Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol 74 Issue 08 i Australian Motorcycle News

OGIO PACK Win an Ogio Alpha Lite 120 pack with a 20-litre capacity and featuring exceptional abrasion and tear resistance. Valued at $69.95! Include your full name and address in your letter, via post or email. Long letters will be cut to fit, so don’t ramble. The views expressed by readers are not necessarily those of the editor. LETTER OF THE ISSUE Rhonda and kaput Hi Dean, I read in the 18-31 July edition of Australian Motorcycle News (AMCN Vol 74 No 02) that you were scouring the web to locate bikes from your past. I have an XLV750 that I purchased new in 1988 from Jeffrey Sales and Service (Honda dealership) in Ferntree Gully, Victoria. According to the dealership principal (Reg Jeffrey), it was the last XLV they had…

Things were looking fairly bleak at the beginning of August. But Jack Miller has secured a seat on the MotoGP grid for 2025 after striking a deal with Pramac, his team for two years from 2018 to 2019, on a one-year deal as it embarks on a new adventure with Yamaha. It’s understandable the rider from Townsville was delighted upon announcing the news; just five weeks before Miller couldn’t hide his despair when the season resumed in Silverstone after his phone went silent over the three-week summer break. “A very shitty feeling,” he called it, as he was left to ponder a life outside the premier class. It was a crazy state of affairs for a rider who still had an outside shot at claiming the MotoGP title this time…

Whether you believe the trend towards exotic aerodynamics is destroying MotoGP or marks the next huge step forward in motorcycling there’s no question about it – a Pandora’s box has been well and truly opened and, regardless of upcoming changes to racing regulations, aero will play a huge role in the future of bikes both on the track and the road. The current trend for aero addenda has been with us for nearly a decade, but it’s a fast-moving field and aerodynamics remain something of a black art, so the precise purpose of each new growth is often unclear. However, as time passes a growing number of MotoGP participants have filed patent applications for elements of their aero, and delving into those documents gives an insight into their intentions. Motorcycles…

1 HOLD & CHARGE Rocky Creek Designs $129.95 (02) 6689 5703 www.rockycreekdesigns.com.au The MotoPressor Adjustable Phone Holder with USB-C and wireless phone charging capabilities will hold a phone up to 90mm wide. There’s an option to charge wirelessly or through USB. It secures to the ’bars with a diameter from 12–32mm and includes an anti-vibration damper, easy mounting and securing latch. 2 CARBON STING Cassons $TBC (02) 8882 1900 cassons.com.au The Scorpion EXO-R1 EVO Carbon Air has been designed and engineered to meet the demands of MotoGP and WorldSBK while providing features that benefit every rider. It has a carbon composite shell, inflatable cheek pads, KwikWick liner, Pinlock ready tool-less face shield and speaker pockets. Available in three shell sizes. Coming soon. 3 BEZZ HEAD Link International $379 (07) 3382…

JUSTIFIABLY CRITICISED and cruelly laughed at, Aron Canet (Fantic Kalex) faced the ignominy of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory last time out at Misano. Indonesia was about putting that right. The Spaniard boldly proclaimed he had his sights set on victory after securing pole position. He produced the year’s most dominant performance to lead every lap and finish 6.2sec clear. He was helped early on by Speed Up Boscoscuro teammates Alonso Lopez and Fermin Aldeguer, Ai Ogura (MSI Boscoscuro) and Jake Dixon (Aspar Kalex) fighting among themselves, while possible challenger Tony Arbolino was as low as 22nd on lap one after running off track at Turn 10. Yet even when Ogura took control of the fight for second on lap 12, he was over 6sec behind Canet and…

THE FIRST race at Motorland went to Adrian Huertas, who had been fastest in Superpole qualifying. His 1m52.932s was not a new track best for this class, which initially sounds bizarre given that the resurfaced track is so grippy. Huertas led every single lap across the stripe and was not even joined on the Race 1 podium by his season-long rival Yari Montella, as he was fourth behind the two Yamahas of Stefano Manzi and Valentine Debise. Fifth was local rider Jorge Navarro, on another Ducati. The first race, over 15 laps, witnessed Manzi set a new lap record, on lap eight, of 1m52.797s. Race 2 was also the last of the weekend in any class, but this time Montella chipped away at Huertas’ impressive points lead, winning from Manzi, a…

