“But I got away at the start really well, I was maybe in tenth or eight on the first lap, it was a really solid first lap. I was seventh on lap two and I went into the corner seventh and came out third, with a little help from George, so that was alright. But no, I’m sorry for those guys. It was a good old race with myself, Petrux, Fabio and Rins.”
Source: MotoGP.com – Read Full Article Here
The grand total raised by the day is an incredible €6320, which will go towards the life-saving work of Two Wheels for Life – the Official Charity of MotoGP™. The next chance fans have to visit the paddock is at Assen, with two more opportunities later in the year at Aragon and Valencia, too. Don’t miss your chance to go behind the scenes at MotoGP™!
Source: MotoGP.com – Read Full Article Here
“Yeah yeah, very very hot. Very hot day. Today, before the race, I was in my office on the sofa I say to myself, because sometimes when you say something to it brings bad luck, at least in Italy we think this,” began Petrucci, who goes on to explain the crash that saw him go from fifth to second in a matter of seconds.
Source: MotoGP.com – Read Full Article Here
Despite possessing a fair amount of motorcycle touring experience, I’ve never been particularly good at packing light. It’s not entirely an obsession with bringing lots of creature comforts–I also wear size 13 shoes, one pair of which can wipe out a small saddlebag if I have to bring more than the boots on my feet.
When I do need more space I usually break out some soft luggage. The easiest type of bag to add to any luggage ensemble or use on its own is the good ol’ seat bag or tail bag. Important features to look for include a simple but safe and reliable mounting system; the ability to expand when you need to bring back more than you left with; and at least a little bit of style to complement your bike. Fly Racing’s 20.5-liter Tail Bag offers all of this and more at an affordable price, including a red-lined interior that makes finding stuff inside easier, and internal stiffeners with flaps that flip up to support it when the bag is expanded to its full 27-liter capacity.
At 15 inches long, 9 inches wide and 8.5 inches high unexpanded, the Fly Racing Tail Bag is intended to be mounted lengthwise on a passenger seat/luggage rack, and its unique but simple mounting system makes it easy to do so if you have the space. Instead of bungees or straps with quick-release buckles, there are four nylon web straps with loops at one end and swivel clips at the other, with a simple strap retainer in between that is used to adjust the length. It takes a bit of fiddling to get them all properly adjusted and the bag clipped to the bike, but once you do it’s not going anywhere. And you don’t have to undo the straps to remove the bag and take it with you, because it unzips from its base.
The strap clips snap onto plastic loops on the bottom corners of the base, which have flaps underneath to keep them from scratching paint. Four additional loops can be used to strap stuff to the top of the bag, and there’s a key keeper inside. Two zippered pockets on the sides of the bag and organizer pockets inside the lid are great for small items, and the piping and logos on the black bag are reflective. In addition to the sewn-on carry handle the bag comes with a shoulder strap and a rain cover. Unexpanded the bag holds my big ol’ tennis shoes, toilet kit, first aid kit, MotoPump, flat kit and tire irons, and I can cram in a jacket liner by expanding it.
The zippers for the base and lid seem on the light-duty side for this application, but I haven’t had any problems with them so far, and Fly Racing offers a 2-year warranty for workmanship and materials. At an MSRP of $89.95 the Fly Racing Tail Bag is economical in addition to versatile, capacious and secure. Also available are Saddle Bags ($119.95) with similar features that integrate with the Tail Bag as well as several nice tank bags.
For more information, see your dealer or visit flyracing.com.
Source: RiderMagazine.com
The work doesn’t stop for Marquez, the seven-time World Champion has three HRC machines at his disposal today in Barcelona, with Michelin bringing four different types of rear tyres for the riders to try – three of them are for the 2020 season. The fourth tyre is one Michelin are testing for the Australian and Thai GPs, a stiffer, more rigid compound designed to help control the temperature of the tyre better.
Source: MotoGP.com – Read Full Article Here
The Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship made its first east coast stop of the 2019 at the High Point National for Round 4, with High Point having become a Father’s Day tradition, and saw Eli Tomac come-from-behind in both motos to take his second 450 victory of the season.
In the 250s Adam Cianciarulo kept his winning streak alive by capturing his fourth consecutive victory, taking the win with a 2-1 result from Hunter Lawrence with a 1-3.
