POWERING Troy Bayliss

DesmoSport Ducati Race Team

THE
PASSION

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MOTUL Powersport Line

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RENNIE WINS! SCAYSBROOK CON
If you can’t
beat ’em...
H-D jump
the Chines
nakedbike
bandwago

Vol 69 No 01
4-17 July, 2019
$8.95 | NZ $9.95

THE UGLY
TRUTH OF
WHO’S AT
FAULT ON
OUR ROADS

How 30 years of MotoGP

chassis tech has shaped
the bike you ride

INSIDE
ND&DEFE
ASBK champ Troy Herfo
hopes and toughest riva

IG STICK!
ow Metzeler is changing
the cruiser tyre game
 Every Second

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 tents
4-17 JULY 2019/ VOL 69/ № 1

THIS IS WHERE YOU START

Ridden/Tested

36 Dance the Fan-Django

Peugeot’s stylish (and colourful) scooter

42 Cross Roads
Moto Morini gets serious with the Milano
36
68 Back-to-Back (on track)
Taking H-D’s Softails onto a racetrack? Yes. Please

Features

50 The C Word
No one likes crashing a motorbike. But how much it
happens – and why– is changing. We investigate

58 Framed!
Two MotoGP chassis experts detail how frame
design has changed over the last 30 years

74 Cruise Control
If you’d like a bit more Sportsbike in your Cruiser or
Roadster, Metzeler might just have your next tyres

82 Stand & Defend!

Troy Herfoss worked like hell to win the 2018 ASBK
58
crown and he isn’t giving it up without a fi ght

Sport

106 WSBK Rd7, Misano

Baustista tumbles, Rea wins, BMW shines

112 MotoGP Rd8, Assen

Maverick turns the orange country blue

Cover story

The C Word
It’s a dirty word, but a deed most of us will do. AMCN
looks at why we crash, what is being done about it
and why an attitude change might just save your life

74
R ENN
IE W I
N S! S
CAYSB
R OO

H-D
the Cj
Vol 69
No
4-17 July 01
,
$8.95 | 2019
NZ $9.95 n a ke
ba nd db
w

F
OU
 amcn.com.au
Regulars

10 News/22 He Did What?/25 Access/30 Reader Rides

32 Mental Twisties/ 90 Top Gear/95 What’s On/96 Events
98 Buyers’ Guide/101 Guest Column/102 Rev Racer/105 In Pit Lane
118 Sport/125 Club Sport/126 Grid Talk/129 WATN/130 Gassit

“Jannuzzelli has invested

some serious cash in producing
the kind of motorcycle he’d
want to buy himself”

42
 ed’s desk
SAM MACLACHLAN
EDITORIAL

Crash barrier
Editor: Sam Maclachlan
Deputy Editor: Kel Buckley
Sub Editor: Phil Branagan
News Editor: Hamish Cooper
Staff Writer: Pete Vorst
THE NOISE. THE SHOCK of realising it’s definitely going to happen. Staff Writer: Zane Dobie
Founding Editor: George Lynn
The pain of it happening. Sky, earth, sky, earth. Then the world DESIGN
stops moving, your mind settles. And the pain kicks in. Crashing Art Director: Paul Andrews
Designer: Joe Ferrara
sucks. We don’t use the C Word much in AMCN, when related to CONTRIBUTORS
EUROPE: Sir Alan Cathcart, Michael Scott,
roadbike crashes, but it’s the bloated elephant in the room. Ben Purvis, Colin Young, Mat Oxley,
It doesn’t just suck for the crashee, either. Family, friends, Gold & Goose, Gordon Ritchie, Paul Young
AND NOT FORGETTING
emergency workers, witnesses – it sucks for them, too. Peter Whitaker, Tim Munro, Don Cox,
Darryl Flack, Neil Spalding, Simon O’Leary,
Crashing sucks to different levels, sure – a slow dirtbike crash Peter Baker, Josh Evans, Phillip Tooth, Dean Mellor,
Terry Stevenson & Rob Blackbourn
is different to messing up a fourth gear road corner, PRODUCTION
before joining the scenery at speed – but they Production Manager: Ian Scott
Advertising Co-ordinator: Yang Zhou

“It’s not my both suck. That being the case – motorcycle

crashes sucking – you’d think more of us
ADVERTISING
National Sales Manager: Dale Johnson
dale.johnson@amcn.com.au

fault I crash/ would do more to prevent it happening.

0403 743 587
Qld Sales Manager: Todd Anderson
todd@motormedia.com.au
We are quick to complain about an
crashed!” I can
0409 630 733

over-policed “motorcycle road”, dropped MANAGEMENT

Citrus Media

hear some speed limits on said roads, traffic calming

devices, and so on. But if we didn’t crash
Publisher: Jim Flynn
0449 801 899 jim@citrusmedia.com.au
Accounts: accounts@citrusmedia.com.au

of you saying. with monotonous regularity on these

CONTACT AMCN
Australian Motorcycle News
A: PO Box 20154, World Square, NSW, 2002

Are you sure roads, less of all that would be happening,

wouldn’t it? As our speed limit investigation
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ISSN: 1320-2103

about that? [Speed Freaks, Vol 68 No 24] highlighted, SUBSCRIPTIONS*

speed limits in general are under downward
pressure by Aussie government because they
relate speed to road deaths, but if we didn’t crash,
would that pressure be there?
“It’s not my fault I crash/crashed!” I can hear some of you
saying. Are you sure about that? We got to wondering why we
crash for this issue: is it the roads, tin tops or something else?
The results are sobering (page 50). Ride smart, get the odds in
your favour, control what you can.
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 NOO MATTER THE SEASON.
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 the know
IT HAPPENED SINCE LAST ISSUE

BMW’s design concept is

radical but carries over
some heavy styling clues
from its ‘conventional’ bikes

Beemer’s
How it is done Old but new
Battery packs can be made BMW gives us our first physical
in many shapes, so BMW has look at the carbon-fibre system

big electric
sculpted the Vision DC Roadster’s
to take the place that would
normally be fi lled by a Boxer twin
on a traditional bike bearing the
it patented a couple of years
ago. While developing the
carbon frame for the HP4 Race,
BMW also patented the idea of

Boxer
firm’s badge. Like an engine,
the battery pack needs cooling,
so it’s covered in fi ns and gains
two external coolers – each with
a fan. With one cooler bolted to
each side of the bike, the eff ect is
using extruded carbon tubes
connected by aluminium
brackets to create a trellis-
style chassis. That supports
the Vision DC Roadster’s seat
unit. Familiar elements, such

BMW blasts off into a to replicate the proportions of a

Boxer-powered BMW.
as the Duolever forks, are
combined with tricky reflective

new but recognisable future The electric motor is hidden

away in the bellypan, mounted
pads on the tyres that give the
impression of a glowing loop
longitudinally to allow the use of when illuminated by another
IT'S A MOTORCYCLE, but not as we know it! BMW has revealed how a traditional shaft drive. vehicle’s headlights.
it will tackle the sticking point of electric motorcycles, that they look
more like bicycles than motorbikes. Its Vision DC Roadster packages
BMW’s existing styling themes and brand identity into a design
concept that at first glance looks like a petrol-powered motorcycle.
While revealing this new take on how it will address the needs of
a pollution-free future, BMW also gave a fascinating insight in the
design and build process. It released images of the brain-storming
process behind this radical venture.
Our industry analyst, Ben Purvis, examines the details and
also reveals how documents uncovered in the US hint at BMW’s
production plans for 2020. HAMISH COOPER

AL SO I N T H I S I S S U E T E CH

A LITTLE BIT
OF ROYALTY
Living with Royal Enfield’s Continental
34 →
WHEN SCIENCE
MEETS RACING
Inside MotoGP’s chassis development
58 →
 Big plans
unveiled
the kn
IT HAPPENED SINCE LAST I

China
on the
rise
CHINA HAS BECOME a hotbed of
motorcycle development. Leading
manufacturers, including Zongshen,
CFMoto and Qianjiang, are increasingly
producing convincing models.
As well, Chinese companies are
doing joint-venture deals with famous
brands, such as Harley-Davidson and
Norton, to leverage kudos in an ever
more crowded market.
BEN PURVIS &
HAMISH COOPER

Will a Chinese-built
commuter bike be a big
seller for H-D?

Adventure
(in)bound!
AMCN'S HUGELY POPULAR annual
Adventure issue is going ahead for 2019
and we can’t wait. Normally slated for the
first issue at the turn of a new volume, the
special issue will this year fall in Vol 69
No 03, on sale Thursday 1 August.
As well as all the regular features and
news that makes us Australia’s number-
one motorcycle publication, the 2019
Adventure Issue will cover everything
from riding advice, tests of significant new
adventure models, a list of AMCN staff and
contributor’s most memorable riding roads
as well as a whole swag of inspirational and
informative content to go with it!

14 amcn.com.au
 CFMoto 700X scooped
AFTER CHURNING OUT bikes based on its
Kawasaki-alike 650cc parallel twin for the
best part of a decade, CFMoto is preparing
an almost entirely new 700cc machine.
These design images prove it needs to be
taken very seriously by mainstream rivals.
The number ‘700’ embossed into the left
hand engine cover leaves little doubt that
capacity is up around 50cc from the current
649.3cc, although the general layout of
the parallel twin remains unchanged. The
clutch cover bears an ‘X’ logo, suggesting
that the bike will be called the 700X.
The chassis is an all-new steel tube design
with an attractively sculpted aluminium
swingarm. An upside-down front fork has a
single radial-mount brake caliper. There’s a
hint of Ducati Diavel in the neo-retro styling,
X marks the spot for CFMoto
with a stubby tail and a headlight tucked in
close to the fork. The short exhaust gives
a modern look, as does the swingarm-
mounted licence plate bracket.
While the capacity increase to 700cc may
add a little power compared to the 45kW of
the current 650NK, the change could also
ff
be an effort to address upcoming uro
emissions rules. It may also be a response
to the knowledge that rival Chinese fi rm
Zongshen is planning to reveal its own 650cc
parallel twin later this year based on an
engine design licenced from Norton.
Although we’ve only seen the design for
this new nakedbike using the 700cc engine,
we know that CFMoto is developing further
models. Internally, this bike is referred to
as the “CF700-2”, suggesting that it’s the
second of a range of “CF700” designs. BP

Zongshen is adding some flat Harley-Davidson’s 338cc twin

track racer style to its range
HARLEY-DAVIDSON'S small-displacement bike, aimed
for the Asian and Indian markets at the end of 2020,
will be made in China by Qianjiang, the owners of the
Benelli brand.
Renders of the new model, which is said to have
a 338cc parallel twin engine, reveal that it’s closely
based on an existing Qianjiang-made machine,
the Benelli 302S. The 338cc engine is larger than
the Benelli 302S’s, probably achieved by using a
combination of existing Qianjiang/Benelli parts.
H-D president Matt Levatich said the Chinese deal
is all about “creating new pathways to our brand”. BP

Zongshen retro twin leak
ZONGSHEN IS PLANNING a flat-track
style retro with an upside-down fork
and cast alloy wheels.
It looks to be powered by Zongshen’s
380cc parallel twin engine, already
available in its RX3S adventure bike
and the new-for-2019 RZ3S roadster.
With four valves per cylinder and
a claimed 27kW at 9000rpm, its
performance is about what you’d
expect from its capacity and layout.
Given that we caught sight of the
RZ3S patents around this time last
year and it was officially revealed in
Qianjiang will
produce a little bit of
Milwaukee in China
late 2018, we expect that this new retro
model will appear at shows towards
the end of 2019 and go on sale in 2020.
Zongshen is also well underway
with a range of 650cc parallel twin
models using the same engine as
Norton’s Atlas and Superlight models,
which will be built under licence in
China. These could catapult Zongshen
on to the international stage as a
serious rival for CFMoto, not to mention
taking on Japanese twins such as
Suzuki’s SV650, Kawasaki’s Z650 and
Yamaha’s MT-07. BP

Rally-up!
There’s a lot more
‘Dakar’ and less ‘Rose
Bay’ in KTM’s 790
Adventure R Rally
PLENTY OF ADVENTURE bikes never stray anywhere off
the asphalt but the 500 buyers of KTM’s limited-edition 790
Adventure R Rally are likely to use them exactly as intended.
The most extreme version of KTM’s mid-sized adventure
model yet, the 790 Adventure R Rally shares the same
frame and engine as the stock 790 Adventure, but adds far
higher-spec suspension to boost its off-road credentials.
The WP XPlor Pro 7548s fork uses ‘cone valves’ claimed
to offer a wider range of adjustment, as well as having
‘unlimited’ opening to reduce harshness. The rear shock
is an Xplor Pro 6746, also claimed to offer a ‘significant
increase in damping performance’.
All this adds 30mm to the ride height and the suspension
travel, increasing off-road capability but pushing the
seat up to a massive 910mm, compared to 880mm on the
Adventure R and 830mm for the 790 Adventure.
A weight-saving Akrapovic exhaust, KTM’s Quickshifter+,
as well as narrower wheel rims and tubed tyres sharpen off-
road performance even more. BP
 Twenty years ago this month Randy

the
Did Mamola set the still-standing record of
you
know? → youngest rider on the GP podium. He
You did not! finished second in the 500cc Finland
round aged 19 years and 260 days.

b ieffs
briefs

21
YOUR QUICK FIX

CLASS ACT
Supercross/motocross legend Chad
Proud Stroud
Jacob Stroud, son of nine-
Reed will race a Lamborghini in time NZ Superbike champ
two rounds of the US one-marque Andrew, will race in four
championship. rounds of MotoAmerica’s
Junior Cup series starting
That’s the percentage at Sonoma on August 10.
motorcyclists make up of all road-
related accident victims taken to Trauma
hospital emergency departments.
training
Find out why we’re crashing from page 50 Tassie group First Aid For
Motorcyclists is offering
an accident management

“Was I
course on 13 July at Ross
Town Hall.

riding
bad? Was
it the New kid on the block Hot & Not
bike?”
After 12 Moto2 and Moto3 victories, 2019
MotoGP debutant Miguel Oliveira joins local AMCN’S
Portuguese learner riders to get his road THERMOMETER
bike licence.
Defending ASBK Superbike
champion Penrite Honda’s Troy
Herfoss talks exclusively to AMCN INDIAN POW-WOW
More than 60 Indian
about his disastrous first round at
Phillip Island. riders from around
Australia led the
Exclusive
c us e interview
te e stastarts
ts oon page 882 recent Cooly Rocks Those
On custom car fest
parade, followed
bastards
UK motorcycle thieves
by a gaggle of tiny
are taunting owners with
Goggomobiles.
Instagram photos of bikes
Gee-oh…
they claim they have
“repossessed”.

CHRISTMAS What a
Charley

INJULY
After 27 years of racing
motorcycles ASBK Kawasaki
Blabber-mouth Charley
Boorman boasts he and
Ewan McGregor will film
Long Way Up (South
America). Then it all goes
quiet as nothing’s been
BCperformance rider Bryan
finalised.
Staring gets his first street
bike. “Do the motorcycling
circles have a cafe culture like
cycling?” he asks.

Mental Twisties WHO WHEN WHAT WHY WHERE

Harley-Davidson 2006 356.7 kmh / 221.6 mph Hayabusa is a Japanese Sydney Motorsport Park
Really, some of our questions peregrine falcon that is (Eastern Creek).
were so simple we thought known to prey on (Honda)
everyone would be a winner. Blackbirds.
But question three stumped
everyone… except our winner
Helen James. Great work

Answers for Vol 68 No 25

16 amcn.com.au
 Scaysbrook was running
his dad’s #34 race

the kno
number, instead of
his tradional #33

IT HAPPENED SINCE LAST ISS

Rennie
tames
America’s
Mountain
Ex-AMCN staffer finally conquers Pikes Peak!
AFTER THREE SUCCESSIVE
podiums every year since
2016, Australia’s Rennie
Scaysbrook has won the 97th
running of the Pikes Peak
International Hill Climb,
setting a new motorcycle
record in the process.
Riding a factory-supported
Aprilia Tuono, the ex-AMCN
staffer claimed the win in the
heavyweight division with a
stunning run up the 156-turn
hill climb in 9m44.963sec.
“That was the most intense
10 minutes of my entire life,”
the Aussie said, out of breath
in the thin air on 14,000-feet
Pikes Peak summit.
“To be perfectly honest, it
didn’t feel that good. I blew at
least three of those hairpins –
one, I nearly hit the same wall
that I did in 2016 and I thought,
‘nah, I’m not doing it again!’
It felt good, it felt smooth and
the last three miles I thought,
‘just survive it’, cos it’s so
rough and crappy.”
The race claimed the
life of Pikes Peak legend
Carlin Dunne, who set off
before Scaysbrook. Riding
the prototype Ducati V4
Streetfighter, the four-time
Pikes Peak winner crashed
in the final sector of the
19.99km course. Thankfully
for Rennie and his record-
breaking run, the tragic news
wasn’t confirmed until much
later on race day, well after
the motorcycle category was
run and won.
Pointing to his custom-
painted Pikes Peak helmet
after his run, Rennie said,
“Boxing kangaroo, Renski
down the side, HJS 2017 for
Harvey James Scaysbrook –
that’s my little boy at home,
and 2017 the year he was
born – he was one week old
when I came here for the 2017
race, so I can’t wait to get
home and give him a cuddle
and give Annabelle, my wife,
a kiss.”
See next issue for a full
feature in Rennie’s own
words on the up and down
fortnight that was this year’s
Pikes Peak International Hill
Climb. KELLIE BUCKLEY

2020 Yamaha MT-07 spotted

WE'VE CAUGHT YAMAHA testing a
revamped version of the massively The clearest change While the brakes, fork
popular MT-07 as it gets ready for is the exhaust, which and swingarm appear to be
the new challenges posed by Euro 5 appears to have a unchanged, at least visually,
emissions regulations. catalytic converter note the sensors fitted
While we can clearly see that mounted high on the to monitor suspension
the basic engine and chassis downpipes. They merge movement and test equipment
components will be carried over closer to the cylinder head attached to the brakes.
from the existing model, the sheer
to ensure the catalyst
quantity of test components bolted
gets up to operating The crude plastic
to this prototype suggests that
temperature faster and can strapped on the
there’s an extensive programme of
improvements underway. negates the need to bulk back has pipework
Duct tape keeps prying eyes away up the silencer. routed to the brake
from revised bodywork. But given the discs. It’s presumably
fi nished state of the new exhaust it’s intended to spray
likely the plastic panels underneath are We reckon Yamaha water onto the discs
equally production-ready. The single might increase capacity to simulate wet
round headlight is new, probably with a fraction from the riding conditions,
daytime running lights above it. The existing 689cc engine hinting that there are
forward-jutting air intakes either side to ensure there’s no changes to the brake
of the tank are an MT-07 signature, but power drop. Expect an
reshaped for a sharper look. The same pad material or to
electronics update, too. the ABS.
applies to the tank itself. BEN PURVIS

18 amcn.com.au
TOTALLY
UNEXPECTED.
TOTALLY
UNRIVALLED.
It’s the ride. It’s the feeling. It’s a new level of handling of our re-engineered chassis,
and performance of the Milwaukee-Eight® engine that will leave your preconceptions
in the dirt. Whatever you ride, however you ride it, there’s a Softail® model that will
rip up and blow away everything you thought you knew about riding a motorcycle.

Explore the Softail® range and

find the right model for you at
H-D.COM/SOFTAIL-AU

©2019 H-D OR ITS AFFILIATES. HARLEY-DAVIDSON, HARLEY, H-D, AND THE BAR AND SHIELD LOGO ARE AMONG THE TRADEMARKS OF H-D U.S.A., LLC. SELECTION VARIES BY DEALERSHIP.
 the
Headcheck

The year wa

News
No, this is not a render you
are looking at. It’s the Egli Red
Shark, with a turbocharged
1325cc Kawasaki in-line four
pushing it to a claimed top
speed of 427km/h. Also fitted
with nitrous-oxide, it was set
to break three speed records;
the 1km flying start, the 10km
standing start and the 100km
standing start.

Sport
Daryl Beattie was signed to
race the HRC Formula One
RVF750 in the All-Japan
Formula One Championship
for 1991. Although the
contract did not include any
world championship grands
prix, there was a clause to
allow 20-year-old Beattie to
contest additional events, at
the discretion of HRC.

Bike test
It’s a rare thing to say that AMCN Vol 40 NO 12 “Myy bike racing g contract
one motorcycle changed the 104 pages, $3.95 expires at the end of
He
course of racing, but this one On sale
did. Alan Cathcart rode what next year and this is
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the
w
He did what?
WORDS PETER WHITAKER
Canning Stunt
West Aussie reclaims Billiluna to Wiluna speed record
SIXTY YEARS HAVE
passed since the last mob of
Kimberley cattle were driven
south along West Australia’s
Canning Stock Route, an
odyssey only made possible
by water drawn from the 48
wells constructed by Alfred
Canning in 1908.
Establishing an abattoir
at Wyndham rendered
the Canning Stock Route
redundant, the track falling
into disuse, the wells into
disrepair. It was inevitable
someone would attempt to
motor down the track and, a
decade after the final cattle
drive, a pair of short-wheelbase
Landies were successful.
And just as inevitably the
two-wheeled fraternity were
quickly on the scene.
Local lads Andreas and
Fred Powell were the first to
take on the challenge of an
unsupported ride in 1983,
22 amcn.com.au
Main. At 63, Garry Connell set a new record for the Canning 1. Connell’s Husky, with extra lights 2. His single
stop at Savoury Creek was well-planned, and brief 3. The first beer at the Wiluna pub would have tasted good...
Andreas on a BMW R 80 GS
and Fred on a R 80/7 roadbike,
modified with a 21-inch front
wheel and suspension from a
dead Suzuki RM250.
Both carried 80 litres of
fuel plus 15 litres of water
in addition to swags, food,
cooking utensils and a heavy
radio transceiver, plus all the
necessary tools to round out
the kit.
With daytime temperatures
of 40°C, the lads were
surviving on less than three
litres of water a day. In place
of power supplements, the
polluted water was often
strained through their
tee shirts to provide the
necessary nutrients. They
calculated their speed at less
than 20km/h and considered
the sixth day a ripper when
they managed 180km. Araldite
– the do-it-all repair kit of the
era – was in constant demand,
as was tie wire and whittled
mulga to support the frames.
Durba Springs oasis
provided some much-needed
respite before they took on
the easiest sections of their
odyssey to the final day, which
saw them proudly elbow their
way to the bar at the Wiluna
Club Hotel for a celebratory
beer or two. Despite the
sceptics, despite 10 days of
truly hard yakka and despite
avoiding a potential disaster,
Fred and Andreas Powell had
proven the Canning could be
conquered on two wheels.
Since the Powell’s
remarkable achievement
there have been scores of
successful, unsupported two-
wheeled attempts, from the
trio of 250cc trailies ridden
by Mac McCulloch, Terry
Monckton and Dave Rose to
the time veteran adventurer
Tony Kirby manhandled a
BMW R 1200 GS down the
famous track.
And while there are no
records of a Honda Goldwing
making the journey it became
obvious that provided proper
planning was in place,
anything was possible.
Unremarkably dirtshifters’
attention then focussed on
who could set the quickest
time for the journey.
Scott Britnell may not
have been aware of his
predecessors’ exploits,
however he was aware
the Canning Stock Route
is acknowledged as
Australia’s most remote
public thoroughfare. And
undoubtedly the toughest.
Having established
a new record for the
transcontinental crossing
from Cape Byron to Steep
Point, it seemed only natural
that Scotty, 38, would turn his

The record now stands
at 38 hours 51 minutes
attention to the Canning. In
May 2015 Britnell made his
claim, riding the 1650km from
Wiluna, north to Billiluna in
less than 48 hours.
Few riders were more
interested in Scotty’s record
than 63-year-old Garry
Connell, a sandgroper with
a serious addiction to cross-
country rallying. After all, the
Canning was on Garry’s home
turf – salt, spinifex and sand
– and he’d regularly traversed
the route on recreational rides
over the last two decades.
“I’ve been planning a solo
ride ever since Scotty was over
here,” Garry told AMCN.
“But influenza knocked
me arse over in 2017 and
category-five Cyclone Marcus
ripped the area apart last
year. This year everything fell
into place.”
With the assistance of a few
close mates, Garry set up three
fuel drops and an emergency
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MADE IN
May 14, he left at sparrow’s.
“The first day and I
was ahead of schedule by
sundown,” said Garry.
DENMARK
“With darkness the
pace dropped more than
I anticipated. And after a
midnight refuel and a feed,
plus a second 45-minute kip
just south of Savoury Creek, I
arrived at Durba Springs two
hours later than planned.”
Due to Cyclone Marcus the
track was severely rutted and
new growth restricted vision.
Garry had intended to reach
Wiluna pub before nightfall
and battling fatigue, severe
cramps and carpal tunnel
problems, finally made it
into town at 7.51pm, his rally
prepped Husqvarna FE501 in
far better shape than he was.
But he bloody well did it.
The record now stands at 38
hours 51 minutes.
And old blokes rule.
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 Draggin gear!

access
Pair of Draggin jeans
www.dragginjeans.net
Include your full name and address,
via letter or email. Long letters will be cut
to fit, so keep ’em short and to the point.
Letter Oh, and the views expressed by readers here
of the AIR YOUR THOUGHTS OR VENT YOUR SPLEEN
→
issue are not necessarily those of the editor
Access, AMCN, PO Box 20154, World Square, NSW, 2002 access@amcn.com.au

Letter of the issue

Health, not speed The heart foundation of

For the past 20-odd years, I
have been f lying helicopters
in the Emergency Medical
Services (EMS) role. In
that time, I have been to
countless road accidents,
and in every single one
speed has been a factor.
Even if the speed of one
vehicle was zero – it’s
obvious. Saying speed was
a factor in a road traffic
accident is like saying heat
was a factor in a fire.
The issue of speed limits is less
about safety and more about revenue
because when it comes to revenue-
raising, road users are easy prey.
Speeding has become the new
drink driving and stark warnings
that “every kay over is a killer”
blatantly ignores the fact that excess
speed is rarely the cause of road
accidents, though it does affect the
consequences. Speed doesn’t kill;
bad driving does, I’ve seen it time
and time again.
Yet, as politicians and bureaucrats
screw down on road users while the
cash-cow pumps millions into state
government coffers, the true mass
killers of Australians are overlooked.
The road toll peaked in 1978 at
around 3700, a horrendous toll
which would have had a devastating
effect on first-responders as much as
anyone. According to Wiki, in 2018 the
Australian road toll was in the order of
1143, 30 percent of the 1978 carnage.
Speed limits have remained more
or less the same on the open roads,
so why the decline? Better roads,
safer vehicles, better driver and rider
training. It may be that the war on
speeding can take little credit for the
dramatic reduction in mortality.
Yet at the same time, the rate of
lifestyle-associated disease has
soared; cardio-vascular disease,
respiratory disease, stroke, organ-
failure, complications of diabetes,
and morbid obesity are the bread-
and-butter of helicopter EMS, with
road trauma representing around a
quarter to a fifth of the missions.
Australia cites a mortality rate
from heart disease of 43,477 in
2017. The figures are shocking,
and the cost to the community
is astronomical. Helicopter
retrieval of a patient suffering
a STEMI (ST-complex
Elevation Myocardial
Infarction) – pretty much a
daily routine – costs in the
order of $10,000.
If state and federal
governments were serious
about saving lives, they would uproot
the speed cameras and place them
outside fast food outlets, ban alcohol,
outlaw smoking, shut down the sugar
industry and curtail the proliferation
of cooking shows.
Till then it will be business as
usual, with harried road-users
driving with their heads down and
eyes glued to the speedometers,
while traffic cops meter out fines to
make up their quotas.
Ray Roc
Via Email
I love the idea of speed cameras
outside fast food outlets, Ray – it’s a
great point. “Knock yourself out with
those Nutella-loaded fries, but don’t do
1km/h over the speed limit!” Sam

The road toll peaked in 1978 at around 3700.

