspar KTM) found himself in the right place at the right time for the second race running. There was very little in it as an 11-rider group fought it out for the spoils on the closing lap. John McPhee’s (Petronas Sprinta Racing) attempts at a late escape were foiled by the fairly erratic Tony Arbolino (Rivacold Snipers Honda), who was only too happy to lead around the final circuit while the Scot, Arenas, Sky Racing VR46 KTM teammates Celestino Vietti and Andrea Migno and Ai Ogura (Honda Team Asia) jostled for position just behind. All race…

PAOLO SIMONCELLI, FATHER of the late Marco and team boss of SIC58 Squadracorse Honda, doesn’t mince his words. Having watched his riders Tatsuki Suzuki and Nicolo Antonelli struggle to eighth and ninth place, respectively, in the Spanish Grand Prix seven days before, he had a stern assessment of their performance: he said that they rode an “embarrassing and inconceivable beginners’ race.” That statement must have rung out in Suzuki’s ears all weekend. The 22-year old spent free practice working on his aggression when cutting laps alone. So much so, his pole position – the third on the bounce – took even him by surprise. Come the race and Friday and Saturday’s work paid off. Suzuki led every lap bar one as a 10-rider freight train was eventually whittled down to…

REIGNING WORLD CHAMP Marc Marquez shocked everyone when he tried and was declared fit to race just days after undergoing surgery to plate a broken right humerus. After sitting out Friday to give himself an extra day, Marc Marquez looked capable of running a pace that would put him in the points in Sunday’s race. The eight-time World Champion was just 0.999 seconds off the fastest pace in FP4. But just one lap into the first qualifying session, Marquez returned to the pit and immediately withdrew from the race. “I tried today and in the morning I felt really good and was able to ride in 37.7 with the used tyre, pretty much the same time as last week,” Marquez said. “But then in the afternoon when I started to…

BRITISH SUPERBIKE Championship regular Sharni Pinfold and Victorian State titles front runner Grace Poutch have flown to Italy to represent Australia in this year’s FIM Women’s European Cup. Launched in 2016, the all-female series had a three-year hiatus before making a return for 2020. Originally slated as a six-round championship, the Women’s European Cup – like so many other sporting codes across the world – was forced to postpone all events when the global pandemic hit after the opening round in April this year. Pinfold and Poutch will compete in the remaining three events on the modified four-round calendar, with round two held last weekend at the Misano Circuit in Italy in a 15-strong field. Both riding Team MotoXprepared Yamaha YZF-R3 machinery and on a circuit they’ve never seen before,…

HAVING THROWN OUT all its ‘trellis framed, V-twin’ traditions with the Panigale V4 and Streetfighter V4, Ducati is about to reinvent its long-running Monster with a cast-alloy frame. That means both the top and bottom models in its line-up will no longer have triangulated, tubular chassis; a sure indicator the rest of the range will eventually follow. Here we see what appears to be the replacement for Ducati’s mid-sized, water-cooled Monster 821. IT’S A BOLD MOVE TO SWITCH THE FRAME TO CAST ALLOY Since the cheaper, air-cooled Monster 797’s future hangs in the balance, depending on whether Ducati sees value in re-engineering it for Euro 5, the 821’s replacement may well become its least-expensive model. The engine is a derivative of the 821’s water-cooled Testastretta motor, although revised covers suggest…

FANCY YOURSELF AS a bit of a Toby Price? Now you can look like him on KTM’s new limited-edition 450 Rally Replica. Just 85 of these A$55,995 trail terriers will be sold worldwide and the good news for Aussies is that they meet full ADR compliance. Based on the Dakar winners ridden by Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Price, Matthias Walkner and Sam Sunderland, the Rally Replica is pretty much the real deal. It even has the same gear ratios as the Dakar race bikes, along with many of the engine and suspension performance parts. Being long-distance Dakar racers means that high-spec parts don’t equate to a short engine life. The water-cooled, SOHC 450cc short-stroke, single-cylinder engine is fitted to a lightweight chrome-moly race frame. The rear subframe also is…

INDIAN’S SHIFT TOWARDS water-cooling started with the Scout in 2015 and now the Challenger bagger is out it’s only a matter of time before the more traditional Indian cruiser and tourer models head in the same direction. A recent patent application suggests it might happen sooner rather than later. Although fairly generic and lacking detail, the diagrams show the Challenger’s 90kW, 1768cc Powerplus V-twin fitted in a bike styled like the air-cooled Roadmaster tourer. With the Powerplus engine easily outperforming the Thunder Stroke twin used in the existing Roadmaster, Chief and Chieftain models, this move makes sense. But will buyers be persuaded to go with the DOHC, water-cooled design rather than the old pushrod, air-cooled Thunder Stroke?…

Laps, not lapsed A racetrack is a hell of a lot safer; no inattentive drivers, no large vehicles, no police, lots of run-off Regarding the news story on page 16 of AMCN Vol 69 No 25, not all so-called ‘lapsed’ riders are lapsed. We just prefer not to ride the roads, and don’t have a registered bike. This is not to say we don’t own bikes. Far from it, in fact. I personally gave up riding the road in 2006 after putting my 2001 Kawasaki ZX-9R under a milk tanker. From then on I decided to ride and race only on the track. The passion still burns strong – though addiction is the correct term – I just got sick of the hassles associated with riding on the road. A…

I chose this bike because my dad owned a BMW F 800 GS and I really wanted to see how this updated bike compared to his. The motor in the latest model is great, and produces 70kW (95hp), which is 10 more horses than the early models, but there’s more to it than that. The parallel-twin now fires like a V-twin instead of the rather agricultural 360-degree arrangement of my dad’s model. And, on closer inspection, the once vulnerable oil filter is now tucked well out of the way from potential damage, although a more substantial bash plate would still be high on my list. It has more than enough power – in a third-gear roll against Andy on the 1100cc Africa Twin, there was nothing in it – and…