As the gate dropped for the opening 450 moto, it was Blake Baggett who emerged with the holeshot ahead of Cooper Webb, Joey Savatgy and Eli Tomac. With Baggett out front, the defending champion Tomac quickly went to work and managed to cross the opening lap second, followed by Webb in third.
Baggett set a blistering pace early in the race as he attempted to breakaway from the field, but Tomac matched his pace and started to inch his way up to the KTM riders rear fender. As Tomac looked to make a move on Lap 4, he made a costly mistake that shuffled him back into the fourth position, allowing Webb and Jason Anderson to slip by.
On Lap 6, Baggett continued upping his pace by breaking into the 2:02 lap times, which allowed him to build a comfortable lead over his championship rivals. Webb began to fall under heavy pressure from both Anderson and Tomac, losing second to Anderson on Lap 7 and third to a hard charging Tomac just one lap later.
Baggett was dominant as he took his first moto victory since the 2017 High Point National, winning by 9.8 seconds. Anderson rode to an impressive runner-up finish, giving him his best moto result of the season. Tomac rebounded to finish third.
The deciding 450 Class moto saw Savatgy take his first holeshot of the season ahead of Webb and Justin Barcia. Webb immediately attacked Savatgy heading into turn two, taking over the race lead. At the completion of the opening lap it was Webb, Savatgy and Anderson out front, while first moto winner Baggett found himself buried deep in the pack.
Webb put his head down and went to work as he looked to rebound from a challenging first moto, however, Savatgy had other plans as he matched the leaders pace and kept the gap to within a couple of seconds.
Championship point leader Ken Roczen began to find his stride and blitzed his HRC Honda around Anderson for third on Lap 6. Roczen was relentless in his push to the front, muscling his way by Savatgy and eventually around Webb with an inside pass for the lead on Lap 9.
As Roczen quickly opened a lead over Webb, both Savatgy and Anderson engaged in the battle for third, with Anderson getting the upper hand, followed by Tomac in hot pursuit. On Lap 13, Tomac moved himself into a podium position by overtaking Anderson. The final stages of the moto saw Tomac and Webb pull alongside each other several times before Tomac took control of second on Lap 15.
Roczen carried on to his third moto win of the season, by 4.9 seconds ahead of Tomac. Webb followed in third, matching a career-best moto finish.
Tomac’s 3-2 effort gave him his second overall victory of the season and the 19th of his career, which puts him into sixth on the all-time list. Roczen’s second-moto win vaulted him into the runner-up spot (6-1), while Anderson finished third overall (2-5).
“Today was a unique situation by winning with 3-2 moto scores, I’m not sure if I’ve ever won a race without winning a moto. We did what we could and battled towards the front, so overall the day was good. The track had a lot of good character today, the ruts were plenty deep and the track was rough.”
With the win, Tomac move to a tiebreaker with Roczen in the championship point standings with 176 points apiece. Teammates Osborne and Anderson are tied for third, 32 points out of the lead.
“My weekend was good, I came really close to winning my first overall, I got pretty good starts today and I’m happy with the way I rode. I’m getting better every weekend and getting closer to the win.”
“Today at High Point was a much better day and a huge turnaround for me. My starts were great all day and I made a few mistakes but I was happy to battle up front like I did. I even lead the second moto for about 20 minutes – I haven’t been able to do that so far this season, so that was awesome. Fourth is my best overall, so it was a good weekend and I’ll keep building from here.”
“Overall, it was a pretty positive day, we made some good changes to the bike during the week off and they translated to be good today. I just need to improve on my first couple of laps, I have the fitness down on the final stretch, so I feel like I’m in a good position moving forward. I have some good tracks coming up – this was a good track for me but I just didn’t make it happen, I was only able to muster up a 5-4 so overall a good a good day, strong points and we’ll just keep trucking.”
“It was a tough day. I was feeling great but unfortunately, I didn’t have a good start in the first moto and I couldn’t make good passes right away, so I lost a bunch of time in the first few laps. In the second moto, I went around the outside off the start and was really aggressive and ran into the back of another guy. I was dead last and came back to seventh, so it’s very disappointing because I love that track and I felt pretty good but when you crash on the start there’s nothing you can do. The top six riders were up front and the gap was just too big to catch them.”
