This all happens before the rest of the paddock reconvene at the Sepang International Circuit on the 6th, 7th and 8th February. Three days of action that you can keep up to date with right here, with reports, reactions, interviews, highlights and After the Flag episodes brought to you at the end of each day.
Source: MotoGP.com – Read Full Article Here
But there is, of course, still work to do. Speaking at the Mission Winnow Ducati Team launch, Ducati Corse General Manager Luigi Dall’Inga said: “In Sepang, we would like to test something different than we did in Jerez. On the engine point of view, we would like to improve the performance, and the Sepang Test will be the deadline where we have to take some decisions regarding the engine.”
Source: MotoGP.com – Read Full Article Here
The devilish details of Ducati’s new hooligan Hypermotard 950, supermoto style
Source: MotorCyclistOnline.com
Since the incident in early November, Sharil has made considerable progress. Although forecast to miss the first two rounds of the IATC in 2019 as he is not yet back to full fitness, the Malaysian is hopeful of competing in the third round of the Cup in June, held at his home track of Sepang International Circuit.
Source: MotoGP.com – Read Full Article Here
Invierno largo ❄, mucho trabajo de recuperación 💪🏼, y al final… la recompensa! ✊🏼✊🏼😃 Estad atentos! Long winter ❄, hard work for the recovery 💪🏼, and finally … the reward! ✊🏼✊🏼😃
Stay tuned!
Source: Marc Márquez on Facebook
Three-time British Superbike Champion John Reynolds made his first visit to the Island Classic this year and competed in the International Challenge races under the Team New Zealand banner.
Consistent results throughout the weekend saw Reynolds finish equal sixth in the overall individual points scores taken from the four by six-lap International Challenge racs.
Phil: John Reynolds, three times BSB champion, first visit to Phillip Island for quite some time and probably first ride at this track on a classic motorcycle as well, sum up your thoughts of the weekend.
John Reynolds: “It’s been a fantastic week, it’s been hard work to be honest with you. The circuit I know, but it’s so hard to get every single apex right, and when you’re on a brand new bike that you’ve never ridden before, and it’s a classic bike as well, you don’t know how fast and how hard to push, and of course Phillip Island is one of the fastest circuits in the world. So there’s going to be crashes, there’s gonna be big ones, I’ve been cautious, as I didn’t want to damage anything, myself or the bike, but we chipped away and the bike honestly was absolutely brilliant. It got quicker and quicker as the week went on, and ended up doing half decent time so I’m really happy.”
Phil: Alan Cathcart said this is one of the most prestigious and biggest classic events in the world, you’re thoughts?
John: “I’ll go with that, throughout the world the classic scene is massive, it’s massive in the UK and certainly in Australia. So many beautiful bikes and so many interesting stories of what we’ve got and how we became, it’s fascinating. It’s truly an eye opening insight into the Australian classic world.”
Phil: You’re probably a household name with your BBS victories in England, were you surprised by how many people know about your exploits here in Australia
John: “Yes it’s been mind blowing, I obviously keep an eye on who’s doing well in the Australian Championships and in the USA and you know we’re all mates. We don’t know each other but we all know of each other, if you know what I mean. We keep an eye on each other, it’s great, Josh Hayes is a legend, and it’s been an absolutely brilliant week. I’ve made so many friends, and people I’ve known about but never spoken to, and now I can actually say I know them.”
Phil: Are you surprised how hard the guys were prepared to push?
John: “Yea to be honest with you. I knew it was going to be pretty quick, but my god these guys were absolutely on the ragged edge. I’m not prepared to push that hard, but I slowly and gently got quicker and quicker, as the time went out, but I could do with two or three more days actually.”
Phil: Seems that there will be four more days, this time next year. Can we pen your name in for team UK or team New Zealand next year?
John: “You can certainly put my name down for that one, but obviously you need a ride, the bike, and the team around you. I’ve been working with the Carl Cox SGB – Suzuki Great Britain and without them helping this wouldn’t happen. So a massive thanks to Carl Cox and his team, for helping us achieve what we did. It’s just been a mind blowing week, there’s so many interesting people.”
Phil: Congratulations on your effort and great to see you here john.
John: Thanks so much.
Source: MCNews.com.au
It has been a somewhat frustrating time in recent years for the TBR/D&D pairing of Steve Martin and Shawn Giles, but 2019 saw them steadily get on top of their set-up.
Steve Martin went on to take top individual honours across the four six-lap Island Classic International Challenge races, while Shawn Giles finished equal third with America’s Josh Hayes.
Phil caught up with Shawn after the event for rundown on the 2019 Island Classic through the eyes of Shawn Giles.
Phil Harlum: Three-times Australian Superbike champion Shawn Giles, a good weekend but it could have been a lot better without a couple of minor mechanical gremlins.
