Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol 75 Issue 3 i Australian Motorcycle News

We’ve known for months that CFMoto has been plotting to launch a 750cc fourcylinder sportsbike to sit above the 675SR-S triple. Now we have the first official images and information of a bike that immediately looks like it could be among the most tempting prospects yet from the fastgrowing Chinese brand. With 82kW (100hp) at 10,250rpm, it’s not quite in the same league as the last of the Japanese 750cc fours when it comes to power, but the bike’s bore and stroke are similar to the likes of Suzuki’s GSX-R750 and Yamaha’s old YZF750R, suggesting there’s potential for more from the engine. Its power peak also comes relatively low in the rev range (for a 750cc four), suggesting it might be uncorked for more performance in the future. The max…

A JACK IN THE BATH We thought a bath was supposed to be relaxing. But then we've never raced at the Suzuka 8 Hours. Here Jack Miller chills in the ice bath as he ponders how to claw Yamaha back to the leading Honda. MAN CAVE FOR SALE South Australian motorcycle identity Colin Gitsham is selling his popular Cabinet of Curiosities museum lock, stock and barrel. Located 60km from Adelaide at Mount Pleasant, it also contains significant racing and road bikes. Contact him on 0400 515036. E-BIKE OUTRAGE Authorities around Australia are finally facing the fact that souped-up e-bikes are a menace and giving motorcycling a bad name. In Victoria, police are targeting riders using overpowered or non-compliant e-bikes after crashes jumped 82 per cent last year. Meanwhile, one WA…

TWO ROUNDS to go and three points adrift – that’s the scenario facing Australian champion Brady Kurtz if he is to become the 2025 World Speedway Champion. The OlyBet FIM Speedway Grand Prix of Latvia at Riga on 2 August was the third SGP round in a row where Kurtz has stood atop the rostrum, and with defending champion Bartosz Zmarzlik finishing last in the final, the gap between the duo was cut from nine points to just three. For Kurtz it was his first ever meeting in Riga, and it did not start well with a last in his opening heat. Thereafter it improved and, following a long delay because of rain, he finished with two wins and two seconds in his remaining heats – only the second time in…

TRACTION CONTROL When TC starts to intervene, it gives the rider feedback on how much the rear tyre is slipping, plus it acts as a safety net if the slipping increases rapidly. In the software, these are complex 3D maps that are continuously adjusted by the engineers to suit the conditions, tyres and track. In addition to the software setting, the rider can also adjust (trim) this via the TC button on the handlebar. Because the grip will gradually decrease while riding, each press means a step more TC. Miller: “We have the three buttons there. One is engine brake, of course, which is generally green. Red is generally power. And yellow is simply fueling. Before, TC and Power were two different buttons and then we were able to integrate the…

In a perfect world we would have a garage full of bikes for every occasion. Sports bike for the track, adventure bike for the occasional off-road foray, something cool and retro for summer evenings, a large scooter for commuting and a big tourer for that week-long holiday. The real world, however, is rather different. If we’re lucky, we might have two bikes but, for the majority of us, just one bike is what we can afford or have room for. That machine needs to be an all-arounder that can do it all on a budget. Which is where bikes like Yamaha’s 2025 Tracer 7 and Tracer 7 GT step up and make all the difference to us mere mere mortals. The updated Tracer is based on the popular MT-07. Fun,…

“RACING DOESN’T JUST SCREECH TO A HALT WHEN THE BIKE IS PACKED UP. THE REAL RACE STILL UNFOLDS IN THE QUIET CORNERS” YOU KNOW THAT eerie calm that settles over the paddock as everyone packs up and the thunder of race bikes fades into a quiet memory? It might not seem like it but in that moment and in the quiet lull that follows, racing doesn’t stop, it just shifts gears. The second you’ve packed up the van (or, in my case, recently jumped on a plane back to your home country) that’s when prep for the next race meet begins; from weekend laps to creative grunt, all mixed in with a healthy dose of personal shenanigans. Wouldn’t you know it, I waltzed home from Europe after WorldWCR feeling bulletproof,…

1 THE ROMEO DAD Ficeda Accessories $649.95 1300 437 711 ficeda.com.au Dad’s socks don’t need upgrading – but his ride wear probably does. So our pick of the new SEGURA Spring/Summer 2026 collection is the Romeo Jacket: 100% buffalo leather, built like a tank but smooth as Dad’s old pickup lines. Boasting CE-rated protection and super cool vents, it’s safety, style and swagger all stitched into one perfect midlife crisis wrapper. 2 THE STRAPZ DAD Andy Strapz $175 +postage  (03) 9786 3445 andystrapz.com Forget Bunnings vouchers (for once). Give Dad the Mac in a Sac – Polar. It’s light, warm, packable and perfect for squeezing under his beloved riding jacket (or his even more beloved beer belly). With real duck down and a reversible design, it’s like gifting him two jackets…

