Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol 73 Issue 17 i Australian Motorcycle News

“WE HAVE LOADS OF CONTENT DEDICATED TO THE UPCOMING MOTOGP SEASON” AND SO it begins! Thanks to a ripper weekend of WorldSBK and ASBK action at Phillip Island the 2024 racing season is well and truly upon us. Next stop? Qatar, for Round 1 of the 2024 MotoGP World Championship. After preseason testing it looks like the Ducati juggernaut will continue to roll on into 2024, but there is more anticipation around this season than many previous years thanks largely to Marc Marquez’ switch to the Gresini Ducati squad. Now while it was reigning MotoGP champion Pecco Bagnaia who blitzed the Lusail circuit in testing with a blistering 1m50.952s lap time – the first sub-1m51s at the circuit on two wheels – MM93 hasn’t taken long to adjust his riding…

IT MIGHT not be a household name yet but Kove is among the most ambitious of the new generation of Chinese motorcycle companies and its upcoming 350RR is another illustration of how rapidly these brands are improving. Kove’s initial range of export models has already grabbed attention. The company’s 450 Rally appeared on the back of an ambitious Dakar entry and has already enjoyed strong reviews; its 800X promises to be a cut-price alternative to a KTM 790 Adventure; and its 450RR surprised everyone by appearing with Kove’s own screaming four-cylinder engine. However, it was with the parallel twin 321RR that the brand first started to gain attention, combining an engine that was nearly identical to the Yamaha R3’s with a trellis chassis, single-sided swingarm and sharp styling. Now, new type-approvals…

SAVIC MOTORCYCLES has revealed that it will be launching the C-Series in the near future, with the first customer deliveries scheduled for late March. Dennis Savic, CEO and founder of Savic Motorcycles, said he was “looking forward to hearing what Australia had to say about the C-Series”. “We know we’ve built a great bike and we’re looking forward to gaining valuable feedback from riders that we can use to continue development and build new features and updates to enhance their ownership experience,” he said. The C-Series features a 16.2 kWh lithium-ion battery, Brembo brakes and an ABS system designed at Bosch Australia. It also boasts regeneration technology that tops up power every time the rider brakes. This gives the C-Series Alpha a claimed range of more than 200km on a…

Looked at one way, the MotoGP hierarchy will remain unchanged in 2024 if preseason testing is anything to go by. All manufacturers have pushed forward over the off-season. But Ducati remains the undisputed number one, boasting a near unprecedented eight riders who can fight for victories, and at least three who can fight for the crown. Going off February’s three-day test at Sepang, two of those promise to be the same as last year. Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo) was coolness personified in Malaysia, where he led the way thanks to shattering his own lap record by an astonishing eight tenths of a second. Last year’s rival-in-chief Jorge Martin (Pramac Ducati) was an able back-up in second, with both complimenting Ducati engineers’ efforts at making a near perfect bike even better.…

#1 Pecco Bagnaia – Ducati Lenovo If Bagnaia displayed a never-say-die attitude to claim the 2022 MotoGP title, it was his ability to withstand crushing pressure which resulted in him retaining the crown a year later. A flawless preseason, in which he has displayed unerring calm throughout, plus an improved Ducati underneath him, means he starts the year as favourite to take his third successive premier-class crown. #5 Johann Zarco – LCR Honda The double Moto2 world champ deserves credit for ditching a comfy option at Ducati for a seat at LCR Honda, after twice finishing fifth overall in the past three years. His initial impression of the RC213V was positive. Yet getting up to speed over race distance will require some patience. At least Zarco appears much better equipped…

AUSTRALIA WILL be represented in all three categories of the 2024 MotoGP World Championship with 2023 Moto2 European Champion Senna Agius gaining a berth in the well-appointed Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP squad in Moto2 to ride alongside South African Darren Binder. With four appearances in the Moto2 World Championship during 2022 with the Elf MarcVDS squad and a further five appearances last year with his new Intact squad, there’ll be a certain amount of expectation for the 18-year-old to hit the ground running. Jacob Roulstone will join Joel Kelso in the Moto3 category in 2024 after the teenager signed for the hugely experienced Red Bull KTM Tech3 team run by Herve Poncharal. With such a coveted ride, he won’t have a lot of time to prove his worth and…