THE ROAD TO a championship always involves a few curveballs. Ai Ogura (MSI Boscoscuro) was thrown one of the biggest on the first lap of his home GP when rain brought out the red flags. A restart was quickly scheduled over 12 laps, but it had rained considerably in the 15 minutes before. A total of nine riders gambled on the drizzle relenting and the track drying up. To everyone’s surprise, championship leader Ogura was one of them. Polesitter Jake Dixon (Aspar Kalex) made the early running but Ogura – 16th on lap one – made rapid progress, taking the lead on lap three. With title contenders Alonso Lopez (Speed Up Boscoscuro), Sergio Garcia (MSI Boscoscuro) and Aron Canet (Fantic Kalex) floundering in ninth, 14th and 16th respectively, the Japanese…

ROUND 06 ONE RACEWAY, VIC. 5-6 OCTOBER // 2024 AUSTRALIAN SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP SUPERSPORT 1 MAHAFFY MAKES GOOD JACK MAHAFFY brought home his Stop & Seal Yamaha R6 in the opening race and backed it with a second place in Race 2 for a stunning round victory. Mahaffy started his weekend by qualifying second behind his Stop & Seal teammate Archie McDonald. McDonald set the pace in the opening laps, Mahaffy content to sit behind him closely followed by the BC Performance Kawasaki of Hayden Nelson. Tom Bramich (Carl Cox Motorsport – Yamaha) and Olly Simpson (Simpson Smash) rounded out the top five. Championship leader Jonathan Nahlous (Complete AV – Yamaha) appeared to be riding a conservative race back in sixth. McDonald reeled off a string of fastest laps until his…

KAWASAKI’S PLAN to upgrade its 1043cc inline four-cylinder models to a new 1099cc engine has been leaked a couple of times thanks to type-approval paperwork but now the 2025 Versys 1100 and Ninja 1000SX machines have been officially unveiled. Although only shown in Europe so far, Australian approval documents have already shown that the Versys 1100 will be coming here in ‘S’ form to replace the existing Versys 1000 S. Elsewhere, there are also ‘base’ and ‘SE’ variants, the former lacking the S’s taller screen, cornering lights and handguards, while the SE adds Showa semi-active suspension to the mix. Most of the Versys 1100’s specs remain the same as the previous Versys 1000, which shares the same suspension, chassis and styling. The 2025 Ninja 1100SX’s engine displacement increase is combined…

WIN! AN AMCN NECK SOCK EMAIL YOUR ANSWERS AND ADDRESS TO AMCN@AMCN.COM.AU FOR YOUR CHANCE TO WIN! ANSWERS WILL BE REVEALED IN THE NEXT ISSUE…

AT EVERY RIDER’S FAVOURITE CIRCUIT, THE RACING TENDS TO BE BRILLIANT Sprawling invitingly under sunny southern skies, like a sunbathing beauty? Or shivering treacherously beneath drenching squalls, driven by icy winds? Whichever Phillip Island welcomes the MotoGP circus this year, there is one guarantee. Whether battling bad conditions or revelling in the magnificent layout of fast and complex corners at every rider’s favourite circuit, the racing tends to be brilliant. And rather unpredictable. After an impressive 2001-5 winning streak by Valentino Rossi followed by a crushing six-year 2007-2012 domination by Casey Stoner, there have been seven different winners in nine years of reliably spell-binding action. The only repeat among them is Marc Marquez. The others have been Jorge Lorenzo, Rossi (again!), Cal Crutchlow, Maverick Vinales, Alex Rins and – finally,…

THE CURRENT MotoGP standings don’t make pleasant reading for Yamaha afficionados: neither of its two riders are in the championship’s top 10, while the Iwata factory finds itself fourth out of five manufacturers in the Constructor’s Championship. Yet there are clear signs Yamaha is serious about its MotoGP recovery. As well as aggressively hiring two key personnel from Ducati – Technical Director Max Bartolini and Senior Aerodynamics Engineer Marco Nicotra, it has acquired Pramac as its satellite team for 2025, where riders Miguel Oliveira and Jack Miller will aim to speed up development alongside factory runners Fabio Quartararo and Alex Rins. It has moved to reinforce its test team, with Augusto Fernandez expected to sign while three-time MotoGP runner-up Andrea Dovizioso is currently replacing the injured Cal Crutchlow. And while…

