Former world champion Romain Febvre was hospitalised during yesterday’s opening round of the 2019 MXGP World Championship in Neuquen, Patagonia Argentina.
The Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing rider looked primed for a strong start to his 2019 campaign, taking out victory in Saturday’s qualification race before finishing third in the opening moto.
Leading portions of race two, the Frenchman relinquished positions one and two, however while maintaining third, a critical mistake throughout the roller section resulted in a heavy fall.
Landing heavily on his right leg, Febvre was transported to hospital for further evaluation, with his injuries still to be confirmed.
The overall win was ultimately captured by nine-time world champion Antonio Cairoli (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), followed by Tim Gajser (Honda HRC) and Jeremy van Horebeek (Honda SR Motoblouz).
Superstition is the way for motorcycle riders probably because we are so vulnerable to the weather, road conditions, wildlife and livestock and other motorists. We need all the help we can get!
Even multiple world champion racer Valentino Rossi (image above from MotoGP.com) is superstitious.
He goes through a set routine before every race squatting next to his bike’s footpegs and plucking his leathers out of his undies as he exits the pits. Or is that just a matter of comfort!
Scientific studies have shown that adhering to a superstition creates a placebo effect that luck is on your side, giving you the illusion of control.
They found that those who adhere to a superstitious ritual or object generally exhibit more confidence. In turn, this affects performance.
However, we would suggest an advanced riding course is better than resorting to superstitions.
Motorcycle superstition
There are many motorcycle superstitions. We have looked at just a few here:
Guardian bells
The mediaeval legend of the guardian bell says that the bell attracts evil spirits who get trapped inside.
The evil spirits or gremlins are driven insane by the constant ringing of the bell as you are riding and lose their grip, falling to the ground.
That stops them causing you to crash or your bike from developing mechanical problems.
Some say the guardian bell doesn’t work if you buy it yourself.
They say it only works or has twice the power if bought by a friend.
It also helps build camaraderie among riders.
St Christopher
Catholics would say it is not superstitious to carry a St Christopher statue, prayer card or medal, but simple religious belief or faith.
St Christopher is the patron saint of travellers, protecting them from the elements.
However, Catholics might also carry a statue, card or medal of St Frances of Rome who was declared the patron saint of motorists in 1952 by Pope Pius XI.
Obviously a dropped helmet may be damaged and fail to provide adequate protection in a crash.
But that is not why it is considered bad luck by riders.
It has more to do with the possibility that if you are that clumsy or uncaring about your helmet, you may be more likely to crash through similar inattention while riding.
Dropping your helmet may not damage the helmet, depending on how far the drop is, but it’s considered unlucky not to replace it if you do.
Never ride with the rear footpegs down … unless you have a pillion, of course.
It is believed that having them down invites evil spirits to hitch a ride, causing you to crash.
If there is any real correlation between crashing and rear pegs it could be that a rider who forgets to put the pegs up after their pillion gets off is more likely to also forget other things such as vital bike maintenance.
However, if you ever ride in a funeral cortege, the reverse is true. It is considered reverential to put the rear pegs down as you are inviting your departed friend for a last ride.
Green motorcycles
Pragmatists might say green bikes are harder to see against a backdrop of green countryside.
However, the superstition is believed to come from medieval times when green was considered evil.
It has roots in the automotive world thanks to several notable racing car crashes.
In 1910, a race car crashed and rocketed into a grandstand killing several spectators. A decade later, Gaston Chevrolet, younger brother of Chevrolet founder Louis, crashed his green car in a Beverly Hills race.
The most notable death was that of Formula 1 driver Jim Clark who crashed his green Lotus in 1968 at Hockenheim circuit.
Unlucky green motorcycles have their roots in crashes involving riders who bought damaged army-surplus motorcycles after World War II.
But just try telling a devoted Kawasaki rider that green is unlucky!
What superstitions do you have when riding?Leave your comments below.
Australia’s Gardner third as Fenati tops Moto3 category.
Image: Supplied.
Federal Oil Gresini Moto2’s Sam Lowes has thrown down the gauntlet ahead of the opening race weekend of the season after ending the Moto2 and Moto3 Qatar test quickest, his 1m58.439s on the final day enough to beat second place Tom Luthi (Dynavolt Intact GP) by 0.224s.
The entire top 10 on the combined standings set their quickest laps on day three at Losail International Circuit, with Lowes’ time quick enough to put him on pole for the MotoGP race that took place at the venue in 2004!