Ducati may have scored 96 percent of all constructors points last season but second in the championship was KTM, contesting only its seventh season in MotoGP. The Austrian brand, massively backed by Red Bull, shows no signs of giving up the chase. The 2024 RC16 features the latest carbon-fibre frame and a revised engine that gives super-sweet torque off the corners and impressive top speed. The bike’s greatest advantage compared to the Ducati is its manoeuvrability and how riders can bend it to their will, while the Desmosedici needs to be ridden the way engineers want it to be ridden. Brad Binder was the fastest RC16 rider at Sepang, but only just in front of stellar rookie Pedro Acosta, who got the shock of his life during his first lap…

PECCO BAGNAIA (Ducati Lenovo) capped a near perfect preseason by topping the two-day test in Qatar as Ducati once again posted an awesome show of strength that will have MotoGP’s four other factories concerned. After an exhaustive three days in Malaysia in early February, the Lusail International Circuit was the last chance for the five factories to assess new parts and combinations ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix, which kicks the 2024 season off on 9 March. And Bagnaia topped both evenings of running, blitzing the lap record from last November on the final night by an astonishing 0.8sec. His 1m50.952s was enough to top the test by 0.12sec, with teammate Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo) second, making it a factory Ducati one-two. Asked to rate how prepared he feels from…

This is the start of a huge year for you! Tell us all about the changes and stepping up to the twins class, the premier class of American Flat Track. I’m excited. It’s a completely different bike with longer races and I’ll be riding the Harley-Davidson XG750 for Latus Motors Racing. Harley-Davidson has deep roots in flat track. They built the XG750 after having the XR for so long. The XR was air cooled, whereas the XG is water cooled. It’s a modern 750cc, twin-cylinder, fuel-injected flat-track bike. The frame and tail section is all custom. It’s a special machine. How have you handled the adjustment to the twin? Has it been difficult at all? So far I’ve been riding the new Harley about three times a week, working out…

Husqvarna’s upcoming Vitpilen 901 twin has been spotted on test several times before but the company has finally started to drop hints that it’s on the verge of launching it – with an Instagram teaser video that suggests a date of 5 March. The teaser uses the usual short snatches of video to prevent a good look at the bike, which also wears a disguising wrap covered in Husqvarna logos, but even so it’s clear that it’s essentially the same rebodied KTM Duke that we’ve busted on test in recent months. While there are obviously no specifications yet, there are details to be drawn from the teaser. For a start, it’s abundantly clear that this new Husqvarna uses the older 890 Duke as its basis, not the new-for-2024 990 Duke,…

AMCN recently attended Everything Electric Australia, a home power and electric vehicle expo held in Sydney over 9-11 February. The three-day event claimed to have the biggest electric test drive program in the southern hemisphere but, of course, this was mostly cars and commercial vehicles. Nevertheless, there were still a few electric motorcycle marques represented at the show, such as Zero Motorcycles, which is returning to the Australian market after several years’ absence. Zero Motorcycles is now represented in Australia by the Peter Stevens Group, which means nationwide distribution, parts and servicing for the first time. All Zero models will now be available in Australia, including the previously Europe-only SR sports model. And with the completion of homologation on all Zero motorcycles, a fleet of demonstration bikes is currently being…

Gone but not forgotten is an often expressed phrase when someone near and dear is lost, and it will certainly be the case that Warren ‘Wazza’ Monson will never be forgotten. Monson’s record in speedway sidecar racing extended well beyond being the greatest ever sidecar rider from his home town of Mildura. He won the FIM World Cup and Oceania Championship double in both 2017 and 2019; he won nine Victorian championships and was a multiple placegetter in the Australian championship. His name is still in the Mildura record book from when he and passenger Andrew Summerhayes set a four-lap track record in March last year. Away from speedway Monson will also be remembered as an accomplished and highly respected race engineer and mechanic having worked with a number of…