Shawn Giles: “Yea, I think it was the second race on Saturday, I went to go out and when the bike was fired up by the boys it was misfiring. They had the tank off, actually the plug leads had got mixed up, so I had to start from pit lane. I had to come from last through to 12th I think (it was 12th), I can’t remember exactly, where I finished. Full credit to the team they built a new bike for us this year and a new chassis, Phil Tainton had done some suspension work, I spoke to the boys about some geomoetry and Dale Gilbert built a new chassis. The bike feels awesome, but we’re still finding our feet with it, and the last two races it was getting better and better. So if there’s anyone out there who wants to sponsor us (laughs), it’d be great just to get some time on the track and get the bike better. Overall I was really happy with the weekend, there was a bad crash there in the first race yesterday and Jason Pridmore had some quite bad injuries, and Beau Beaton was involved, so I don’t like seeing that. But for us being able to race this Island Classic, it’s a fantastic event and thanks to Ken Wootton for telling me about it after I retired racing. He said, ‘You should come to the Island Classic’ and I’m glad I did. I really really enjoy racing here, once every year, and you know I don’t race anymore, but once a year for the Island Classic… it’s a truly special event, and I hope I can do many more.”
Phil: This year was a little bit different, with the UK team not turning up in the usual strong numbers, but a very strong challenge from the USA, including a lot of guys you wouldn’t have raced against before. How was it to race against those guys, like Josh Hayes, who won four national championships and only gave up racing just over a year ago.
Shawn: “Considering Josh had never seen the circuit before, Phillip Island is a hard circuit to master and he seemed to do that pretty well. To come out with the last race win was certainly showing us that he’s very versatile and able to get hold of Phillip Island. It was a great weekend and the American team was really strong, so I guess it’s gone from the Ashes to the America’s Cup, and they had a really good strong field. I’m sure they’ll make it even better in 2020. Jason (Pridmore) was really fast, unfortunately he had that accident and I hope he’s better, and I hope Beau’s better too.”
Phil: Take that pit lane start out of your performance, this weekend, you had to be happy with how you’ve gone on the bike. As you said it was a brand new bike, really untested, so it looks like the team’s on the right track and sets up a pretty good strong chance for 2020.
Shawn: “Definitely, I’d love to be able to ride the bike more but the old bikes are getting harder to get parts for, and the boys have got some really passion with their Suzuki Katana. It’s great to see that passion and to see Dale Gilbert, who hasn’t been feeling well, he built a new chassis for my bike, and Phil Tainton who I’ve had a long career with has helped out, and the bike is feeling really good. I think with a few more changes to the bike I reckon there’s quite a strong possibility of doing some high 35s on that bike and it felt so good this weekend. I ran the tyres that I ran last year as far as compounds, there’s new era Dunlops out now and I’ve pretty much ridden Dunlop most of my career as you know. So we’ll see what we can do in the new year.”
Phil: Just on that, how happy were you and the team to see the performance in Race 3 where you had three Katanas leading the field? It’s been a long time since that’s happened. It’s been the domain of F1 bikes for quite a few years now.
Shawn: “It certainly has and to think that we’re riding Suzuki Katanas that don’t have any aerodynamic package at all, we have this little triangular screen, if you can call it a triangle. Where with the F1 you have the full fairing, and a lot of aerodynamics, it’s certainly helps them around Phillip Island but it’s great to see the Aussie home grown superbikes shine this weekend. Hats off to Josh Hayes for showing up, we tied for the overall third and he rode exceptionally well considering he’s never ridden here before.”
Source: MCNews.com.au
Now here is bike of great historical interest! Gregg Hansford’s 1977 KR750.
In 1974 the FIM revised the homologation requirements for the 750 Championship, from 250 down to 25 bikes. The KR750 (model 602) was Kawasaki’s answer to Yamaha’s TZ750. It debuted, rather unsuccessfully at the 1975 Daytona 200.
It differed from the earlier road based H2R in using a purpose built water-cooled motor that had extensive changes to the porting architecture, a shorter crankshaft and was overall a more compact design.
Gregg Hansford’s 1977 Kawasaki KR750
In 1977 the KR750 design was updated (model 602L) with many weight saving changes – principally the magnesium crankcases and a new clutch – that reduced the bikes weight to 136 kg.
Gregg Hansford’s 1977 Kawasaki KR750
However Team Kawasaki Australia’s sole KR750 was further modified in ’78 incorporating Brembo front calipers, Zanzani plasma coated alloy front discs, specially made (only four) Campagnolo wheels and an alloy fuel tank. This resulted in a further 10 kg weight saving.
Gregg Hansford’s 1977 Kawasaki KR750
Noteworthy design details include the gearbox overflow being directed into the main frame tubing (venting near the headstock), and the coolant catch tank being integral with the radiator (on the RHS). The carburettor support cradle is also a feature.
Gregg Hansford’s 1977 Kawasaki KR750
A choke is used for starting with the lever placed under the clutch lever. Output was 130 hp at 9500rpm with a top speed of over 300 km/h.
Gregg Hansford’s 1977 Kawasaki KR750
The bare motor images are of a 1978 unit.