→ The Heart Foundation cites the 2017 mortality
rate from heart disease at 43,477
Here’s an idea the lack thereof – the cause. the more accidents will x-percent, except in built-up
I doubt anyone was In a mixed-up life thus far, occur because people’s areas. Does that sound like a
surprised to read about I’ve driven/ridden about attention levels will win-win?
the myopic views of those three million kilometres, decrease, and their skills Simon Bailey
continuing to reduce I’ve been a copper, raced will become ever-lower. Via Email
our already dangerously Superbikes and trained a So why don’t we introduce
low speed limits, or their raft of riders and drivers. tiered licences that allow It would be hard to police
continued insistence that What I’ve seen over the past people who are willing to be who has what licence in real
speed is the major factor in decade is what appears to be tested at an advanced skill time, but I like the cut of your
serious accidents (Speed a decrease in driver skills – level, say every five years, jib, Simon. Sam
Freaks, AMCN Vol 68 No 24). and also their manners. to secure a ‘performance
While the risk of serious The more we dumb- licence’? This would allow Mates rates
injury increases with speed, down the speed limits to them to, for example, I just completed a 10-day
it doesn’t make speed – or accommodate lower skills, travel at posted limit plus motorcycle tour around

amcn.com.au 25

access
Your say
East Timor. One of six
ex-commandos aged
between 58 and 80. We
covered over 1200km in 10
days, at times over some
of the worst roads we had
ever ridden on – I certainly
wouldn’t attempt it on my
Suzuki Boulevard.
Some of our group hadn’t
ridden for 20 or 30 years,
we all had a big learning
curve but we survived to
see some truly magnificent
country with beautiful and
friendly people.
If any of your readers
are really up for a
challenge, get in touch
with Timor Adventures,
they really looked after
us staying in some
beautiful and interesting
accommodation. The 150cc
Hondas were new when we
started, and they hauled
my 130kg butt over some
impressive terrain.
The photo was taken at
Balibo, ready for our last leg
back to Dili. The house is
now a museum tribute to the
five journalists killed there.
Keith Hughes
Craigieburn, Vic
Bonding on bikes, there is
no better way. Sam
“East timor is a truly
magnificent country”
26 amcn.com.au
R ENN
IE W IN
S! SC
AYSBR
OO
H-D
the C
na ke
ba nd
w
F
OU
NOW EVEN MORE
PLACES TO READ AMCN
Missing trials risk of fatal crashes.
About the rural speed limits, It took three years, but
the first and only proper eventually Tasmania
trials were conducted in dropped the proposal and
Tasmania as a proposal to instead went with a more
drop country road limits sensible policy of driving
from 100km/h to 90. This to the conditions. Several
was based on a model people involved with road
produced by the Monash safety in Tasmania lost their
University Accident jobs over this, not because
Research Centre (MUARC) of a mistake in modelling,
and consisted of 175 pages but because they ignored
financed by the taxpayer at the trial results and tried
a cost of $228,000. to forge ahead with the
The most critical proposal anyway.
assumption made was The failure of the road
that the average speed of safety industry to share
vehicles would drop by the knowledge gained is a
5km/h across the board, and disgrace.
the projected reduction in Malcolm Eastley
fatal crashes was calculated Via Email
at 20 percent. These same
assumptions form the basis Sick and tyred
of other research. I’ve been having a bit of a
Trials were conducted rough time with flat tyres
where speeds were recorded on my commute lately, am
on both straight and twisty I the only unlucky one? My
sections of road. The results daily journey is a round trip
were consistent; vehicle of 160km on both suburban
speeds dropped a little on streets and back roads,
straight sections – from which is a routine I have
94km/h to 92km/h – but been doing for over 10 years.
driver reaction saw the Until a couple of years ago
speeds in corners rise by an things were quite normal,
average of five percent. The but lately something has
predicted 20 percent drop changed and I’m not sure
turned out to be a 10 percent what’s going on. As riders,
increase in the measured we all see bits and pieces
of junk on the road, which
→
occasionally provide us
with a bit of quick-steering
practice, but it’s the smaller,
harder-to-see debris that
can stop you in your tracks.
I’ve had all manner of
nasties stuck in my tyres
including an assortment
of nails, drill bits, roofing
screws, rivets and I’ve
even suffered two separate
front-tyre punctures – one
of which was courtesy of a
front door key!
A lesson perhaps to all
your readers is always carry
the right repair gear. On
most occasions, my tyre
has had to be replaced,
especially after removing a
drill bit, which makes a hell
of a mess.
It’s not just debris on the
road which is of concern,
but also unsecured loads. I
once had to dodge a flying
queen-size mattress that
broke free and passed over
my head on the freeway.
I can only imagine the
reactions of my loved ones
when they’re told of my
sudden demise at the hands
of a King Coil.
I’m loathe to point the
finger at tradies, but maybe
I’ll change my opinion if
ever I get a laptop stuck in
my back tyre.
Anybody else out there
having similar adventures?
Phil Hart
Kariong, NSW
Rider recycler
The criticism of the Towards
Zero campaign (Speed
Freaks, AMCN Vol 69 No 24)
struck a chord. I used to work
in the landfill industry and
had to cope with a Towards
Zero waste campaign. It was
based on the assumption
that if a 60 percent recycling
rate was good, then a 75
percent recycling rate must
be better – just like the
approach to speed limits. A
reduction of country speed
limits to 80km/h is good;
therefore a further reduction
to 70km/h must be better.
I think your article was a
little juvenile in its approach
to the traffic experts. There
is good evidence that says
reducing the average speed
of traffic decreases the
injury and death rate among
road users. That doesn’t
apply to individual drivers
or riders though, who can
use experience, skill and
a well-maintained vehicle
to reduce their own risks,
independent of speed.
Riding a motorcycle is
fundamentally different
to driving a car in that you
can’t violently swerve out of
danger at the last moment.
Giz a squi
Congratulations Tristen, you’ve
scored a beaut Motul cap and T-shirt
valued at $35, kindly supplied by our
mates at Link International.
Send an image and details about
your two-wheeled pride and joy
to access@amcn.com.au
Giz a squiz
Rider Tristen Jeff rey
Ride 1998 Suzuki RGV250
He says I thought I’d show you
old boys [Hey, I’m not old or a
boy! Kel] something you could
appreciate. This is my newly
restored, 1998 Suzuki RGV250
VJ22. I’m a relatively young
bloke in my 30s, but I also
remember watching MotoGP at
Phillip Island in the two-stroke
era as a young kid. Having
owned several bikes, including
Suzukis and Ducatis, I decided
to add something smaller to
the garage, but something that
was still a crotch rocket. The
RGV was something I could
pour my heart into and relive
Kevin Schwantz’s greatest
moments on-board his RGV500
GP machine.
I rescued this one from
Brisbane and brought it back
to Melbourne. Complete with
a full engine rebuild, including
a new crank, new pistons,
rings, bearings top/bottom,
new barrels, VHM heads,
blasted wheels, reconditioned
brakes, Tyga chambers/cans/
Your adventure.
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at Dynoverks, there’s new
paint on original panels and the
reproduction decals were done
by Rod and Scott at Melbourne
Motorcycle Fairings.
Soon it’ll be registered and back
on the road. I hope this one
brings some good memories
back for you blokes and your
readers.
We say There’s a bike many of
us have a soft spot for. I raced
one of these (badly) for a couple
of 250 Proddie seasons, and for
a fun bike and relatively cheap
project, you’ve picked a winner
for sure. You had a good crew
working on it, and it will turn
a heap of heads on the road –
from the looks and the sound.
Never sell it. Ever. Sam.
Send us your ride via email, to
access@amcn.com.au or, if you’re a
carby and points kinda person, pop a pic
and relevant info in the post to
Readers’ Rides, PO Box 20154,
World Square, NSW, 2002

You must plan in advance Your analysis of the way

and leave a margin to react
to unexpected dangers. Your
safety is in your hands. I
don’t think you’ll ever win
an argument that going
faster will increase your
attention and stop you
getting bored.
safety and traffic experts
evaluate the traffic is good;
however, as you point out,
the safety of drivers is way
more important than the
safety of riders. You only
have to think about the
wire-rope barriers that
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access
Your say
“Luckily, there was a break in
the traffic and I didn’t end up
under a Roadtrain”
pose a significant increase
of injury risk to riders, to
reduce the risks for drivers.
But all is not lost, as you
imply. The focus on driver
safety is to our advantage.
Riding on roads where there
are few cars, and very few
that are speeding, will avoid
the attention of the police
because they would be
wasting their time.
Don’t be afraid, things
will stay much the same.
Speed limits will continue to
be a compromise between
the bureaucrat’s desire
to lower them and the
political reality of needing
to progress at a reasonable
rate. Enforcement will
always concentrate on
speeding cars.
So by choosing the right
place and time, you can still
have fun – safely.
Sam Bateman
Camberwell, VIC
Tracking
and treking
Regarding the article on
reducing the road toll
(Speed freaks, AMCN Vol
68 No 24), where are these
experts coming from? The
piece on replacing line
markings on the centre of
the road with wire fencing
sends shivers up my spine.
Just before Christmas, I rode
through a soft bit of bitumen
28 amcn.com.au
Facebook
Post of
the issue
Jorge Lorenzo’s lap 2 adventures
in Barcelona got the AMCN bush
telegraph throbbing
→
where roadtrains had left
a dip in the road with deep
tyre imprints in it. I couldn’t
go around it as I usually do,
because of oncoming traffic.
The front tyre of the bike
got caught in the tracks,
the bike went into a huge
tank slapper and I ended up
sliding down the middle of
the road on my backside for
about 100 metres.
Luckily, there was a break
in the traffic and I didn’t
end up under a Roadtrain.
I can’t bear to think what
the outcome would have
been if there had been a
wire barrier installed in the
middle of the road.
I have been riding
motorcycles very regularly
for many years, including
the annual trek from Instagram
Western Australia to the
@sydneywestriders →
MotoGP at Phillip Island. My Thanks to everyone that attend
bikes are in good condition our annual @vividsydney ride
and well maintained. The last night. The last minute
thought of those barriers weather changes and wet roads
in the middle of the road did not stop 120+ riders from
is terrifying. Shame on coming out for a ride to Milsons
the authorities to be even Point. The success of this ride
considering them. would not have been possible
without our team of volunteers
Malcolm Craig
Goomalling, WA
@ride_n_photo
→ #advlife #adventurebike
Wire rope barriers are #advrider #dualsport
yet another issue we will #dualsportadv
turn our attention to in an #motoadventure
upcoming issue, Malcolm. #motorcycletravel
Kudos for your big trek to #mototouring #travelbybike
the Island! Sam #motor_adventure
your first →
If it was a paddock basher or a shiny
new one, no one forgets their first
bike. If you get printed, you’ll get
an Oxford lock, Fred’s fave gets the
Reader rides Ipone kit. Show us yours!

Not my first roadbike; it went Honda CB350, Kawasaki Z650, Yamaha My first bike, a Honda CB250 I bought in 1980. It cost me $150 and it
XS1100 then this Suzuki GSX1100 with my then girlfriend, now wife had oil leaks everywhere. The charging system was shot, so I had to
recreating the famous AMCN poster of the time. It’s the picture I keep put the battery on charge whenever I was at the girlfriend’s house.
on my desk. Peter Woodberry It was my ticket to freedom and the first of many bikes. Bob Back

This was my very first bike and the start of a

motorcycle love affair that lasts to this day. It
was a 1970 model Yamaha AT-1B 125. This
photo was taken in 1976 when I was 15 years
old. I paid $250 with rego. My friends could
not believe it had electric start as well as kick
start. Greg Baggs

This was my first ride in 1981. A Suzuki AP50 in

the UK, I was 16 years old. I’m 22 bikes down now
and still going strong on a Victory Cross Country. My old Honda SL70 when I was 14 years
Jon Briddon old. Sid Evans

My first bike when Clean up!

I was 16 and 9
months 1970. Send Fred a photo of the
Yamaha R5 350, first bike you ever owned or
it only cost me rode. If you don’t have a pic
$860. I had to of the first, he’ll accept one of
learn how to ride the first. Email your entry to
real fast. Helmets comps@amcn.com.au
weren’t even and make sure you include
compulsory in
your full name and postal
those days.
address so he can send out
Steve Smaller
the loot to his favourite!

30 amcn.com.au
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mental twisties
SHOW US WHAT YOU KNOW!

Reckon you’re pretty quick when it comes to two-wheeled trivia? Then hav ve a
crack at our who-what-where series. If you’re fi nding it hard, here’s a clue – all
the answers have appeared in AMCN at some time over the past 67 years. When W
you reckon you’ve worked out the bloke, the bike and the track, email you ur
numbered answers to comps@amcn.com.au for your chance to o win!

1. WHO?
Who is the international
Aussie rider known as the
“O Show”?
2. WHEN?
When did Honda stop
producing its famous
CBR1100XX Blackbird?
3. WHAT?
What make and model bike
won Race 1 at the first-ever
1 2
round of the World Superbike
Championship in 1988?
4. WHAT?
What is the name of the
oldest Harley-Davidson
dealership outside of
America?
5. WHERE?
Which track on the
MotoGP calendar is this?

4 3

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IPONE CARE KIT

32 amcn.com.au
 120HP 1203CC V-TWIN ENGINE 4.3-INCH LCD TOUCH SCREEN* FULLY ADJUSTABLE SUSPENSION* HIGH OUTPUT LED HEADLIGHT

BORN IN THE DIRT,

BUILT FOR THE STREET
www.indianmotorcycle.com.au
@indianmotorcycleaustralia
/IndianMotorcycleAustraliaandNewZealand

*Only available on FTR 1200 S models. Overseas model shown.

livingwith
RETAIL DISTANCE FUEL SERVICING OPTIONS
PRICE COVERED ECONOMY 500km first Custom model (black
$8840 + ORC 176kms 4.4L/100kms 10,000km intervals wheels, headlight,
12.5L tank mirrors, guards)

Royal Enfield Continental GT 650

Bonny wee lass

Hey, don’t I know you from somewhere?
UP UNTIL FAIRLY recently, Triumph dominated
the modern retro market. If you wanted a two-year
warranty and modern reliability from a machine
that had you reminiscing of fast days long past,
for many riders, the British firm’s Thruxton was
where it was at.
Introduced to Australia in 2004, it was powered
by Triumph’s air-cooled, carburettor-fed 865cc
parallel-twin engine. It boasted 51kW and 72Nm
and nostalgic one-time rockers flocked to it and its
then $14,990 price tag.
The Thruxton has come a long way in the
succeeding 15 years. It, and its throng of modern
classic siblings, flaunt all but the very best of
modern technology these days, and the top-tier
version’s $21,300 price tag represents pretty good
value as a result.
But what if you don’t want the height of whiz-
bang tech with your old-school cafe-set racer? That
certainly wasn’t what attracted the masses in the
mid-2000s. That’s where Royal Enfield and its newly
introduced Continental GT 650 comes in.
Here we have a thoroughly modern fuel-injected,
eight-valve, 648cc parallel-twin, it boasts ABS,
comes with a three-year warranty as well as three
years roadside assist, and its 2019 price tag is $6150
less than the Thruxton’s was 15 years ago.
Okay, it produces 35kW and 52Nm, considerably
less than the 2004-model Thruxton, but 217cc
RIDER is considerably less cubes. Weight’s about the
PROFILE same; the Thruxton had a dry weight of 205kg, the
Name Continental GT weighs 202kg with oil but no fuel.
Kellie Buckley A single-disc, twin-piston caliper front end adorn
Height/Weight the pair, and the Enfield’s Euro-4 compliance
162cm/60kg means its Bybre (By Brembo, based in India)
Hot tip braking package includes Bosch-supplied ABS. Both
Always check the amp are suspended on a 41mm front fork – the Triumph
output of an accessory jack offered preload adjustment, the Enfield doesn’t –
before putting all your eggs both employ twin shocks with adjustable preload
in a heated-gear basket and both seats measure the same 790mm in height.

THE CONTINENTAL GT’S 2019 PRICE TAG IS $6150

LESS THAN THE THRUXTON’S WAS 15 YEARS AGO
34 amcn.com.au
 Main. A bike at the beach
on a typically sunny winter’s
day on the Mornington
Peninsula
1. The Continental’s
clocks are retro and fairly
rudimentary
2. The exhaust note is better
than you’d think
3. Modern EFI injectors lurk
1
behind that old-school cover
4. Three iterations of RE’s
Continental GT right there 4

This isn’t to say the Triumph’s 15-year-old

$15K price tag represented bad value – quite the
VS
ON PAPER
opposite. Back then, Triumph took the proven
Bonneville platform and used the legacy of the
firm’s rich racing heritage to create what was then
a pretty unique modern-day offering at a very
reasonable price.
Royal Enfield will tell you the Continental
GT exists as a current-day nod to its 1964 250cc
Continental GT machine and, while that may be the
case, there’s no way the commonalities between it
and the Trumpy – and the sheer number of them – is 2019 CONTI GT 2004 THRUXTON
Capacity 648cc 865cc
merely coincidence.
Configuration Parallel-twin Parallel-twin
Today, the least expensive modern classic in
Chassis Double cradle Double cradle
Triumph’s line-up is the Street Twin at $14,100
Brakes
(plus on-roads). AMCN recently spent a couple of Front Single 320mm disc Single 320mm disc
months with it on our Living With f leet and found Rear Single 240mm disc Single 255mm disc
its character and quality ref lected its price and Suspension
well-to-do pedigree. Front 41mm conventional fork 41mm conventional fork
The Royal Enfield we’ve taken delivery of has Rear Twin shocks Twin shocks
just over 3500km on the clock and we plan to rack Wheels
up plenty more. What we want to find out is if the Front 18 x 2.5 18 x 2.5
made-in-India machine that just saved a would-be Rear 18 x 3.5 17 x 3.5
Triumph owner somewhere in the region of five Wheelbase 1400mm 1477mm
and a half grand can live up to the expectations Seat height 790mm 790mm
of a discerning owner from both a quality and Weight 202kg (oil, no fuel) 205kg (dry)
performance perspective.

amcn.com.au 35
quickspin TEST KELLIE BUCKLEY PHOTOGRAPHY BEN GALLI

2019 Peugeot Django 150

1 2

36 amcn.com.au
 Dance the Fan-Django
Peugeot is back in Oz with a new scooter line-up ranging from a 50cc moped
through to a 400cc leaning three wheeler, the Django falls in the middle
A
s I accelerated towards the end of
the freeway’s on-ramp, quickly
and easily reaching 100km/h to
merge into the afternoon traffic,
the 12,000km journey I’d learnt
about over lunch suddenly didn’t seem that far
fetched. Well, not the recent one anyway.
In 1957 two French blokes named Serge
Gracium and Michel Vaslin grabbed a pair of
1955 Peugeot S57 scooters – powered by a 150cc
two-stroke engine and with a three-speed
manual gearbox – and rode them from Paris in
France to Vietnam’s Saigon.
So when the French marque
recently released the Django
– said to be a nod to the firm’s
now-iconic S55 and S57B step-
through models – two self-
proclaimed ‘road trip addicts’
arranged a couple of the neo-
retro offerings and made the
reverse journey, this time
starting in what is now called
Ho Chi Minh City and riding
11,775km back to Paris, the
spiritual home of the Peugeot brand.
Main. Peugeot’s Django
certainly brings a Of course that 10-week trip across all sorts of
certain je ne sais quoi to terrain, on 12-inch tyres and under just 8.3kW
the scooter market of steam isn’t an easy undertaking, but the
1. Styling is strongly same trip 60 years ago would have been far,
European far tougher due to the lack of the features and
quality of this modern-day scoot – even if the
2. The rider and pillion
get a bigger seat than new one does only have a $4290 (plus on-road
many ‘real’ roadbikes costs) price tag.
These days it’s powered by a fuel-injected
150.6cc single-cylinder four-stroke engine
matched with a CVT automatic transmission.
I’m scooting along comfortably with the
freeway traffic and there’s still a
little bit left, which I use to pass an
old van, which is belching black
plumes of exhaust. The 12-inch
tyres feel predictable at this
speed, but I’m pleased the road is
well maintained; things get a bit
hairy when the road gets rough
– common, though, for all smaller-
wheeled scoots.
The bike that I’m on is fitted with
the small optional screen, which
amcn.com.au 37
quickspin
2019 Peugeot Django 150

is surprisingly effective given its size. Short but

wide, it redirects enough air that it lets me ride
with my visor up at highway speeds.
The original S55 and S57 models were famous
for their front-mounted luggage rack, where the
front fender doubled up as both a small storage
compartment, as well as a platform to strap your
suitcase to once closed. Low and elongated, the
original offerings used two sprung solo seats and
came with a spare wheel mounted on the rear.
At just shy of two metres in length and with
a relatively low seat height of 770mm, the
modern-day interpretation looks low and long
and is accentuated by the two-tone colour
scheme. The dual seat is reminiscent of the
original – though far more conventional – and
storage capabilities are limited to an under-
seat compartment, a small lockable and 12-volt
outlet-equipped pocket in front of your right
knee and a fold-out bag hook.
For authenticity to the S57’s legacy, I would
have liked to have seen the optional front
rack fitted as standard. But given it retails for
$365.75 from the accessories catalogue, I can
understand why Peugeot Australia opted to
keep it as an option.
I did swing by the supermarket on my way
home and while the under-seat storage wasn’t
big enough to allow me to close and lock my
full-face helmet underneath the seat, I stowed it
in there anyway, and rested the seat on the top
while I went and grabbed what I needed. For the
trip home, the fragile stuff stayed in the green

bag that sat on the f lat f loor between my feet

1 2
(the handles were secured on the hook, but too
long to physically hang), while everything else
got chucked under the seat.
The pillion is well catered for; as well as a
really roomy seat, there’s f lip-out footpegs and
a large and robust grab rail which would have
doubled as tie down points if a 20kg bag of
dog food or 20 rolls of toilet paper were on
my shopping list.
The Django 150 is available in three versions.
As well as the standard Evasion model, which
is available the blue-and-white, orange-and-
3 white or red-and-white options, there’s the
up-spec Allure model which, for an extra $200,
adds a rear rack and leather seat to its less-
garish colour schemes. Then there’s the Sport S
model which, other than not having a grab rail,
remains identical in both spec and price to the
Evasion, it just swaps its retro paintwork for an
all f lat-black look.
All models boast front-wheel ABS, LED
lighting all round (including a daytime
running light, which cradles the Peugeot logo
on the nose), and the level of fit and finish is
what you’d expect from a European brand.
The dash is back-lit by a blue light and uses
a large analogue speedo combined with a
38 amcn.com.au
 THE PILLION IS WELL SCOOTE
CATERED FOR WITH A PEDIGRE
REALLY ROOMY SEAT One hundred and
18 years ago…

AND FLIP-OUT FOOTPEGS MOST PEOPLE ASSOCIATE

the Peugeot brand with th
passenger car segment,
but Peugeot has a long
history of classically-styl
motorcycles. Its first two
wheel motorcycle lobbed as far back
as 1901 (there was a three-wheeler in
1898, two years after its first bicycle,
but it doesn’t really count) and it was
a charming 198cc machine capable
of 1.5hp.
By the mid-1930s, Peugeot had
over 60 offerings, ranging from 100cc
mopeds through to 745cc twins and
by 1952, the brand was celebrating
victory in some highly competitive
y g
its native France, such as B’ol Dor and
Le Mans.
The S55 and S57B scooters came
in the same decade before the fi rm’s
P103 and P104 mopeds set sales charts
alight in the mid-1970s and there’s
been dozens of scooters since. They’ve
ranged from modern and practical
machines aimed at your city-living
executive through to inexpensive retro
aff airs like the Django.

The 1955 Peugeot Principale

had room for a briefcase, a
spare tyre and a GF/BF/BFF

Main. The Allure

model comes in a more
sophisticated brown and
back colour scheme
1. The seat opens up and
will take an open-face
helmet, but won’t close
with a full-face lid
2. The optional art-
deco windscreen wraps
around a modern
headlight
3. The Django looks
right at home parked
outside a grand hotel.
Graham Greene might
pop out for a blast
through Saigon traffic
at any moment...

amcn.com.au 39
quickspin
Main. You meet the nicest people in traffic on a Peugeot scooter 1. The optional rear
rack is included on the up-spec Allure model 2. Instruments combine traditional
with modern 3. There’s room for an iPhone in there (but not much else)

2019 Peugeot Django 150

SPECS
ENGINE
Capacity 150.6cc
Type Single-cylinder SOHC,
two valves
Bore & stroke 57.4 x 58.2mm
Compression ratio Not given
Cooling Air
Fueling EFI, single throttle body
Transmission CVT Auto
Clutch Not applicable
Final drive Direct drive
PERFORMANCE
Power 8.3kW @ 8500rpm (claimed)
Torque 11Nm @ 7000rpm
(claimed)
Top speed 115km/h (measured)
Fuel consumption 3L/100km
(measured)
ELECTRONICS
Type Not given
Rider aides Single-channel ABS
CHASSIS
Frame material Steel
Frame type Tubular lattice
Rake Not given
Trail Not given
Wheelbase 1350mm
1 2 3 SUSPENSION
Type Peugeot
Front Conventional non-
adjustable telescopic fork, 85mm
travel
Rear Monoshock with adjustable
preload, 80mm travel
WHEELS & BRAKES
Wheels Cast steel
Front: 12 x 3 Rear: 12 x 3
Tyres CST
digital readout for the rest of the information predictable and mild weather patterns, a vehicle Front: 120/70-12
supplied. Really practical stuff, like ambient air like Peugeot’s new Django makes really good Rear: 120/70-12
temperature, a clock and a fuel gauge remain second-vehicle sense for the urban dweller. Its Brakes
in view all the time – three bits of info I like low purchase price and even lower running and Front: Single 200mm disc,
twin-piston caliper
and refer to often – while the two trip meters maintenance costs buys you a light and easy- Rear: Single 190mm disc,
and odometer can be switched between via a to-use vehicle. It can grab the groceries, grab twin-piston caliper
single button on the dash unit. There’s a freeze the kids from school and its neo-retro looks will DIMENSIONS
indicator as well as a battery charge indicator. grab a few envious looks from passers-by, too. Weight 129kg (dry, claimed)
The fuel gauge starts f lashing when it’s down Would I ride one 12,000km through remote Seat height 770mm
to two bars, acting as a double warning. And it countries, bustling cities and tricky border Width 710mm
consumes fuel at 3L/100km, meaning you’ll get crossings? It wouldn’t be my first choice, but I Height 1190mm
Length 1925mm
around 250 kays from your 8.5L tank, which cost have no doubt it would eventually make it. In
Ground clearance Not given
me just over eight bucks to fill with premium fact, Samual and Ambroise reported they did Fuel capacity 8.5L
fuel. It’s filled via a compartment in front of finish their journey without having to complete
SERVICING & WARRANTY
your left knee, and boasts a centrestand as well anything other than scheduled maintenance. Servicing First: 500km;
as a side stand, which helps make sure you fill it And you’d nearly have to expect it given Peugeot Minor: 5000km
right to the top. has been building two-wheelers since the turn Major: 10,000km
In a country like Australia that has relatively of last century. Warranty Two years, unlimited
km, plus roadside assist
BUSINESS END
2019 PEUGEOT DJANGO 150 Price $4290 (plus on-road costs)

PROS CONS
Colour options Orange/white,
Stylish and practical, very frugal to buy The underseat storage doesn’t take a
red/white or blue/white
and run, proven mechanicals. Wide full-face helmet. Not huge zip for bigger
Contact peugeotmotorcycles.
choice of colours and accessories riders. Dealer network is still light-on
com.au

40 amcn.com.au
Launches 8 August 2019
 042 FIRST
RIDE 2019 MOTO MORINI MILANO

CROSS
Italian boutique brand
Moto Morini is on the move.
It’s Chinese owned, it’s based
in Europe and its newest Milano
model is the start of a new era
 TEST ALAN CATHCART PHOTOGRAPHY KEL EDGE