RACING WHAT, WHERE & WHEN RIDE DAYS & SCHOOLS Phillip Island Ride Days/0490 281 840 Phillip Island, Vic Sydney Motorsport Park Ride Days/0490 281 840 SMSP, NSW Murray Valley Training Co 0459 415 787 Barnawartha North, Vic Champion’s Ride Days (07) 3287 4144 Broadford, Vic Collie Motorplex, WA Morgan Park, Qld The Bend, SA Trakdayz 0401 484 898 Wanneroo, WA California Superbike School/1300 793 423 Phillip Island, Vic SMSP, NSW Broadford, Vic Morgan Park Qld Mount Gambier MCC Coaching/Ride Days 0448 951 163 Mac Park, SA Ride-Tek MTA 1300 788 382 Sandown, Vic Ridedays WA (08) 9409 1002 Wanneroo, WA Collie, WA Top Rider 1300 131 362 Various venues, Qld Phoenix MCC Junior Coaching 0403 386 788 Tailem Bend, SA Mallala, SA RALLIES & SHOWS 22-24 AUG The 2nd edition of the ADV FEST is happening at Dorrigo…

There’s something about a motorcycle that stirs the soul in a way few other machines can. As part of a recent BMW Motorrad competition, for the chance to win two passes to a Level 1 California Superbike School training day of your choice, we asked our readers a simple question: “What do you love most about riding motorcycles?” The responses we received were raw, heartfelt and inspiring. For some, like reader Matt Fernandez, riding is “the most freeing thing I’ve ever done”, a personal escape hatch from the pressure cooker of everyday life. “A few hours in the saddle makes it all manageable,” he wrote. Reader Ben Sykes waxed poetic about the sensory richness of two wheels: “Every sense is alive,” he wrote. “The scent of the bush, the rush…

With the middleweight motorcycle market in the 300cc-500cc bracket booming, BMW is racing to get in on the action with its upcoming F 450 GS. Shown as the Concept F 450 GS last year, it’s an all-new platform for the Bavarian brand, including a 35kW (47hp) parallel-twin engine that’s huge step up from the single in the current G 310 models that sit at the entry level of the company’s range. While the GS is the obvious choice to kick off the new line, BMW will inevitably grow the range to mimic its larger model lines, so expect the likes of an F 450 R, an F 450 XR and even an F 450 RS or RR in the future. International sales of these types of models are soaring as…

MV AGUSTA’S Superveloce 1000 retro sportsbike and CFMoto’s 450MT adventure bike are signature models for these companies. Now a rival is producing budget versions to tempt potential customers. While the Superveloce 1000 is one of the most attractive bikes on the market, thanks to its combination of modern and retro styling cues, it’s also expensive enough to ensure that it’s out of reach for the vast majority of riders. And that’s where China’s QJMotor might have a solution. This isn’t just a Chinese company ripping off a European design, though, as QJMotor has longstanding ties with MV Agusta, even sharing some of the same designers and, at the high end of QJ’s range, using MV’s own engines and frame designs. QJ was also due to work with MV to build…

DANNY KENT and reigning champion Kyle Ryde still sit in second and third respectively in the BSB points table behind Bradley Ray after scoring big at Thruxton over 8-10 August. We bring you up to date, starting with a recap of the previous round at Brands Hatch. Brands Hatch: Prodigal Son Redding After riding at Knockhill and scoring modest points to replace the injured Glenn Irwin at Hager PBM Ducati, Scott Redding completed his return at Brands Hatch with victory in race two – but not before the phenom that is Bradley Ray (Raceways Yamaha) chalked up another win in the opening race, despite massive pressure from Redding and Kyle Ryde (Nitrous Competitions Racing – Yamaha). “Towards the end, I was watching the pitboard and to be honest I had nothing…

JACK MILLER has missed out on an heroic Suzuka 8 Hours win by just 34 seconds in one of the most physically demanding editions of the famous race. He went head-to-head with fellow MotoGP star Johann Zarco in the final laps but Honda’s race strategy of seven fuel stops and only two riders won out. The factory Honda HRC team repeated its 2024 victory and rewrote the record books with Zarco and Takumi Takahashi becoming the first winning two-rider team in almost two decades. Their effort also secured a fourth straight victory for HRC, brought Zarco his second Suzuka win and cemented Takahashi’s status as the event’s most decorated rider. Miller had looked likely to put the Yamaha Racing Team on pole before a horrifying qualifying crash totalled his bike. The…