‘You get what you pay for’ is one of those sayings we comfort ourselves with when the compromises in something that didn’t cost a lot of money become glaring on close inspection. Then you ride Triumph’s sub-$10k Speed 400 and the Scrambler 400 X and the narrative switches to, ‘What’s the catch?’ Thing is, there doesn’t appear to be a catch – at least not in the short term. These new Triumphs are, well, triumphs of the rare engineering feat of creating an excellent riding experience with few compromises in build quality for less than $10k ($8990 ride-away for the Speed, $9990 for the Scrambler). Sure, many of its rivals have a lower retail price, but it’s still kind of hard to fathom how Triumph has managed to keep these…

Following the launch last year of the naked middleweight GSX-8S, Suzuki now enters the competitive middleweight sportsbike class with the GSX-8R. The 8R shares the same torquey 776cc parallel twin as the 8S but receives an uprated chassis featuring new Showa suspension front and rear, as well as a sporty new look. The GSX-8R comes with a quickshifter, electronic rider aids and riding modes. While the footpeg and seat position stays the same as the GSX-8S, the R version gets lower ’bars. The 61kW (82hp) GSX-8R is aimed at a wide audience, from the commuter to the occasional trackday rider or, as Suzuki puts it, “the GSX-8R can be a commuter, a trackday bike or a sports-tourer”. Unlike the much-missed GSX-R600 and GSX-R750, which have now vanished from Suzuki’s line-up,…

ONE TOPIC dogged the end of last season: front-tyre pressures. A rule was enforced mid-season to penalise those below the stated minimum pressure for more than 50 percent of the race. Riders would first receive a warning, then a time penalty. Fabio Di Giannantonio famously fell foul of the rule at Valencia, where he lost his second place 30 minutes after the race had finished. The original intention was to replace time penalties with immediate disqualification for those under the pressure for 50 percent of the race or more this year. Yet riders (and teams) have pleaded with Dorna and tyre supplier Michelin to change it. At the time of going to print, the punishment for this crime is still unknown. Yet KTM team manager Francesco Guidotti recently hinted a change…

WE MAY BE getting ahead of ourselves by mentioning that Pedro Acosta has 10 races to beat Marc Marquez’s record of the youngest rider to ever win a premier class race (20 years, 266 days). Yet his adaptation until now has been stunning. The 19-year-old hasn’t just been fast (ninth at Sepang), but consistent as well (just 3.5sec off the fastest Sprint simulation of the test). More impressive still was how he took the increased media attention in his stride. “Pressure is only a word,” he said. “I’ve lived the last three years of my life with pressure every day – it’s become quite normal.” KTM’s Motorsport Director Pit Beirer said: “There are some natural things in that boy which are just amazing. Even if you go to a wind…

Nothing succeeds like excess and no one succeeds in MotoGP like Ducati: the most bikes, the most top riders, the most horsepower, the most engineers, the most data and so on. That’s why MotoGP is so deep in the Ducati era right now, like it once was in the Honda era and the MV Agusta era. At MotoGP’s traditional first tests at Sepang, Malaysia, recently the fastest five bikes were all GP24s and GP23s, and there was a total of seven Desmosedicis in the top 10. In other words, not much has changed since last season. This year’s GP24 is a subtle development of the bike that won the 2022 and 2023 MotoGP riders titles and the 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 constructors crowns. Despite that remarkable run of success,…