N
ot long ago, Italy’s small but historic Moto
Morini brand was in the bankruptcy courts,
as yet another victim of the 2008 GFC crash.
But since last October, it now belongs to
Chen Huaneng, the CEO of privately-owned
Chinese manufacturer Zhongneng.
He’s working hard on fast-forwarding the first two Moto
Morini middleweight models in time for a 2019 EICMA
Show unveiling – a nakedbike and a street scrambler, both
powered by Chinese-built 650cc parallel-twin motors.
Meanwhile, production continues in Moto Morini’s
Trivolzio factory near Milan of its range of 1187cc models
powered by the unique V-twin CorsaCorta engine.
In between times, in 2011 Moto Morini was purchased
from the liquidator by two Milan-based investors, one
of whom – Ruggeromassimo Jannuzzelli – took over sole
ownership of the company five years later. Thereafter,
Moto Morini continued its steady ride along the comeback
trail. Morini’s 13-strong workforce produced 190
motorcycles in 2018, most of which were hand-built.
But as part of his plan to fuel Moto Morini’s resurgence,
Jannuzzelli invested some serious cash in producing
the kind of motorcycle he’d want to buy himself. That’s
somewhat ironically now entered production under
Chinese ownership as the Moto Morini Milano.
“I wanted a bike that’s practical, but exciting,” says
Ruggero. “With a full-bodied engine that provides a
thrilling ride on the open road, but is easy to use in a city –
something that’s the best of both worlds. I wanted a proper
 MOTO MORINI MILANO
motorcycle with the practicality of a maxi-scooter,
but a lot more performance.”
The fact that Jannuzzelli divides his time
between a rooftop apartment in the centre of
Milan and his magnificent family home near Moto
Morini’s factory – a 12th century fortified castle
that once owed allegiance to the King of Sardinia,
no less – says it all.
The man charged with creating this best of both
worlds is Moto Morini’s technical chief Massimo
Gustato. And he’s got an impressive CV; Bimota,
where he was responsible for putting high-end
models into small-scale production, from the DBX
Supermoto to the BMW-powered BB3 Superbike.
Before that, Aprilia Racing. He worked on the
title-winning RSW125/250 Grand Prix racers and
RSV4 Superbike, so this is a man who knows how
to develop small-volume models cost-effectively,
without sacrificing quality.
Gustato began work on developing the Milano
in January 2017, and as he’s eager to underline,
this entailed much more than simply detuning the
Corsaro motor, and sticking a passenger seat on its
Streetfighter chassis. He and his engineering team
designed an all-new TIG-welded chrome-moly
tubular steel frame that’s lower and longer than
the firm’s Corsaro’s, resulting in a 55mm lower seat
height and a likewise lower centre of gravity, with
a new 30mm longer cast aluminium swingarm
pivoting in the engine crankcases and chassis, thus
delivering a rangier 1490mm wheelbase.
Steering geometry is more relaxed, too, with
the fully adjustable 46mm Mupo USD fork giving
120mm of wheel travel set at a slightly wider 25º
rake with 108mm trail, 5mm more than before.
At the rear there’s a Mupo shock adjustable for
rebound damping, as well as preload via a remote
hydraulic adjuster, with a revised progressive-
rate link, which Gustato says is more comfortable
in the initial stroke of what is a reduced 110mm
suspension travel.
Chassis-wise, only the Brembo braking system
and forged aluminium wheels are shared with the
Corsaro, with twin 320mm front discs gripped by
four-piston radial calipers and a 220mm single rear
disc and twin-piston caliper rear.
Switchable Bosch MP9.1 dual channel ABS
DID YOU KNOW?
MOTO MORINI'S NEW owner Zhongneng is based in the coastal city of Taizhou, 400km south
of Shanghai and also the home of Benelli’s owner, QJ aka Qianjiang. Founded in 1987 by Mr.
Chen Huaneng, who today is still Chairman & CEO of what continues to be a privately-owned
company, Zhongneng’s range of scooters and small capacity motorcycles is currently sold in
nearly 60 countries around the world.
44 amcn.com.au
comes as stock, and those forged wheels carry
Pirelli Angel GT tyres, the rear a 190/55-17 which
has quite a flat profile thanks to the wide six-inch
rim it’s mounted on. Half-dry weight with oil/
water, but no fuel is 191kg – but you’d swear it was
much lighter than that, instead of just 500g less
than the ZT Corsaro.
“One test we’ve performed with a blindfolded
rider is to walk both bikes inside a garage,” says
Massimo. “Everyone’s convinced the Milano is 20
kilos less, but it’s exactly the same weight, with a
lower centre of gravity.”
Its engine has been retuned, too, to provide a
broader spread of reduced power and torque, with
rideability the key issue, according to Gustato.
“We used the same bottom half of the engine as
the Corsaro, but we’ve modified the cylinder heads,
camshafts, valves and valve timing,” he says.
“We’ve reduced both torque and horsepower to
create a softer, more rideable bike, but at 5000rpm
there’s almost 9.8Nm more torque than the Corsaro.
And while peak power is about 14kW (20hp) less,
we’ve focused on improving the rideability.”
The revised camshafts have reduced lift and
overlap in pursuit of that, and there’s an all-
new 2-1-2 Arrow stainless-steel exhaust, whose
twirling pair of header pipes ending in stacked
cans on the right side, rather than beneath the
seat as on the Corsaro, emit a stirring rumble of
muted aggression.
The Milano’s engine management comes
courtesy of an Athena ECU controlling the twin
light-action 54mm Magneti Marelli throttle bodies,
1 2

1. The newest Moto Morini 3

could only really have an
exposed V-twin...
2. Forged alloy wheels, the
same as on MM’s Corsaro,
carry Pirelli Angel rubber
3. Australia has been
without an official Moto
Morini distributor for a few
years now. Let’s hope that
changes soon so this view
can be our reality

“EVERYONE’S CONVINCED
THE MILANO IS 20 KILOS
LESS, BUT IT’S EXACTLY
THE SAME WEIGHT”
 MOTO MORINI MILANO

each with a single injector and a cable throttle

– yes, this is old-school, so no choice of riding
modes. Maximum power is delivered at 8000rpm
with 85.4kW (115hp) on tap, while torque peaks
at 6250rpm, with 108Nm. Compare that with the
Corsaro’s 102.5kW at 8500rpm and 125Nm at the
same 6750rpm, and it’s evident how much engine
performance has been sacrificed in favour of
greater all-round rideability.
But is it too much in a bike costing 15,000 euros
compared to the Corsaro ZT’s 15,900 and the ZZ’s
19,900? Only one way to find out, and that was to
take the Milano to the city that spawned both its
creation and its name. First, though, I took the
scenic route to get there, via a testing 40km ride 1
winding through the risotto fields, which revealed
that the Milano still has quite enough power to side to side in a switchback succession of bends.
excite, but not to the extent that you keep popping 1. Morini owner Cathcart
looked right at home in And that meaty motor’s wide spread of torque is
the front wheel in the air in the bottom three gears easy to access without constantly changing gear
the Milanese traffic
under hard acceleration, as on the ZZ. – not that that’s a hardship, because the Milano’s
As regular readers will know, I’m the owner of 2. Brembos and Pirellis
provide stopping power gearshift is miles better than any Morini I’ve yet
an original Corsaro 1200 that’s still just as much ridden, including my own.
fun to ride as it was in the week I took to ride it 3. Twin Arrow mufflers
look multo bella Still, it’s a shame there’s no wide-open
back to Britain from Bologna in the summer of powershifter fitted as standard on this model
2007. So I was particularly interested to ride the 4. Simple, easy-to-read
dash provides all the info like on the ZZ – it’s only available as an option,
Milano. Of course, the Milano delivers a totally presumably to save costs, and there’s no
different riding experience that’s evident from the you will need
possibility of a clutchless autoblipper system for
moment you straddle it, and find yourself sitting downward shifts even as an option, because of the
much lower down than perched atop the Corsaros, Milano not having a ride-by-wire throttle.
with their exhaust silencers under the seat. This The improved gearshift proved useful once I
makes the Milano seem a more intuitive and reached central Milan, as did the quite light action
relaxing ride, with a calmer and more measured of the hydraulically operated slipper clutch. The
feel thanks to the longer wheelbase and more Milano’s much wider spread of torque was now
conservative steering geometry. very helpful in allowing me to cut through traffic
All this creates a 1200cc V-twin that seems as from one red light to another without constantly
nimble and easy-steering as a 500cc twin, and the swapping gears. Then when I could dial up some
result is a bike that’s the ultimate traffic tool – a 2
revs to outsprint maxi-scooters along any wide
point-and-squirt device with sure, predictable
handling, and excellent feedback to the rider.
A notable aesthetic change on the Milano is its
smaller 13-litre fuel tank, which narrows at the
rear to allow almost any height of rider to put their
feet on the ground more easily. This combines
with a reshaped one-piece handlebar with taller,
wider and more pulled-back grips to deliver an
easier yet still fairly upright riding stance. Frankly, 3
that fuel tank is too small to be practical, even for
a city bike – the fuel light came on after a mere
100km, and while I didn’t run out before I found
a petrol station 10km later, I know from my own
bike that it’s a pretty thirsty motor.
But the result still very much likes to be hustled
through turns, and there’s excellent feedback from
the Lupo fork and Pirelli Angel front tyre to help
you keep up corner speed with confidence, while
4
the low centre of gravity makes it easy to flick from

THE
Why did you purchase use the expertise of Morini What type of engines this, we will also have a
Moto Morini? engineers and designers will you develop for different family of Moto
We could see that in to develop some new these models? Morini models with

FUTURE’S
China and in Southeast
Asia, the sales of
larger displacement
motorcycles are growing
models with midsize We must make sure parallel-twin engines from
engine displacement that one of the engines 500cc to 800cc.
from 400cc up, including is a V-twin, to recognise
500cc, 600cc and 800cc the Moto Morini historic Will you use a different

BRIGHT
very fast. We decided to
purchase Moto Morini in
order to continue selling
and improving their
A chin-wag with Mr Chen existing range, and also to
models. We will expand
the Moto Morini range
considerably, but we will
not consider any models
smaller than 400cc.
tradition. We will develop
a V-twin engine platform
for certain types of models
from 650cc to 850cc in
capacity. Then alongside
engine platform for
different models of the
same capacity?
Yes. So for sporting
machines we will maintain

46 amcn.com.au
 FORZA ITALIA!
The Moto Morini’s lines hark
back to the days of its
350cc V-twins of the 1970s.
But expect smaller and more
affordable MMs to feature a
parallel-twin engine.
NOT-SO-FAR
Stylish tank is impractical. The
1200cc engine is not noted for
its great economy and with only
a 13-litre capacity you will be
looking for benzina after little
more than 100km.
THAT’S NOT AMORE!
There’s no powershifter to play
with so you will have to make
your gearchanges deliberate.
Even with a wide spread of
power, changing gears is more
of a chore than you’d like.
SLOW REACTION
Rear brakes are a weak point,
and may be changed on the
production version of the bike.
It’s the same with the throttle;
look for Ride by Wire when the
Milano hits the dealers.

THIS CREATES A 1200CC V-TWIN THAT SEEMS AS

NIMBLE AND EASY-STEERING AS A 500CC TWIN
the Moto Morini tradition
with a V-twin engine.
Whereas for a midsize
Adventure tourer, we will
use a similar capacity
parallel-twin engine.
When do you expect to
start producing these
new models?
At the 2019 EICMA Show
you will be able to see the
first models using the new
500cc parallel-twin, and we
will begin mass production
of these in June 2020.
Will you continue to
manufacture Moto
Morini motorcycles
in Italy, or will you do
the same as Benelli
QJ, and undertake
development and
styling of each new
model in Italy, for costs. For the 800cc
manufacture in China V-twin range, probably
at reduced cost for a we’ll source components
lower retail price? from different countries
The entire design process around the world,
of future Moto Morini including China, and
models will be undertaken will assemble them here
in Italy, and the 1200cc in Italy. For the 500cc
models will continue to parallel-twin models, I
be manufactured here, didn’t decide yet where to
perhaps with some parts manufacture these. It all
made in China to reduce depends on cost.

amcn.com.au 47
 avenues; the Morini responded decisively, surging to 13,000rpm – it’s also content to pootle along at
MOTO MORINI MILANO forward at a twist of the wrist to leave TMaxes low, low revs in traffic.
droning in its wake. Indeed, the CorsaCorta motor’s light-action
Indeed, the Milano has a great feeling of 54mm single-butterfly throttle bodies give a clean,

SPECS
connectivity between what your right hand is controllable pickup from any revs. It’s happiest
doing and the way the bike puts the power to the operating in the 2500-6500rpm zone, so you’ll want
tarmac. There’s no digital filter to dilute your to short-shift to stay there and surf the torque curve
desires, just an analogue link between the throttle by holding third or fourth gear for long stretches of
ENGINE
Capacity 1187cc
and the rear tyre that’s refreshingly old school, road over a variety of conditions.
Type 87-degree V-twin, but deliciously direct. And the traction control It was hard not to be impressed with Ruggero
DOHC, eight valves proved very welcome riding over Milan’s polished Jannuzzelli’s legacy to the Moto Morini marque
Bore & stroke 107mm x 66mm flagstones, ditto the Bosch ABS. The Brembo radial in the shape of the new Milano he’s responsible
Compression ratio 11.3:1 brake package is its usual peerless self, effective for creating. And I’m glad that Mr. Chen has
Cooling Liquid
without being grabby, with the twin front discs decided to keep faith with the model, which he’s
Fueling EFI, twin throttle bodies
Transmission Six-speed hauling the Milano down from high speed with declared will receive an RBW throttle, a range of
Clutch Wet, multi-plate with heaps of feel as you work the clutch lever to back different riding modes – and that badly needed
‘anti-hopping’ system down the gears, and access the considerable two-way powershifter.
Final drive Chain engine braking the Gustato gang have left dialled With its great handling, decent performance and
PERFORMANCE in to the slipper clutch. The rear brake wasn’t very upright riding stance, the Milano is an electronics-
Power 85.4kW @ 8000rpm strong, though – pads, maybe? lite real-world ride, where it’s up to you to harness
(claimed) You readily realise how flexible and forgiving that glorious engine’s deep reserves of performance
Torque 108Nm @ 7000rpm
(claimed)
the Milano’s CorsaCorta engine if you gun it wide via judicious use of the right hand. It’s a satisfying
Top speed 225km/h (claimed) open in fourth gear at 2000rpm exiting a second- ride in traffic, because of its thrilling acceleration
Fuel consumption Not given gear turn, and can then relish its meaty midrange and outstanding responsiveness across a broad
ELECTRONICS as it pulls hard and strong in completely linear range of revs.
Type TBA ECU, mode all the way through to the fierce-action One year ago when I rode the Corsaro ZT I wrote
Rider aides Bosch 9.1 ABS 9300rpm revlimiter, without a trace of transmission that this was the complete opposite of a nanny state
CHASSIS snatch. This might be unexpected for such a bike – something with two wheels and an engine
Frame material Tubular steel short-stroke engine format, which you’d normally that’s so gloriously non-PC you’re practically
Frame type Trellis, TIG welded expect to have to rev quite hard to obtain this kind surprised that anyone is actually allowed to build
Rake 25° of performance. While the motor has a serious bikes like this for sale any more. Moto Morini does –
Trail 108mm
Wheelbase 1490mm
appetite for revs – Lambertini claims it runs safely and it has just doubled its bets with the Milano.
SUSPENSION
Type Mupo THE MOTOR HAS A SERIOUS APPETITE FOR
REVS BUT IT’S ALSO CONTENT IN TRAFFIC
Front 46mm USD telescopic fork,
adjustable preload, damping,
compression, 120mm travel
Rear Single-sided trellis
swingarm with monoshock,
hydraulic adjustable preload,
height and rebound,
110mm travel
WHEELS & BRAKES
Wheels Cast aluminium
Front: 17 x 3.5 Rear: 17 x 6.0
Tyres Pirelli Angel GT
Front: 120/70ZR17
Rear: 190/60ZR17
Brakes Brembo
Front: Twin 320mm discs,
four-piston caliper
Rear: Single 220mm disc,
double-piston caliper
DIMENSIONS
Weight 200kg (kerb, claimed)
Seat height 820mm
Width Not given
Height Not given
Length Not given
Ground clearance Not given
Fuel capacity 13L
SERVICING & WARRANTY
Servicing First: 1000km;
Minor: Not given
Major: Not given
Warranty Not applicable in Oz
BUSINESS END
Price TBC
Colour options Red/black or
blue/black
Contact motomorini.eu

MOTO MORINI MILANO

PROS CONS
Exclusivity, great looks, eff ortless grunt There’s no powershifter and the
and that certain Dolce Vita you only get throttle and brakes need a fi nal
with rare Italian roadsters tweak. It won’t be cheap either
48 amcn.com.au
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050 CRASH
COURSE WHY RIDERS CRASH

50 amcn.com.au
 THE
The
headlines are
plenty and
the numbers
are sobering. WORDS

We dig a little
STEPHEN CORBY
PHOTOGRAPHY

deeper to AMCN ARCHIVES

find out why

we crash
and it’s an
ugly truth

WORD
C
rashing a car is nobody’s
idea of a picnic. I’ve had
my ribs cracked asunder,
lungs seatbelt-smacked to
the point where it felt like
I was breathing through a needle, and
been punched in the face – with tongue-
lolling force – by an airbag.
Aside from the smashing shudder of
impact, there’s the screeching tyres, the
screaming brakes and the squealing
humans in the car with you, providing
a cacophony of chaos. It’s all pretty shit.
WHY RIDERS CRASH
“REGULAR
MAINTENANCE
IS ESSENTIAL TO
KEEP VICTORIA’S
ARTERIAL ROAD
NETWORK IN
GOOD CONDITION,
THAT’S WHY WE’RE
ROLLING OUT NEW
SURVEILLANCE
OFFICER TRAINING
TO HELP OUR
CREWS BETTER
IDENTIFY ROAD
IMPERFECTIONS AND
OTHER POTENTIAL
HAZARDS FOR
MOTORCYCLISTS.”
ROGER CHAO, VICROADS DIRECTOR,
ROAD USER AND VEHICLE ACCESS.
And yet I’d happily do it all again, right now, if the
only other option was crashing a motorcycle.
It’s the burning that sticks with me, as the
predominant pain point. The skid of skin on
leather on road, and on fire, seemingly. The fear
factor is also worse, I’m afraid. That long, cruelly
drawn out mini-moment, a nanosecond that
moves at Nanna speed in your mind, when you
know you’re about to have an accident, and you
brace yourself for it physically as your brain fades
to hot white flashes of ‘Oh shit, Oh shit, Oh shit’.
Crashing is, in the minds of the weak and watery,
a justification on its own for not riding. Indeed,
after a few unbelievably close shaves and painful
impacts, almost none of which were technically my
fault, I gave up riding for a while. I even kept a piece
of gravel in my back from the last blood-slide along
a road, to remind me, but it didn’t last.
The fact is, of course, there’s a chance we’ll all
fall off at some point in our riding careers. Tied
to that is the claim from some that they’ve never
fallen off or never had a crash that wasn’t the fault
of someone else; invariably someone else in a car.
But is that truism true? Are most motorcycle
accidents caused by inattentive phone addicts in
their overly quiet, comfortable and stultifyingly
52 amcn.com.au
1 2
3 4
2500
safe SUVs? How much responsibility do we, as
riders, have for the relatively high number of bike
crashes on our roads? Even if it was legally and
technically someone else’s fault, if we crash at all,
recorded serious injuries it’s our fault, right? Why is that we never seem to
for motorcyclists have want to admit that?
not dropped below 2500 Crashing is, truly, the C word. Using it, even in
since 2007
impolite company, is frowned upon.
So, what do the cold, hard and occasionally
34%
bloody facts tell us?
First, some good news – rider deaths are actually
decreasing across Australia. It’s not the huge fall
we’d all like to see – it’s a 10 percent drop over 10
years, according to the Australian Road Deaths
more motorcycle database – but it is sustained. And it becomes
ownership, yet 10 percent even better news when you consider motorcycle
fewer deaths. registrations across the country increased by more
than a third over the same period.
21%
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics,
Australians registered 200,000 additional
motorbikes between 2008 and 2018, with
registrations up from 567,569 in 2008 to 860,700 in
2018. That equates to an increase of more than 34
of all traffic accident percent in motorcycle ownership, yet 10 percent
hospitalisations in 2018 fewer deaths.
were motorcyclists. There were 245 biking fatalities among 567,000
 5

riders in 2008, versus 192 among 860,000 riders 1. There are often room; the fact that riders are more likely to die
in 2018. Over the past 10 years, on a purely multiple contributing than drivers. This is fact that bears repeating, even
statistical basis, the chances of an Australian factors behind crashes if it is as obvious as the suggestion that having 390
biker owning the motorcycle they’ll die on has 2. A clear day, decent million guns in your country makes it more likely
decreased by more than 51 percent, to little more rubber on the rims... and that someone will get shot.
than 0.02 percent. still this rider went down So, how bad is it? Well, the Queensland
That’s a figure to shove in the face of anyone who 3. That would be a University of Technology’s Centre for
calls you a Temporary Australian. closed fracture of the Accident Research and Road Safety found that
Sadly, statistics which show how things are fifth metacarpal bone. motorcyclists are 30 times more likely to die in
getting better don’t mean all that much when AMCN recommends a an accident than car occupants. According to its
you’re at the funeral of a mate or family member. light support combined 2017 report, “motorcycles accounted for only five
with moderate pain
And, even in numerical terms, it’s hard to celebrate percent of Queensland vehicle registrations, yet
management. See your
a 10 percent reduction in road fatalities in a decade doctor if pain persists motorcyclists accounted for 24.8 percent of the
when, over the same period, car-driver deaths have state road fatalities.”
4. Highly experienced
fallen by 16.4 per cent. ex-AMCN editor Mick
Those figures are reflected across Australia
And let’s not forget that we’re still talking about Matheson finding the – according to Victoria’s Transport Accident
hundreds of bikers dying every year. limits of a VTR1000. But Commission (TAC), motorbike riders make up less
Worse still is that, in the 12 months to May too often, capable bikes than four percent of road users in Victoria, but
2019, motorcyclist deaths increased over the find the limits of the rider accounted for 18 percent of road deaths over the
previous period, according to the Australian 5. Rider training is past 10 years.
Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional mandatory in some, but And in New South Wales, motorcycles accounted
Economics. Sure, statistically we just have bad not all, states for 4.5 percent of registered vehicles in 2018,
years now and then, yet over the same period, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, yet
fatalities for car drivers and their passengers, Transport NSW figures indicate that motorcyclists
pedestrians and cyclists all decreased. accounted for 21 per cent of all hospitalisations in
Then there’s the ugly, farting elephant in the the same year. And recorded serious injuries for

amcn.com.au 53
1 2

“WITH ALL OF THESE 1. In a world where

medical science can
motorcyclists have not dropped below 2500 since
2007, when there were 2404.

ELEMENTS WORKING repair most things,

there are more injured
So, we know that too many riders are being hurt,
and too many are dying. We know that we make up

TOGETHER AS A motorcyclists than ever

2. Cars have two levels
a disproportionate part of the national road toll.
But what’s the cause? Is it simply the lack of a safety
WHOLE, THE SYSTEM of safety equipment;
active and passive.
cell, a seatbelt and airbags, or something more?
Anyone who’s ridden through city streets or
IS MORE FORGIVING Motorcycles; not so much
3. The car will be a fixer.
arterial roads would feel confident pointing
the finger at kamikaze cabbies, or distracted,
OF HUMAN OR The bike... maybe. What
about the rider?
dickheaded tradies. And it feels safe to blame

MECHANICAL ERROR
dithering drivers who are less concerned with
4. There is rarely a direct driving than they are with finding the right track
connection between the

AND THE IMPACT OF

on Spotify.
level of damage to the
machine and that to the
But the figures just don’t back up the narrative

A MISTAKE MADE ON rider (or riders) – in NSW, 53 percent of motorcycle fatalities in

2017, and 51 percent in 2018, were caused by single-

THE ROAD DOES NOT vehicle crashes. That’s one bike, and no cars at all.
So far this year in Victoria, 10 out of the 13

RESULT IN A FATALITY riders who died did so as a result of a single-

vehicle accident. QUT’s Centre for Accident

OR SERIOUS INJURY.” Research and Road Safety found that 49 percent

of fatal motorbike accidents involved just one
BERNARD CARLON, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE bike and its rider. Yes, half is the figure we keep
coming back to.
NSW CENTRE FOR ROAD SAFETY The QUT also found that, in cases where

54 amcn.com.au

another vehicle was involved, “the motorcyclist
[was] deemed to be at fault in just over half [of]
these crashes.”
It’s hard to digest figures that suggest that 50
percent of the time, bikers are the architects of
their own demise. There’s a cognitive dissonance
between how often we save our own skin from the
road warriors and raging misanthropes who take
lane filtering as a personal insult, and the idea that
half the time, they’re not to blame – we are.
Or are we? If we crash our bikes, is it always our
fault? What about the myriad other factors besides
rider error?
Take the case of a couple who were killed a few
years ago in Victoria. According to the coroner, the
rider’s bike struck a “substantial bitumen mound”
found on the proper cornering line in a “tight left-
hand bend”, which “caused [him] to lose control.”
At the time, the rider was travelling at more than
the advised corner speed but less than the road’s
posted speed limit. A friend of the couple who was
riding in convoy, approached the same corner
below the advised corner speed and hit the same
bump, but did not lose control. Instead, he stopped
and tried in vain to save his friends’ lives.
If the pressure ridge wasn’t there, it’s probable
DOES RIDER
TRAINING WORK?
You train for your job, or to make a
coffee. Does rider training pay off?
OF ALL THE state and federal agencies contacted
for this article, none presented hard data on the
effect of pre-learner practical training. Transport
NSW is “currently evaluating the Motorcycle
Graduated Licensing Scheme (MGLS) which
includes the pre-learner training course.”
A 2017 motorcycle safety review in Western
Australia (where pre-learner training is not a
part of getting a motorcycle licence) suggests
investigating “the benefits of a competency-
based practical riding assessment” and
“mandatory or voluntary pre-training.”
So far, they’ve noted that “evidence [of benefit]
is inconclusive but many jurisdictions have
some form of off-road qualification scheme
which could be replicated or modified for use in
Western Australia.”
And the result of WA’s wilful avoidance of
sensible policy? Well, despite representing only
5.6 percent of the registered vehicles in WA, 18
percent of its fatalities were motorcyclists last
year (29 of them).
Surely it stands to reason that training
and practice in both basic and advanced
riding techniques could only help. Ask any
motorcyclist who also pilots cars occasionally
whether they think their training, and
experience, on bikes makes them a better driver
and you’ll get the same affirmative answer every
time. Same goes for whether people learning to
drive cars should be getting something similar.
And yet skills such as lessons on how to
regain traction at the front and rear tyre are
not always part of current learner-training
programs, where they do exist. They instruct
more on the operation of a motorcycle, less on
its control, and not on emergency manoeuvres.
4 Further training is left to the inclination and
bank balance of the rider.
50%
that rider and pillion would be alive today. If the
rider had entered the corner at the suggested entry
speed, it’s also possible he would not have lost
control. Finally, if a Nissan Patrol wasn’t coming
the other way at that exact moment, there’s every
the amount figures
possibility that they might have walked, or at least
suggest motorcyclists
are at fault
limped, away from the crash.
That’s the thing about statistics – they can
53%
sometimes tell such a small amount of the story.
But clearly it wouldn’t hurt if roads were safer?
“Regular maintenance is essential to keep
Victoria’s arterial road network in good condition,”
says Roger Chao, VicRoads Director, Road User
and Vehicle Access. “That’s why we’re rolling
of NSW motorcycle
fatalities were single
out new surveillance officer training to help our
crews better identify road imperfections and other
vehicle accidents in 2017
potential hazards for motorcyclists.”
3X
But there’s an argument for a wider scope than
just road maintenance. “The four elements are
safer people, safer roads, safer speeds and safer
vehicles,” says Bernard Carlon, Executive Director
of the NSW Centre for Road Safety.
male road deaths “We need to improve the safety of all parts of
among all road users are the system, so that if one part fails, the other
consistently this much parts will protect people from being killed or
hgher than females seriously injured.
amcn.com.au 55
 WHY RIDERS CRASH
“MALES
“With all of these elements working together as
a whole, the system is more forgiving of human SCORED HIGHER
or mechanical error and the impact of a mistake
made on the road does not result in a fatality or THAN FEMALES
serious injury.”
The first element of Carlon’s approach is safer IN DRIVER
people. But what does that mean for motorcyclists?
“I’d start with a more stringent learner’s course AGGRESSION
and a higher level of knowledge to earn L plates,”
says a NSW Highway Patrolman, who asked to AND THRILL
remain anonymous.
He’s seen fatalities “on a number of occasions” SEEKING
from rudimentary mistakes, like “travelling too
close to other vehicles” and “filtering between a AND IN THEIR
car and the kerb”. In situations like these, he says,
the rider “hasn’t had time to react.” GENERAL RISK
In his experience attending motorcycle crashes,
and even while pursuing errant riders, a “lack
of riding skill is a major factor”. He’s had to call
1
ACCEPTANCE”
off “an extremely high-speed pursuit” because
the person he was chasing “was a shit rider, so I 2
terminated the pursuit for his safety.”
That leads us to the other, passive part of
personal protection. Since 1972, helmets
have been mandatory inclusions in Australia,
but everything else remains merely a strong
recommendation. The Consumer Rating and