The aforementioned Luthi was the British rider’s closest rival, with Australian Remy Gardner (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team) continuing his impressive preseason speed with third, 0.316s off P1. Fourth went the way of Augusto Fernandez (Flexbox HP 40), his 1m58.775s leaving him just 0.002s two from Gardner, with Marcel Schrötter (Dynavolt Intact GP) just another 0.030s back in fifth.
EG 0,0 Marc VDS’ Xavi Vierge ends the three-day test just ahead of Jorge Navarro (+Ego Speed Up) and Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) as the three Spaniards occupy sixth, seventh and eighth respectively. Ninth goes to Luca Marini (Sky Racing Team VR46), his 1m58.980s putting him 0.541s off Lowes, with day one’s fastest rider Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) completing the top 10.
In Moto3, Romano Fenati (Snipers Team) ended the test at the top of the timesheets after going quickest on the final day, setting a best time of 2m05.285s to head teammate Tony Arbolino by 0.230s. With many focusing on a fast lap – and some on trying to get a tow – it was a frantic final day of action.
All of the lightweight class riders, except the injured Gabriel Rodrigo (Kömmerling Gresini Moto3), went quicker on the third and final day of testing at Losail International Circuit. But it was the Snipers Team duo who locked out the top two positions at the end of play, just like they have done on the previous two days. Their closest challenger was Aron Canet (Sterilgarda Max Racing Team), with 0.368s splitting him from Fenati in third.
Fourth fastest was Leopard Racing’s Lorenzo Dalla Porta, the only other rider within half a second of Fenati, with Niccolo Antonelli (SIC58 Squadra Corse) completing a top five covered by 0.507s.
John McPhee (Petronas Sprinta Racing) ended the test in sixth place with a best time of 2m05.899a, the British rider sitting 0.131a ahead of seventh-placed Marcos Ramirez (Leopard Racing). Tatsuki Suzuki (SIC58 Squadra Corse) was eighth, just ahead of Sky Racing Team VR46 duo Dennis Foggia and rookie Celestino Vietti – it was ninth and 10th on the timesheets for the Italians respectively.
Reigning champion Prado tops MX2 category at season-opener.
Image: Supplied.
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Antonio Cairoli has opened the 2019 MXGP World Championship with a dominant overall victory in Neuquen, Patagonia Argentina, as Australia’s Mitch Evans (Team Honda 114 Motorsports) featured on the MX2 podium while making his debut.
Nine-time world champion Cairoli proved to be unstoppable in the opening round, defeating former world number one Tim Gajser (Honda HRC) in both outings – the Slovenian ultimately finishing second overall.
Jeremy van Horebeek (Honda SR Motoblouz) rounded out the podium with 6-3 moto scores, followed by Clement Desalle (Monster Energy Kawasaki Factory Racing) and Gautier Paulin (Monster Energy Wilvo Yamaha). Roman Febvre (Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing), who was third in race one, crashed heavily in motor two and was transported to hospital with a suspected foot injury.
In the MX2 category, reigning world champion Jorge Prado (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) mastered both motos, taking out two rewarding race victories to earn the overall.
Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Thomas Kjer Olsen was second with a pair of runner-up results, while Evans, making his first world championship appearance, wound up an incredible third after a lodging 5-3 scorecard.
Calvin Vlaanderen (Honda HRC) and Henri Jacobi (F&H Racing Team) were fourth and fifth respectively – both tied on points with Evans for third. The next stop on the MXGP World Championship calendar is scheduled for 24 March at Matterley Basin in the United Kingdom.
Sam Lowes’ Moto2 time recorded during the weekend’s official Moto2 test session in Qatar was quick enough to have put him on pole for the MotoGP race that took place at Qatar in 2004. The new Triumph powered era of Moto2, with the much larger 765cc triple-cylinder engine compared to the CBR600RR based powerplant used in previous seasons, will surely see Moto2 lap records fall dramatically this season.
Sam Lowes
The Briton’s 1m58.439s on the final day enough to beat second place Tom Lüthi (Dynavolt Intact GP) by a significant 0.224 seconds. Lowes’ times was more than half-a-second under the Moto2 qualifying lap record, and almost a full-second under the race lap record for the intermediate class at Losail. In fact the top 10 were under the qualifying lap record, and 19 riders were all under the previous race lap record at the 5.38 km circuit.
Remy Gardner
Remy Gardner (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team) continued his impressive pre-season speed with third, 0.316 off P1. Gardner was fast in every session across all of the three days in Qatar, and was also well under the previous lap record. The young Australian was a full 2.5-seconds quicker on the SAG backed Kalex framed machine than he had managed last year on the Tech3 machine during qualifying for the Grand Prix of Qatar.
