One of the most exciting, and grueling, off-road races of the year is upon us yet again and KTM is ready for battle. Of course, we can only be talking about the 2019 Dakar, and Red Bull KTM is bringing a four-man team to go for its 18th consecutive victory.

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Matthias Walkner, Toby Price, Sam Sunderland and Luciano Benavides are now in the final stages of their preparations ahead of the 2019 Dakar Rally. One final test in Abu Dhabi is now all that stands between the four Red Bull KTM Factory Racing riders and the 10-day event being held exclusively in Peru. Fielding an exceptionally strong team that includes three previous Dakar winners, Red Bull KTM will fight for their 18th consecutive victory at the prestigious annual event.

Following an incredible season, that saw Matthias Walkner crowned 2018 Dakar Rally Champion and Toby Price crowned FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Champion, the focus has now switched firmly back to the Dakar and the 2019 event that kicks off on January 6.

Setting off from Lima, the 2019 Dakar Rally will see riders compete for a total of over 5,000 kilometres, 3,000 of which will be timed special stages. With the route consisting of 70 percent sand dunes, the event will be like no other. The organisers have billed the 41st edition as one of ‘unequalled intensity’ where navigation, endurance and perhaps more importantly than ever, ultimate speed will be key to a strong result.

Looking to defend his 2018 Dakar title, Matthias Walkner will head to Peru with his confidence high. Despite a tricky start to this year’s world championship campaign, Walkner soon found his rhythm onboard his KTM 450 RALLY. Strong finishes at the final few rounds of the season, including runner-up results at the Desafio Inka and Rallye du Maroc, showed that the Austrian rider is on form and ready to take on the Dakar once more.

Matthias Walkner: “I’m looking forward to getting back on the bike in Peru and racing to defend my title. There is a little bit of added pressure for me but my plan is exactly the same as always – stay safe and do my best at the event. It’s difficult to know how things will be with the race held in just one country and with so much of it in the sand. Strategy will be very important as your start position for the day can make a huge difference to the results. I believe it will be very close with a lot of guys fighting for the win, but if everything goes to plan and I can keep to a consistent pace, I would hope for at least another podium finish.”

Less than two months since he was crowned FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Champion, Toby Price is already fully focused on the Dakar. Similarly to his teammate Walkner, Price endured a challenging start to his 2018 season with some bad fortune and mixed results hampering his championship hopes. However, a charge in the latter half of the year took the Australian to victory at the final round in Morocco and with it he secured his first ever world championship. The 2016 Dakar champion aims to carry that form into Peru and the fast-approaching 2019 event.

Toby Price: “2018 has been an incredible year for me. Finishing the Dakar on the podium in third after only just coming back from injury was great. The world championship didn’t start quite like I would have hoped, but I was able to keep my head together, stay consistent and the results finally came. Everything clicked in Morocco at that final round and I’m hoping for something similar in Peru. It’s going to be a bit of a strange Dakar, the route looks like about 70 percent is in the dunes and it’s going to be a real challenge, certainly no time to relax. In the past there have been days where you can pace yourself and still get a good result by concentrating on navigation and riding smooth – on this one I think it’s going to be flat-out from the very beginning.”

Forced to retire from the 2018 Dakar due to injury, Sam Sunderland was soon back on a bike and fighting for the win at the first round of the world championship in Abu Dhabi. As the season moved on to Chile, Sam was again battling for victory when a further injury caused him to miss the next few races. Regrouping for the final round in Morocco, and despite a tyre issue causing him to lose time early on, the Brit’s pace was impressive in the sand with Sam taking a stage win. Pleased with his speed on the bike, Sunderland has also been working on his overall fitness for what looks to be one of the most intense Dakar Rallies to date.

Sam Sunderland: “As we get closer to Dakar now, I’m feeling really good. I’m happy with how I am riding and confident in my navigation. I know this year in Peru it’s going to be very physically demanding, so I have been working very hard on my training to be in the best shape when the race starts in January. It’s definitely good for me that we have 10 days in the dunes. I love riding that sort of terrain and seem to have good pace there. Whether it will fall in my favour I don’t know. Anything can happen in rallies as we know and you can’t predict a race like Dakar. This year I did have a six-minute lead after Peru so that is encouraging, but the plan is the usual – take each day as it comes.”