THE AMC’S TAKE

Australian Motorcycle Council’s
President Guy Stanford says it’s all
about managing the risk
"IF YOU'RE YOUNG, full of your own bullshit and
reckon you already know all there is about riding,
don’t read this.
“Just because you know how to operate the
controls of a motorcycle does not mean you’re a
safe rider. Learning how not to crash is an internal
process that is different for everyone, because we
think differently and complete different tasks with 1. OK, this simulation Assessment of Safety Helmets, or CRASH, now
different mental skills. looks nothing like a real rates the protection of helmets, while MotoCAP
“Learning not to crash is about using reason to crash, but how much is rates the performance of jackets, pants and gloves.
assess rewards and risks. It’s like growing up. The crashing to do with
entire course of life is utterly dependent upon what
But there may be an even more basic cause.
the rider?
we think about and how we think about it. But According to BITRE, male road deaths among all
2. It’s easy and right to road users have consistently been around three
like the logic embedded in computer code, if we
start with a false premise, we get a false answer.
lay blame on the driver times higher than their female counterparts.
If you believe that someone or something else is
for rear-ending this rider,
In New South Wales, men make up around
to blame, then you miss the entire point and can
but could it have been
avoided if the rider had 90 percent of motorbike riders, according to
become incapable of learning. Transport NSW. According to VicRoads, Victoria
“It’s up to you. Accepting full responsibility is, for
one eye on the mirrors?
shares that same 90-10 split, male to female.
some people, terribly confronting and avoided with
shouting. If we treat ourselves kindly and accept
Blokes are more dangerous on the roads,
personal responsibility as fundamental to our regardless of what they’re piloting. As a 2003
success, then we manage risks well; we see other Queensland study in the snappily titled
road users through the same lens and become International Journal of Injury Control and Safety
more accommodating. Promotion states, “males scored higher than
“Those people who love riding and have females in driver aggression and thrill seeking
the ability and willingness to gain a deeper and in their general risk acceptance”, and that
understanding of the skills involved become better
“males were twice as likely to have reported at
at risk management. They learn what the risks are
and how to manage them.
least one crash as a driver compared to females,
“And if we are prepared for a little self- and nearly three times as likely to have reported
examination, we can learn a lot from watching two or more crashes.”
others. Attending advanced riding courses is an So perhaps the simplest answer in all of this –
excellent way to break old beliefs, form good habits before roads are fixed, before rider training gets
and learn new tricks on doing it right. better and more widespread, before ABS and
“Think about what you learned on your last ride. traction control are mandatory on motorbikes – is
Nobody ever ‘arrives’ as a motorcyclist, there’s
to ask one simple question: “If you do crash, whose
always something else to learn.”
responsibility is it really?”

56 amcn.com.au
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058 RACE
TECH MOTOGP

CENTRE OF GRAVITY
WORKS IN A CAR BUT
DOES NOT MAKE A
BIKE FASTER!

A THREE-
CYLINDER ENGINE IN
A COMPACT CHASSIS
WON HONDA’S FIRST
00 TL
MOTOGP CHASSIS DEVELOPMENT

1982 “AT THAT TIME

YAMAHA SPENT THE early
1980s in experimental mode,
switching from an inline four
IT WAS STILL
YAMAHA
to a square-four to a V4 in just
three seasons, so it didn’t
have much time to worry TRIAL AND
about chassis design. The
ERROR” KALEX
0W61
0W61 featured a transverse-
mounted horizontal shock “The engine is mounted very far
and was such a nightmare to back and the chassis looks very
ride that Kenny Roberts rode it weak and fl imsy in longitudinal
to only one race win. stiff ness. The geometry looks
quite extreme, with a big castor
swingarm with a
t angle. But the rear
e a tie-rod, which will
own when the rider
brake. It looks like a
ade the engine, not
ut the people who had
chassis!”

S
’ve located the shock
hat probably due to
ce restrictions, most
ely to get the
uting for the r
xpansion cha
applaud them
hinking outsi
ox. At that ti
as still trial a
ith link syste
ver ratios and
sorber techno
now you coul
ion the shock
ith no proble

KALEX
“Lowering the centre of gravity in a car
works very well, but it doesn’t make a bike
faster! Like the 0W61, it looks like they built
the engine and then wondered where and
1984 HONDA NSR500
HRC CHANGED ITS engineering group every few years, to introduce new ideas a
push young designers. Back then, engineers didn’t know that a motorcycle nee
how to mount it. They found a solid part of the engine for reasonably high centre of gravity to help it turn and pitch back and forth to load
the top mount but it’s a long way from the headstock, so
they’ve made big profi les around the steering head and
pressed recesses to make it stiffer. You can see the castor
angle is getting steeper and a higher swingarm pivot for
more anti-squat, so the more engine power you apply the
less the rear suspension extends. The low gas tank isn’t
good, because when the fuel load is low the rider will lose
the front by the inertia of the fluid moving around.

ÖHLINS
“This looks like a spinoff from Andre de
Cortanze’s Elf endurance bikes, which
carried the fuel under the engine. De
Cortanze was a car engineer who thought
a low centre of gravity would be great on a bike. It’s crazy
French engineering, but in some ways I love it! The forks
have Honda’s TRAC anti-dive system, which closed
damping valves during braking; but didn’t really wor

60 amcn.com.au
KALEX
“They’ve got the
swingarm pivot in
better place now.
the rear engine m
points are closer t
the pivot, so you d
get a long lever eff
which can overrul
swingarm. Also, t
swingarm pivot ar
strong and you ca
other parts of the fr
fl ex; if they were alr
thinking about tha
of thing.”

ÖHLINS
“This chassis was

KALEX
“The thinking in this bike is more
modern and mostly follows improved
tyre grip. They had to separate edge
grip and drive grip, so they had to
that separates lateral and torsional
there’s the transition area when you’re
d loading the rear tyre, so you have
teral bending. The more drive the more
ng you have. It’s always a compromise
acing – you never find the perfect

ÖHLINS
“Now they have one beam section, one
line connecting the swingarm pivot the
headstock. And the forks are wider, up
from 41mm to 43mm. From this point
aking everything stiff er and stiff er, which
ntil it peaked in 1993.”
U UL A U a is as e s ar o e o ern era. is as e rs
aluminium beam-framed 500, Yamaha’s Deltabox. It wasn’t Yamaha’s idea, but
inspired by a 1982 250 built by Spanish genius Antonio Cobas.

amcn.com.au 61
 MOTOGP CHASSIS DEVELOPMENT

1989 HONDA 1996

NSR500
HONDA STRUGGLED TO build a chassis that could cope
with its 170bhp NSR engine. In 1988 they went too soft,
so in 1989 the frame was repeatedly stiffened. Eddie
Lawson used at least seven different frames during the
season to win the title at the final race. THE 1989 INPU
Kanemoto an
helped Honda
direction in ch
1996 the NSR5
honed weapo
of the 15 races
Mick Doohan t
third of his fi ve
Between 1984
2001 the vario
NSR iterations
took 132 GP
wins, making
it the most
successful
premier-class
motorcycle.

“You can see they’ve added sec

to the top of the beams for mor
longitudinal rigidity. The engin
hangers are much deeper with
bike; maybe that was due to the engine shape,
the engine mounts are kinked out of the stress
so they’ve created a fl ex-control area. When y
longer engine hangers you have a lever with w
can do something. When the hangers are shor
sensitive, but if they’re longer you have more c
over the flex. The geometry looks steep.”

ÖHLINS
“None of today’s riders would li
frame! They would say it’s too s
think everyone at this time had
philosophy of building more sti
We had our fi rst upside-down forks in 1988 and
Showa’s fi rst upside-downs. They aff ected the
behaviour of the whole bike, so the factories in
stiff ness in other areas, because everything m
in symbiosis.”

62 amcn.com.au
 KALEX
“Now we are in our age! The engine
mounts are nearer the front and although
the 1989 NSR had three mounting bolts,
while this has only two, there’s still
enough space between them to take longitudinal forces.
The swingarm pivot section is super big and the pivot is
higher, so the anti-squat angle is greater. They needed
this because they had more power, and aggressive
power, which would otherwise compress the rear shock
too much and the front would be in the air all the time.
The higher section of the swingarm shows that the
swingarm has really become part of chassis design.
But the pivot isn’t adjustable, which I think is absolutely
wrong. The shock is now easier to get at – so they were
realising that if you can change settings and springs
quicker you get more track time.”

ÖHLINS
“By this time chassis engineers had
realised that the stiff er the frame, the
more work that gives the suspension.
The rider wants to feel confi dent in the
front when he goes into corners, but he doesn’t want to
feel every seam and every ripple; because it’s too much
information. The turning point was 1993. Yamaha made
a super-stiff frame. First time he rode it, Wayne Rainey
said it felt so nice, but when he tried to lay down lap
times he looked worried. So we drilled two holes on the
inside of each side of the beams and connected them
with a hacksaw, to give some chassis fl ex, so the rider
didn’t feel he was on the razor’s edge. The NSR hardly
changed during this time. It’s got 45mm forks, with
magnesium fork bottoms. They used some Showa forks
v r one called ‘Sholins’ – they’d bought some
erbike forks from our Japanese importer.”

KALEX
“Wonderful! And not far from where
we are now. The engine hangers are
long, so you’ve got fl ex over quite a long
distance, so you can play with fl ex. The
whole design is so much cleaner: everything is arranged
where it needs to be and the fuel is much lower. The
S RIVALS swingarm pivot section is machined from solid, but
e, which they were still pressing the main sections of the frame.
r MotoGP The geometry and squat hadn’t changed much from
hangers, the NSR, because they already had an understanding
nd mass- of that. CAD [computer-aided design] was a big thing by
deal with then, so they were using computer simulations to help
f 16 races design. Also, CAM (computer-aided manufacturing)
l season. was coming in, so machining was done via your
computer model and not by hand programming, so
freeform shapes started appearing.”

ÖHLINS
“Compare the steering head area to the
0W76; it’s not as stiff, to help the bike turn
into corners. People are starting to design
things to work in harmony. I know they
were doing a lot of experiments with engine-mount and
swingarm-pivot torque around this time. Because you
can make a frame that’s 60 percent stiffer, but when you
bolt in the engine the difference may only be ten percent;
so you try to spread the load differently by torqueing the
engine bolts or swingarm pivot; maybe you try 40Nm,
then 80Nm, then 160Nm. The shock link is a typical
SW link. We call them SW, for Swindon, because they
were designed by Mick Mills, when he worked at CCM
Armstrong, before he came to work for us.”

amcn.com.au 63
 “THIS SWINGARM
HAS LESS EFFECT
ON ANTI-SQUAT”

SUZUKI RACED THE GSV-R V4 from 2002 to 2011, then withdre

years while they created their GSX-RR inline four for 2015. Th
best-handling on the current MotoGP grid, able to race with t
Ducatis and Hondas, despite a slight horsepower handicap.

KALEX
“This is a beautiful
ÖHL
“Suz
thing – the their
loveliest! They have appl
detachable engine beca
hangers, which is smart; the fact is very, very well tho
that this is an adjustable part tells You watch how Alex
you that this is a key area, where into a corner too hot,
you need to work. Beneath the then he just pulls it b
black covers on the beam sections The others can’t do t
they probably have different [Marc] Marquez with
carbon-fibre sections to get the manoeuvres. All the
right twist points. They have four our carbon-fibre fork
engine mounts, which is also good, very stiff but give lat
because you have more chance corners. We can adj
to adjust things. I like inline-four of our forks with the
engines, because I think it gives lay the fibres, how
you more freedom. With a V4 you fibres and so on. But
fight with exhaust position and everyone uses the s
there’s only one place you can put forks. The manufact
the fuel. The V4 is only for power, have different triple
but MotoGP bikes have so much different steering-h
power they only use full power for a set-ups to adjust twi
few percent of each lap.” corner entry.”

64 amcn.com.au
 KALEX
“I don’t think the stressed engine
was the problem, but maybe the
fact that the frame section is very
short, which makes it diffi cult
to control fl ex. Also, it’s very diffi cult to get a
full simulation of engine fl ex with the engine
running. Plus the bike has a very, very, very
long swingarm, with extra internal plates to add
stiff ness. This swingarm is so long that it has
less eff ect on anti-squat. If the anti-squat doesn’t
change under power, then that’s one less thing
the rider can control with the gas. The bike looks
very front-loaded. They put all the weight they
could up front, so they must’ve had more power
than they wanted.”

ÖHLINS
“It’s a long swingarm,
but a lever ratio is a lever
ratio, even if the arm is
that long. So long as the
spring rate working the axle is correct and
you’ve got the right amount of chain force
and anti-squat [which stops the shock from
compressing too much under power] then it
doesn’t matter if the swingarm is long. In fact if
you have a long swingarm the swingarm angle
doesn’t change much, so the chain force stays
more or less the same, so the rider has more
confi dence about how the bike will behave in
certain scenarios. Some chain force is a good
thing: when you are at full lean, starting to
accelerate and the bike is compressed, you
want these forces to pull the rear wheel into the YZR-M1 WAS at its peak in the fi nal years of Bridgestones, carefully
chassis; you don’t want the forces pushing the logically developed since Valentino Rossi fi rst climbed on the bike
wheel out.” 004. By this time the factory had a very good handle on the science
hassis stiff ness and probably would’ve won the 2013 title, but for
the genius of rookie Marc Marquez!

Now the beam sections are

machined from solid billet
nd the front engine hangers
re even longer for more
teral flex; this is probably
or more longitudinal
tiffness, but less lateral
tiffness in the corners, with
wall thickness of maybe
ss than one millimetre,
ke a Coke can! The hole
n the beam isn’t just for a
ont stand, it’s a section
onnecting the left and right
eams, so it completes a
iangle for extra longitudinal
tiffness for better braking
tability. Swingarms are now
pside down; I think because
he force from the tyre
omes from below, so this is
where you get the stresses
nd this way you can force
he stresses into the shock
ter.”
ÖHLINS
“Look at the fork bottoms. By
this time they were created
via FEM [finite element
method, for structural
analysis etc]. We make a
model, then apply loads and
brake torque, so you can see
where the stress goes. This
allows us to move material
around and minimise weight.
It looks like the CNC machine
has gone wild, but the stress
is more evenly distributed
and the fork bottoms are
lighter than the magnesium
ones we used to use, which
also had a shorter lifespan.
The frame looks beefy but
there’s no chunky box section
inside. Beams are much
narrower now; in general
much less stiff than the 1989
NSR. And the swingarm is so
light you could probably bend
it with your hands.”

amcn.com.au 65
 Summer only truly starts in Italy
with the sound of MotoGP engines
– and clouds of yellow smoke – at
Mugello. Here, a yellow-liveried
Jack Miller leads Marquez
068 TRACK
TEST 2019 HARLEY-DAVIDSON SOFTAIL TOUR

On Track

WORDS PETE VORST

PHOTOGRAPHY LYNDON MARCEAU

A
Harley-Davidson racetrack might not be the first place
that you or I immediately think of
overhauled its Softail as a great destination to sample
Harley-Davidson’s 2019 Softail
range last year and the range, but the Motor Company is a

improvements on paper
and on the road are
vast. But what about if
we drag them way out
of their comfort zone?
brand which goes about its business a little bit
differently to most.
One of the things Harley does differently (and
often better) than most is customer engagement.
And so, at no less than 12 events scattered
across the country, the firm gathered a gaggle
of current-model motorcycles, put the word out
to its hordes of current and would-be customers
and the 2019 Softail Tour was underway.

68 amcn.com.au
 2019 SOFTAIL TOUR

For the New South Wales participants, the

whole shebang culminated at Sydney Motorsport
Park, so we thought we’d tag along. And as it turns
out, punting half-a-dozen 200-and-something
kilo cruisers around a racetrack isn’t as a silly as
it sounds. Well, maybe the bit where Harley opted
to use the tight 1.8km South Circuit rather than
the faster flowing Grand Prix Circuit was erring
on the silly side of sane, but the silly side of sane is
often the bit we love most about bikes.
The Softail range has been in existence for 35
years, with the unveiling of the original FXST back
in 1984. It’s a platform that has spawned some of
Harley’s most iconic machines, such as the hugely
successful Fat Boy, the uniquely styled Rocker and
the custom-styled Cross Bones to name a few.
Thirty-four years and countless variants later,
and after what Harley is calling the largest product
development project in its 116-year history,
2018 saw the introduction of the the firm’s all-
new Softail family. All Softail models feature a
completely new frame that’s both lighter and
more rigid, cradling either a 107 or 114 cubic-inch
Milwaukee-Eight engine.
And it’s not until you wind on the throttle
of a Milwaukee-Eight powered machine with
the freedom that only a racetrack can afford
these days, that you begin to really understand
the magnitude of the development program.
With no diesel spills or speed cameras that
would otherwise dilute your attention on the

FAT BOB 114

UNIQUE BOB
LIKE THE FXDR, the Fat Bob
has a unique look. With its
odd rectangular headlight,
inverted fork, fat front tyre
and extended rear guard
it’s radically diff erent to any
of the other Softails and
certainly catches the eye. The Fat Bob is available with either
the 107 or 114 Milwaukee-Eight engines, but the bigger of the
two was served up to me on the day. Like the FXDR its a sub-
300kg bike, so the 114 engine rockets it up Sydney Motorsport
Park’s back straight at arm stretching velocities, and the
twin-disc front end gets the whole package stopped without
fuss. I thought that the fat front tyre of the Fat Bob may cause
the bike to handle strangely, but its one of the better handling
bikes in this bunch and feels sporty and fun to ride, even
at the quicker speeds at the track. It’s 710mm seat height
makes for a comfortable ride for taller people like me, and the
reasonably high footpegs give you slightly more usable lean
angle than other models, FXDR aside, of course.
FROM $27,750 + ORC

THE ROAD TO HERE

1984 1990
FLSTF Fat Boy
unveiled
FXST Softail
introduced

1991
1988
FXSTS
The Fat Boy featured in
the 1991 fi lm; Terminator
2: Judgement Day,
Springer Softail cementing its place as
introduced an iconic motorcycle
 WHAT
ELSE?
The largest
development
project in H-D
history, hey?
This is what it
looked like
THE 2018 SOFTAIL
range featured a
completely new
THE BEAST WITHIN
frame built around
THE FXDR IS a diff erent beast. Sitting in pit lane it looks the all-new
long and menacing, and heading out of the pit area and Milwaukee-Eight
up the small straight towards turn six, the FXDR picks engine platform.
up speed at a rapid rate of knots. Harley claims that the The Milwaukee-
114 cubic-inch Milwaukee-Eight engine in the FXDR is Eight engine in
the most powerful ever fitted in a Softail and it feels like either 107 or 114
it. The 116Nm of torque the 1968cc engine brings to the capacities offered
table is epic. Thankfully, with all that power on tap, the reduced induction
twin disc set-up on the front brings the bike to a halt noise, increased
confi dently. As you throw it into the fi rst corner, you also power and
notice that it takes a fair bit longer before the metallic torque, and a dual
rasp of foot peg hitting bitumen comes to ear. It’s no counter-balancer
sportsbike, but it certainly has the ground clearance the system to reduce
other Softails can only dream of. vibration without
FROM $35,495 + ORC eliminating the
traditional Harley
feel. The all-new
frame is stiffer
PUNTING A 200-AND-SOMETHING KILO CRUISER and lighter than

AROUND A TRACK ISN’T AS A SILLY AS IT SOUNDS

the old one, with
an improved
monoshock
residing under

SOFTAIL SLIM
LIGHTER TOUCH
the seat to retain
the classic
hardtail look. The
improvements
LIKE ITS HERITAGE Classic and didn’t stop with
Deluxe siblings, the Slim runs the engine and
ostalgic lines and takes you frame package,
ack to days gone by with its with the electrical
wire-spoked wheels, chopped fenders system receiving
and single seat. Looking every bit the a major upgrade
old-school bobber, it has the lowest seat and the addition
height of the bikes I rode but it still felt of Showa dual-
comfortable and roomy. Despite running bending valve
the smaller, 107 cubic-inch engine, it forks for improved
propelled itself along in a more spritely damping
manner than the 114 cu-in-equipped performance.
Heritage Classic, mostly due the 25 kilos
less bulk it needs to push. Like all the
traditional-style Softails, you’ll need to
get used to dragging chrome along the
ground once the pace quickens, but the
higher and narrower footboards on the
new Softails keeps the bitumen at bay
longer than they used to.
FROM $26,495 + ORC

1999 2018
All-new Softail range released,
FXSTD Deuce is featuring stiff er, lighter frames
released and all-new Milwaukee-Eight 107
or 114 engines

1997
FLSTS Heritage
2008
The FXCW Rocker
Springer is and FLSTSB Cross
released Bones released
 2019 SOFTAIL TOUR

DELUXE
BLING KING
SCREAMING EVERY BIT your traditional Harley-Davidson, the Deluxe
is dripping with chrome. The Milwaukee-Eight 107 pushes its 303kg
weight around at a decent clip and the brakes are strong and effective.
It’s only when you tip it into a corner that it struggles to keep up with the
larger bikes in the performance stakes. It feels soft and a little vague
when cornering – it’s more akin to the old Softail range than an FDXR or
even the Sport Glide. If you roll off the throttle though and bring the pace
back towards legal road speeds as you enter the corner, it a pleasure
to ride. And despite the lack of cornering performance, it was always
predictable, and quite happy to let you know that it doesn’t want to be
pushed any harder.
FROM $29,750 + ORC

SPORT GLIDE
SURPRISE PACKAGE
THE SPORT GLIDE was the first
of the Touring Softails I rode at Eastern Creek, it looked formidable and
large, and I had no idea what to expect of it on a racetrack. I needn’t have
worried; it handled intuitively and stopped better than its 317kg (wet)
heft ought to. The 107 cubic-inch engine propels it along with as much
vigour as you’d need, and it’s got decent ground clearance compared to
other bikes in the Touring segment. It’s not ‘sporty’ when compared to the
FXDR or the Fat Bob, but the mini batwing fairing and panniers are both
removable, turning it from a practical mile eater into what feels like
a stripped-back, more sporty ride. It’s by far the most versatile in terms
of matching your mood and needs on any given day.
FROM $27,750 + ORC

road, the track allows you to pinpoint the

HERITAGE CLASSIC
BLACKED-OUT GANGSTER
THE HERITAGE CLASSIC looks like an old
gangster’s bike, but with the blacked-out motor,
fork and wheels giving it a modern look. You
could tour all month on the Heritage Classic,
it’s very comfortable, with a roomy cockpit
and pulled-back bars. The Heritage suff ered
a bit in the 50km/h winds we experienced on
the day due to its large windscreen. Despite
its 316kg bulk, the wind caused a great deal of
buff eting of both the bike and rider, especially
coming over the top of turn 10 and dropping
down the hill, where the wind gusts would
turn the screen into a sail and really unsettle
the bike. As with the Deluxe, the Heritage
drags its footboards at even the hint of a
corner but always remains composed when it
does, and the overall package is certainly an
improvement over the previous generation.
FROM $33,995 + ORC
improvements and process the benefits.
Apart from the new-for-2018 FXDR, which
is the most radical machine to come from
Milwaukee in recent years, when you sit
astride any of the other new Softails they feel
instantly familiar. No coincidence, I’m sure,
from a brand who has built such loyalty and
success from inherent familiarity.
There’s no doubt the new range is light years
ahead of the pre-2018 models and anyone
that reckons Harleys don’t go around corners
or that they don’t stop haven’t ridden the
current-generation Softails. Sure, you’ll drag
some chrome across the deck, but none of the
bikes ever tried to twist itself in knots, and
things never got ugly. Impressive for a range
of motorcycles called to do duty well outside
their design brief.
The confidence with which you can punt
these bikes around a racetrack is a testament
to just how good the new Softail package is.
Thrust back into their intended environment,
if cruisers are on your radar, then any one of
them would be an exceptional bike to park in
your shed. Luckily for you, there’s plenty to
choose from…

72 amcn.com.au
074 TYRE

E
LAUNCH METZELER CRUISETEC

C I S
 g r ip in
t m o re ?
Wan i se y d ay
n
r c r u op t io
you r h a s a n
z el e
Met WOR DS
H
SAM MACLAC
ALF LI
GHT P
H
HLAN
OTOGRAPH
Y

PHY
GRA
PHOTO

T R O L
 1. Large and soft it may be but
METZELER
MET
TZEL
ZELER
ER CRU
CRUISE
CRUISETEC
ISETE
TEC Honda’s Goldwing is a good test

F
of a tyre’s all-round features
or years power cruiser, custom 2. When you’ve got that much
and tourer riders have had few tyre mass leaned over that far, faith in
options to dive into, and to be fair, your grip levels is paramount
probably haven’t stressed about that 3. The chunky profile of the front
too much. Longevity and stability looks as good as it performs
rank higher than side grip and drive traction for
these riders – or do they? Metzeler has spotted
a hole in the market and gone for a niche within
a niche and it’s so sure it’s a top angle, it set us
free on road and track to find out for ourselves.
Showers of sparks ensued – and a thorough test
of a tyre across a range of situations.
For a start, it was freezing. When this launch
was planned from Queensland, the heady
heights of New South Wales’ Southern Highlands
seemed a good option: and that it is for the
variety of excellent biking roads on offer around
Robertson, Kangaroo Valley and sunny Goulburn.
Unfortunately it also collided with the onset of
winter, and it was freezing. Hand numbing, nose
running, excessive piss-stop-inducing freezing.
In other words, a top test for tyres – and Metzeler
wasn’t afraid to give us every opportunity to run
them through their paces.
The variety of machinery on hand was
breathtaking. The f leet consisted of the
target market for the new rubber: two Harley-
Davidson FXDRs, a Honda Goldwing, Yamaha’s
wicked little Bolt, a Harley-Davidson Heritage
Softail and everything else that might wear the
cruiser-focussed rubber.
The plan was to brave the wind and cold of
the Southern Highlands, before hitting the
Pheasant Wood circuit in Marulan to test the
grip and tyre feel in tyre tearing weather. There
was the promise of a watered down track, too, as
wet-weather performance is an important angle
for Metzeler. Cruiser riders are, after all, likely
to encounter all weather in the big rides they are
inclined to take – particularly the likes of Softail
Heritage and Honda Goldwing riders who roam
far and wide across this country.
I found myself Goldwing mounted for the first
freeway run, and the fresh Cruisetec rubber

beneath me was quiet, and felt solid and very

2
user friendly. The first roundabout suggested the
tyre was also up for more spritely riding than the
’Wing’s standard rubber. The bike rolls from side
to side easier, thanks to the peakier profile, and on
the run up the Macquarie Pass to the Robertson
Pie Shop, I was full of confidence steaming into
corners, mostly because I could feel what was
happening up the front and rear, but also because
the profile of the tyre gives a solid feel as you
throw the big bike from side to side.
The Goldwing goes harder than some people
give it credit for, so having dual-compound
rubber under it, together with a profile to suit
its sporting prowess even further, makes sense,
and gives a bike like that some extra grip and
ability in that area.
But for me the real interest is the power-
cruiser segment. Tyres aren’t thought of
with cruisers like they are in other areas
of motorcycling. The limits of the bike are
generally defined by the lean angle – or lack of –
so tyres may not be every owner’s priority.
But as many of us know, good tyres make

76 amcn.com.au
 ON THE
GOLDWING THE
CRUISETEC
RUBBER FELT
GET STRUCTURED
METZELER'S CRUISETEC range runs both radial and cross-ply
structures, coupled with either bias or 0° steel belts depending

SOLID AND VERY on the size and target use of the various tyre sizes. Sizes vary
wildly in this segment – the sportsbike/nakedbike staple of a

USER FRIENDLY 120/70 front and 180/55 rear doesn’t apply.

