Tag Archives: News

Competition, Motocross, News

Beaton eyeing improvements in month-long MXGP break

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Australian finished 12th overall at Trentino’s fourth round.

Image: Supplied.

A month-long break in the 2019 MXGP World Championship has presented itself as a timely opportunity for Jed Beaton to make improvements as he continues the come-back from injury.

The Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing rider suffered multiple vertebrae fractures in a crash leading up the season-opener, sidelining him for Argentina before returning three weeks later for three consecutive grand prix.

The weekend’s fourth round at Trentino in Italy saw the likeable Australian muster up a 12-13 results sheet for 12th overall, positioning him 13th in the MX2 championship standings.

“I feel like it’s been an okay weekend for me,” Beaton commented. “Things started off a little slow on Saturday and certainly not how I wanted it to go. But Sunday was much better. Two poor starts held me back in both motos though.

“I felt like my riding was good, but I have to get out the gate better. We have a good break now in the championship, so it gives me plenty of time to keep working and to focus on improving ahead of the re-start of the series.”

The MXGP World Championship returns to action on 12 May at Lombardia in Italy, marking round five of the now 18-stop series.


Source: MotoOnline.com.au

Competition, Motocross, News

Forkner’s title bid in doubt with suspected knee injury

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Kawasaki pilot maintains 250SX East points leader despite sitting out Nashville.

Image: Supplied.

Austin Forkner’s bid for the 250SX East crown in the 2019 Monster Energy AMA Supecross Championship is in doubt after sustaining a suspected knee injury during practice at Nashville’s round on Saturday night.

The Pro Circuit Monster Energy Kawasaki rider held an extensive points lead coming into the weekend, however it all unravelled in practice when the youthful talent crashed heavily coming out of the whoop section.

He returned to the circuit for the final practice session, where the injury worsened, prompting him to sit out the night’s proceedings. He will now undergo further medical evaluation this week.

“Well not how I wanted that to go,” Forkner said in a statement. “As some of you probably know I got sketchy in the whoops and stuck my leg out and did something to my knee in second practice.

“[I] tried to ride in third practice and was doing a rhythm and something worse happened, didn’t even crash just landed and something definitely went wrong in my knee. I’m very disappointed in myself and the situation. No results yet getting it checked out tomorrow.”

Despite missing the night show, Forker holds a three-point lead in the championship standings over Chase Sexton (Geico Honda).


Source: MotoOnline.com.au

Competition, Motocross, News

MXGP of Hong Kong cancellation prompts shortened series

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Image: Supplied.

The 2019 MXGP World Championship will be shortened to 18 rounds after promoter Youthstream confirmed the cancellation of Hong Kong’s grand prix, which was set to host the season finale.

Initially scheduled to take place on 22 September, the MXGP of Hong Kong cancellation comes as a request by the organiser, who is eager to refocus on holding a MXGP in March 2020.

Due to the timing of the cancellation no replacement will be made, making Shanghai’s MXGP of China the final round of the series on 15 September.

Tim Gajser (Honda HRC) and Jorge Prado (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) earned victories at Trentino’s fourth round of the series last weekend, with the championship now heading into an extensive break before returning to Italy on 12 May for round five.


Source: MotoOnline.com.au

Competition, Motorcycle News, News

‘Forget about winning races’ says Rea as focus changes

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Reigning champion focusing on bridging the gap to Bautista.

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Four-time superbike world champion Jonathan Rea says he needs to forget about winning races, and instead focus on bridging the gap to Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati).

The Kawasaki Racing Team contender pulled together a trio of thirds at Aragon’s third round of the 2019 Motul FIM Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK) over the weekend in Spain, once again failing to challenge Bautista, who maintained his undefeated winning streak.

Rea has finished runner-up in all nine races this year, facing strong competition from the riders behind him, however the reigning champion is targeting be competitive with Bautista and his Ducati Panigale V4 R before he plots an attack on a season-first triumph.

“Today going for second has gone a little more difficult,” Rea stated. “There were different riders with a strong pace and even my teammate Leon was in the fight as well – it was a nice battle. Unfortunately, again too far from Alvaro.

“So our target changes a little bit. We have to forget a bit about winning races and focus to just try to bridge that gap. Now we go to Assen, which is a race track where I really enjoy racing. I look forward to that!”

Rea sits second in the championship standings as he trails Bautista by 39 points. The next stop on the WorldSBK calendar is scheduled to take place at Assen in The Netherland’s this weekend.

Source: CycleOnline.com.au

Motorcycle News, News

Does camera surfing cause speeding?

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Camera surfing is the phenomenon where riders and drivers slow as they approach a speed camera and then speed up after the cameras.

The expression of camera surfing was developed by former Victorian Road Safety Camera Commissioner Gordon Lewis and it’s been proved in research by his office.

So does that mean rather than generally slowing traffic, speed cameras may be causing motorists to speed up in areas they know or believe there are no speed cameras?

University of Melbourne Chair of Statistics and motorcyclist Professor Richard Huggins says he has experienced this phenomenon, “especially on the freeways around town where there are fixed cameras”.