Riding the full Red Bull liveried KTM 450 RALLY for the first time at Dakar 2019, Luciano Benavides is hoping to make up for his early departure from the 2018 event with a strong result in Peru. Following five tough months of recovery, Benavides returned to competition at his home race – the Desafio Ruta 40 in Argentina – to place an excellent sixth. Concentrating on his navigation and strategy during the final rounds of the year, the number 77 will be looking to build on his experience and complete his first Dakar Rally.

Luciano Benavides: “It’s an honour to ride with the Red Bull colours on the bike. It carries a lot of responsibility and some added pressure, especially as I am riding with three Dakar champions. But I will try my best to turn that into motivation to do well. My first goal is simply to finish, as I had to drop out this year. My second goal is to finish inside the top-10. I know that will be tough and I think with the shorter rally in 2019 it will be even tougher, but I know I have the pace to do so. My crash this year came from a lack of focus, so I need to change that for January. I have spent a lot of time working on my navigation and strategy so hopefully it will all pay off.”

Joining the four-rider Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team in Peru will be Laia Sanz and Mario Patrao. The two KTM Factory Racing riders will both be gunning for strong results at the 2019 Dakar Rally. Sanz will be returning to competition proper following her recent fight with the Epstein Barr virus. Patrao will be racing his first Dakar for the factory team and hopes to be able to support the rest of the squad by riding a solid, consistent Dakar in what looks to be a shorter, but no-less brutal race.

Starting January 6 in Lima, the 2019 Dakar Rally covers 10 full days of racing with one marathon stage and one rest day before the riders return to Lima for the finish on January 17. The total distance covered by the motorcycles will be 5,541 kilometres – 2,889 kilometres of which will be timed special stages.

The post Red Bull KTM Is Ready For (And Previews) Dakar 2019 appeared first on Motorcycle.com News.

Electric motorcycles are going racing on the world stage in 2019 and Energica’s Ego Corsa will be the machine all the competitors will be riding. Now that all the teams and riders have had a chance to test, here’s what Energica has to say.

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The cornerstone of the 2019 FIM Enel MotoE World Cup was laid down two weekends ago, when a three-day-test was performed by all twelve teams taking part in the series at the Jerez Circuit. Twelve, stunning Energica Ego Corsa machines were ridden for the first time by the mix of young and experienced talents of motorcycle racing that form the line-up of the new championship, which will get underway for the first time at this same track on May 3-5 2019.

Among these riders, there was one who made the news by making his return to racing at the age of 48: the two-time MotoGP runner-up and nine-time premier class race winner – once in 500cc and eight times in MotoGP – Sete Gibernau, who looked more than ready for action aboard the Ego Corsa assigned to Pons Racing for this test.

The quickest of them all turned out to be, however, former MotoGP factory rider Bradley Smith (Sic Racing Team), who logged a 1’50.265secs lap-time in the fourth of nine 30-minute sessions (on day two).

“I’m really happy” says Bradley Smith. “The three days went super good. It was unfortunate that we had difficult weather conditions, but it was also nice to ride in the dry, in the wet and in mixed conditions just to get some information and feedback from the settings, the tyres and also from the electronic strategies, mappings and configurations that we tried. Overall, I felt I adapted to the bike quite quickly, while trying to understand what makes the bike work at its very best. I feel this championship is going to be very competitive: it was great to see so many riders from different series and disciplines coming together and all of them being not only competitive but also really, really close. It’s a pleasant surprise for everybody involved and a there’s a nice buzz about the championship right now.”

This three-day test was more of a shakedown to make sure riders and teams could get a glimpse of the potential of the all-electric superbike machine by Energica before the winter break. In the meetings and briefings held during and after the test, a positive scenario emerged in which team managers had a very positive feedback to report to Energica CTO Giampiero Testoni, who was actively involved with the group of Energica technicians and mechanics in supporting the teams during the test.