The structure is aimed at an improvement in the response
to fast changes of direction, regardless of which format a
particular Cruisetec follows, maintaining overall carcass
stiffness for such heavy machines to offer support under load
and torque, and to improve the on-road manners. The Cruisetec
therefore features a stiffer carcass and belt cords than a
standard tyre of the same segment.
Metzeler claims the layout has clearer plies to make room
for an increased amount of structural rubber. The structure is
claimed to generate the same support as a traditional tyre in the
segment, but features a much more conformable footprint and
therefore more grip. The tyre certainly rides bumps well on the
road, rather than not absorbing any of the road zits.

Smooth and Enhanced

effortless riding
The conformability of the
profiles, thanks to the reduced
thickness of the carcass, is
all about offering a neutral,
effortless steering effort, road
comfort even at a leisurely
pace, while offering precision
when pushing harder.
confidence
The high Silica percentage,
when married with the
conformable carcass, means
Metzeler is happy to claim
the best wet behaviour in this
segment, whilst also playing
nicely with all generations of
electronic rider aids.

Consistency
The combination of a solid tread pattern with constant-curvature
contours and dual-compound layout results in even wear and
tyre contour conservation to offer a consistent feel and ride.
 1. Even if your American sporty
METZELER
MET
TZEL
ZELER
ER CRU
CRUISE
CRUISETEC
ISETE
TEC is not that sporty, you can have
confidence in Metzeler’s dual
compound design
2. And in the wet, you can
double that...
3. A choice of profiles can help
get the front-end feel you want
from your ride

TREAD detailed on
page 80,
coupled to a

PATTERN
conformable
carcass –
reduces

DESIGN
the need for
rider aides to
intervene.
The
progressive
It does more than
diverging groov v es
just look good offset from the
THE TREAD PATTERN
is aimed at adequate
centre section to
shoulders is aim
t thee
med att THE FEEL THE
grip and the consistent
wear required when
increasing the f ull/void
ratio in lean – essentially tyre, the long grooves CRUISETECS
applying a highly
carved design on heavy,
more rubber on n the road.
The short co n verging
don’t cross the central
section of the tyre. GIVE IS
torquey bikes. The front
tread pattern features
transversal grooves
ooves
use solid compound
Also contrary to the
front design, the rear’s DEFINITELY
HIGH END AND
alternated diverging elements, to ensure short transversal grooves
grooves crossing the quick warm-up and make are diverging, but work

PREDICTABLE
centre section, the point the most of mechanical similarly to the front hoop.
being to evacuate water grip. The rear tread The sections of
even in demanding pattern also features long compound between
wet conditions and add alternated grooves, in the grooves have been
braking efficiency. this case converging to designed to limit, but not
The de rigeur suite the rotation direction, to prevent, the deformation a bike feel new – and Metzeler knows this, so
of rider aides was distribute under-footprint of the blocks delineated the Cruisetec is designed to give that feeling.
considered here, too. pressure during rotation by the grooves, to aid
I hopped on a Harley-Davidson FXDR 114. It
Metzeler claims the without over-deflecting, tyre feel and that whole
high levels of grip – also with regular wear the final “rubber conformability”
did feel different, with slightly more ground
thanks to the compounds result. Unlike the front Metzeler aims at. clearance, thanks to a marginally taller tyre,
and the steering was direct and solid.
The Cruisetec didn’t deliver magical lean
angles or fresh approaches to riding these bikes,
2
but the solidity, and feeling of grip and steering
is top notch, even in the cold weather.
It all came together in the run up Barrengarry
Mountain out of Kangaroo Valley. I was Softail-
Heritage mounted, with a conga line of bike
journos in tow. The fast way around a corner on
the big Harleys is to turn first, then brake all the
way into the corner, turn as quickly as you can,
then drive out again. There’s little footboard
room to play with, so trusting the front end into
a public road corner is all about good vision and
good rubber.
With the new Metzelers, I felt solid all the way
into even the tightest corners. I wasn’t asking
everything of the tyre, that was for the next day
at the track, but the Cruisetec offered a lot of

78 amcn.com.au

margin, and certainly more active feel than the
standard tyres on the Heritage, a bike I’ve done
many kilometres on.
As we re-gathered at the top of the hill, sweaty
and grinning and looking with admiration at
our loudly ticking bikes, we knew we were on a
good thing. The original rubber would not have
been any ‘worse’, but the feel the Cruisetecs
give is definitely high end, user-friendly and
predictable. No one had put a foot wrong on cold
tarmac. There was always tomorrow of course.
The next day was at Marulan’s Pheasant
Wood, a fun circuit made up of a series of tight
corners and a long left-hand sweeper, with some
mild undulation thrown in for good measure.
Here, again on the GoldWing, I could push it
hard on the brakes, long periods on the side of
the tyre and brake as hard as I could, the hazard
lights f lashing and with me trying to keep the
ABS from chiming in too early by keeping the
braking level just on the point of activation. It
got to a point where the rubber protecting me
from a tip over was getting touched up on ripple
strips and the rubber wasn’t even blinking.
BUT WHY?
This is what Metzeler
is aiming for
METZELER SET OUT to achieve
performance-cruising, if you will. By
creating new profi les, with higher
curvature than other tyre options in
the same segment, Metzeler wants
to offer a new level of handling and
line holding. The new tread pattern,
compound recipes and the dual-
compound rear are aimed at better
response and higher grip, even in
wet conditions. The dual-compound
rear layout – which adapts tyre
technologies from the sport-touring
world to suit the higher torque, weight
and durability – aims for higher grip
without sacrificing durability.
There is more than enough grip from the tyres 3
on this bike.
Interestingly, the fastest bike on track was
the Yamaha Bolt, mainly because it has more
ground clearance and you can hang off it easier.
The Cruisetec tolerated the throttle being
mashed to the stop as early as possible and,
while the Bolt doesn’t exactly crank out mind-
numbing power, in the cold conditions and with
the grip on hand, even as I braked into the left
hander before sweeping up the hill to the trio of
right handers, the performance was impressive.
The only time the tyres got all squirmy
was hard on the brakes into the slow corners
before the run onto the straight. It’s here I was
reminded these aren’t a sports tyre, such as
the same brand’s Sportec, on which much of
this tyre is based (see breakouts), however it’s
unlikely this tyre will get pushed as hard as a
racetrack allows. In the cold conditions, it is
clear the Cruisetec is a quality act.
The FXDR, too, was fun to push around
Pheasant Wood, with the braking into the middle
of the corner technique the best way around.
amcn.com.au 79
MET
TZEL
ZELER
ER CRU
CRUISE
ISET
TEC

IN THE
WET THE
COMPOUNDS CRUISETEC
Colonel Metzeler’s
secret recipe WAS AS
THE FRONT COMPOUND
layer features a single- RELATIVELY
compound layout;
the recipe includes a SOLID AS IN
combination of fi llers from
the fi rm’s sport-touring
tech. Plasticisers aim
THE DRY
to enhance the way the
rubber conforms with road
surfaces, with 25-plus
percent silica making
fast warm-up a feature
and Metzeler claims the
best chemical grip of the
segment when it comes to
wet conditions.
The rear features a dual-
compound layout. The rear-
centre compound employs
a percentage of Carbon
Black close to 40 percent
– a value comparable to
that used on average in
the segment – which,
combined with a plasticiser,
aims at improved grip but
Again, it was only on long runs into the corner in behind the loudness of the exhaust.
also stability on the faster
hard on the brakes that the bike moved around, If you ride a power cruiser, tourer or custom
straights – no one wants a
wobbly cruiser. however the feel was enough to never push and want to try another level of tyre – there really
A whopping 80 percent beyond the movement and into fright territory – isn’t a competitor on the Australian market
of the upright footprint and again, this was well beyond the design brief boasting this sort of technology in this segment –
stands on the centre of the bike itself. Metzeler’s Cruisetec is a great option.
compound, which is aimed In the afternoon, Metzeler called in the
at strength and stability, an Pheasant Wood water truck, and soaked Turn
area Metzeler identified as
crucial in this market.
The shoulder compound
is similar to that used for
the front tyres. Plasticisers
One with the wet stuff, and planted some witches
hats. There was no way I was going to end the day
upside down on someone else’s bike, right where
everyone was watching, but the tyre manners
SIZE RANGE
The new Cruisetec is available
now in the following sizes
and silica result in a more when the surface was wet was good. Granted, it
malleable mix compared was a racetrack surface, with more grip than the FRONT REAR
to that used in the central average road surface, but on the short laps with MT90B16 TL 72H MU85B16 TL 77H
section, better for quick the wet surface, the Cruisetec was as relatively 130/90B16 TL REINF 73H 180/65B16 REINF TL 81H
riding through twisty solid as in the dry.
sections of road, not just
150/80-16 TL 71H 150/80B16 REINF TL 77H
Metzeler’s Cruisetec is a brave move, taking a 130/80B17 TL 65H 130/90B16 REINF TL 73H
for grip, but for better
consistency, too.
grippier, higher-performing, dual-compound tyre
130/70R18 TL 63H 180/70B16 TL 77H
to a market to whom tyre performance likely slots
130/60B19 TL 61H 180/60R16 REINF TL 80H
100/90-19 TL 57H MT90B16 TL 74H
Now you can have more
grip, and a sportier 120/70ZR19 TL (60W) 200/55R16 TL 77H
feel, on your full- 110/90-19 TL 62H 160/70B17 REINF TL 79V
dresser or cruiser... MH90-21 TL 54H 200/55R17 TL 78V
120/70B21 REINF TL 68H 180/55B18 REINF TL 80H
240/40VR18 TL (79V)
180/55ZR18 TL (74W)
150/70B18 REINF TL 76H
260/40VR18 TL (84V)
Front Rear
 082 FAST
TALK

D
TROY HERFOSS

TA
S N N &
DEF
imp
E
As A
o
S
r
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a
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f th
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ss
e
st

i
a son,
ng
re v e a ls
Penrite n Troy Herfo on around
io as
champ urned his se he must
et ls
how h ming the riva
h i le n a
i s c r o wn
w i ng h
l a i m
stop c
OOPER
W HA MISH C
INTERV
IE SPORT
R AP HY TBG
G
PHOTO
W
hat will it take now to
successfully defend
your 2018 title?
Race wins! The way the points
table works is that you get 25 for a win, 20 for
second then it drops back to 18, 17, 16 for the other
finishers. So podiums don’t work. You need wins.

Last year you did the double at Morgan Park and

this year you won both races at Wakefield Park. Do
you like the smaller tracks?
I’d be one of the few riders to say that I enjoy those tracks. I
think they both have character and you really have to think
about how to ride them to your full potential.

Surely a track like Morgan Park must get pretty

crowded with a grid of Superbikes?
Yes, and that’s the challenge. Morgan Park is a pure racer’s track,
undulating with a couple of blind corners. It takes a lot of skill,
not luck, to win there. You have to be really precise. In a tight
Superbike battle you can’t outbrake yourself, run wide and then
cut back in. If you make a mistake there, you run off the track.
 TROY HERFOSS

Last season you had seven race

wins and four consecutive round
wins in the lead-up to the Winton
round, where you won the title. Does
going into Morgan Park knowing
this put pressure on you, especially
considering your double win there
last year?
No. I feel it takes the pressure off.

Who do you see as your main

challengers?
I think Cru Halliday is an unknown threat. He
hasn’t won races yet but he’s strong at Morgan
Park and it will be interesting to see how he
goes. Wayne Maxwell is back in the points but
he’s one guy you always know is going to gain
momentum. The one guy you don’t want to gain
momentum is Bryan Staring. If he does, he is
maybe the toughest guy in the field to beat. Mike
Jones is always consistent and strong. His lap
record in qualifying at The Bend round was out
of this world – I don’t know how he did it! The
championship is wide open and it’s refreshing to
see so many guys in for the win.

You’re fourth in the title chase in an

up-and-down season. Talk us through
what happened at the start of the
season at Phillip Island?
The wildcard entry for WSBK was a really tough
call. I’d always planned to do it properly this
year (last year he rode his ASBK-spec Honda).
We built our own engine, which had more
power than my ASBK bike, and used a different
swingarm, link and suspension that brought

it up to WSBK level. We kept our ASBK engine
management system, as it was too complicated
to fit the WSBK-spec one. The only testing we
did was at the official WSBK test. Unfortunately
I just didn’t gel with the bike and that made the
weekend very hard for everyone.
You still managed to salvage some
valuable ASBK points to end the
meeting sixth overall.
I was running up front in ASBK and dead last
in WSBK. At no point did I feel close to
where I should have been. My team
was trying so hard and it was very
difficult for me to come into pit
lane every three laps or so during
practice for adjustments and still
make no progress forward. I had no
feel in the tyres or under brakes.
How did you pick yourself up
for the double win at Wakefield
Park?
I couldn’t wait for the official ASBK Wakefield
Park test. I was asking myself: Was I riding bad?
"IT’S REFRESHING TO
SEE SO MANY GUYS
IN FOR THE WIN"
track for me. I find it hard to win races there but
last year I came away one point behind the series
leader (he won the first race from Troy Bayliss
in spectacular fashion and tied with Josh
Waters on 59 points to Bryan Staring’s
60). Phillip Island is a very different
place when there is a championship
on the line. At the first round there’s
no pressure. You find a lot of the
privateers have ridden around the
Island a lot, so they are a threat
there. That first round seems to be
crashes or good results. At the end
of the season, from Morgan Park to
Winton to Phillip Island, a lot of pressure
builds and it feels totally different. Also,
running the first round in summer there and the
final in spring means the track temperature and

THE RIVALS
Was it the bike? I’m not joking when I say I rolled associated conditions are very different.
out of pit lane in the first test session and did a
full race distance. I ended up half a second off You came to Round Three at The Bend
Herfoss sees his main my race pace from the year before. second in the points. Last year you won
competition coming from
Cru Halliday (#65); Mike the first ever ASBK race held there and
So Phillip Island was a one-off bad set a lap record. How did things pan out
Jones (#46); Wayne
Maxwell (#47); and Bryan result? this year?
Staring (#67). Traditionally Phillip Island hasn’t been a good It was a tough weekend. We had some issues in

84 amcn.com.au
 UP TO SPEED
Get up to speed ahead
of this weekend’s fourth
round of the Australian
Superbike Championship
with our Morgan Park
preview on page 123

qualifying and were far better than the results
showed. I had a clutch issue in Race One and
was lucky to finish (he ended up 12th, then
sixth in Race Two). We knew we didn’t have the
horsepower for the long main straight. I was
one of the fastest on the track for Race Three
and just missed out on third. At the start of each
race it was a big drag race down the long main
straight and our power deficit gets caught out in
this situation.
It seemed to be a bit of a crash-and-
burn weekend with some riders
appearing more concerned about a
couple of quick laps in qualifying at
the expense of a strategy to last all
three races. Winner Bryan Staring
described some of it as “carnage”.
we’ve changed it over the years and I know where 1. The level of competition is
I want it to be and what I want from it. I think we such these days that ASBK
have the best-handling bike in the paddock but I riders rival those in MotoGP
know the other riders will always be able to pass for fitness
me on long straights as we are down on power. 2. Herfoss has faith in his
Shaun Clarke and Glenn Granger have been with sweet-handling – but ageing
Honda since forever and our whole team has a lot – Honda Fireblade
of experience. 3. Herfoss’ family are big
supporters of his racing and
Finally, there’s been so much his achievements
speculation and false starts on the
new Fireblade model. Will you get one
next year?
I hope it’s coming! When I was at the Suzuka 8
Hours last year there was a lot of talk about it. We’re
certainly due for an all-new Honda Fireblade.

THE SEASON SO FAR…

What’s your take on it?
In qualifying you go out and put your bike and
body on the line for one tenth of a second’s
difference. In the actual races at The Bend, for a TOP 10 AFTER THREE OF SEVEN ROUNDS
lot of riders, there was a 1.5sec a lap swing down Pos Rider Bike Rnd1 Rnd2 Rnd3 Total
in times from the first half of the race to the 1 B Staring Kaw 48 27 75 150
second. Surely you want to be fastest at the end of 2 C Halliday Yam 55 41 53 149
the race? That makes it less stressful. I think some 3 M Jones Duc 49 34 56 140
riders would rather see their name on the lap 4 T Herfoss Hon 41 50 41 132
record than winning the meeting. 5 J Waters Suz 50 30 46 126
6 W Maxwell Suz 40 35 38 113
You’ve been with Honda now since 7 D Falzon Yam 32 33 30 95
2014. Where do you think you are at 8 G Scott Kaw 28 23 39 90
with the bike and your riding? 9 M Walters Kaw 30 26 31 87
Because the bike hasn’t become a new model 10 M Chiodo Hon 24 16 39 79

amcn.com.au 85
techtalk
Let’s talk
ROADSIDE ASSIST
Roadside manner
Roadside Assist being offered as part of a new bike’s warranty
package is becoming increasingly common, but there’s plenty of
things you should know before you embark on a worry-free road trip
INTERVIEW KELLIE BUCKLEY
ONCE RESTRICTED TO the
very premium brands, more and
more manufacturers are offering
roadside assistance packages
alongside the conventional two-
and three-year warranty periods.
But whether the policy is supplied
with your new bike, or you’re in
the market to purchase a roadside
assist policy for your existing bike,
86 amcn.com.au
PHOTOGRAPHY AMCN ARCHIVES
there’s plenty of things you need
to be aware of before signing up
and heading for the horizon with
half a tank of fuel and a couple of
worn-out tyres.
According to our research, a
year’s coverage for roadside assist
can be purchased for as little as
$45 – money well spent in anyone’s
book. In fact, according to the
organisation, it’s money very
well spent for the approximately
1000 motorcyclists it provides
assistance to each year.
But like most products that
include the word ‘policy,’ we’ve
discovered that the more you’re
willing to spend up front, the less
you’ll have to fork out when you’re
down and out.
Compare the pair
Take the 12-month policy we
found for $236, for example. Both
the $45 policy and the $236 policy
will send help as quickly as they
can, to more or less anywhere in
Australia, provided your location
can be punched into a GPS. And
whether you’ve got a flat battery,
an empty fuel tank or any other
issue that’s a relatively simple fi x
to resolve, then you’ll be back on
your way without it costing you
a brass razoo, happy as Larry.
But it’s when things get a little
harder, or a little more remote, that
you could fi nd yourself wishing
you’d forked out a little more
at the time of purchase. If your
very helpful roadside assistant
can’t get you back on the road,
it’s important you’ve read the
small print so you know what you
might be up for. The $45 policy,
for example, offers free towing for
a round trip of up to 50km. So that
means if the tow truck needs to
drive 47km just to get to you, you
get three kilometres free and the
rest will be billed back to you –
and, if you’ve ever had to fork out
for towing, you’ll know it can often
be an expensive exercise.
The $236 policy, however,
offers 100km of free towing from
after they’ve collected your bike
and in a direction of your choice.
Many brand-affi liated services will
take your bike to (or towards) the
nearest dealership, depending on
the reason they couldn’t get you
back on the road.
According to the terms and
conditions of the $45 policy, if
your bike has a flat tyre, it can’t be
repaired roadside and must be
towed. And while the $45 policy
does offer you two free callouts
each year for your money, if you
have a flat battery and the helpful
assistance can’t get you going
with a jump start, then your
second callout gets eaten up with
the arrival of a tow truck, and
you’re on your own for the rest of
the year until it resets. With the
$236 policy, however, you get as
much assistance as you require.
Stuff they don’t
tell you
There’s plenty of things to be
aware of when you’re buying
your policy – not least when you
fi nd yourself stranded on the
side of the road and you think
it’s the perfect time to ring and
purchase membership, hoping to
be rescued shortly after. Almost
every roadside assist policy will
stipulate a waiting period before
the assistance can be called
upon. In the case of the $45 policy
we researched, it’s 10 days. For
the $236 policy, it’s 24 hours.
There’s also age limits applied
to vehicles in some cases.
This means if your bike was
manufactured before a particular
year, then it’s not eligible to
be covered under certain IF YOUR BIKE WAS MANUFACTURED
roadside assist policies. The
aforementioned $45 policy, for BEFORE A PARTICULAR YEAR, THEN
IT’S NOT ELIGIBLE TO BE COVERED
example, won’t provide roadside
assist coverage to any bike older
than 15 years, which means if
your bike was manufactured
before 2003, then you’ll need to
look elsewhere. The $236 policy
has no age restrictions.
For new bike buyers who
receive roadside assist cover as
part of their warranty package,
be sure to work out if your home
and your nearest dealership
fall within the specifi ed free-of-
charge distance. If not, negotiate
a solution with your dealer into
the purchase of your bike.
The verdict
Ultimately, most people will be
covered in most situations by
the very many less-expensive
roadside assist policies available
to Australian riders. But if the
riding you do takes you to
remote places, or it’s important
that you and your pillion will
be guaranteed either alternate
transport or accommodation
until your particular issue
is resolved, then consider
spending a little more when
you’re buying a roadside assist
cover. Because if you ever need
it, it’d be worth every cent.
amcn.com.au 87
 s WORDS & PHOTOGRAPHY
SUZUK
The old guard
Middleweight twins might be where it’s at today,
but this is where it was a decade or two ago
BACK IN 1999, Suzuki released the first
of the hugely popular SV650 series. The SV
was considered to be a smaller version of
the firm’s TL1000S model, although it was a
highly regarded machine in its own right. The
machine came in a half-faired (SV650S) and
naked (SV650) editions, although for this article
we will focus on the SV650S.
The original SV650S came equipped with
two 39mm Mikuni carburettors that fed the
mixture into a 90° DOHC V-twin measuring 81x
62.6mm, for 645cc. Those dimensions yielded
a compression ratio of 11.5:1, and although the
SV650S was shoehorned as a bike that could tour
equally as well as it could hit the twisties, the
645cc donk loved to rev and provided substantial
power in the mid-to higher rev ranges.
The chassis was an aluminium-alloy truss type
– Suzuki engineers preferred this frame layout
over the heavier twin-spar aluminium frames for
Your adventure.
Our policy.
2
1
the SV V-twin’s power characteristics.
Suspension consisted of a set of non-adjustable
conventional forks and a monoshock assembly
1 The heart of the beast
was its 645cc V-twin that,
unlike some of its genre,
out the back that was only preload adjustable. loved to have a rev. In 2003
Only minor changes followed for the SV650 EFI arrived and even if the
over the preceding four years, which saw power remained the same,
ownership of Suzuki’s mid-sized V-twin skyrocket everything was smoother.
internationally, with a number of one-make SV
race series’ springing up in the US and Europe.
Fast forward to 2003 and Suzuki released a
2 Truss frame in aluminium
was designed to be durable
and so it proved.
complete makeover of the SV650S. The most
obvious change to the eye was the restyled
bodywork that aligned the 650S much closer to 3 While some of the SV’s
rivals treated pillions as
an afterthought, there was a
the then-new TL1000S replacement, the SV1000.
proper seat and handrail on
The design lines had gone from sweeping curves
the Suzuki.
to sharp, pointy panels – much like the GSX-
R1000K3. The dash was an all-new design that
took its styling cues from the Ducati 999 with a 4 Move along, there’s
nothing to see here. The
suspension was sturdy and
large, central tacho and a digital speedo mounted
beneath it. non-adjustable.
 PRICE GUIDE
NEW PRICE
$11,290

SECONDHAND
$2900 – $4300

The
low-down
SERVICE COSTS L to R: EFI and
The 2003 Suzuki SV650S a host of other
service intervals are every changes in 2003
6000km. The first service made a big
would set you back around difference; as did
$300 – $350, and involved a modern instruments
general lube and adjustment of
cables and chain, as well as the
standard engine oil and filter
replacement, but the throttle
bodies were also checked for
balance which added another
half hour or so to the labour
cost. The second service
at 12,000km was similar to
the 6000km one, with the
spark plugs getting replaced
for around $250 – $300. At
18,000km, the coolant came in
for replacement, as did the air
filter along with new engine oil
and filter etc for $350 – $400.
The major 24,000km service
saw the SV650S get new spark
plugs, oil and filter but the
valve clearances also came
in for inspection/adjustment.
IN 2003 SUZUKI RELEASED A COMPLETE
This would add an extra
$200-odd onto the cost of the
18,000km service.
MAKEOVER OF THE SV650S
But the biggest change was undoubtedly different triple-clamps with less offset, to give it
WHAT TO reserved for the engine. The new engine still slight advantage in the quick-steer stakes. The
LOOK FOR retained the 90°, 81 x 62.6mm dimensions with SV650 also sported a longer wheelbase (1440mm
The 2003 incarnation of the 31mm intake and 25.5mm exhaust valves, but vs 1430mm) thanks to its longer chain, which
SV650S has quite a good came with the addition of fuel injection and the also gave the rear wheel an extra 3mm of travel at
reputation as far as reliability Suzuki Dual Throttle Valve (SDTV) system. Lighter 137mm. The pegs were also 5mm higher on the
and longevity is concerned. conrods, revised valve timing and a new set of SV650S over the SV650.
The 2004 edition, while being camshafts helped to reduce weight, and the new The suspension package copped a small
more or less the same machine, model came with the addition of an oil cooler and upgrade with the addition of adjustable preload
had a lowered subframe by
a much bigger airbox, up from 5.8 to 8.5 litres. A at the front-end, but the same rear shock from
40mm for better pillion comfort
but this seemed to have the
new exhaust system was also fitted to the SV650S, the original model remained. The brakes were not
added effect of delivering now equipped with a catalytic convertor and exactly the best of the day either, with only twin-
excessive heat from the rear Suzuki’s PAIR (Pulsed Air Injection System) to piston calipers gripping twin 290mm discs up the
cylinder to the rider’s bum. The reduce emissions. front and a single-piston caliper slotting over a
fairing-mounted mirrors came The engine still produced the same claimed 220mm disc at the back, with feel at the lever not
in for some attention as they power of the 1999-2002 model of 51kW at one of the SV’s strong points.
tended to rattle, which made 9000rpm and 61.7Nm of torque at 7000rpm but The SV650S came with an RRP of $11,290
vision an issue. Some owners power application was said to be much smoother back in 2003, placing it right in the middle of
have opted for bar-mounted
than the outgoing model, as well as more the class with the larger capacity ZR7 Kawasaki
items to cure this.
The original SV650 vanished
consistent through the rev range. retailing for $10,790 and the Ducati 620ie selling
in 2010 with the introduction Interestingly, the SV650 and SV650S differed in for $11,795. Hitting the open road on the SV650S
of the unfortunately named more ways than just the removal of the fairing. was not an issue either. The machine came
Gladius, but was reintroduced The SV650 had an extra tooth on the rear sprocket equipped with some well-placed grab rails that
in 2018 when Suzuki jumped for snappier power at lower revs, while the sport- made tying down luggage easy and pillions were
on the cafe-racer bandwagon focussed SV650S copped a slightly reduced well accommodated for what was essentially a
with a modern retro version. steering trail of 100mm vs 102mm thanks to sportsbike with touring capabilities.