Fourth went the way of Augusto Fernandez (Flexbox HP 40), on 1m58.775s, with Marcel Schrötter (Dynavolt Intact GP) just another 0.030 back in fifth.
Jorge Navarro
EG 0,0 Marc VDS’ Xavi Vierge ended the three-day test just ahead of Jorge Navarro (+Ego Speed Up) and Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) as the three Spaniards occupy sixth, seventh and eighth respectively.
Ninth went to Luca Marini (Sky Racing Team VR46), his 1:58.980 putting him 0.541 off Lowes, with Day 1’s fastest rider Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) completing the top ten.
Moto2 Official Test Times – Qatar 2019
Sam Lowes – Kalex 1m58.439
Tom Luthi – Kalex 1m58.663
Remy Gardner – Kalex 1m58.755
Augusto Fernandez – Kalex 1m58.757
Marcel Schrotter – Kalex 1m58.787
Xavi Vierge – Kalex 1m58.880
Jorge Navarro – Speed Up 1m58.923
Alex Marquez – Kalex 1m58.948
Luca Marini – Kalex 1m58.980
Brad Binder – KTM 1m58.999
Jorge Martin – KTM 1m59.039
Iker Lecuona – KTM 1m59.200
Nicolo Bulega – Kalex 1m59.226
Tesuta Nagashima – Kalex 1m59.306
Bo Bendsneyder – NTS 1m59.308
Lorenzo Baldassarri – Kalex 1m59.325
Andrea Locatelli – Kalex 1m59.335
Enea Bastianini – Kalex 1m59.351
Fabio Di Giannantonio – Speed Up 1m59.407
Somkiat Chandra – Kalex 1m59.734
Simone Corsi – Kalex 1m59.829
Khairul Idham Pawi – Kalex 2m00.148
Jesko Raffin – NTS 2m00.334
Joe Roberts – KTM 2m00.414
Jake Dixon – KTM 2m00.495
Dominique Aegerter – MV Agusta 2m00.546
Lukas Tulovic – KTM 2m00.725
Marco Bezzecchi – KTM 2m00.921
Philipp Oettl – KTM 2m01.337
Stefano Manzi – MV Agusta 2m01.564
Xavier Cardelus – KTM 2m01.656
Dimas Ekky Pratama – Kalex 2m01.824
Moto3
In Moto3, Romano Fenati (Snipers Team) ended the test at the top of the timesheets after going quickest on the final day, setting a best time of 2:05.285 to head teammate Tony Arbolino by 0.230. With many focusing on a fast lap – and some on trying to get a tow – it was a frantic final day of action.
Romano Fenat
All of the lightweight class riders, except the injured Gabriel Rodrigo (Kömmerling Gresini Moto3), went quicker on the third and final day of testing at Losail International Circuit. But it was the Snipers Team duo who locked out the top two positions at the end of play, just like they have done on the previous two days.
Tony Arbolino
Their closest challenger was Aron Canet (Sterilgarda Max Racing Team), with 0.368 splitting him from Fenati in third.
Aron Canet
Fourth fastest was Leopard Racing’s Lorenzo Dalla Porta, the only other rider within half a second of Fenati, with Niccolo Antonelli (SIC58 Squadra Corse) completing a top five covered by 0.507 seconds.
Lorenzo Dalla Porta
John McPhee (Petronas Sprinta Racing) ended the test in sixth place with a best time of 2:05.899, the British rider sitting 0.131 ahead of seventh-placed Marcos Ramirez (Leopard Racing).
John McPhee
John McPhee
“We have had three very productive days here in Qatar. We already had a good base set-up for the bike after the Jerez test but we have kept working as a team to improve the feeling even more. I am very happy with how the team is working, they have all been fantastic and step by step we have improved the lap time and our race pace. These three days we mainly focused on race pace and race setting and I feel very comfortable and consistent over a long run. We treated the second session tonight as more like a qualifying session to see what lap time we could manage and we ended up happy with the lap time because I set it on my own. It is great to finish the last test of pre-season like this.”
John McPhee
Tatsuki Suzuki (SIC58 Squadra Corse) was eighth, just ahead of Sky Racing Team VR46 duo Dennis Foggia and rookie Celestino Vietti – it was ninth and tenth on the timesheets for the Italians respectively.
A Brisbane magistrate has found a rider guilty of speeding, despite video evidence seeming to show he was the only one of four riders travelling together who was not speeding.
Steve, whose surname has been withheld, says the Pine Rivers Magistrate took more than three hours to view the video evidence, but declared he could not see the second rider, thinking he was just a bunch of leaves.