THE PROBLEM with MotoGP aerodynamics from a production bike perspective is that those racers are designed within a specific set of rules and operate within a tight set of parameters – always at the very limits of their performance. For roadbikes, neither factor holds true. As a result it’s both illogical and pointless to import MotoGP aerodynamics directly to the street. Want better front downforce or less drag? Wings and fairing designs that would be illegal in MotoGP could easily be adopted on production bikes, going all the way to those 50s-style dustbin fairings if you really want to slice through the air. Ground-effect generating fairings are similarly hard to implement, simply because road riders will never reach the lean angles required to get them to work properly. Where MotoGP…

YOU KNOW THAT pair of gloves you grab at every opportunity, the ones you always pack even if it’s going to be cold and wet in the hope the weather will clear up? For me, this is a pair of Triumph-branded leather gloves I picked up on the launch of the Triumph Thunderbird way back in 2009. Made from perforated leather, they are ideal everyday gloves, best suited to warm weather. They are short with a comfy neoprene cuff and a single Velcro closure. Over the past 15 years the leather has become soft and supple due to the many thousands of kilometres of my riding on many, many bikes. A knuckle protector stitched into the leather provides a modicum of protection and there are flex panels at the joints.…

TESTED VOL 74 NO 06 BIKE SPOTLIGHT YAMAHA MT-09 SP ENGINE 890cc three-cylinder POWER 87.5kW (117hp) @10,000rpm TORQUE 93Nm @7000rpm WEIGHT 194kg (kerb, claimed) PRICE $20,799 (ride away) “Enough upgrades to justify the price premium over the base MT-09, especially for trackdays” TESTED VOL 74 NO 05 BIKE SPOTLIGHT MV AGUSTA DRAGSTER R SCS ENGINE 798cc three-cylinder POWER 103kW (140hp) @12,300rpm TORQUE 87Nm @10,250rpm WEIGHT 175kg (dry, claimed) PRICE $34,595 (ride away) “Beautifully made, lovely engine, exotic good looks. Maybe your last chance to get a sub-$40k new MV” Check out the website for the latest reviews at amcn.com.au…

HOW GOOD IS David Alonso (Aspar CFMoto)? Well, the Colombian took yet another victory when, he later revealed, that wasn’t even the aim. The 18-year-old’s weekend had been complicated by a Friday morning highside. Yet as the laps ticked by, he got closer to the front and pounced on Adrian Fernandez (Leopard Honda) and David Munoz (BOE KTM) just when it mattered for a ninth success of the season. Alonso’s day was already looking rosy when Collin Veijer (IntactGP Husqvarna) crashed out of the lead at Turn 8 after heading the pack for the first 11 laps. Added to polesitter Ivan Ortola’s (MSI KTM) double long-lap penalty for careless riding on Saturday morning, he just had to manage the gap to Dani Holgado (Tech3 GASGAS) to maintain his title advantage.…

POLE MAN Loris Veneman (Kawasaki) led them away and finished third at the flag, after some outside lane overtakes, but Kawasaki’s Inigo Iglesias Bravo sent both the Spanish and Basque flags flying at full height when he held off the Kove of Julio Garcia Gonzalez into second place – by just 0.010sec! The second race was red-flagged, restarted over seven laps, and finally won by the narrowest imaginable margin of 0.006sec by Mirko Gennai (Kawasaki), from Aldi Mahendra (Yamaha) and Julio Osuna Saez (Kawasaki). Mahendra now leads the points with 195, Veneman has 179 and the luckless Iglesias Bravo (who got a double long-lap penalty in Race 2, and finally no points) 163. Carter Thompson WorldSSP300 6/10th BACK IN THE WorldSSP300 class after missing the previous round, Carter was back…

STICK OR TWIST? That was the challenge facing David Alonso (Aspar CFMoto) all weekend in Japan, the scene of his first match point. But after a chat with himself on Saturday evening, he decided the latter option was the only way. It was fitting that the 18-year-old wrapped up the 2024 Moto3 World Championship in the manner that has become his trademark: duelling with his rivals early on before making a decisive late push in the closing laps. This one followed the Alonso playbook. The Colombian was as low as seventh in the early stages of this contest, while Adrian Fernandez (Leopard Honda) led the way. Yet Alonso, who could claim the crown by finishing second, was on the move by lap nine, and hit the front on lap 11.…