RACING WHAT, WHERE & WHEN ROAD RACING AUSTRALIAN SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP Rd2 22-23 Mar, Sydney Motorsport Park, NSW Rd3 26-28 Apr, Queensland Raceway, Qld Rd4 12-14 Jul, Morgan Park Raceway, Qld Rd5 7-8 Sep, Phillip Island GP Circuit, Vic Rd6 4-6 Oct, One Raceway, NSW Rd7 8-10 Nov, Shell V-Power Motorsport Park, SA BLU CRU OCEANIA JUNIOR CUP Rd1 22-23 Mar, Sydney Motorsport Park, NSW Rd2 26-28 Apr, Queensland Raceway, Qld Rd3 12-14 Jul, Morgan Park Raceway, Qld Rd4 4-6 Oct, One Raceway, NSW Rd5 TBA Rd6 8-10 Nov, Shell V-Power Motorsport Park, SA AUSTRALIAN SIDECAR CHAMPIONSHIP Rd1 2-4 Mar, Collie, WA Rd2 16-17 Mar, Shell V-Power Motorsport Park, SA Rd3 6-7 Jul, Sydney Motorsport Park, NSW Rd4 15-16 Sep, Phillip Island GP Circuit, Vic INAUGURAL SOUTHERN CROSS CHALLENGE CUP 6-7…

HARRISON VOIGHT and Troy Herfoss played pivotal roles in the opening ASBK round at Phillip Island, but the two riders who finished second and third in the points are not certain about how many rounds they will compete in this year, giving series leader Josh Waters breathing space in terms of the points chase. Herfoss jetted out to Florida straight after the opening round to contest the MotoAmerica King of the Baggers series, which kicks off at Daytona on 7 March, while Voight returns to Europe to begin testing for the upcoming FIM Junior GP Moto2 series. Herfoss was a last-minute addition to the Desmosport Ducati team for the opening round, after completing an official testing and development role for the team in the summer break. The goal for the Herfoss…

QJMOTOR – SISTER company to Benelli and the new flagship brand of the massive Qianjiang empire – is on a global push with an increasingly-impressive range of models and now it looks like a new SRT600 model is set to replace its current SRT550 adventure bike. Revealed in Chinese type-approval documents, the SRT600 packs the same 554cc engine used in the SRT550 but wraps it in a new chassis and much-improved styling. The 554cc engine shares its design roots with that used in the Benelli TRK 502 but with a 70.5mm bore and 71mm stroke instead of the Benelli’s 69mm x 66.8mm measurements. It’s a redesign that was originally brewed for the planned MV Agusta Lucky Explorer 5.5, shown back in 2021 as an entry-level sibling for the three-cylinder Lucky…

After a prolonged development period China’s Zontes finally revealed its three-cylinder 703F adventure bike and 703RR sportsbike at last year’s EICMA show – and now new documents show that there will be more versions of the adventure model. Both the EICMA machines were more prototype than production spec, and the 703F at the event was in full adventure regalia, including luggage, protective crash bars and additional lights. The new type approval gives the first look at a more basic, showroom-spec version without all those bolt-on extras, and also illustrates a road-biased variant with smaller, alloy wheels instead of the wires we’ve seen so far. The wire-wheel version, type-approved on the same document, has a 21-inch front and 18-inch rear with 90/90-21 and 150/70-18 rubber, as well as a 1565mm wheelbase.…

I don’t know about you, but my earliest Bimota memory is from the 1990s, when the Tesi 1D first materialised. To a young bloke tooling around on an old Guzzi, it felt like it had arrived from another planet. With its futuristic look, courtesy of the weird front fork and full red and white fairing, it was basically a Ducati 851 that looked even better than the original, if that’s possible. So, for many of us, the name Bimota is synonymous with two things – hub-centre steering and Ducati engines. However, the famous 50-year-old Italian handmade motorcycle manufacturer has produced many bikes powered by engines from all the major Japanese manufacturers. While Bimota’s first ever roadbike was the Suzuki-powered SB2, Bimota has been heavily linked with Kawasaki since a Z900…