“Not the day we wanted, obviously. I struggled a bit getting comfortable with the setup and things like that. We definitely are going to work hard and try to figure it out to be really good for Jacksonville. On a positive note, I had a really good start in the second moto I. I just didn’t have a good, comfortable feeling today overall. We’ve got to regroup and put the not-so-great finishes behind us and move forward into next weekend. I believe that we’ll figure out how to get that comfort and when the time is right, we’ll be right there. All in all, not the best day, but a few positives to take out of it. We have to do a lot of work to get where we want to be.”
“Today I qualified twelfth and went 11-11, so I guess that’s where I belonged at the moment. I really struggled to go with the faster guys, which was kind of disappointing for me as I went so well here three years ago. We’ll keep trucking forward and keep trying to improve.”
Source: MCNews.com.au
A clear majority of road users believe education is the most important road safety strategy, according to a preliminary review of a major survey on attitudes to road safety strategies.
Survey author Dr João Canoquena of the University of Notre Dame Australia says it is too early to reach conclusions from the survey.
“Road maintenance was mostly associated with motorcycle rider safety,” he says.
“Nearly half (47%) of the mentions of this road safety strategy were associated with motorcycle rider safety.
“Likewise, advertising of safety driving was more associated with motorcycle rider than any other road user group. In fact, 57% of the mentions of this strategy were linked with motorcycle rider safety.”
João says motorcycle riders dominated the survey after Motorbike Writer called for riders to ensure their voices were heard when transport authorities draft safety strategies.
Now João needs your help again.
He is seeking three volunteers to help him go through the results to rate the road safety options.
“We have collected over 800 safety strategy responses, divided into five categories (motorcycle rider safety, scooter rider safety, cyclist safety, pedestrian safety and car occupant safety),” Joao says.
“For a journal publication, I need to have the safety responses rated by at least two more people.”
João explains that rating involves placing the 800+ responses into categories such as education, training, enforcement etc.
Volunteers will need some patience, commitment and Excel software to fill in the ratings.
You can volunteer by contacting João by clicking here and sending him an email.
While the results are yet to be properly rated, an early reading of the results show that a clear majority of road users believe education is the most important road safety strategy.
|
Road safety strategies |
Cyclist |
Motorcyclist |
Pedestrian |
Scooter rider |
Passenger |
Total |
|
Advertising of safety driving |
0 |
8 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
14 |
|
Alcohol and drug testing |
0 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
10 |
17 |
|
Distracted driving law enforcement |
1 |
3 |
16 |
10 |
17 |
47 |
|
Driver and rider training |
0 |
23 |
14 |
31 |
26 |
94 |
|
Graduated licensing schemes |
0 |
7 |
1 |
7 |
2 |
17 |
|
In-vehicle technology |
0 |
9 |
2 |
8 |
11 |
30 |
|
Lane filtering |
0 |
10 |
1 |
6 |
0 |
17 |
|
Law enforcement |
0 |
1 |
5 |
4 |
5 |
15 |
|
Mandatory helmet laws |
4 |
10 |
0 |
12 |
3 |
29 |
|
Motorcycle-friendly road design |
0 |
17 |
0 |
10 |
0 |
27 |
|
Pedestrian crossing rules |
0 |
0 |
21 |
1 |
0 |
22 |
|
Pedestrian distraction awareness |
0 |
0 |
26 |
0 |
0 |
26 |
|
Protective and reflective clothing |
0 |
15 |
0 |
22 |
0 |
37 |
|
Regulation of vehicle equipment |
0 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
36 |
41 |
|
Road maintenance |
0 |
11 |
0 |
4 |
8 |
23 |
|
Safety road design |
0 |
4 |
7 |
1 |
15 |
27 |
|
Speed limit management |
0 |
7 |
33 |
12 |
7 |
59 |
|
Traffic separation |
59 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
61 |
|
Total |
64 |
134 |
129 |
134 |
142 |
603 |
Source: MotorbikeWriter.com
Image: Supplied.
Former Australian MX2 champion Jed Beaton pushed through illness at yesterday’s ninth round of the 2019 MX2 World Championship in Latvia, salvaging a top 10 overall placing in an admittedly tough weekend.
The Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing rider said he did all he could in the pair of motos, ultimately lodging a 10-13 results sheet for 10th overall.
The Tasmanian, who missed the season-opener with injury and has since played catch up in the following rounds, is ranked 13th in the championship standings.
“It’s been a really tough GP for me, but I’m pleased I came away with points in both motos,” said Beaton. “I got sick with the flu on Thursday before the race and I really struggled with a fever and low energy. I worked hard during the qualification race and did all that I could during today’s motos.”
The world championship now heads to Teutschenthal in Germany, which marks the end of a three-week stint with consecutive rounds.
Source: MotoOnline.com.au
Image: Supplied.
KTM New Zealand has announced its fourth annual ‘Adventure Rallye: Top of the South’ edition that will explore the South Island on 9-14 November this year, where riders will be treated to five days of stunning landscapes and epic routes mapped out by local experts.
Set to tour the famous Top of the South regions of Nelson Tasman, Marlborough and Canterbury, ‘Sunny Nelson’ provides the ideal location to start and finish the Rallye.
Kickstarting the action is a loop day out Nelson, with riders straight into dirt mere kms from downtown, with a fun rocky climb followed by breathtaking views – and that is just the first 50km.
The route will then see riders head to the riverside mountain town of Murchison along some of the local experts favourite tracks, as well as some of the South Islands most famous adventure roads – Rainbow and Molesworth Stations – with further overnights at the charismatic town of Hanmer Springs and the coastal port of Picton before returning to Nelson to cap off an epic week.
Open to orange adventure riders with the following eligible KTM bikes: 640, 690, 790, 790R, 950, 990, 1050, 1090, 1090R, 1190, 1190R, 1290 and 1290R models. The Rallye is tailored to suit a wide range of rider abilities, from those in their first years of adventure riding up to seasoned Adventure pros.
The aim on the KTM New Zealand Adventure Rallye is to be suitable for all KTM adventure riders – therefore two route options are offered daily for riders: Main Route and Breakout Route. The Main Route will be shorter and less technically challenging, with the Breakout Routes offering advanced riders more challenging terrain.
The Main Route will be made up of winding back country roads, metal roads and well formed off road tracks. Riders on the Breakout routes can expect rocks, mud, hills, mountains, farm land and some real challenges.
And taking the adventure to another level, back for 2019 is the KTM Ultimate Race Qualifiers, which will see two lucky Rallye riders win the chance to participate in the 2020 Merzouga Rally in Morocco.
The KTM New Zealand Adventure Rallye is about offering a great experience to our orange adventure riders by taking all the hard work of planning a ride so you can truly enjoy your adventure. With lead riders, sweep riders, GPS routes, luggage support, technical support, medical support, a backup vehicle, dinner every night and a photographer and videographer to capture the memories.
Registrations for the 2019 KTM New Zealand Adventure Rallye: Top of the South open on Friday, 28 June at 9:00am (NZST). For more information, visit www.ridektm.com.au/2019-ktm-new-zealand-adventure-rallye-top-of-the-south.
Source: CycleOnline.com.au
Australian moves to third in the British Superbike standings.
Image: Supplied.
A pair of race wins at Brands Hatch’s fourth round of the 2019 Bennetts British Superbike Championship (BSB) has offered a major boost to Josh Brookes’ title campaign, the Australian jumping to third in the standings despite recording three non-finishes this season.
The win gives Brookes the first of the six race wins in the Integro Triple Crown and the chance to bag a potential £75,000 prize, however the Australian adamant his focus remains on the championship as he moves to within 21 points of series leader Tommy Bridwell (Oxford Racing Ducati).
“It’s great to get a couple of wins towards that big cash prize but I’ve got to be focused on the championship – that’s my main concern, main goal, my main focus, I’m championship orientated so that’s why I’m most pleased with today’s results,” Brookes explained.
“It’s been a tough weekend. Fortunately I’ve been able to be at the front for most of the weekend, most of the sessions, and that final race I got away to a good start [and] pulled a small gap for a few laps. Fortunate to get the win and bring it home, it was really a tough race and he pushed me to the end and to get the King of Brands trophy again is great.”
Compatriot Jason O’Halloran (McAms Yamaha) endured a difficult weekend, recording 8-9 race results.
Source: CycleOnline.com.au