Do speed cameras cause camera surfing?
Fixed cameras

“Frequent users of the roads know their locations,” the Prof says.

“Mobile cameras can only be set at approved locations and those are also known to regular users of the roads.

“In any case, most GPS systems know where they are.

“The Highway Patrol and solo motorcycles are a different matter as there are no fixed sites.”

‘Surfing’ speed cameras

The phenomenon of camera surfing has been proved by two Victorian Road Safety Camera Commissioner surveys of point-to-point or “average speed” cameras on the Peninsula Link and Hume Highway.Do speed cameras cause camera surfing?

They measured millions of trips and were able to assign the speed of each vehicle as they passed the first and last cameras as well as their average speed over the distance.

(By the way, only South Australia and Victoria have instantaneous cameras at the start and end of point-to-point camera installations which means you could possibly cop three fines for speeding. In other states you can only cop the one “average speed” offence.)

It found that drivers slowed at the start and end and sped up in between. Check the animation below which clearly shows this trend.

In fact, it found that drivers who averaged up to about 113km/h average speed on the 100km/h sections were actually going slower than the speed limit at entry and exit.

That means they would have had to travel at much more “dangerous” speeds than 111km/h to reach their average speed.

We put it to current Commissioner John Voyage that the average speed cameras were therefore almost encouraging motorists to speed faster than if there were no cameras.

He says we are “100% wrong”.

What do you think? Please leave your comments in the section below.

Source: MotorbikeWriter.com

Competition, Motocross, News

Haaker lifts SuperEnduro crown at Bilbao finale

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Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Colton Haaker has been crowned the 2019 Maxxis FIM SuperEnduro world champion at Bilbao’s final round of the series in Spain.

It was Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Cody Webb who took out top honours on the night with 1-2-1 scorecard, while Haaker was second overall with a race win to his name, securing an incredible third world title in the series.

Taddy Blazusiak (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) closed out the podium in third ahead of Pol Tarres (Husqvarna) and Kevin Gallas (Husqvarna).

In the championship behind Haaker it was former champion Webb – just four points shy of the title – as Blazusiak accepted P3 in the points standings, 29 markers adrift of the leader.

Detailed results


Source: MotoOnline.com.au

Competition, Motorcycle News, News

Dual Sunday Aragon WorldSBK victories for Bautista

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Krummenacher and Gonzalez earn WorldSSP and WorldSSP300 race wins.

Image: Supplied.

Aruba.it Racing – Ducati’s Alvaro Bautista has made it nine race victories in a row after securing wins in both the Superpole race and race two during Sunday’s proceedings at Aragon’s third round of the 2019 Motul FIM Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK).

The Spaniard controlled the Superpole race with a 5.791s victory over reigning champion Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) and Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Official), while the top five was completed by Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) and Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK).

Bautista took the advantage from pole position in race two, seeing-off Rea into turn one. For the first time in the weekend in the blue-riband class, everyone made their way through the opening corners safely and without drama. Davies was an early improver and up to third place, whilst Lowes was a strong fourth despite dropping back.

The penultimate lap beckoned, and it was Rea and Davies who renewed their rivalry. Rea put his trademark passing move on Davies at turn four, slicing under the Welshman, only for the 2011 WorldSSP champion to fight back at turn five.

Leon Haslam (Kawasaki Racing Team), after initially being dropped by half-a-second, was now right back in the battle for the podium; something he hadn’t stood on since race two at Phillip Island.

On the final lap, a mistake by Davies at turn one allowed Rea to come straight through and put in the lap of his life to put distance into Davies. Haslam wasn’t able to capitalise on the mistake by Davies and whilst Davies was coming back towards Rea into the final corner, there was nothing he could do to get ahead.

Bautista took the win, ahead of Rea by another huge margin – the ninth time that those two have finished in that order in 2019. Davies completed the podium for the second time at the Aragon round, whilst Haslam and Lowes completed the top five.

Laverty took sixth, ahead of Jordi Torres (Team Pedercini Racing) – taking his fourth consecutive top 10 finish for the first time since 2017, during race two and Portimao. Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Official) completed his weekend with an eighth place, ahead of Michael Ruben Rinaldi (BARNI Racing Team) and Sandro Cortese (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK).

The FIM Supersport World Championship (WorldSSP) saw an intriguing race in the first part of the 16-lap encounter, before a traditional fairing-bashing battle took place in the final part of the race. Eventually, it was Randy Krummenacher (BARDAHL Evan Bros. WorldSSP Team) who took the win to extend his championship lead at the top of the WorldSSP title race.

Raffaele De Rosa (MV AGUSTA Reparto Corse) took his first podium of the year in second, with fellow countryman Federico Caricasulo (BARDAHL Evan Bros. WorldSSP Team) in third. Thomas Gradinger (Kallio Racing) was fourth ahead of Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha).