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on 1800 24 34 64 or visit qbe.com/au
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Black in XS-2XL. (in grey or fluro). Camo in sizes S-3XL. other soft bags. filtration properties. materials.

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 the calendar CHECK YOUR DATE

Top 3 TV

Ÿ JULY 2019
WSBK Rd8 Mark your diary
Donington, On this day
UK, LIVE
Videopass, Fox Don’t forget your mum’s birthday Go ridin’
6-7 July
11pm (AEST) 4 Daijiro 5 6 WSBK Rd8
WSBK heads to Donington Park Kato 6-7 July, Donington Park, UK
for Round 8 and all the racing Sorely missed
action will be aired live on MotoGP star
Videopass. Superbike Race 1 was born this
starts at 11pm Saturday and Race
day in 1976
2 at 11pm Sunday. The Supersport
race starts at 9.15pm Sunday.
7 MotoGP Rd9 8 9

¡
MotoGP Sachsenring, DE
Rd9, DE
LIVE
Videopass, Fox
7 July
7pm (AEST)
10 11 12
Round 9 of the MotoGP World
Championship takes place at the
Sachsenring in Germany. The
Moto3 race starts at 7pm, Moto2
at 8.20pm and MotoGP at 10pm.
Videopass and Fox air all races
Happy Birthday
Luigi Dall’Igna, 12/07/1966
while 10 Bold airs MotoGP only.

13 14 15

¢
WSBK Rd9
Laguna
Seca, LIVE
Videopass, Fox WSBK Rd9
14-15 July 13-14 July,
7am (AEST) Laguna Seca, US
Backing up just a week after the
UK round, the WSBK crew heads 16 17 18
to Laguna Seca in California
Next ON
for Round 9. Race 1 will air on Happy issue
SALE
Thursday
Videopass at 7am on Sunday
and Race 2 at 7am on Monday.
Birthday Check out 18 July
Kevin Magee, below
Supersport gets the weekend off.
16/07/1962

NEXT
ISSUE!
THE DAY BILL IVY DIED
Fifty years after
motorcycle racing’s
original rock star met his
end, we find out exactly
what happened on
that fateful day, thanks
to a fascinating and
morbid cache of recently
revealed documents
events
YOUR SOCIAL LISTINGS

Show time Ride days & schools

Phillip Island Ride Days / Champion’s Ride Days Phoenix MCC Top Rider Sandown, Vic
20-21 JULY 1300 793 423 (07) 3287 4144 Junior Coaching 1300 131 362
Lowood Swap, Lowood Showgrounds, Ridedays WA
Phillip Island, Vic Broadford, Vic 0417 821 061 SMSP, NSW (08) 9409 1002
Lindemans Rd, Lowood, Qld. Vendors from Sydney Motorsport Park Winton, Vic Tailem Bend, SA Mount Gambier MCC Barbagallo, WA
2pm Saturday; gates open 6am Sunday. Ride Days/1300 366 640 Wakefield Park, NSW Mallala, SA Coaching / Ride Days Collie, WA
Vendors $10 per site; general admission SMSP, NSW Qld Raceway, Qld California Superbike (08) 8725 0163 Trakdayz
$5 (partners and children free). Meals and Murray Valley Training Co Barbagallo, WA School / 1300 793 423 Mac Park, SA 0401 484 898
refreshments available. Motorcycles only; no 0459 415 787 Lakeside, Qld Phillip Island, Vic Ride-Tek MTA Barbagallo, WA
dogs and no bric-a-brac. Hosted by Historical Barnawartha North, Vic Mallala, SA SMSP, NSW 1300 788 382
Motorcycle Club Qld. For information phone
Darryl Harris on 0425 174 258 or email Racing where & when
darryl49@bigpond.com.
20-21 JULY Road racing Rd8 27-28 Jul, Moree, NSW Rd6 21-23 Sep, Shrewsbury, UK
Baffle Creek Car/Bike Muster, Cnr Coast & MOTOGP WORLD C’SHIP Rd9-10 3-4 Aug, Coolum, Qld Rd7 5-7 Oct, Solsona, ES
Ferfield Rds, Baffle Creek, Qld. Entertainment, Rd9 7 Jul, Sachsenring, DE AORC Rd8 3 Nov, GetzenRodeo, DE
food and bar from 4pm Saturday; gates open Rd10 4 Aug, Brno, CZ Rd 5-6 20-21 Jul, Kyogle, NSW FIM SPEEDWAY GP
Rd11 11 Aug, Red Bull Ring, AT Rd7 10-11 Aug, Broken Hill, NSW Rd4 6 Jul, Hallstavik, SE
6.30am Sunday for competitors and 9am for Rd12 25 Aug, Silverstone, UK Rd8-9 31 Aug-1 Sep, Coonalpyn, SA Rd5 3 Aug, Wroclaw, PL
public. Entertainment, prizes, raffles, markets Rd13 15 Sep, Misano, IT Rd10-1114-15 Sep, Penshurst, Vic Rd6 17 Aug, Malilla, SE
(site fee $10), food and bar. Early-bird entries Rd14 22 Sep, Motorland Aragon, ES AUSTRALIAN SUPERCROSS C’SHIP Rd7 31 Aug, Teterow, DE
$10; entry $15 on the day. For information Rd15 6 Oct, Chang International, TH Rd1 12 Oct, TBC, Qld Rd8 7 Sep, Vojens, DK
phone Brian Lamb on 0408 541 494 or email Rd16 20 Oct, Twin Ring Motegi, JP Rd2 19 Oct, TBC, SA Rd9 21 Sep, Cardiff, UK
vehiclemuster@gmail.com. Rd17 27 Oct, Phillip Island, AU Rd3 9 Nov, Wollongong, NSW Rd10 5 Oct, Torun, PL
Rd18 3 Nov, Sepang, MY Rd4 TBC FIM SPEEDWAY OF NATIONS
27 JULY Rd19 17 Nov, Ricardo Tormo Valencia, ES Rd5 30 Nov, Melbourne, Vic 20-21 July, Togliatti, RU
Relay for Life Classic Car & Bike Show, WORLD SUPERBIKE C’SHIP FIM MXGP/MX2 AUSTRALIAN SENIOR TRACK C’SHIP
Seafront Oval, Hervey Bay, Pialba, Qld. 2pm- Rd8 6-7 Jul, Donington Park, UK Rd13 7 Jul, Palembang, ID 24-25 Aug, Mildura, Vic
5pm. People’s choice and sponsors’ choice Rd9 13-14 Jul, Laguna Seca, US Rd14 14 Jul, Semarang, ID AUSTRALIAN POST CLASSIC DIRT
trophies, music, food vendors and more. Car Rd10 7-8 Sep, Algarve, PT Rd15 28 Jul, Loket, CZ TRACK C’SHIP
Rd11 28-29 Sep, Magny-Cours, FR Rd16 4 Aug, Lommel, BE 7-8 Sep, Maryborough, Qld
and bike entry $5; public entry free. For more
Rd12 12-13 Oct, El Villicum, AR Rd17 18 Aug, Imola, IT AUSTRALIAN JUNIOR DIRT TRACK
information phone Sue Dodd on 0412 753 773 Rd13 25-26 Oct, Losail, QT Rd18 25 Aug, Uddevala, SE C’SHIP
or check out the event’s Facebook page at ASBK Rd19 8 Sep, Afyonkarahisar, TR 28-29 Sep, Somersby, NSW
facebook.com/events/544541542725736/ Rd4 6-7 Jul, Morgan Park, Qld Rd20 15 Sep, Shanghai, CN AUSTRALIAN SENIOR DIRT TRACK
Rd5 7-8 Sep, Winton Motor Raceway, Vic FIM MXoN C’SHIP
27 JULY Rd6 5-6 Oct, Phillip Island, Vic 27-29 Sep, Assen, ND 5-6 Oct, Raymond Terrace, NSW
Twin Valleys Motorcycle Club Show & Shine, Rd7 2-3 Nov, Sydney M’sport Park, NSW FIM ENDURO AUSTRALIAN TRIAL
Valentines Plain Rd, Biloela, Qld. Gates open AUST JNR ROAD RACING C’SHIP Rd6 13-15 Sep, Uhlirske Janovice, CZ CHAMPIONSHIP
9am; public entry open 11am. Street and Rd5 14-15 Sep, The Bend, SA Rd7 27-29 Sep, Ambert, FR 12-13 Oct, Mount Joy, Tas
custom bikes, street cars, hotrods, classics Rd6 19-20 Oct, TBA ISDE FIM CROSS COUNTRY RALLY
and drag cars. All-day barbecue; licenced bar AUST HISTORIC ROAD RACING C’SHIP 11-16 Nov, Portimão, PT Rd2 6-16 Jul, Silk Way Rally, RU, MN & CN
and camping from 4pm Friday and Saturday; 27-30 Sep, Collie Motorplex, WA AUSTRALIAN X-TRIAL C’SHIP Rd3 1-7 Sep, Atacama Rally, CL
BRITISH SUPERBIKE C’SHIP Rd1 20 Jul, Claremont, WA Rd4 3-9 Oct, Rallye du Maroc, MA
band Saturday night; trophies and cash
Rd6 20-21 Jul, Snetterton, NFK Rd2 27 Jul, Wollongong, NSW FIM BAJAS WORLD CUP
prizes. For more information phone Geoff on Rd7 3-4 Aug, Thruxton, HAM WORLD ENDURO SUPER SERIES Rd3 26-28 Jul, Baja Aragon, ES
0409 343 389, Eddie on 0400 001 572 or Brad Rd8 17-18 Aug, Cadwell Park, LIN Rd5 31 Jul-4 Aug, Red Bull Romaniacs, RO Rd4 9-11 Aug, Hungarian Baja, HU
on 0457 777 058. Rd9 7-8 Sep, Oulton Park, CHS
Rd10 21-22 Sep, Assen, ND
Rd11 5-6 Oct, Donington Park, LCE
Rd12 19-20 Oct, Brand Hatch, KEN
MOTOAMERICA
Rd6 13-14 Jul, Laguna Seca, CA
Rd7 10-11 Aug, Sonoma Raceway, CA
Rd8 24-25 Aug, Pittsburgh Int, PA
Rd9 7-8 Sep, New Jersey, NJ
Rd10 21-22 Sep, Barber M’sports Park, AL
FIM EWC
Rd5 28 Jul, Suzuka 8 Hours, JP

Off-road racing
Gold & Goose

MX NATS
Rd7 13-14 Jul, Maitland, NSW

Radio App of the issue This app allows you to measure

acceleration in all three axes. Plot
2RRR 88.5FM Accelerometer realtime charts of acceleration,
Ride Rage Radio Free
Tuesdays 5pm include or remove gravity, export
Apple
data, log maximum and minimum
Listen from anywhere at: www.riderageradio.com acceleration and much more.
Rally the troops
12-14 JULY
37th Winter Rally, 4km south of Nerriga on
the Braidwood Rd, Nerriga, NSW. Camping
and firewood; bonfire and band Saturday
night; gymkhana; trophies. Family event. $15
prepaid or $20 at the gate. Hosted by United
Tourers. For more information phone Noize on
0425 375 817 or Brian on 0407 862 296, or
email contact@unitedtourers.com.
20 JULY
COG’s 2nd Annual Ride for Mental Dice Run,
Aberdare Lawn Cemetery, Greta St, Aberdare,
Cessnock, NSW. Meet 9am for a short
memorial for Mental (Ross Magin); stands up
10am for ride to Neath Hotel with three stops
en route. Entertainment, raffles and prizes.
$20 per person includes stubby cooler. For
information phone Bo on 0455 182 227 or
Wombat on 0474 139 897.
19-21 JULY
Apollo Rally, Honeysuckle Campground, on
the Apollo Road, 20km from Tharwa, ACT.
BYO drinks and water (no glass); limited
firewood and water on site. Catered from
lunch Saturday to breakfast Sunday. Awards
and raffle. $25 includes camping fee, badge
and wood. For information phone Sarge on
(02) 6296 5561 or 0414 569 626, or email
purbrick@iinet.net.au.
The birds… they’re
just so beautiful
26-28 JULY
Hat Rally, Araluen Valley, Araluen, NSW.
Rally site signposted from Braidwood, 23km
away. Raffles, trophies, $5 cooked breakfast
Sunday morning and more. Meals available
at Araluen Hotel, just 3km from rally site.
Entry $20 includes raffle ticket. Hosted by the
Wobblyboot Tourers. For information phone
Brian Dunley on 0421 313 503 or email
bdunley@tpg.com.au.
9-11 AUGUST
Far Kew Rally, Kendall Showground, 23 Batar
Creek Rd, Kendall, NSW. Live bands, burnout
comp, gymkhana, show ’n’ shine, stalls,
licenced bar (no BYO), food and drinks, live
music and more. Camping available; onsite
showers and toilets. Entry $25. Hosted by the
American Motorcycle Club Australia Hastings
Chapter. For information phone Stormy on
0499 018 296, Chops on 0400 090 289 or
CamBo on 0400 457 033.
18-19 AUGUST
Thor Rally, Logan Pub, Wimmera Way, Logan,
Vic. Fully catered; live band Saturday night;
pub meals and bar snacks available all
weekend. Plenty of onsite camping. Entry $20.
Hosted by Ararat Motor Cycle Club. For more
information phone (03) 5352 4690 or
(03) 5352 2850.
23-25 AUGUST
Peregrine Motorcycle Rally, Jabuk Reserve,
26km east of Sherlock, SA. From 6pm Friday
til 10am Sunday. Awards; gymkhana; tea
and coffee; onsite toilets; firewood; plenty
of camping; barbecue Friday and Saturday
nights; snacks and drinks. Preapid $20; $25
at the gate; $15 children and daytrippers. For
information email trevor.nowak@ icloud.com.
31 AUGUST
Flatlanders Motorcycle Rally, Undera Park
Speedway, Echuca-Sheppahton Rd, Undera,
Vic. BYO food and cooking gear; firewood
provided; BYO grog (no glass); bacon and
egg rolls Sunday morning; tea and coffee
available; onsite toilets. Awards, band and
bonfire Saturday night. $25 at the gate. For
information phone Hilly on 0438 214 320 or
Kel on 0448 249 371.
21-22 SEPTEMBER
Far Cairn Rally, Tottenham Racecourse/
Showground, Racecourse Rd, Tottenham,
NSW. Rally starts 12pm Saturday through
to 3pm Sunday. Lions Club catering
Saturday dinner and Sunday breakfast.
Entry $25. Raising funds for the Motorcycle
Accident Rehabilitation Initiative (MARI).
For information or prepaid bookings see
bmwmccact.org.au.
12-13 OCTOBER
Wagga Classic MC Annual Rally, Apex
Park, 43 Eastlake Dr, Lake Albert, Wagga
Wagga, NSW. Short and long rides with
lunch stop; categories for veteran to modern
bikes; all welcome. Saturday evening
presentation dinner; Sunday short ride. For
information email wcmc30@gmail.com or
phone Mick Powell on 0417 223 411 or visit
waggaclassicmc.org/.
18-20 OCTOBER
Spaghetti Rally, Edi Cutting campsite,
(southern end), 3741 Wangaratta-Whitfield
Rd, Edi, Vic. Spit roast Friday night; spaghetti
Saturday night; egg and bacon rolls both
mornings. Usual rally awards. Hosted by the
Moto Guzzi Club of Victoria. For information
phone John Ferguson on 0408 320 511 or
email johnferguson@iinet.net.au.
8-10 NOVEMBER
Fish Holes Motorcycle Rally, Fish Holes site,
Enduro Rd, Portland, Vic (signposted from
Shell service station Portland). Fully catered;
no BYO. Showers, toilets and firewood. Music
Friday night; gymkhana Saturday; band
Saturday night. $25 prepaid or $30 at the
gate. Registered bikes only. Hosted by South
West Touring Club Inc. For information phone
0418 528 002 or 0407 666 995.
That little bastard just
stole my chip!
buyersguide
A Z OF NEW BIKE PRICES

Model Price LAMS Model Price LAMS Model Price LAMS Model Price LAMS

Diavel 1260 S $34,890  CB500FA ABS $7299 

Aprilia aprilia.com.au R nineT Racer Spezial $21,725 
Hypermotard 950 $20,790  CBR500RA ABS $7699 
R nineT Scrambler $19,075 
Dorsoduro $15,790  R nineT Scrambler Spezial $20.875  Hypermotard 950 SP $25,990  CBR600RR $14,999 
RSV4 RR MY18 $25,390  R nineT Urban G/S $19.075  Monster 659 $12,490  CB650FA ABS $9,799 
RSV4 RF $31,990  R nineT Urban G/S Spezial $20.875  Monster 797 $13,490  CBR650FL ABS $9999 
RSV4 RR MY19 $26,490  R 1250 GS $23,565  Monster 821 $17,500  CBR1000RA $18,086 
RSV4 1100 Factory $33,990  R 1250 GS Adventure $25,540  Monster 821 Stealth $18,590  CBR1000 S1 $28,499 
Shiver 900 $15,190  R 1250 GS Adventure Rallye $26,540  Monster 1200 $22,990  CMX ABS $7999 
SR 50 MT E4 $2990  R 1250 GS Adventure Rallye X $31,940  Monster 1200 R $30,190  CRF250L $6099 
Tuono RR MY18 $22,890  R 1250 GS Adventure Exclusive $31,190  Monster 1200 S Red $26,990  CRF250RLA $6399 
Tuono RR MY19 $23,490  R 1250 GS Adventure Spezial $30,890  Monster 1200 S Concrete Grey $27,190  CRF230F $5999 
Tuono Factory MY18 $26,190  R 1250 GS Rallye $25,115  Multistrada 950 $20,990  CRF1000 Africa Twin $17,499 
Tuono Factory MY19 $27,190  R 1250 GS Rallye X $30,240  Multistrada 950 S Red $23,490  CRF1000D DCT Africa Twin $19,999 
R 1250 GS Tour $28,540  Multistrada 950 S Gloss Grey $23,790  GL1800 ABS Goldwing DCT $35,999 
Benelli benelli.com.au R 1250 GS Spezial
R 1250 R
$31,715
$21,265


Multistrada 950 S Red GL1800 ABS Goldwing TOUR $41,999 
(Spoked Wheel) $23,750  Grom $3349 
Leoncino $7990  R 1250 R HP $26,940 
Multistrada 950 S Gloss Grey Monkey $5199 
Leoncino Trail $8690  R 1250 R Exclusive $25,965 
(Spoked Wheel) $23,990  MW110 Benly $3299 
TnT 125 $3250  R 1250 R Spezial $26,665 
Multistrada 1260 $26,490  NC750XA ABS $9599 
TRK 502 $7890  R 1250 RS $22,565 
Multistrada 1260 S Red $31,190  NSC110 (Dio) $2799 
TRK 502 X $8490  R 1250 RS Sport $28,340 
R 1250 RS Exclusive $27,340  Multistrada 1260 S White & Grey $31,390  NSS300A (Forza) $7999 
 
Beta betamotor.com.au R 1250 RS Spezial $28,040  Multistrada 1260 S Pikes Peak $38,490

PCX150 (WW150)
VFR1200X ABS
$4499
$18,299 
R 1250 RT $32,365  Multistrada 1260 S T-Pack $33,190
RR 125 2T $10,995  R 1250 RT Sport $33,265  Multistrada Enduro Red $31,990 
RR 200 2T $11,695  R 1250 RT Elegance $33,440  Multistrada Enduro Sand $32,190  Husqvarna husqvarnamotorcycles.com.au
RR250 2T $11,895  R 1250 RT Spezial $34,315  Multistrada Enduro Red T-Pack $34,690  401 Vitpilen $10,495 
RR300 2T $12,395  S 1000 R $20,190  Multistrada Enduro Sand T-Pack $34,890  401 Svartpilen $10,495 
RR 350 4T EFI $12,795  S 1000 R Sport $22,430  Scrambler Cafe Racer $18,990  701 Vitpilen $16,995 
RR 390 4T EFI $12,995  S 1000 RR $23,550  Scrambler Desert Sled $19,290  701 Svartpilen $15,995 
RR 430 4T EFI $13,195  S 1000 RR Sport $25,990  Scrambler Full Throttle $17,540  FS 405 $14,995 
RR 480 4T EFI $13,395  S 1000 RR Race $27,990  Scrambler Icon (Orange) $13,990  701 Enduro $16,295 
XTRAINER 250 2T $10,295  S 1000 RR M Sport $30,990  Scrambler Icon (’62 Yellow) $13,990  701 Supermoto $16,295 
XTRAINER 300 2T $10,495  S 1000 RR HP4 RACE $114,500  Scrambler Sixty2 $13,490  FE 250 $12,995 
S 1000 XR $22,850  Scrambler 1100 $19,790  
Bimota
FE 350 $14,995
bimotaaustralia.com.au S 1000 XR HP $23,675  Scrambler 1100 S $21,990  FE 450 $15,295 
S 1000 XR Triple Black $23,300  Scrambler 1100 Sport $22,990 
BB3 $72,888  FE 501 $15,795 
SuperSport Titanium Grey $17,790 
DB5 R $37,990  Braaap braaapmotorcycles.com.au SuperSport S $20,250 
TE150 $11,996 
DB8 Oro Nero $84,990  TE 250i $13,995 
DB8 SP $47,990  Moto3 $4499  XDiavel $30,190  TE 300i $15,295 
DB9 $44,990  ST-250 Mercury $4499  XDiavel S Black $35,490 
DB10 $37,290  Street Superlite 50 $2800  XDiavel S White $35,790  Indian indianmotorcycle.com.au
DB11 $56,990  Street Superlite 125 $2999 
Tesi 3D EVO $50,890  Urban $3299  Gas Gas gasgasaustralia.com.au All Indian prices are ride away
Chief Classic $29,995 
Tesi 3D NAKED $55,990  EC250 $11,990 
BRP brp.com/en-au EC300 $12,490 
Chief Dark Horse $29,995 
Chief Vintage $32,995 
BMW bmwmotorrad.com.au All prices are ride away EC300 Ranger $11,490  Chieftain Limited $37,995 
C 400 GT $10,240  Spyder F3-S $28,890  Chieftain Dark Horse $37,495 
C 400 X $8,990  Spyder RS $19,990  H-D harley-davidson.com.au Roadmaster $40,995 
C 650 Sport $14,725  Spyder RS-S $23,990  All prices are ride away Scout $19,995 
C 650 GT $15,625  Spyder RT $31,490  Breakout $34,250  Scout Bobber $19,995 
F 750 GS $13,590  Spyder RT-S $39,950  Custom 1200 $19,250  Springfield $35,495 
F 750 GS Tour $17,305  Spyder RT Limited $41,990  CVO Road Glide $53,495 
F 800 GT $16,750  Spyder ST-S $25,490  CVO Street Glide $53,495  Kawasaki kawasaki.com.au
F 800 R $13,450  Ryker 600 $14,899  CVO Ultra Limited $56,250  
F 850 GS $17,990  Ryker 900 $17,299  KLR650 $8199
Fat Bob $27,750  
F 850 GS Adventure $19,290  Ryker 900 Rally $18,299  KLX150BF SE $4399
F 850 GS Adventure Rallye $19,765  Fat Boy $30,995  KLX250S $6349 
Fat Boy S $33,995 
F 850 GS Rallye $18,390 

CFMoto mojomotorcycles.com.au Forty-Eight $18,995 
KLX450R $11,199 
F 850 GS Rallye x $22,305 Ninja 400 $6499 
F 850 GS Tour $21,805  150NK $3290  Heritage Classic s $33,995  Ninja 400 KRT EDITION $6749 
G 310 GS $7090  400NK $5990  Iron 883 $15,995  Ninja 400 SPECIAL EDITION $6749 
G 310 R $5990  650NK $6990  Low Rider $24,495  Ninja 650 $9999 
K 1600 B $32,890  650MT $6990  Road Glide Special $38,750  Ninja 650L $9999 
K 1600 B Raw $34,690  Road King $34,495  Ninja 650L KRT Edition $10,299 
K 1600 B Deluxe $38,790  Ducati ducati.com.au Roadster $19,495  Ninja 1000 $16,399 
K 1600 B Grand America $41,490  Softail Deluxe $29,750 
All prices are ride away Ninja H2 SX SE $29,290 
K 1600 B Spezial $41,140  Softail Slim $26,495 
959 Panigale Red $22,490  Ninja H2 CARBON $40,400 
K 1600 GT $37,500  Street 500 $9995 
959 Panigale White $22,990  Ninja ZX-6R $14,799 
K 1600 GT Sport $38,225  Street Bob $23,495 
K 1600 GT Spezial $40,100  959 Panigale Corse $25,990  Ninja ZX-6R KRT replica $14,799 
Street Rod 750 $12,995  Ninja ZX-10R $23,700 
K 1600 GTL $38,950  Panigale V4 $31,390 
SuperLow $15,995  Ninja ZX-10R KRT replica $23,900 
K 1600 GTL Elegance $41,450  Panigale V4 S $39,990 
Ultra Limited $40,995  
K 1600 GTL Spezial $41,550  Panigale V4 Speciale $63,190  Ninja ZX-10RR $27,300
 Ninja ZX-10R SE $30,300 
R nineT
R nineT Spezial
$22,925
$23,275 
Panigale V4 Speciale
(Magnesium Wheel) $68,190 
Honda hondamotorcycles.com.au Ninja ZX-14R $22,099 
R nineT Pure $18,025  Panigale V4 S GP $42,790  CB125E $2299  Versys-X 300 $6399 
R nineT Pure Spezial $19,825  Panigale V4 R $63,190  CBR300R $5749  Versys-X 300 SE $6499 
R nineT Racer $19,475  Diavel 1260 $29,790  CB300R $5999  Versys 650 $10,599 

Your adventure.
Our policy.
Model Price LAMS Model Price LAMS Model Price LAMS Model Price LAMS

Brutale 800 RC $30,880  GSX-R125 $3490  Tiger 800 XC $15,590 

Versys 650L $10,599  
F3 675 $20,490  GSX250R $5790  Tiger 800 XCA $19,950
Versys 1000 $16,299 
F3 675 RC $26,990  GSX-R600 $14,990  Tiger 800 XCx/L $18,150 
Vulcan S $9999 
F4 $26,990  GSX-R750 $15,990  Tiger 800 XR $14,090 
Vulcan S Special Edition $10,199 
F4 Claudio $119,012  GSX-R1000 A $21,990  Tiger 800 XRT $18,350 
Vulcan 900 Classic $12,499 
F4 RC $58,880  GSX-R1000R $25,490  Tiger 800 XRx/L $17,100 
Vulcan 900 Custom $12,499 
F4 RR $36,990  GSX-S750 $11,490  Tiger 1200 XRX $24,200 
Vulcan S $10,099 
Turismo Veloce $22,490  GSX-S1000 $15,190  Tiger 1200 XCX $25,600 
Vulcan S SE $10,299 
Turismo Veloce Lusso $25,990  RM-Z250 $9990  Tiger 1200 XRT $27,600 
Vulcan S CAFÉ $10,499 
Turismo Veloce Lusso SCS $29,990  RM-Z450 $11,490  Tiger 1200 XCA $29,300 
W800 SE $11,999 
Turismo Veloce RC SCS $33,990  SV650 LAMS $8990 