With two victories, including a first one-two at Barcelona, Aprilia had its best-ever season last year, but the Noale factory knows it must try harder if it’s to regularly better Ducati. Aprilia’s aerodynamics department – staffed by several former Ferrari F1 aerodynamicists – may be MotoGP’s best, coming up with many ideas that have been adopted by Ducati and others. The department’s latest is the new Batman-style seat unit, which increases downforce for better stopping by keeping the rear tyre loaded during the crucial braking phase. This has been one of the RS-GP’s weak points. The underside of the seat features a diffuser, which decreases turbulence around the wheel to improve high-speed stability. “The 2024 bike isn’t a revolution,” says Aprilia number-one rider Aleix Espargaro. “But the new aero makes…

Like Honda, Yamaha has woken up. This year both factories benefit from super-concessions, which give them many benefits to help them catch up. Yamaha has also worked very aggressively at hiring engineers. In recent months it has taken two top engineers from Ducati: technical chief Massimo Bartolini and chief aerodynamicist Marco Nicotra, who was responsible for the Desmosedici’s aero. And two years ago it took former Ferrari F1 engine designer Luca Marmorini. This is how KTM narrowed the gap to Ducati, by hiring numerous Ducati management, engineers, crew chiefs and riders. This is another way in which MotoGP is becoming more like F1 – it can be as beneficial stealing an engineer from a rival as it can be stealing a rider. These new arrivals won’t change much overnight, but…

06 THINGS YOU NEED 1 BOOT IT Moto National $249.95 1300 885 355 falcoboots.com.au The Falco Viktor is an entry level waterproof urban sneaker with a lightweight and durable Micro-Synth upper and breathable High-Tex inner membrane. It has toe and heel reinforcements and D3O inserts on the ankles. Lace-up closure and textured rubber sole for comfort on and off the bike. Sizes 40-46. 2 PUMP IT Whites Powersports Australia $129.90 (03) 8720 6000 whitesmoto.com.au The Whites rechargeable Ultra Mini Air Pump is compact and weighs just 290g, so it’s suited to the shed, glovebox or in a backpack or pannier bag. Claimed maximum pressure is 150psi, flow rate is 15L/min and it charges in 1.5 hours via a USB-C cable. It comes with a carry case, screw-on and press-on air hoses, and…

“I WANTED TO RIDE FAST ON THE TRACK IN A SAFE ENVIRONMENT” ONE OF THE big influences that got me into racing was an article in AMCN written by Chris Dobie talking up the Honda CBR250RR MC22. I started in 2018 by doing a few PCRA rounds and the Island Classic in 2019. I’ve mostly been racing classic 250 production bikes but I’ve also had the opportunity to ride a 1978 NCR Ducati from the Period 5 1300 class. Growing up I did some junior motocross but eventually gave it away. It wasn’t until 2016, in my mid-20s, that I bought a Triumph Street Triple and started doing some rider training courses with Bernie Hatton from Top Rider. Body position and vision were the two big takeaways – setting yourself…

THE RACE and Road Supersport 300 class had a special visitor for the opening round, with Czech rider Petr Svoboda using the event to prepare for the World Supersport 300 championship. Svoboda, who rides for the Rob Veenegoor-led FuSport-RT Motorsport by SKM Kawasaki team, finished sixth in last year’s points and quickly showed his credentials by taking pole position. He then proceeded to blitz the first race by 6.7sec, with second placed Joshua Newman (Wet4U Race Fairings) saying there was plenty to learn from the Czech rider. “Petr is a world-class rider and is particularly good in the fast corners; I have definitely taken a lot away from this weekend,” Newman said. Varis Fleming (Race DNA) and Harrison Watts made it a Kawasaki Ninja 400 top four. In the next…

SEVERAL ASBK Superbike riders and teams were left on the back foot before the first race at Phillip Island over a directive from Motorcycling Australia that was delivered only hours before the first race. The directive stated that all bikes were to be fitted with the harder ‘A’ option tyre from the homologated selection based on safety grounds that the softer SC0 may not make race distance. This led to some tense moments with ASBK officials, who stated the directive originated from advice given by Pirelli. ASBK teams were perplexed at the decision as at least half the field had based their set up and testing around the softer SC0. Bryan Staring was one rider that voiced his concern on social media, saying that his Yamaha performed better and was…