“We are extremely happy with how this first MotoE test went down” Giampiero Testoni began. “All twelve Ego Corsa performed – as expected – consistently over the course of the three days with no major setbacks and a lot of good feedback coming from riders and team managers, whose expectations were not only matched but also widely surpassed. Our team of technicians worked in great synergy with the teams and did an extremely good job, so things are looking up for the future. We will now continue working towards the winter to make sure we’re fully ready to go for the next test at Jerez.”

The next MotoE test will take place at Jerez on March 12-14 2019.

The post Energica Riders And Teams Comment After First MotoE Test appeared first on Motorcycle.com News.

Motorcycle Industry Council survey reveals continuing shift in rider demographics with women representing a growing number of motorcycle ownership.

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Nearly one in five motorcycle owners is now female, compared with one in 10 less than a decade ago, and the data suggests that women could soon make up one quarter of owners, which would be a major shift in motorcycling demographics, according to the latest national survey by the Motorcycle Industry Council.

Among all age groups, women now make up 19 percent of motorcycle owners. But the 2018 survey showed even greater female ownership within younger generations. Among Gen X motorcycle owners, 22 percent were women; among Gen Y, 26 percent were women.

“As the number of Boomer and mature motorcyclists shrink and are replaced by newer riders, we could soon be looking at a solid 25 percent of motorcycle owners being female,” said Andria Yu, MIC director of communications. “We’ve seen with our own eyes many more women riders — on the roads, on the trails, on the track, with families, at motorcycling events, forming clubs and just being part of everyday group rides. Many people in the industry have worked some 30 years to achieve this, and now the data confirms it: More and more women are getting out there and enjoying motorcycles.”

The MIC polled 2,472 adults nationwide for the 2018 Motorcycle/ATV Owner Survey. For decades, the MIC surveys have served as the census of motorcycling, and have tracked a steady growth in the percentage of women who own bikes.

“Major efforts to increase the number of women riders go back to the late 1980s when top manufacturers and distributors came together and formed Discover Today’s Motorcycling, the industry outreach program built to introduce new riders to two-wheeling,” said Cam Arnold, a longtime industry executive who is organizing a Women in Powersports networking event this evening in New York City. “The first DTM project in the 1980s spotlighted the historic 1916 Van Buren sisters ride across the country and garnered much media attention. Throughout the 1990s and on till today, the big brands have dedicated increasing amounts of attention to the women’s market, and we’ve simply seen more and more positive imagery on TV, in movies and in many mainstream settings where women on motorcycles are just having fun.”

The 2018 owner survey also found that women motorcycle owners spend, on average, $574 a year on tires, routine repairs, maintenance, replacement parts, and accessories and modifying equipment, compared with $497 by men.

“We’ve seen particularly strong growth in the aftermarket sector for women,” said Cinnamon Kernes, newly appointed vice president and general manager of MIC Events and the American International Motorcycle Expo presented by Nationwide, the largest powersports trade and consumer show in North America. “Over the past decade, more women are designing riding gear and other products specifically for female riders, working in major companies or creating their own brands. Having gear designed for women by women was a huge step and has certainly helped encourage female ridership.”

The Women in Powersports gathering today will be at the Manhattan showroom and factory of Breaking Hearts & Burning Rubber, a company owned and operated by women producing motorcycle gear and apparel for women.

Motorcycling has grown in popularity and acceptance in American culture in recent decades, which is reflected in the survey. It found that 66 percent of women motorcycle owners say their family and friends would have a positive attitude toward motorcycles and scooters.

The Motorcycle Industry Council exists to preserve, protect and promote motorcycling through government relations, communications and media relations, statistics and research, aftermarket programs, development of data communications standards, activities surrounding technical and regulatory issues, and the American International Motorcycle Expo. As a not-for-profit, national industry association, the MIC seeks to support motorcyclists by representing manufacturers, distributors, dealers and retailers of motorcycles, scooters, ATVs, ROVs, motorcycle/ATV/ROV parts, accessories and related goods and services, and members of allied trades such as insurance, finance and investment companies, media companies and consultants.

The MIC is headquartered in Irvine, Calif., with a government relations office in metropolitan Washington, D.C. First called the MIC in 1970, the organization has been in operation since 1914. Visit the MIC at www.mic.org.

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