W800 Cafe
Z125 PRO KRT Replica
$13,999
$4249 
V-Strom 650 LAMS $10,990  Ural ural.com
Z300 $5999  Peugeot peugeotmotorcycles.com.au V-Strom 650 $10,990  Ranger $24,970 
V-Strom 650XT $11,990  
Z400 $6299  Belville 200 RS $4790  Ranger FF $26,970
V-Strom 1000 $15,790  Retro/M70 $24,970 
Z650L (LAMS) $9799  Django 150 $4290  V-Strom 1000XT $16,490  Sahara Ranger $25,470 
Z900 $12,599  Django 150 Allure $4490 
 Tourist $23,780 
Z900RS
Z1000
$16,499
$15,599 
Kisbee 50 2T $2290  SWM swmmotorcycles.com.au Ural cT $21,780 
Metropolis 400 $13,490 
 Prices marked * are ride away
KTM ktm.com.au
Tweet 125 $3290
Gran Milano* $7990 
Vespa vespa.com.au
1090 Adventure R $22,495  Piaggio vespa.com.au Gran Turismo* $7490  GTS 250 ie $7890 
1290 Adventure S $26,495  Silver Vase* $7490  GTS 300 Super $9190 
BV 350 ABS ASR E4 $8490 
1290 Adventure R $27,295  RS300 $8290  GTS 300 Super Sport $9490 
Fly 150 $3490 
RC390 $5995  RS500 $8990  Primavera 50 $4490 
Medley 150 $5290  Primavera 125 iGET $5790 
390 Duke $6,795  RS650 $8990 
Typhoon 50 $2390  Primavera 150 iGET $6590 
690 SCMR $16,395  SM500R $8990 
Typhoon 125 $2990  PX150 $6490 
790 DUKE $15,795  SM650R $9490 
X10 350 Executive $9490  Sprint 150 iGET $12,490 
690 Adventure R $15,995  650 Superdual $9990 
YourBan 300 $9790  946 Bellissima $12,490 
790 Adventure $19,495  

Zip 50 2T $1990
SYM Scoota scoota.com.au
Yamaha
790 Adventure R $20,995
yamaha-motor.com.au
250 EXC TPI $13,295  Royal Enfield royalenfield.com.au CityCom300i $5999 
300 EXC TPI $14,495  Classic 125 $2499  AG125F $3499 
250 EXC-F $12,995  Bullet 500 ABS $7690  AG200F $5299 
Firenze300i $6299 
350 EXC-F $14,195  Rumbler 350 $5790  Bolt $11,499 
HD200EVO $4699 
450 EXC $14,495  Classic 350 $5590  Bolt C $8,699 
JetSport 50X $2699 
500 EXC $14,695  Classic 500 ABS $7990  Bolt R $11,999 
Classic 500 Chrome $8190  Jet 4R Naked $2699 
1290 Super Duke GT $28,795  Jolie $1999  D’Elight 125 $3399 
Interceptor 650 Classic $8440  
1290 Super Duke R $26,795  Mio 50 $2599  FJR1300A $24,999
Interceptor 650 Custom $8640  FJR1300A (Electric suspension) $27,999 
 Mio 100 $2999 
Kymco kymco.com.au
Interceptor 650 Chrome
Continental GT
$8940
$8590  Orbit 50 $1599  MT-03 $5699 
 MT-07 $9999 
Agility 50 $1890  Continental GT 650 Classic $8640  Orbit 125 $2499
 MT-07-HO $10,699 
Agility RS 125 $2390  Continental GT 650 Custom $8840  Red Devil $2099
MT-07 Tracer $12,299 
Downtown 300i $7490  Continental GT 650 Chrome $9140 
Like 125 $2690  Himalayan $5990  Torino torinomotorcycles.com.au MT-09 (ABS) $12,299 
MT-09 SP $13,499 
Like 200i $3090  Aero MKII $2390  MT-10 $17,999 
Super 8 50 $2290  Sherco sherco.com Aviata $6090  MT-10 SP $21,499 
Super 8 125 $2690  Famosa 125 $2290  Tracer 900 $15,499 
SE 250 Factory $12,590 
 Famosa 150 $2590  Tracer 900 GT $16,999 
Moto Guzzi motoguzzi.com.au
SE 300 Factory
SEF 250 Factory
$12,990
$12,490  Niken $21,990 
* indicates ride-away price SEF 300 Factory $13,490  Triumph triumphmotorcycles.com.au Niken GT $23,990 
California Audace $24,990  SEF 450 Factory $14,290  Bobber from $18,000  NMAX $3999 
California Eldorado $24,990   SR400 $8099 
SE 250 Racing $11,590 Bonneville T100 Black from $15,300 
California Touring ABS SE $25,990  SE 300 Racing $11,990  Bonneville T100 $15,300  TMAX 530 ABS $14,499 
V7 III Milano $16,990*   Tricity ABS $5099 
SEF 250 Racing $11,490  Bonneville T120 $17,200
V7 III Carbon $16,890*   Virago 250 $6799 
SEF 300 Racing $12,650  Daytona 675 ABS $14,990
V7 III Racer $18,500*   V-Star 650 Custom $8,799 
SEF 450 Racing $13,290  Daytona 675R ABS $16,990
V7 III Rough $16,890*  Rocket III Roadster ABS from $23,990  V-Star 650 Classic $9,299 
  V-Star 950 $13,999 
V7 III Special
V7 III Stone
$16,190*
$14,590* 
Super Soco supersoco.com.au
Rocket III Touring
Speed Triple S from
$26,490
$18,500  V-Star 1300 $15,999 
V9 Bobber $16,890*  TS Sport $4290  Speed Triple R ABS $20,900  V-Star 1300 Stryker $15,499 
V9 Roamer $15,190  TC Cafe Racer $4990  Street Cup $15,600  WR250F $12,199 
V85 TT $18,890  CUX Scooter $4490  Street Scrambler $15,900  WR450F $13,199 
MGX-21 $37,490*  Street Triple S 660 $12,800  XMAX $6999 
Suzuki suzukimotorcycles.com.au Street Triple S $13,800  XSR700 $10,999 

MV Agusta mvagusta.com.au * indicates ride-away price
Street Triple R $15,850  XSR900 $12,999

Street Triple RS $17,550  XT250 $6299
800 Dragster America $28,390  Address 110 $2490  Street Twin $13,700  XT660Z Tenere $13,999 
800 Dragster Pirelli $29,590  Boulevard S40 $7990  T/Bird ABS $23,990  XT1200Z $19,990 
800 Dragster RC $31,490  Boulevard C50T $10,990  T/Bird ABS TT $24,490  XT1200ZE $21,999 
800 Dragster RR $26,390  Boulevard C90 $15,490  T/Bird Storm ABS from $22,800  YZF-R15 $4299 
Brutale 800 $20,490  Boulevard M109R $18,990  T/Bird Commander from $23,800  YZF-R1 $23,999 
Brutale 800 RR $23,490  Boulevard M109RZ/BZ $19,490  T/Bird LT from $25,000  YZF-R1M $31,999 
Brutale 800 RR America $26,990  Burgman 200 $5490  Thruxton 1200 $18,700  YZF-R1 SP (60th Aniversary) $24,999 
Brutale 800 RR Lewis Hamilton $36,880  Burgman 650 $13,590  Thruxton 1200 R $21,100  YZF-R3 $6299 
Brutale 800 RR Pirelli $28,990  DR-Z400 SM $8990  Tiger Sport $17,550  YZF-R6 $17,499 

Call our specialist motorcycle insurance team

on 1800 24 34 64 or visit qbe.com/au
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 Guest column
PHIL BRANAGAN
Every doctor has a waiting room
ONE OF THE things that racing on two wheels or four have in
common is that competitors rarely show much patience before
making the next step.
In 25 years of writing about Formula 1, I can count on
one hand the number of drivers who have knocked back the
chance to race (or even test) an F1 car, even if they are not
ready. And a list of those who made the step to the highest
level and bombed because they were not up to it would fill an
eight-page sealed section in this issue of AMCN.
It’s not all that different in MotoGP, so a recent quote
caught my beady little eye;
“I would sign up right now for another year in
A bad day for
Moto2 and then a move to MotoGP in 2021. I
am happy with my current team.”
Rossi is not a
Who in Moto2 would rule out a swift step
up to The Show in favour of another season
close fourth like
banging knees with the kids?
Alex Marquez said that. The hottest
rider in the intermediate class appears
to have, at the very least, hedged his bets it used to be, it’s a
about stepping up next year, hosing down
rumours that he would race in 2020 for a horror story like
second-half-of-the-grid team.
Why? Surely the best thing to do would be
Mugello
to jump on an Independent MotoGP bike, ride
the hell out of it and clinch a deal with one of the
big four teams? That plan worked out for Jack Miller; it
looks to be working out for Fabio Quartararo.
What carrot would prompt Alex to make that statement?
How about a 2021 seat on a Monster Yamaha?
Okay; this theory is going to prompt some howls from
around the world. Valentino Rossi is signed to Yamaha’s
frontline outfit until the end of next season and any future
beyond that is uncertain. Heck, even at 41, he may decide that
he has another few seasons in him.
But does he? Or more accurately, how could he?
Rossi hasn’t won a GP in two years (and I write this, pre-
Assen, in full knowledge that in the meantime the GOAT may
well have made me look like a lower-case goat). Yes, there have
been some good performances, podiums even, this year. But
just as often, Vale has been the fourth man in a four-Yamaha
squad, and that is not a good look.
Worse, Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli have adapted to
their Petronas M1s quickly. The Frenchman has stolen the
headlines, for good reason, but getting up to speed has
been the least of Frankie’s problems. When he has
kept his wheels under him, Vale’s protégé has
looked like a pretty strong prospect.
Few would write Rossi off. He might have
a win or two left in him. But let’s be brutally
honest; a title? Against Marc Marquez and
Dovi? No. The competition now is so good,
and there’s so much of it, that a bad day for
Rossi is not a close fourth like it used to be,
it’s a horror story like he had at Mugello.
And, why Alex Marquez? Look at it from
Dorna’s point of view. Even if Rossi stays in
the sport, influencing the next generation of
Italian racers (and selling lots of merchandise
and Yamaha scooters), MotoGP will need a
headline act. Watching one competitor beat the
hell out of everyone else all the time is not it; that’s F1
again. Potentially, Marquez/Honda versus Marquez/Yamaha
could be a great drawcard.
Yes, I’d love to see Rossi win again, just as I’d like to see John
McGuinness win another TT. But watching them ride around
off the pace or worse, seeing them at risk of getting hurt, does
no favours to the sport, or to its greats.
We should enjoy watching Rossi while we can. But change is
coming and it might, just maybe, have a familiar name.
Oli Bayliss is learning
fast from mentor and
former BSB racer
Glen Richards

Richards crests Cadwell

Park’s Mountain during
his long and successful
BSB career
 Revolving Racer
GLEN RICHARDS
Hitting home
WHEN I CAME back home from the UK last year I didn’t think I’d
be able to get a job in the Australian motorcycle industry. That
all changed when I went to a test day at Winton to catch up with
Kelvin Reilly (Kawasaki BCperformance Racing Team) to see how
their Kawasaki was going.
I got talking to Troy Bayliss, who told me about the plan to
take his son Oli into the Supersport 600 class, now that MA had
lowered the rider age. I was still crew chief for Jake Dixon and
the RAF Regular & Reserve Kawasaki team in BSB
Superbikes and flying back and forth from Australia
to attend the meetings. We were a privateer
Oli’s
team but still managed to come second in the
championship.
proved he’s
Jake wanted me to go with him to Moto2
this year but I felt I couldn’t do the job
strong enough
properly based in Australia. Fortunately, the
Bayliss family needed a crew chief for Oli
for the 600
in the ASBK Supersport 600 championship.
So I’m doing that, plus also now developing
class
what I hope will be a career in rider training
and mentoring of young riders.
Looking after Oli for Cube Racing has been
a big change for both of us. He’s only 15 years old
but had already physically outgrown Supersport
300. Oli’s already proved he’s mentally and physically
strong enough for the Supersport 600 class.
It’s quite a different situation for me. When I was crew chief
in the UK, I had two mechanics, an electronics technician, a
tyre specialist and access to the Öhlins truck. Now it’s just me
and mechanic Jono Stewart at the meetings. Troy Bayliss and
I build the bikes while Ben Henry (Cube Racing owner) builds
the engines.
My hands-on technical role hasn’t given me as much time as
I’d like to help Oli develop his riding. This had been one of my
important roles when I was a crew chief in the UK.
Over there data logging is a tool riders use as an important
guide. It can tell you exactly how a rider is using the bike at
TBG Sport
crucial points of the track.
Over here, with data logging equipment having to be removed
before racing, it’s not seen as important, but I believe it plays a
crucial role in developing a rider. When you go to a more powerful
bike, a rider has to relearn the circuits and develop different
entry and exit points. I could write a whole column on what these
changes involve to become competitive in a new class. Data
logging is a valuable tool for this.
Oli’s adapting well. He’s fourth in the championship.
The next challenge is to get regular podiums.
People are already asking me if Oli will race
overseas. He’s very young, so let’s just see how
the season goes.
I first went to the UK in 1998 when I was
23 years old. There wasn’t much support
for my racing in Australia, but that all
changed in the UK. I quickly found myself
earning a living from prizemoney and then
I got paid to ride.
These days there are two directions
a young rider can go; if you want to end
up in MotoGP you need to move to Spain
and get there through their domestic Moto3
championship, then Moto2. The other way to go is
WSBK, which means going to the UK and starting off in
BSB Supersport, then maybe World Supersport.
These are big decisions for a young rider, and his or her
family and supporters. I want to be a part of the next generation
of young Australian riders. I’ve started working with Chas
Hern’s Murray Valley Training Centre. I’m getting the relevant
Australian qualifications so I can run coaching clinics for riders
of all ages, especially juniors.
I really think I can achieve something in this field.
Meanwhile, I’m finding my present role as crew chief and
mentor is giving me huge job satisfaction. It’s a long way from
when I first returned home, thinking I would never find a role in
Australian motorcycling.
POUR
PASSION
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 In Pit Lane
MICHAEL SCOTT
Young before time
MOTORCYCLE RACERS SUFFER all sorts of injuries – strain,
sprains, arm-pump, broken bones and wounded pride being
among them.
The one most likely to afflict Marc Marquez at the moment is
a stiff neck – from looking over his shoulder, and seeing what’s
coming. And it’s not just his teammate Jorge Lorenzo, whose
bowling-ball action in Catalunya took out Dovi, Rossi and
Viñales, and only missed the back of the leader’s Repsol Honda
by millimetres.
Marquez might be more wary of something that only six years
ago, he himself represented. In spades. The tide of youth.
And while the current dominant rider is himself only
26, he’s not too young to be feeling a bit jaded.
Marquez
The example of the rider whose “youngest-
ever” records he took might be taken as
shows no sign
salutary. Freddie Spencer had won three
titles by the time he turned 23, and
of running out
thereafter never won another GP. Marquez
shows no sign of running out of steam, but
of steam. But
then neither did the sublimely talented
Freddie, when he secured a unique 250-500
neither did
double in 1985.
Actually, this is just scare-mongering,
Freddie
particularly two weeks after writing about
the super strength of the newly mature
Marquez. And there is a different example that
suggests the opposite. Valentino Rossi is in his 40s,
and still a factor. He might find it harder to win races…
indeed impossible for the past 24 months, but it doesn’t stop
him trying. And sometimes coming desperately close.
But the tide of youth syndrome is real enough, threatening
others perhaps more than Marquez, and embodied most
particularly by the remarkable Fabio Quartararo, who only
at the last race missed his chance of deposing Marquez as
the youngest-ever premier-class race winner. This was in
Catalunya, where he started from pole for the second time in his
debut season, and finished a fighting second.
The young Frenchman, who at just 20 is both cheeky and
pretty funny, has been astonishing. He’s not just challenging
the factory Yamahas but all too often outclassing them,
certainly over single-lap qualifying runs. But is it just
beginner’s luck – much the same as that which enlightened
Johann Zarco’s first season on a satellite Yamaha?
Impossible to know. Though it is possible to measure
Quartararo against both Zarco, who outranks him in having
won two Moto2 titles to Quartararo’s single Moto2 race; and
Marquez, who was dominant in both of the junior classes before
busting into MotoGP.
How much does that matter? It is Quartararo’s present
performance that is lighting the warning bonfires.
Matter of fact, there’s a good case to argue that he’s
not really the youngster that Marquez, Rossi et al
need to worry about. Or not the only one.
After a long spell when everybody
thought the sport would die on its feet
when Rossi retired, then another six years
when Marquez dominated pretty much
everything, there are encouraging signs of
renewal and growth.
Suzuki’s Alex Rins is just 23, has already
won one race on a bike that is nominally too
slow to be a proper threat. Pecco Bagnaia,
at 22, hasn’t lived up to expectations,
having turned into a serial crasher... but his
immaculate 2018 Moto2 title suggests that he’ll
get over it and become a big threat.
At the same time, Jack Miller and Maverick Viñales
are only 24, and race winners in MotoGP.
Furthermore, Moto2’s acquisition of more advanced
machinery is also promising more than before. The 765cc
Triumph-powered bikes not only have more electronics and
close-ratio gearboxes, but enough power for the riders to find
different ways to express themselves, and learn new tricks.
The likes of Lorenzo Baldassarri, Jorge Navarro, Luca Marini
and (finally) Alex Marquez are backed by Brad Binder, Remy
Gardner and the rest.
Hope the petrol lasts long enough for them to pose their own
threat to MotoGP’s oldies.
race report
YOUR FORTNIGHTLY FIX
Mi W ld Ci
Narrow margins
Just when we thought Alvaro Bautista was running away with the title…
F
or a rider who won a
race and still leads
the championship,
Alvaro Bautista left
the stadium-style
circuit of Misano angry with
himself. He finished third in
a wet Race One, won the short
Superpole Race with a margin
and was leading the finale on
Sunday when he once again
inexplicably fell while leading.
It was a genuinely dramatic
moment and, as the Aruba.
it Racing Ducati star had a
similar experience in the
previous round at Jerez, his
only realistic championship
rival Jonathan Rea has moved
to within 16 points.
It has been a year of the
unthinkable, not just the
crashes, but his dominant
start to the season. Until
Round five at Imola, Bautista
106 amcn.com.au
i 3 June 2019 WorldSBK Championship
REPORT GORDON RITCHIE
won every race; some were
crowning him after four
rounds. Others thought that,
given the way it exits corners
and how quickly Bautista had
found a happy and repeatable
place with its set-up, the new
Ducati V4 R was unbeatable.
Sure, he may have been the
only Ducati rider in a field of
four to, along with his crew,
really got it sorted from Round
one. But even when things
looked bleak, Jonathan Rea
kept pushing and the cracks
have started to appear in the
Ducati-shaped armoury.
Now, on tracks that suit
the Italian V4 less than some
might, mixed perhaps with
a tinge of over-confidence,
Bautista has a fight on his
hands. And he knows it.
“I am angry with myself
because I made two mistakes
PHOTOGRAPHY GOLD&GOOSE
in two races and this is not
acceptable,” said Bautista.
“I lost 48 points, because
it is possible to win both
races (Jerez 2 and Misano
2). But this is for learning.
I am a rookie in this class
and maybe now is the first
two races that between the
Superpole race and race two
there is more difference in
the track conditions.”
Bautista’s point is that
at Jerez and Misano, the
temperature changed
between the Sunday sprint
and then longer race, and his
starting fuel load would have
doubled and more, meaning
his bike had changing
circumstances to deal with.
Maybe that peerlessly
powerful new V4 R is a bit
tricky to handle, with smaller
window of perfection than
Bautista and his engineers
would like? Ducati top bosses
have always said that without
Bautista they would not be
winning right now, and that
case is hardening into reality
as the season has now crossed
over into the second half.
The weather conditions
on Saturday only cancelled
one race for a time – an hour
in all was the delay – so at
this round there was no loss
of a race to the weather. We
should have had 21 individual
races so far but we have had
19, after snow at Assen and
then precipitation at Imola.
Although the unexpected
news of the championship
being blown open is great
for the neutrals, and good
news for Bautista’s only rival,
Rea was not immune from
the loss of points at times
 Track Attack
Main. Jonny Rea returned to his celebratory best with two wins in Italy 1. Alvaro Bautista ruled the
Superpole race but was not at his best when it counted 2. Ducatis were everywhere and so were the fans
WorldSBK
3. Tom Sykes and BMW are starting to look contender-ish 4. Alex Lowes had an up-and-down weekend; he led Misano World Circuit
11
the first race in the wet... 5. ...and might have won it until this crash. Then he finished P2 and P4 on Sunday 12

8 16
13
15

1 10
9
14

5 2
6
3

Round 7
Finishing positions
Race 1
→1
POS RIDER
J REA
NAT
GBR
BIKE TIME
KAW 32m16.526s
2 T SYKES GBR BMW +3.592s
3 A BAUTISTA SPA DUC +7.756s
4 L BAZ FRA YAM +12.932s
5 C DAVIES GBR DUC +15.801s
6 M MELANDRI ITA YAM +41.963s
7 S CORTESE GER YAM +45.976s
8 Y TAKAHASHI JPN HON +46.479s
9 L ZANETTI ITA DUC +47.695s
10 L MERCADO ARG KAW +48.026s
11 A DELBIANCO ITA HON +49.700s
12 J TORRES SPA KAW +49.833s
13 S CAVALIERI ITA DUC +1m08.793s
14 R KIYONARI JPN HON +1m13.510s
15 M REITERBERGER GER BMW +1m36.134s
DNF T RAZGATLIOGLU (TUR, KAW), L HASLAM (GBR,
KAW), M RINALDI (ITA, DUC), A LOWES (GBR, YAM), M
2 3 PIRRO (ITA, DUC), D SCHMITTER (SUI, YAM)
POLE POSITION
J REA 1m34.596s
FASTEST LAP
J REA 1m46.130s

Round 7
Finishing positions
Superpole Race
POS RIDER NAT BIKE TIME
1 A BAUTISTA SPA DUC 16m01.109s
2 A LOWES GBR YAM +7.261s
3 L HASLAM GBR KAW +9.154s
4 T RAZGATLIOGLU TUR KAW +9.405s
4 5 5 J REA GBR KAW +12.835s
6 M MELANDRI ITA YAM +13.056s
7 M RINALDI ITA DUC +13.668s
8 M PIRRO ITA DUC +15.104s
9 L MERCADO ARG KAW +17.310s
FASTEST LAP
A BAUTISTA 1m35.169s

Round 7
Finishing positions
Race 2
POS RIDER NAT BIKE TIME
1 J REA GBR KAW 34m06.731s
2 T RAZGATLIOGLU TUR KAW +0.381s
3 L HASLAM GBR KAW +5.880
4 A LOWES GBR YAM +6.203

AUSSIE, AUSSIE, AUSSIE!

5 M RINALDI ITA DUC +7.147s
6 T SYKES GBR BMW +7.682s
7 C DAVIES GBR DUC +10.916s
8 M PIRRO ITA DUC +14.268
9 L ZANETTI ITA DUC +20.043s
Tom Edwards Tom Bramich Jack Hyde 10 J TORRES SPA KAW +22.127s
WorldSSP300 WorldSSP300 WorldSSP300 12 M REITERBERGER GER BMW +27.107s
Kawasaki ParkinGo Team Carl Cox – RT Motorsports by SKM Kawasaki 2R Racing Team Kawasaki 13 S CAVALIERI ITA DUC +36.333s
Grid 35th, Race 24th, 19th overall Grid 8th, Race DNF, No score yet Grid DNQ, Race DNS, No score yet 14 A BAUTISTA SPA DUC +37.033s
15 S CORTESE GER YAM +47.697s
“I struggled in qualifying so I “After a great qualifying in eighth “On only my second lap in FP1 I 16 M MELANDRI ITA YAM +50.834s
was glad to find enough pace to place, I made a good start, was heading into turn 13 when, 17 R KIYONARI JPN HON +1m05.352s
DNF L MERCADO (ARG, KAW), Y TAKAHASHI (JPN, HON),
make the race. It was a difficult moving up to fifth, but I crashed going for the front brake, it went
A DELBIANCO (ITA, HON).
weekend for me in Misano, so in the first lap. I still don’t know straight into the bar. The rear FASTEST LAP
it’s time to keep training hard why we crashed, nothing was brake wasn’t enough to stop me T RAZGATLIOGLU 1m36.814s
and pushing to prepare myself different, but this is racing. I feel from collecting the rider in front, RIDER STANDINGS AFTER 7 OF 13 ROUNDS

for the CIV round at Imola like we’re constantly progressing sending us both flying into the 1 A BAUTISTA 330, 2 J REA 314, 3 M VAN DER
MARK 188, 4 A LOWES 164, 5 L HASLAM 153, 6 T
and the WorldSBK round at and improving, so let’s see what gravel. Unfortunately my left RAZGATLIOGLU 121, 7 M MELANDRI 117, 8 C DAVIES
Donington Park.” happens at Donington Park.” forearm was fractured.” 114, 9 T SYKES 110, 10 S CORTESE 93.