HONDA DELIVERED a bombshell on the Friday of its home GP by announcing it has poached Aprilia’s Romano Albesiano to be its Technical Director from next year. The move represents a significant departure for HRC, where a Japanese engineer had always held the position. Just how much power he will have in the company remains to be seen. Albesiano has significant experience in the aerodynamics field and has overseen Aprilia’s rise from back marker to race winner since it officially reentered the MotoGP class in the 2015 season. “What Romano was able to do these last six, seven years in Aprilia has been amazing,” said rider Aleix Espargaro. “We’ve grown these last two or three seasons, but the first ones were verydifficult. l Henevergaveup, he had a lot of ideas;…

JASON O’HALLORAN has announced that he will not be competing full-time in the BSB championship next season, but also teased there will be some interesting news to come. Nigel Snook, boss at his Completely Motorbikes Kawasaki team, had announced that the O’Show would be fine for the season finale next weekend at Brands Hatch after a horror crash involving Billy McConnell and Christian Iddon at Donington, but it’s now been confirmed that he will in fact miss that round with shoulder surgery planned this week. Iddon will also sit out the final round. O’Halloran then followed up with his BSB retirement announcement, but rumours suggest he will be racing in the Endurance World Championship next season. Tara makes two SOUTH AUSTRALIAN ASBK Supersport 300 competitor Tara Morrison recently posted on…

BRYAN STARING used the One Raceway ASBK round to announce this season will be his last as a professional motorcycle racer. “I love riding and racing motorcycles,” the 37-year-old said. “I have since I was a kid racing motocross, when I made the switch to road racing and every time I get on a bike, but there comes a time when you need to reassess your situation.” Staring, who currently competes for the MotoGO Yamaha team, said he began his road racing journey 23 years ago on a 125cc GP bike at Malalla, SA. He has several national titles to his name, including being crowned 2010 Australian Superbike Champion, 2009 Australian Supersport Champion and 2004 Australian 125cc GP Champion. The Perth native went on to compete in World Superstock 1000,…

THE 2025 FIM Speedway Grand Prix series will be decided over 10 rounds – one less than the recently completed 2024 series. Next year will be 30 years after the world championship was first decided on a Grand Prix format back in 1995 featuring six rounds in different countries. There will be seven countries hosting SGP rounds in 2025 with the changes for next year being no round in Croatia, three rounds in Poland instead of four and a second round in Great Britain. Manchester’s National Speedway Stadium, home of the Belle Vue Aces, is the latest addition to the list of SGP venues which will give British fans two rounds for the first time ever. The Polish venue that will not have an SGP round next year is Torun,…

Australian Motorcycle News road test photographs are posed for by skilled, professional riders under controlled circumstances. Attempting to imitate their actions may be dangerous. Australian Motorcycle News supports and endorses rider training and wearing protective riding gear… especially if you’ve just been punted off track by your teammate like Taka Nakagami was in the Motegi Sprint. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out……

LOVE THEM or loathe them, winglets have become an unavoidable part of the motorcycling landscape since their wide-scale adoption in MotoGP and the latest spy shots of Aprilia’s Tuono V4 show it’s heading in the same direction. Silly? Probably. After all, the winglets take their cues from Aprilia’s RS-GP MotoGP machine, which has to be carefully designed to sit within restrictive racing regulations. But racing is, at its heart, marketing, and making roadbikes resemble their racing counterparts is a logical way to maximise its effectiveness. As well as the wings, the next-gen Tuono clearly gets a revised set of side fairing panels with repositioned radiator outlets, and the seat unit has been revised with a different upper surface to the tail section. The prototype seen here is lacking a bellypan,…

THE SAME NEW V-twin engine has also been spotted testing in a new sportsbike that shares its design cues with the latest 2025 Panigale V4 and is expected to replace both the Panigale V2 and the SuperSport 950 in Ducati’s range. Paperwork filed in America recently also hinted at the upcoming model, listing it as “2102 Project” and showing a VIN that revealed it to be within Ducati’s ‘superbike’ model range, featuring a new engine and with a power output of between 111hp and 122hp (83/91kW). That seems a bit low for a Panigale V2 replacement but would be ideal for a model to supersede the 114hp (85kW) Supersport 950.…