PERUSING THE PROPOSED route with its many hours on the Hume Highway I first wondered what would be kindest to my poor arse and work backwards from there. Comfort considered, damn, it’s still a huge list. The Alpine Way and its wet spaghetti bitumen and freezing temperatures narrowed the field to bigger bikes with good protection and bonus points went to heated grips, even seats. But Sam had planned encounters with snotty dirt roads and sandy drought-stricken mountain tracks littered with rabbit warrens and wombat holes – it’s a short list now. My first choice was the GS, but the boss got that. I really didn’t want a knobby tire, I wanted some peace and quiet for my new obsession – audio books – which really make the Hume enjoyable!…

WHAT A CRACKING set of wheels. When I think off-road motorsport, I think KTM. This excellence really translates into the firm’s consumer products. There’s a reason it’s won Dakar so often, and in the 790’s aggressive Rally mode it feels like you could, too… or go ass over nip, which is equally as entertaining for those around you. I chose the 790 Adventure R because for a single rider looking to cover long distances on and off-road, carrying a decent amount of gear this bike is the shiz. I got through all of the four modes (Rally, Rain, Off-Road, Road) as we encountered everything, including ice and snow. If KTM considered a Mud mode and a Snow mode, you’d be completely set. I can usually get an adventure bike into…

In 1976, Ivory Coast resident Jean-Claude Bertrand proposed celebrating New Year’s Eve on the Côte d’Azur. Crossing the Sahara Desert, on two wheels or four, would be absolutely hilarious. N’est ce pas? This impromptu rally-raid may have remained a local frivolity had not one of the participants become lost for three days. When rescued, Thierry Sabine turned near tragedy into triumph and, with massive publicity financed by big tobacco and booze advertising, the ‘Paris to Dakar’ was created. Renault, Citroën, Honda, Yamaha and BMW quickly realised the value of having their wares televised blasting across the Sahara, and sponsors began recruiting the most macho talent available. By the mid 1980s, ‘Le Dakar’, as it became known, was, for a small legion of elite athletes, the world’s most gruelling motorsport event.…

FOR NEARLY TWO decades, Honda’s XR ruled the Aussie dirtbike roost. No other machine managed to stand the test of time quite like the XR and it was a sad day when Honda finally pulled the pin on production at the end of 2006. The machine was the weapon of choice in the Australian Safari throughout the 80s and 90s, and it’s tough-as-nails reputation was well deserved. By the end of the 90s however, the dirtbike scene was changing. Yamaha released the revolutionary YZ400, which had grown to 426cc by the time the XR650R was released back in 2000. Husaberg and KTM were also now real threats, and Honda needed to regain their share of the large capacity dirtbike market now that the XR600 – which had only undergone minor…

TALK ABOUT BEING worth the wait. Saturday was the 244th straight day since MotoGP last went racing, the longest stint without premier class racing since 1986. Just as well, as 2020’s first outing contained enough drama to make up for the past four months, and then some. First there was a long-awaited first victory for French wonderkid Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT), who, at 21 years and 90 days, became the eighth-youngest victor in premier-class history. There was an inspired showing from Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team), who showed plenty of zeal in the stifling 37-degree heat to claim a podium finish three weeks after fracturing his left collarbone in a motocross crash. More pertinently there was the reminder of the sport’s unforgiving side. Three riders – Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda),…

STOPPING AN ENERGICA Ego Corse MotoE machine that weighs 260kg is no easy feat. Countless overtaking moves were attempted into the tight turn six throughout in the six-lap MotoE race. And on more than one occasion, they failed. It was the scene of the race’s big talking point as reigning champion Matteo Ferrari (Trentino Gresini MotoE) T-boned Eric Granado (Avintia Racing) there on the final lap as they disputed second. Both had been chasing runaway leader Dominique Aegerter (Dynavolt Intact GP), who cruised to his first win in the class by 2.6 seconds. Jordi Torres (Pons Racing 40) and Mattia Casadei (SIC58 Squadracorse) took advantage of the mayhem to complete the podium. Josh Hook (Octo Pramac MotoE) was a solid eighth. “It wasn’t the start that I wanted,” said the…

THE PREVIOUSLY HOPED-for August resumption gave speedway some scope for at least an abbreviated season of league racing, but the announcement by British authorities that October was the target date for crowds to return to sporting stadiums left speedway bosses with no choice but to reluctantly cancel the season. Already a number of tracks have indicated that they are hopeful of keeping their 2020 line-ups intact for the 2021 season. Some junior and amateur level racing may be able to be staged, but the best that fans can hope for is that they will be admitted to some open meetings or challenge matches in October. The National Speedway Stadium at Belle Vue, Manchester is scheduled to host the Speedway of Nations final over 24-25 October.…

How’s it going for you at the moment? How are you filling the racing void during the pandemic? Racing’s on hold and the social-distancing rules means we’ve only just got back into coaching (Josh runs Off Road Advantage in the Hunter Valley). But I’m as busy as I’ve ever been as I’m training in the gym, riding on my property and also have got a full-time job building mountain-bike tracks. What’s been the big attraction of those long-distance events, such as ISDE, Hattah, Finke and the Australian Off-Road Championship (Josh has raced for the Active8 Yamaha Yamalube Off-Road team since 2012)? Riding bikes in some amazing places here and overseas has been pretty cool. But really it’s the challenge of it all. Just aiming to finish the event, but then…