Kawasaki KR750 Motor
As can be seen from the accompanying paperwork Gregg campaigned this bike extensively in 1977-78.
Gregg Hansford’s 1977-1978 Kawasaki KR750 paperwork
Source: MCNews.com.au
Four-time American Superbike Champion Josh Hayes was a bit wide-eyed when he first rode Phillip Island last week.
Hayes remarked, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, that he had his eyes closed at turn one for the first day or so. Then once the racing started he was really taken aback at just how hard competitors at the Island Classic International Challenge were willing to push the limits.
With Team USA front liner Jason Pridmore injured in race one, it fell to the 43-year-old to step up and deliver for this team. He did exactly that and by the final race of the weekend he had really found his groove and romped away to a clear win in that last six-lap bout of the event.
Overall, Hayes was the third highest points scorer across the four Island Classic International Challenge races, finishing on equal standing with three-time Aussie Superbike Champion Shawn Giles.
Phil Harlum: So we’re here with four time AMA Champion Josh Hayes, great to have you here, we’ve spoken about it before, Phillip Island a special place, the atmosphere, it’s what makes this event..
Josh Hayes: “I’m trying to imagine it being anywhere else and I don’t think it would be any good. I think the track is amazing, fortunately for me it suits our bike pretty well, but you know the atmosphere, the area in the world, all of it is a part of it. It’s just fun to be around a fun group of people, and I don’t think there’s a person in this paddock who’s making money. It’s 100 per cent about passion, people who are willing to spend their money because they are passionate about motorcycle racing, and it’s hard not to enjoy being around people like that.”
Phil: The event obviously is all about racing, when it comes down to the International Challenge, you now know how serious the guys take it…
Josh: “Well I didn’t until I got here, now I realise just how serious the guys take it.”
Phil: Obviously you took it pretty seriously in that last race, off to a fantastic start and then put your head down. The first two or three laps were amazing, that’s what built up that eventual race win for you.
Josh: “Well you know I tried to give you the thumbs up, to say ‘Hey man things are good, I’m ready to go’. So I just wanted to do my job. Crussell and Jason asked me to come be a part of this, and you don’t want to come in as what they consider a ‘name’ and then not perform well, so I wanted to do a good job, and that was the most important thing. When I got in front those first three laps, I made a mistake in Honda and ran wide, I thought I had a freight train of people behind me, and I was just running like a scared rabbit, so it was just wanting to do a good job, and be in the race, at the front. That’s what I wanted, to kind of clear and have my own race was nice.”
Phil: We talk about how special this track is, after four days of riding it, what’s you impression now? Especially after winning a race.
Josh: “You really need to ask me this again, to ask anybody again? Because it’s so obvious it’s one of the most amazing tracks in the world. And I have truly enjoyed my time here, and of all the places in the world away from America that I would want to go ride a race track, this is top of the list, without a doubt top of the list.”
Phil: So we can pen your name in for the 2020 event, same bike, next year?
Josh: “If Dave Crussell will have me back, there’s a reasonable chance I’ll be back for the event next year. With any luck I could maybe find a ride for my wife Melissa and bring my little son Hawk, who’ll be two, and let him see Australia too.”
Phil: Thanks for coming Josh.
Josh: “Thanks for having me guys!”
Source: MCNews.com.au
Penrite Honda Racing contender samples components with American Honda.
Image: Foremost Media.
South Australian Brett Metcalfe recently returned from a training stint in the USA where he carried out testing with American Honda, sampling a number components from KYB suspension.
While the trip was training based, the Penrite Honda Racing rider discovered a positive feeling while testing the premium units, prompting a full-time switch to KYB suspension for his upcoming campaign in Australia.
The Honda CRF450R is fitted standard with Showa suspension, however the KYB offering has often been pursued by the Team Honda HRC on the AMA pro circuit, with Cole Seely currently utilising a factory set-up from the alternative suspension manufacturer.
“The trip over there was really the start for us,” Metcalfe explained to MotoOnline.com.au. “American Honda and Honda Australia put a couple of things together to help us out – it was mainly to get over there and get some training done, but as far testing, we’ve made a switch to KYB suspension – so we were over there to get a head start and get a base setting before coming back here and working with Kroozetune.
“It sort of just came around for us – it was a choice were given [to use KYB] and we went over there to proceed in testing and see how things went. One thing led to another really, and we ended up finding some success with it. I felt comfortable, so we chose to go with that route.
“It will be more of a kit suspension – factory suspension is pretty hard to get. It’s just some standard kit stuff, but there will obviously be some different internals that we’ll be able to have access to through American Honda. It’s pretty cool to see them reach out and help us a little bit. The trip was definitely worthwhile for our season ahead.”
Metcalfe enters the 2019 Pirelli MX Nationals aboard the same machinery and team for the first time since returning to Australia, and following a highly-positive supercross campaign late last year, the former international sits as one of the title favourites for the MX1 crown. The opening round of the MX Nationals is scheduled for 17 March at Appin in New South Wales.
Source: MotoOnline.com.au