ISLAND SECRETS 500cc LAP CHART You know, this would work at this year’s event too! AMCN Vol 38 No 21 HIDING KEYS Probably not much of a tip after everyone has been able to read it, but I've found that a good place to hide your spare ignition key is in the wiring loom - preferably with a bit of innocent-looking duct tape wrapped around it. Edwin Hammer, Brisbane, Qld ED’S DESK "There’s no prizes for guessing what the editorial is about this issue. Predictably, the place has gone nuts over the GP. Melbourne city is a good example. There are GP banners up in the streets, many non-motorcycle businesses have joined in the City Council competition for the best shop-front display on a GP theme, and every second person…

The sound, the crowds, the atmosphere, the queues, the ice-cold piercing wind… attending Phillip Island for the Australian round of the MotoGP is like nothing else on earth. There’s a handful of new things planned for the 2024 event – there are people who’ll let you throw axes, they’re upping indoor booze options (sadly at the expense of some loyal expo stalls) and the introduction of some spectacular, if not puzzling, four-wheeled monstrosities. BEER HALL One end of the GP Expo shed has been turned into a new motorcycle-themed bar, meaning you no longer need to huddle under a tree in order to enjoy a beer out of the rain. With a capacity limit of just 350 people, while AMCN doesn’t condone drinking before midday, it’d be a very good…

ADVANTAGE JORGE Martin (Pramac Ducati)? Or advantage Pecco Bagnaia (Lenovo Ducati)? It depended on which day you cast your judgement in Indonesia as the championship pendulum swung between the two over the 15th round of season 2024 to ensure none of us were any the wiser as to who will claim this year’s crown. As witnessed here a year ago, the Pertamina Mandalika Circuit showed off the very best and worst of the Spaniard. Martin claimed a convincing victory on Sunday, expertly managing the gap to Pedro Acosta (Tech3 GasGas) behind from the first lap, and coolly soaking up the pressure applied by both the rookie and, briefly, Enea Bastianini (Lenovo Ducati) in the race’s decisive moments. Yet any sense this was a triumph to scream to the rooftops about…

IF CREMONA offered the birth and baptism of a new WorldSBK circuit, and then the first three career WorldSBK wins for Barni Racing’s Danilo Petrucci, Motorland Aragon was a rebirth of one rider’s true winning career, another rider’s 2024 title desired and a double world champion’s proof that hanging around again next year is probably the right decision. Motorland was one of those profound, racing-life and love reaffirming weekends that any championship needs to prove its feel-good credentials to itself and others. First of all, Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW) was declared fit and thus returned from a crash many others would not have walked away from, much less than a month ago, and the championship fight was very much back on between him and Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Ducati). It was…

COULD THE apprentice usurp the current master? That was the question posed ahead of a crucial Sunday in Japan as Pedro Acosta (Tech3 KTM) fronted up to reigning champion Pecco Bagnaia (Lenovo Ducati) on two occasions, but just fell short in an agonising fashion. For the first time all year the rookie looked capable of scrapping with – and beating – Bagnaia and Ducati’s all-conquering GP24 after showing blazing pace on Friday afternoon, before brilliantly leading Saturday’s Sprint for six of 12 laps. Even if he crashed out of first – “the toughest moment of my career,” he called it – there were hopes of a similar challenge on Sunday. Yet raceday showed the exceptional 20-year-old still has much to learn. And, like much of the past month, he was having…

BROC PEARSON took his Desmosport Ducati V4 R to new heights by claiming his maiden dry mi-bike Motorcycle Insurance Australian Superbike Championship race win and overall round win at the revamped One Raceway at Goulburn last weekend. Volunteers worked around the clock with track owners the Shelley brothers to have the facility operational in time. Mike Jones (Yamaha Racing Team) then drew first blood on the new layout with a pole position lap of 58.838sec. Such were the time constraints in readying the facility, this event was the unintended inaugural meeting for One Raceway – with the asphalt considered ‘green’ and tyre wear implications unknown. There was also the new banked ‘stadium’ section in the final corner plus an extra kink leading onto the main straight among the features that…