It was a crazy return to action for the WorldSSP300 championship at Aragon, with a flurry of action from the start to the end, making for an incredibly exciting season in prospect. The winner of the first race of the season was Manuel Gonzalez (Kawasaki ParkinGO Team) from Hugo De Cancellis (Team Trasimeno) and Scott Deroue (Kawasaki MOTOPORT).

Australians Tom Edwards (ParkinGo Team Kawasaki) and Tom Bramich (Nutec – RT Motorsports by SKM – Kawasaki) wound up in positions 19 and 24. The WorldSBK now heads to Assen in The Netherlands next weekend for round four of the series.

Detailed results

Source: CycleOnline.com.au

Competition, Motorcycle News, News

Thompson scores Oceania Junior Cup victory at Broadford

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Grenfell and Drane lockout at the overall podium in round two.

Image: Supplied.

Carter Thompson scored his second round win in a row at Broadford’s second round of the 2019 bLU cRU Oceania Junior Cup in Victoria.

Thompson took the overall win with consistently solid placings in the first two outings, and a victory in race two to put him ahead of second-placed Angus Grenfell and third-placed Tom Drane on countback – the duo each performing strongly throughout the weekend.

Marianos Nikolis was fourth overall ahead of race two winner Jacob Roulstone, as the top 10 was completed by Cros Francis, Reece Oughtred, Archie McDonald, Alex Kenworthy-Jones and Glenn Nelson.

The next stop on the Oceania Junior Cup calendar is scheduled for 5-7 July at Morgan Park in Queensland, which will run in conjunction with round four of the 2019 Motul Pirelli Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK).

Detailed results

Source: CycleOnline.com.au

Competition, Motocross, News

Gajser earns season-first triumph at MXGP of Trentino

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Prado wins MX2 as Australia’s Evans secures top 10 result.

Image: Supplied.

Tim Gajser (Honda HRC) has earned his first victory of the season at Trentino’s fourth round of the 2019 MXGP World Championship in Italy.

The former world champion lodged a dominant 1-1 scorecard to defeat nine-time world champion and points leader Antonio Cairoli (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), who wound up with a pair of second place finishes.

Gautier Paulin (Monster Energy Wilvo Yamaha) closed out the podium in third, while Arnaud Tonus (Monster Energy Wilvo Yamaha) and Ivo Monticelli (KTM) completed the first five.

In the MX2 category, reigning champion Jorge Prado (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) reigned supreme with a pair of race wins, edging out Jago Geerts (Monster Energy Kemea Yamaha Official MX2) and teammate Tom Vialle (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) on the podium.

Monster Energy Kemea Yamaha Official MX2’s Ben Watson was fourth ahead of points leader Thomas Kjer Olsen (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing), while Australians Mitch Evans (Team Honda 114 Motorsports) and Jed Beaton (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing) concluded the day in positions seven and 12.

Fellow Australian Caleb Grothues (SDM Yamaha) contesting the EMX250 category of the European Motocross Championship was unable to qualify for both motos. The MXGP World Championship will head back to Italy on 12 May for the MXGP of Lombardia.

Detailed results


Source: MotoOnline.com.au

Motorcycle News, News

Rider and pillion injured in hit/run

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The recent spate of hit-and-run crashes leaving motorcyclists injured and dead has continued with an incident early this morning in Sydney.

A male rider and his female pillion, both in their 30s, suffered leg injuries after a collision with a vehicle about 1.20am (8 April 2019) at the intersection of Forest Road and Jersey Avenue, Penshurst.

Police are investigating after the vehicle failed to stop.

The rider and pillion were treated at the scene by NSW Ambulance paramedics before being taken to St George Hospital in a stable condition with leg injuries.

Officers from St George Police Area Command attended and are trying to locate the driver.

Police urge anyone who may have witnessed or have dashcam footage of the incident to contact Crime Stoppers online or phone 1800 333 000. Information is treated in strict confidence. Do not report crime via NSW Police social media pages.

We wish the rider and his pillion a speedy recovery.

Spate of hit/runs

Concern over motorbike hit-run crashes collision injured
A recent hit-run crash in Melbourne

This incident follows a worrying spate of four hit-and-run crashes in Victoria in the past month with no arrests yet.

The trend is causing concern that motorists are viewing riders not as vulnerable road users, but as “temporary Australians” with a death wish.

It could be a direct result of the recent bad press about the high rate of motorcycle fatalities.

There could also be an element of the perceived ability for drivers to drive away after a collision with a motorcycle.

Drivers may believe a rider would be unable to give chase if they are knocked off their bike.

They could also believe just knocking over a bike would not do much damage, so it is not worth stopping.

In NSW, the requirement for those involved in a crash to remain at the scene until police arrive was dropped in 2014, even if a tow truck is required.

However, the motorists must report the incident to police.

If they don’t, police can charge a motorist with failing to stop at the scene of an accident which is considered a serious offence.

Depending on whether someone is injured or killed in the crash, the motorist responsible could face serious charges with up to 10 years in jail.

Police say motorists leaving an accident scene where someone is injured decrease a victim’s chance of survival.

Source: MotorbikeWriter.com