Twist the throttle of CFMoto’s new 500SR VOOM and its four 125cc pistons harmonise into a fluid, rising soundtrack that builds with every thousand rpm. It starts with a reasonably loud hum at low revs, as musical as it is mechanical, and the note tightens into a keen-edged growl in the midrange before soaring into a distinctive howl as the digital tacho climbs past 10,000rpm. It’s urgent, alive and unmistakably inline-four, and I’d forgotten just how much fun a small-capacity four-cylinder engine can be. That steady, insistent pull that rewards commitment, thrives on revs and has you nervously checking your surroundings for flashing red and blues. Compared to today’s ubiquitous parallel twins, the VOOM’s engine feels creamy and turbine-smooth, thanks to its naturally balanced 180-degree crank and the seamless timing…

Few gave Johann Zarco a shot at a rich late career run when he announced he was leaving Pramac Ducati at the close of 2023 to join the ailing Honda. After failing to piece together a proper title challenge on the grid’s best bike, the Frenchman was willing to jump aboard the grid’s worst. The last time he experienced that, during a doomed stay at KTM in 2019, it didn’t end so well. Yet fast forward 20 months and Zarco has been Honda’s most consistent performer. His highs in that time are beyond anything he could have anticipated through the dark months of 2024. What’s more, he’s been a calm and mature presence as HRC gradually finds its feet after years in the wilderness. Here, the Frenchman tells AMCN why…

A script writer’s dream? Mike (Michelle) Duff, Canada’s only world championship Grand Prix winner and TT podium finisher, is mates with arch Australian privateer Jack Ahearn, has a Finnish wife and three children, undergoes gender reassignment in the 1990s, is still riding at 70-plus and seeing off young guys on their sportsbikes, writing children’s novels, photographing wildlife and living alone in Nova Scotia with pets. Sound like a full 85 years? You bet. It begins in Toronto with Michael Alan Duff, born on 13 December, 1939, and takes motorcycling shape riding his brother’s roadster. Racing takes hold and in 1961 Duff becomes part of the Continental Circus on an AJS 7R 350 and Matchless G50 500. Famed English sponsor Tom Arter helps guide him. Duff immediately impresses, finishing fourth and…

Less than a year ago, Jacob Roulstone’s dreams of racing glory seemed to be in tatters as he lay in bed with a fractured and displaced C3 vertebra – a broken neck. The surgery installed plates and screws to stabilise the area. Luckily Roulstone didn’t suffer any notable nerve damage. It took five days before he could walk. He spent six weeks in a cervical collar and was forced to miss pre-season testing, plus the first two rounds of the 2025 championship. Roulstone describes the crash, which was at a ride day on a street bike, as just a minor get-off. “I just lost the front, and just the crash itself, it’s fine for the body, (but) where I just rolled a neck on my head, so… Yeah, it was…

ONE OF THE most enduring and popular British motorcycles of all times has been revived as a 2025 model. BSA’s Bantam 350 has been launched in the UK to challenge the likes of Honda’s GB350S, Royal Enfield’s Hunter 350 and even Triumph’s Speed 400. It’s the next step in the path forward for India’s Mahindra conglomerate, which has owned BSA since 2016. Since then it has taken a low-key approach, launching the Gold Star 650 in selected markets (but not Australia) back in 2022. The new Bantam adopts a similar semi-retro style as its rivals but, in the UK where it made its debut, aims to offer a more tempting price-toperformance ratio than its rivals. It’s sale price of £3499 ($A7200) undercuts its main rivals by as much as $A1200,…

Danilo The Man THE REPLACEMENT for the irreplaceable Toprak Razgatlioglu inside the official Rokit BMW Motorrad squad will be Danilo Petrucci – barring disaster – but the other rider is still to be finally decided. Michael van der Mark will not be retained. The main complication is that BMW has not made up its corporate mind yet on competition inside WorldSBK beyond 2026. BMW may join MotoGP in 2027 (or may well not, but again that decision has not quite been made yet, either way). We expect news on WorldSBK participation beyond 2026 relatively soon. Down and out to disaster THE BIG Crash at T2, just two corners into the brave new Balaton era, was caused when Andrea Iannone braked so hard his back wheel lifted, pitched to the right…