The Magistrate also said he could not discern the differences between the bikes, despite them being substantially different styles.
“No matter how many times we zoomed in and screened it, he said ‘I don’t see any evidence of a bike there’,” Steve says.
“My legal team was prepared for every argument, but not for the judge not seeing my bike. He thought I was a bunch of leaves.”
Police video
Steve sent us the police video which seems to show that he was the second rider travelling about 60km/h in a 60km/h zone.
The video was also referenced in our article last week about how police fine riders speeding in groups. Click here for our article.
The four friends were riding on Mt Glorious Rd heading east toward Samford village when police officer Senior Constable John Wilkins passed them in the opposite direction in a patrol car.
The video was subpoenaed from a police body camera.
It shows the varying speeds of each rider.
The officer then does a u-turn over solid double white lines and chases them down at speeds up to 130km/h, stopping only the first three riders. The fourth rider continues past.
Police pass rider 4 who was not stopped
The video shows the first rider at about 76km/h, then Steve at about 60 and rider three at 80km/h. The fourth rider is only seen after the u-turn.
However, it is difficult to know at what point the radar picks up the rider’s speed.
After the first rider goes past, the speed quickly drops to about 60km/h, but as Steve (rider 2) passes the car, the speed jumps up to 75km/h.
Steve believes that is the speed of rider 3 as it does not change even after he passes the car.
Steve claims he was booked for the third rider’s speed.
Speeding fine ‘mistakes’
He also says Wilkins made several other mistakes, apart from letting the fourth rider go.
“He wrote out all three tickets for the same speed; 76kmh in a 60kmh zone but then made a mistake with the third ticket which had a time 10 minutes later than the first two and has documented rider 2 travelling at 80km/h,” Steve says.
“The body camera is actually dated the day before at 10pm. How many mistakes are they going to allow?”
Steve says Wilkins mistakenly told the court rider 2 was doing 80km/h and the third rider was doing 79km/h. However, there is no evidence of another motorcycle after the one doing 80km/h and before the u-turn.
Also Wilkins is seen to be apparently turning off the radar antenna locking the display at 79km/h.
Steve has spent more than $5000 to reach the unsatisfying verdict.
He has now started a GoFundMe campaign to support his campaign to “expose the truth” and says he would do it again for the sake of justice.
Now you’ve seen the video, was rider 2 been correctly accused of speeding at 80km/h and is any rider guilty of speeding at 80km/h? Leave your comments below.
All of the lightweight class riders, except the injured Gabriel Rodrigo (Kommerling Gresini Moto3), went quicker on the third and final day of testing at the Losail International Circuit. But it was the Snipers Team duo who locked out the top two positions at the end of play, just like they have done on the previous two days. Their closest challenger was Aron Canet (Sterilgarda Max Racing Team), 0.368 splitting him from Fenati in third.
EG 0,0 Marc VDS’ Xavi Vierge ends the three-day test in sixth, just ahead of Jorge Navarro (+Ego Speed Up) and Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) as the two Spaniards occupy seventh and eighth respectively. Ninth goes to Luca Marini (SKY Racing Team VR46), his 1:58.980 putting him 0.541 off Lowes, with Day 1’s fastest rider Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) completing the top ten.
First 250SX East/West Showdown victory of 2019 season to Cianciarulo.
Image: Supplied.
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Cooper Webb has stretched his lead in the 2019 Monster Energy AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship, series after storming to victory in Atlanta.
Webb captured his fifth win of the nine contested this season, growing his points advantage to 13 as the season moves into its second half.
A decisive hole-shot placed Webb at the head of the pack in the 20-minute main event and he was never headed, withstanding challenges from Blake Baggett (Rocky Mountain ATV/MC KTM) and teammate Marvin Musquin in a wire-to-wire win.
Baggett made his way by Musquin following 13 laps – assisted by a mistake in the sand by the Frenchman – and only 2.141s separated the trio across the line. It marked the second all-KTM podium sweep of the season, while the rider currently second in the standings, Ken Roczen (Team Honda HRC) finished fourth.
Rookie Aaron Plessinger (Monster Energy Yamaha) put forward his best performance of the season in placing fifth, with Australia’s Chad Reed (JGRMX Yoshimura Suzuki Factory Racing) finishing in 13th position this weekend.
In the first 250SX East/West Showdown of the season, Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s current West Coast leader Adam Cianciarulo was assertive on his way to victory, topping Dylan Ferrandis (Monster Energy Yamalube Star Racing Yamaha) and early leader Austin Forker (Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki).
The 2019 season will now travel to Daytona International Speedway in Florida for round 10, which will be another 250SX East round on the schedule.
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