JOSH WATERS and Mike Jones were once again locked in a two-wheeled duel at Queensland Raceway for the fifth round of the Mi-Bike Australian Superbike Championship over 8-10 August, with both riders taking one win each on Sunday after an oil spill forced the cancellation of the opening race on Saturday. With the Superbikes co-headlining with the Repco Supercars on the return trip to QR, McMartin Racing’s Waters showed his intentions early with a convincing run to pole position (and that critical championship point). This translated into a confident holeshot for Waters but he wasn’t the only one with a great start; his McMartin Racing teammate Harrison Voight was also flying from the third row, surging to second in the opening laps before mechanical problems forced him out of the race.…

THE NEXT Gen Supersport class was integrated with the Superbike field for the first time at this round, and while Kiwi Luca Durning is still finding his feet on the Desmosport Ducati Panigale V2, the Stop & Seal Racing trio of Tom Toparis, Jack Mahaffy and Archie McDonald all had tales of woe. Mahaffy crashed his Next Gen prepared bike heavily during practice, while McDonald had electrical issues during qualifying. McDonald and Toparis posted the best results of the weekend and, as reported several issues ago, Goulburnbased Toparis has made the switch from Superbike to a Next Gen Supersport Panigale V2 with the intention of developing that machine for international competition in 2026. Tom told us that this weekend was the first time he had ridden the Ducati. “It was…

THE 2025 Yamaha BLU CRU Aussie Flat Track Nationals (AFTN) season has been turned on its head – already! – after Tom Armstrong swept through the field at Maryborough’s Action Park over the weekend of 26-27 July, winning four of the eight races on offer at the double-header season opener. Armstrong, a former national dirt track champion with international experience in both flat track and speedway, had not ridden competitively in 13 years. “My last competitive race was the 2012 King of Nepean. It’s been a long time!” Armstrong revealed, adding, “I’ve dropped 22 kilograms since last year, but I had no expectations coming into the AFTN. I was happy to make the A group, to be honest.” He showed consistency, tight lines and raw speed to finish on the…

MANY OF the Isle of Man TT’s leading riders will grid up again for the Manx Classic TT from 17-25 August. John McGuinness MBE will lead off a 50-strong field for the four-lap Senior Classic TT on the Winfield Paton twin. The three-time winner and current lap record holder at 113.342mph faces a huge challenge from top TT riders on a variety of classic machinery. The grid includes Dean Harrison on a G50 Matchless single and Jamie Coward, twice runner-up on a Manx Norton. Both riders have achieved 110mph-plus laps. Davey Todd will ride a TX500 Yamaha twin while Mike Browne, a double Senior Classic podium finisher, will again race New Zealander Peter Lodge’s pushrod Norton ES2 single. Conor Cummins will race a CB500 Honda twin while Aussie Davo Johnson is…

The handlebars of MotoGP bikes are home to a seemingly confusing array of buttons and levers. Together with the display, they form the rider’s workplace. Yamaha’s Jack Miller and Aprilia’s test rider Lorenzo Savadori help us decipher what riders are faced with during a race. BUSY LITTLE BEAVERS In addition to throttle, brake, shift and steer, MotoGP riders are also busy adjusting the electronics, operating the ride height adjustment and following the information on the display. Quite busy, with speeds of up to 360km/h and riding at the limit of tyre grip. WHY THE RIDERS THEMSELVES HAVE TO DO SO MUCH The ECU (Electronic Control Unit) on MotoGP bikes is less high-tech than many people probably think. Since 2016, a mandatory ECU with relatively simple software has been in use.…

It’s 10 years since the first products of the born again Brough Superior brand began rolling out to customers around the world. This followed its revival under the ownership of Austrian-based Brit Mark Upham, who licensed noted French designer Thierry Henriette, owner of Boxer Design in Toulouse, to create the all-new SS100. This made its public debut at the 2013 EICMA show in Milan, Italy, marking the 90th anniversary of this most significant model in Brough history’s introduction. To establish a two-wheeled Entente Cordiale, Henriette subsequently acquired a long-term lease on the Brough trademark from Upham, giving him indefinite ownership of the manufacturing rights to the historic British brand. Since then, while celebrating its centenary in 2019, the nowadays French-based company has established an enviable reputation for excellence of design…

“IT WAS EASIER TO DO STUPID THINGS BACK BEFORE SOCIAL MEDIA PUT ITS DIGITAL CLAMP ON FUN” OH DEAR. How the past can catch up, eh? Back in the mid 1970s I was ‘studying’ at the University of New England in Armidale. As Mr Smith used to say, study is an old Aboriginal word for drinking heaps of piss, chasing girls and falling over a lot. First year was spent ‘in residence’, living in a college on campus. I scored a room in Robb College because I was good at footy. Robb was all blokes back then and had a reputation for being as wild as it gets. We had the best parties and still won the football. Think Animal House but with a lot of cold nights running around…