amcn.com.au 107
race
report
Round 7 Misano World Circuit, Italy, 21-23 June 2019 WorldSBK Championship
either in Misano. He started
well, and set Superpole by a
margin of 0.355sec to his next
nearest rival, and Bautista
was only fifth.
He won the opening race
on Saturday afternoon
after another wet weather
performance that proved
masterly, although the
unfortunate Alex Lowes
(Pata Yamaha) may have won
himself, had he not suddenly
found a new patch of wet road
while leading.
The weather at Misano
covered most of the seasons,
with a hot Friday, initially
a dry then stormy and wet
Saturday afternoon, with
lighting storms and seemingly
ceaseless rain, making for
three goes at the first race.
One race was delayed, one
started then stopped, and one
became an 18-lapper, down
from the planned 21.
108 amcn.com.au
Bautista was down in sixth
in that weird water-park race
before rallying and finding
other people having issues in
front of him to go third.
He won the sprint when
Rea had his own asphalt
interaction (albeit before
recovering to finish fifth) but
on Sunday Rea worked hard
and effectively to score the
win, under pressure from his
‘own side’.
Toprak Razgatlioglu
(Turkish Puccetti Racing) has
nearly a factory bike inside a
satellite team, but he rode like
he had been on a factory bike
for years as he led for the vast
majority of the laps in Race
Two – in reality the third and
last race of the weekends now.
Rea and Razgatlioglu had a
thrilling contest that was only
just won, with a margin of
victory for Rea of 0.381sec.
That win made all the
difference to Rea, who
maximised on Bautista’s
nearly no-score. The Spanish
rider had remounted in the
final race and took two points
for 14th, but it was Rea’s day –
eventually – on Sunday.
“It is unfortunate for him,”
said Rea of Bautista’s latest
fall. “But he is not invincible,
it looks. Of course it is always
costly when you make the
mistake, and I picked up the
pieces. I never ‘won’ the race; it
was not a dominant race win.
The strongest guy was in the
gravel, like Jerez Race Two.”
Rea did win the Sunday
afternoon race, making it an
extended all time best score
of 75 career wins, and he also
clicked over onto 150 podium
finishes in WorldSBK. All this
from 262 starts.
On a day of many unusual
happenings Leon Haslam
(KRT) recovered from
something of a recent slump
in form and bad luck –
including a massive highside,
a dislocated thumb and
no-score on Saturday – to take
two third places on Sunday.
Three Kawasakis on a
podium all together is hardly
commonplace but in 1993
in Race Two at Sugo, four
Kawasaki riders filled the
top-four placings. With
Razgatlioglu scoring a
podium in each round since
Imola, and Haslam making
up ground in set-up, maybe
all-Kawasaki podiums is
something that we should
start getting more used to.
Other top three men in
Misano included Lowes, who
was second in the sprint race,
and so nearly in the second
full distance race, finishing
just 0.3sec from Haslam.
As notable as the form of
The Usual Winners – maybe
Main. The Men in Green were fast, with Rea winning again 1. Toprak Razgatlioglu continues to scare the
hell out of the factory squads on the Independent Kawa 2. Alex Lowes looks set to take third over in the
points, if he has a good UK round 3. Leon Haslam had a solid weekend and could be a threat at Donington
Talking tech
Science and progress
A STRANGE HAPPENING came
along for the WorldSSP 600
riders at Misano. A Yamaha
was not on top after Superpole,
despite Yamaha being the great
object of Supersport desire – the
most race-ready and modern
Supersport bike compared to the
Kawasakis, MVs and Hondas.
The YZF-R6 is one of the few
bikes in the field that is still sold
and homologated for Europe,
at least in any numbers. And all
the changes from the previous
model were designed for racing,
from the improved brake and
front end, to electronics and
other track-ready tech.
The MV Agusta, a 675cc triple,
is capable of podiums but it
is not being developed by the
factory. The Honda is almost as
it was, although the levelled-out
electronics has made a smaller
gap to the Yamaha, although not
by much.
Kawasaki had a concession
part cleared for use at Misano,
on its oldest-tech-of-all ZX-6R. It
THE NEW BMW MOTORRAD TEAM GOT ITS
FIRST TASTE OF PROSECCO ON THE PODIUM
even moreso – was the fact
that the new BMW Motorrad
team got its first taste of
prosecco on the podium.
Tom Sykes has been praising
his S 1000 RR’s chassis and
electronics and in the wet, on
a bike that reportedly received
a new exhaust and some
extra internal go-fast parts,
he looked every millimetre
a podium threat. Third in
Race One became a stunning
second after Lowes fell, a
vindication that a fourth
factory force is now operating
at a high level in WorldSBK.
He had a technical problem
in the sprint, but a sixth in
Race Two did not dim the
shining moment poking
through the rain clouds.
“I was getting really good
feedback from the bike and
the guys have done a great
job,” said Sykes. “We worked
very productively with the
was a crankcase vacuum pump,
which gains maybe 1.5 horses
at best as it gives the engine a
‘freer’ spin.
Basically, a vacuum pump
reduces the air pressure
inside the crankcase, below
the up-and-down motion of
the pistons and around the
whirring crankshaft. All these
balance of the bike in dry
conditions and it looks like it
has transferred to the wet.”
Off the podiums there were
some season bests. Michael
Ruben Rinaldi was top Ducati
rider in Race Two, in fifth
place and just seconds from
Rea. The Barni Racing man
has consistently stated that
Ducati’s radical V4 R is far
more of a departure for him
(and Chaz Davies) than it is
for Bautista, whose 2018 seat
was a GP18 MotoGP bike.
Elsewhere at Yamaha,
Sandro Cortese (GRT) was
unlucky to fall in the final race
of the weekend, restarting for
15th and one point. He had
been second in Superpole, as
his form continues to grow
after injury.
It was another tough
weekend for Davies. Fifth,
17th (after a crash and tech
issue) and then seventh. Imola
movements create pumping
forces against the air inside
the closed system. So if you
evacuate the otherwise sealed
crankcase it means that the
engine has less friction and
pressurisation losses to fight
against, by reducing drag and
ever-shifting areas of high and
low pressure.
R2 was his last podium and
he’s had only three all season.
Ducati test rider Michele
Pirro (Barni Racing) was a
Wildcard at Misano, riding on
the same Showa suspension
his team uses in the local
series. Despite expectations
he fell in the wet Race One and
was eighth, twice, on Sunday.
Michael van der Mark didn’t
even make it to the weekend.
The recent race winner was
spat off his Pata Yamaha on
Friday and is now recovering
from a broken radius. He’s
still in third place but his
188 points look vulnerable to
Lowes (164) and Haslam (153).
But the fight for the title
looks to be on. Bautista has
330 points to Rea’s 314, and
next up is Donington this
weekend. With other riders
closing the gap, neither man
can afford any mistakes in the
Battle of Britain.
briefs
Ana builds
Ana Carrasco (Kawasaki Provec)
outsmarted her five rivals for
the SSP300 win, helped by a
fight between two of them late
on. She won her first race in
her championship defence,
by a relatively wide 0.822sec.
Kawasaki ParkinGo Team rider
and championship leader Manuel
Gonzalez was second and
Andy Verdoia (BCD Yamaha MS
Racing) was third. Gonzalez leads
Carrasco by 108 points to 65.
Let the old times roll
With a newly cleaned track
surface at Misano slowing overall
dry pace, and overnight rains
adding to the effect, Superpole
at Misano was slower than in
2008. Jonathan Rea pimped his
personal Superpole winning total
to 19 over his career by going
0.355sec faster than surprise
package Sandro Cortese
(GRT Yamaha).
Making it count
The BMW WorldSBK team could
not have chosen a better location
to record their first podium with
the new S 1000 RR and Tom
Sykes, as BMW Motorrad CEO Dr
Markus Schramm was in town for
one of only two planned WorldSBK
visits in 2019.
Suzuka duties
After Misano there was a final
Suzuka 8 Hours test for the top
riders who will compete for
the biggest prize in Endurance
racing, but Jonathan Rea did not
join KRT. He took time to recharge
his batteries with his family on
holiday in Italy. Alex Lowes was
already on the plane to Japan on
Sunday night.
amcn.com.au 109
race Main. Krummenacher fought off Caricasulo

report
– just – for the win 1. Mahias, R, was third but
nearly pinched the win 2. The lack of straights
at Misano made the Kawasaki a contender

Round 7 Misano World Circuit, Italy, 21-23 June 2019 WorldSSP Championship

Sun’s out, elbows out

Like against like, teammate against teammate Round 7
Finishing positions
competition for the most WSS / 19 laps
RANDY KRUMMENACHER on the brakes and wait, I POS RIDER NAT BIKE TIME
and Federico Caricasulo are entertaining race. couldn’t go right or left, and it 1 R KRUMMENACHER SUI YAM 31m57.912s
this year’s consistent class “I came here to Misano wasn’t easy.” 2 F CARICASULO ITA YAM +0.084s
3 L MAHIAS FRA KAW +0.161s
acts. After the usual thrilling to win and we did that, Lucas Mahias has had much 4 J CLUZEL FRA YAM +2.373s
and hotly contested WorldSSP after an incredible battle disappointment this year, 5 H OKUBO JPN KAW +6.642s
6 L GABELLINI ITA YAM +12.098s
race up front, with some with Federico,” said but after some tiny tech and 7 H SOOMER EST HON +14.898s
old protagonists re-joining Krummenacher. set-up changes to his bike, he 8 K MANFREDI ITA YAM +19.885s
the fun, the final fight was “We really pushed each came to Misano with fewer 9 T GRADINGER AUT YAM +19.993s
10 M ROCCOLI ITA YAM +20.064s
between the Bardahl Evans other to the maximum, big straights on which to lose 11 F FULIGNI ITA MVA +23.246s
Racing teammates. especially on the last lap, so out to the fastest Yamahas. 12 L OTTOVIANI ITA YAM +23.426s
13 L CRESSON BEL YAM +25.402s
And fight they did. thanks to him for an enjoyable After taking pole the 2017 14 J DANILO FRA HON +26.429s
It was elbows out from race. It wasn’t an easy win, champion scored his first 15 M CASADEI ITA YAM +28.026s
Krummenacher to try and that’s for sure, but I’m happy 16 P SEBASTYEN HUN HON +28.549s
Kawasaki podium in third. 17 F FULIGNI ITA YAM +31.291s
stop Caricasulo passing, along with the result today.”
Jules Cluzel (GMT94 18 R HARTOG NED KAW +31.420s
with contact more than once Also never off the podiums 19 K SMITH GBR KAW +32.355s
Yamaha) was fourth, while the 20 G VAN STAALEN NED KAW +45.322s
in the final few corners. It this year, Caricasulo was
second official Kawasaki rider, 21 C STANGE GER HON +51.597s
was so potentially destructive a little taken aback by 22 N CALERO SPA KAW +55.993s
that third-placed rider Lucas Krummenacher’s defensive Hikari Okubo, recovered from 23 R ROLFO ITA KAW +56.207s

Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti arts, and possibly surprised a horrible Saturday to another 24 P HOBELSBERGER GER YAM +1m00.194s
25 M CANDUCCI ITA YAM +1m14.398s
Racing) got to within 0.161sec the race stewards were not top five finish. Local wildcard 26 A GYORFI HUN YAM +1m14.499s
of the win himself. involved – especially after rider Lorenzo Gabellini 27 I VIÑALES SPA YAM +1m17.907s

Krummenacher, now a four- some recent penalties for added colour on his GOMMA DNF A BADOVINI (ITA, KAW), G SCONZA (ITA, HON), R DE ROSA
(ITA, MVA), J VAN SIKKELERUS (NED, HON), C PEROLARI (FRA,
time race winner and three- Superbike riders. Racing Yamaha in sixth ahead YAM), M HERRERA (SPA, YAM, DQ)
time second place finisher in “I knew it was going to be a of Hannes Soomer (MPM POLE POSITION

WILSport Racedays Honda). L MAHIAS 1m38.909s

2019, was the victor, 0.084sec
up on the local man.
Wild and breathless, it was
box-office baiting action on
a day when there was other
battle, but I wasn’t expecting
him to be so aggressive in the
final two corners,” he said.
“The line was very narrow,
so I had to sit behind him
In the points it is 160
for Krummenacher, 138
Caricasulo, 107 Cluzel, 70
Okubo and 66 Mahias.
FASTEST LAP AND NEW LAP RECORD
F CARICASULO, 1m39.930s
RIDER STANDINGS AFTER 7 OF 12 ROUNDS
1 R KRUMMENACHER 160 2 F CARICASULO 138 3 J CLUZEL
107 4 H OKUBO 70 5 MAHIAS 66 7 R DE ROSA 58 8 I VIÑALES
45 9 C PEROLARI 41 10 H SEBASTYN 33.

110 amcn.com.au
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race report
YOUR FORTNIGHTLY FIX
Round 8 Assen TT Circuit, Netherlands 28-30 June 2019 MotoGP World Championship

Still got the blues

While Maverick returned to the winners’ circle, Marquez put
the title in a headlock, and Lorenzo and Rossi crashed out
REPORT MICHAEL SCOTT PHOTOGRAPHY GOLD&GOOSE

YAMAHA'S LONG WAIT is
over. After eight barren races
and a sea of doubts, Maverick
Viñales washed away the pain
with a convincing victory at
classic Assen.
It came for the Spaniard
one race after he’d expected it,
after he was knocked flying by
Jorge Lorenzo at Montmelo a
fortnight before. But it proved
what he had thought possible
there, that “somehow we’ve
found a good set-up for races.”
It helped that the Yamahas
thrive on the high-speed
changes of direction that still
characterise the only circuit
to have hosted a GP every year
since 1949, in spite of the 2006
changes cutting its length and
introducing a very slow first
to-and-fro loop.
The factory Monster Energy
team rider was not the only
YZR-M1 rider to shine. His
win only just eclipsed the
remarkable weekend of super-
rookie Fabio Quartararo
(Petronas Sprinta Yamaha),
who had qualified on pole for a
second successive race, led for
12 laps (more than any other
rider) and finished third, for a
second podium in a row.
And with second satellite-
team rider Franco Morbidelli
placed fifth after a strong
closing run to split the
factory Ducatis, it was some
compensation for a disastrous
weekend for the marque’s
biggest star turn. Valentino
Rossi had qualified 14th and
had made his way to 11th after
four laps when he clattered
into second LCR Honda rider
Takaaki Nakagami on the
way into the fast Stekkenwal
corner. Both were out and
the Japanese was worryingly
prone for a while, though he
escaped serious injury.
Rossi ran to check the fallen
rider, and later apologised. “I
was maybe off line, and I lost
the front,” he said.
The race was disastrous also
for fancied runner Alex Rins,
second last year, who took an
early lead from the front row,
only to tumble off the Ecstar
Suzuki on the third of 26 laps.
But maybe the biggest
winner of the weekend
was Marc Marquez (Repsol
Honda), who had missed the
front row of the grid for the
first time all season, but rode
a calculating race to take
second, comfortably ahead of
his main championship rivals.
Marquez said later “I knew
I couldn’t win today because
we always struggle here with
the direction changes, and
because the Yamahas were
very, very fast.” But he chose
a soft rear tyre, the only front-
runner to do so, to make sure
he could be well-placed in the
early laps, and in a position to
hang on to the finish.
After Viñales took the
lead on lap 16, it looked like
Marquez was trying to fight
back, but he wasn’t; “I was just
using his slipstream to make
a gap, so I didn’t have to fight
with Quartararo at the end.”
He probably wouldn’t have
had to anyway. The 20-year-

112 amcn.com.au
 Main. Whether he was on the limit or not, Marquez had no answer to Viñales and chased him home 1. Lap 1
and Suzuki led Suzuki, before it all went south for Alex Rins 2. Frankie Morbidelli stormed home to a career-
best fifth place 3. Rossi and Nakagami fought for 11th until it ended in tears 4. Fabio dominated the first half Track Attack
of the race despite headshakes on his Yamaha 5. Jack Miller had a ‘boring’ race after early tyre troubles
MotoGP
Assen TT Circuit, Netherlands

11

8 9 10 12

7 13
6

14
15

3 16
4
17

2 5

2
Circuit length
4.542km
Race distance
MotoGP 118.092km
Moto2 109.008km
Moto3 99.924km

2018 winners
MotoGP Marc Marquez
→ 41m13.863s
Moto2 Francesco Bagnaia
39m30.436s
Moto3 Jorge Martin
38m56.485s
1 3 Did you know?
While Remy Gardner’s quest
to be the next Australian racer
4 to join the list of winners in the
Intermediate GP class goes on,
he put himself in pretty good
company at Assen anyway. Apart
from becoming the first Aussie
to start a Moto2 race from pole
position, he is the fourth to take
a pole in the intermediate class.
John Dodds was the first to take
a 250cc pole for Yamaha in 1971,
followed seven years later by
Kawasaki’s Gregg Hansford and
Casey Stoner, who took his first
pole on an Aprilia in 2005.

Round 8
Finishing positions
MOTOGP
26 LAPS

POS RIDER NAT BIKE TIME

1 M VIÑALES SPA YAM 40m55.415s
2 M MARQUEZ SPA HON +4.854s
3 F QUARTARARO FRA YAM +9.738s
4 A DOVIZIOSO ITA DUC +14.147s
5 G MORBIDELLI ITA YAM +14.467s
6 D PETRUCCI ITA DUC +14.794s
7 C CRUTCHOW GBR HON +18.361s
Aussie, Aussie, er, Aussie! 5 8 J MIR SPA SUZ +24.268s
9 J MILLER AUS DUC +26.496s
Jack Miller 10 A IANNONE ITA HON +26.997s
Remy Gardner
MotoGP
11 P ESPARGARO SPA KTM +28.732s
Moto2 12 A ESPARGARO SPA APR +34.095s
9th DNF (crash) 13 M OLIVERIA POR KTM +34.181s
14 F BAGNAIA ITA DUC +34.249s
“Maybe the most boring “Problem after problem. I 15 H SYAHRIN MAL KTM +34.494s
16 T RABAT SPA DUC +48.357s
race of my life. On the couldn’t get neutral on the
17 K ABRAHAM CZE DUC +1 LAP
third or fourth lap I started line, then the clutch had
DNF J ZARCO (FRA, KTM), V ROSSI (ITA, YAM), T
having problems with a strange feeling… and I NAKAGAMI (JPN, HON), A RINS (SPA, SUZ).
the right of the tyre. It kept getting neutrals or POLE POSITION

was coming round every jumping out of gear in the F QUARTARARO 1m32.017s

time I opened the gas.
And I was getting pushed
off line by the wind. But I
never lost a position in the
race, so I’ll take it as just
one of those days.”
slow corners. I was looking FASTEST LAP
M MARQUEZ 1m33.712s
at the top three when I got a
RIDER STANDINGS AFTER 8 OF 19 ROUNDS
neutral and ran into the dirt, 1 MARQUEZ 160, 2 DOVIZIOSO 116, 3 PETRUCCI 108,
lost 10 places. Pushing like a 4 RINS 101, 5 ROSSI 72, 6 QUARTARARO 67,
maniac to get back I lost it at 7 VIÑALES 65, 8 MILLER 60, 9 P ESPARGAGO 52,
10 CRUTCHLOW 51, 11 NAKAGAMI 48, 12 MORBIDELLI
the last corner.”
45, 13 A ESPARGAGO 31, 14 MIR 30, 15 LORENZO 19.

amcn.com.au 113
race
report
Round 8 Assen TT Circuit, Netherlands 28-30 June 2019 MotoGP World Championship

old Frenchman had been
woken by pain on the night
before from his right arm,
where less than three weeks
before he’d undergone surgery
for arm-pump problems.
“I wasn’t sure I could
finish the race,” he said. But
painkiller pills had helped,
even though “when Viñales
came past me I was finished.”
In parc ferme, his arm
was visibly swollen, as he
applied an ice-pack, and
expressed hope it would be
less problematic in Germany
in a week’s time, with a mainly
left-hand circuit.
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati)
was clearly off the pace, and
dropped to fifth, embroiled
with second Suzuki rider
Joan Mir while factory Ducati
teamamate Danilo Petrucci
went ahead. But by the finish
he’d regained fourth as Mir ran
into major grip problems and
Petrucci succumbed to the
rapidly closing Morbidelli.
Rins had leapt off the line,
with Mir and Quartararo
chasing him over the first
couple of laps, while Viñales
and Marquez changed places
close behind, the factory
Ducatis in pursuit.
Hopes of an ultra-close
paint-swapping battle like
last year’s came to naught,
however. A distraught Rins
was out on lap three, losing the
front into Der Bult left-hander
at the furthest point of the
circuit. Mir led briefly, but by
the end of that lap he’d been
shuffled back to fourth by the
final chicane, with Quartararo
now in front, and Marquez and
Viñales swapping to and fro in
his wake. Marquez set fastest
lap, a tenth short of the record,
on lap four.
At that point, both were
happy to let the youngster set
the pace, while Viñales made
several errors under braking
for the tight first corner and
running wide, though he was
always able to make it up again
quite easily.
Though conditions had
cooled slightly from the
morning, there was a stiff
wind, and Quartararo was
suffering badly, several times
having to shut the throttle on
the back straight to regain
control of severe tank-slapping
wobbles. On lap 11 Marquez
took over the lead, but
Quartararo got back in front
for another four laps.
On lap 16 Viñales made his
move after another big wobble,
and Marquez promptly
followed him past, sticking
within half a second as the gap
to Quartararo grew rapidly.
With three laps to go, very
aware “that Maverick was 100
points from me, Quartararo
89 points, and Dovizioso, Rins
and Petrucci were behind
me”, Marquez backed off, and
Viñales claimed the win by
almost five seconds.
“As I crossed the line, I felt
a lot of pressure leave me,” he
said. “I have had some dark
times, but here from Friday
I felt strong, and we worked
hard for the last laps.”
The battle for fourth had
livened up after half distance,
after Petrucci had passed Mir
and closed on his teammate
Dovizioso, who was troubled
all weekend with “the same
problem... our bike is difficult
to turn”. He’d qualified a lowly
11th but made a flying start.
Now Petrucci dogged his
tracks for a few laps while Mir
closed again; then Petrucci

“I HAVE HAD
SOME DARK
TIMES BUT
HERE FROM
FRIDAY I FELT
STRONG” –
VIÑALES

SAVE OF THE WEEKEND LOSER OF THE WEEKEND

So many … But how about Moto3 Honda Jorge Lorenzo’s confidence is without
rider Gabriel Rodrigo on Saturday, who lost doubt now at an all-time low, after yet
it on the way into the final chicane. Out of another heavy crash as he battles to get
the seat, he luckily landed back on the bike, to grips with the Honda RC213V. It was less
wrenched it over the left, opened the gas… and than a fortnight since the last one, and it
lost it again. Only for a second miracle. Two saves really hurt. It’ll take a brave man ever to trust
for the price of one. the front again.

114 amcn.com.au
Main. Once Maverick grabbed the lead, Marquez took over the role of Wingman 1. The works Ducatis
struggled to hold out Morbidelli and Mir 2. It’s worth remembering that Quartararo scheduled his arm pump
surgery so he would be fit-ish for Assen 3. Viñales took his first win since PI, and Fabio his second podium in a
row 4. Okay, his title hopes are a smoking ruin, but Viñales looks like being a threat after the summer break

briefs

1 to Spain for treatment, where a
took over on lap 16. It lasted
only three laps before he had a
big moment, letting Dovi past
again, and Mir ahead of both
of them for three laps.
Dovi was not to be denied,
though, and regained control
with five laps to go.
At the same time, Crutchlow
had been closing… only to run
almost off the track at the first
corner, which let Morbidelli
through. The Yamaha rider
passed Petrucci on the final
lap and was right on Dovi’s
back wheel, the three over the
line in just over half a second.
Crutchlow was three
seconds adrift; Mir was
2 4
struggling, and only two
seconds ahead of Jack Miller
– but the Australian Pramac
Ducati rider had his own
problems with rear grip
problem in the right-handers,
and was barely half-a-second
clear of a closing Andrea
Iannone’s Aprilia over the line.
Iannone had passed Pol
Espargaro’s Red Bull KTM
on lap 22, leaving him two
seconds adrift. Five seconds
away, brother Aleix Espargaro
(Aprilia) got the better of
a four-bike tussle, leading
Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull
KTM) by less than a tenth,
with Pecco Bagnaia (Pramac
Ducati) and Hafizh Syahrin
(Red Bull KTM) right there,
the quartet past the flag inside
0.4sec to wrap the final points.
Johann Zarco (Red Bull
KTM) had dropped out of this
fight and retired to the pits
after 16 laps with, as the team
somewhat unusually reported,
“no mechanical issues”.
With the mid-point of
the season approaching,
Marquez goes to the German
GP next weekend, where he is
undefeated, with a 44-point
lead, 160 points to Dovi’s 116.
Petrucci has 108, then Rins
101, Rossi 72, and the rising
Quartararo 67.
Horror Jorge
Jorge Lorenzo’s difficult start
to his fi rst year on the factory
Repsol Honda got a good deal
worse at Assen, after a high-
speed crash in the fi rst practice
session. He walked away, but
only to be put into an ambulance
and eventually to hospital,
where a fracture in his thoracic
T6 vertebra was diagnosed.
Soon afterwards he returned
microscopic “trabecular” fracture
was found in T8. Lorenzo escaped
damage to the spinal cord and
the nervous system, but will have
to spend “three or four weeks”
wearing a body brace. As well as
sitting out the Dutch TT he will
also miss this weekend’s German
GP. “We hope he will be back after
the summer break at Brno,” said
HRC team boss Alberto Puig.
Crack-up Jack
Jack Miller raised a laugh at the
typically grisly pre-race press
conference – where riders like to
promise to try their hardest and
to get the best possible result.
A Dorna promotion had Dutch
schoolchildren asking the riders
sundry questions. One of the
more sensible was what rules the
riders would like to change. Miller
was quick to respond. “I’d like to
cut one of Marc’s legs off.”

Remy’s pole
Remy Gardner’s fi rst pole position
was promptly hailed by his
absent father Wayne. “He was on
the phone when I got back to my
pit, so that was great,” the jubilant
21-year-old said. Remy had been
fastest in free practice, but found
the going tougher in the heat of
3 the afternoon qualifying session.
“This morning was awesome –
half a second ahead. I knew then
I could be on the front row. I was
sort of expecting pole, but I didn’t
want to say I’d get it.” The 1987
world champ has shepherded
Remy to his present position, but
does not attend every race.

amcn.com.au 115
race
report
Main. Remy Gardner’s troubled race ended in the kitty litter at the chicane
1. Augusto Fernandez is starting to look like a threat in Moto2 2. Brad Binder,
L, and Luca Marini bounced back to form to join Fernandez on the podium

Round 8 Assen TT Circuit, Netherlands 28-30 June 2019 Moto2 World Championship

Sunday first of August Round 8

Finishing positions

Fernandez wins, KTM comes good as Marquez crashes out of points lead MOTO2
24 LAPS
HIGH DRAMA IN the best Moto2 race behind fast-starter Binder, who was lucky to avoid crashing after
POS RIDER NAT BIKE TIME
in the new Triumph-powered era overtaken several times, but who hitting Vierge’s sliding bike, and 1 A FERNANDEZ SPA KAL 39m24.779s
yielded a first win for Flexbox HP40 always struck back immediately. taking the benefit of the lead in the 2 B BINDER RSA KTM +0.612s
Kalex rider Augusto Fernandez, but At first it was Vierge in pursuit, championship. Tetsuta Nagashima 3 L MARINI ITA KAL +3.686s
bitter gall for Spanish compatriot then Lowes took over briefly. But (ONEXOX Kalex) was a career-best 4 T LUTHI SWI KAL +4.028s
5 T NAGASHIMA JPN KAL +5.391s
Alex Marquez (EG-VDS Kalex), the Briton had dropped back to fifth, closing at the end. 6 A LOCATELLI ITA KAL +13.127s
who was knocked out of what was sixth in the gang when he slid off Andrea Locatelli (Italtrans 7 S MANZI ITA MVA +13.183
looking like a fourth win in a row. on lap 11. At half distance, the first Kalex) passed Stefano Manzi (MV 8 M SCHROTTER GER KAL +13.567s
The chances of first-time pole nine were within 1.5sec. Agusta) over the line by 0.06sec, 9 D AEGERTER SWI MVA +19.792s
10 M BEZZECCHI ITA KTM +21.291s
qualifier Remy Gardner (ONEXOX Marquez looked set for victory with Marcel Schrotter (Dynavolt 11 DiGIANNANTONIO ITA SPE +23.591s
Kalex) were spoiled with gear- after playing his tactics right. He Kalex) half-a-second adrift… he 12 JAKE DIXON GBR KTM +26.585s
shifting problems that put him out gained a place when KTM’s Jorge had been ahead of them before 13 L TULOVIC GER KTM +30.817s
of the leading group and off the Martin crashed out, and by lap 17 serving a long-lap penalty. 14 J ROBERTS USA KTM +34.122s
15 I LECUONA SPA KTM +34.406s
track in the early stages, then into he was leaning on Binder, moving Dominique Aegerter (MV Agusta) 16 S ODENDAAL RSA NTS +40.034s
a last-corner crash as he tried to past on lap 19. This put him clear then Marco Bezzecchi (Red Bull 17 J FOLGER GER KAL +51.405s
make up time. of an incident that eliminated his KTM) completed the top 10; Di 18 X CARDELUS AND KTM +59.200s
By the finish, more crashes had teammate Vierge, who fell after Giannantonio recovered to 11th. It DNF A MARQUEZ (SPA, KAL), L BALDASSARRI (ITA, KAL),
X VIERGE (SPA, KAL), E BASTIANINI (ITA, KAL), J MARTIN
depleted the once super-close front contact in the slowest corner with was the first top-10 for MV Agustas
(SPA, KTM), S LOWES (GBR, KAL), J NAVARRO (SPA, SPE),
group, and gave a season-best Fernandez, and which also brought since the glory days of Agostini and R GARDNER (AUS, KAL), N BULEGA (ITA, KAL), S CORSI
second for long-time leader Brad down Bastianini. Phil Read almost 50 years ago, with (ITA, KAL), B BENDSNEYDER (NED, NTS).
Binder, whose Red Bull KTM has But his nemesis was coming, as two of them there. POLE POSITION

until this race been struggling; and
a most unexpected third for Luca
Marini (SKY VR46 Kalex).
Binder had qualified second,
with Xavi Vierge (EG-VDS Kalex)
alongside, and Marquez heading
row two from Sam Lowes
(Federal Oils Kalex) and Fabio Di
Giannantonio’s Speed Up.
Di Giannantonio would run wide
early on, but the rest would play a
lively role in the lead pack, piling up
Baldassarri got ahead of Fernandez
and then also Binder, who dropped
to fourth, and started pushing at
Marquez. He attacked into the
slow turn five, running inside and
directly losing the front, skittling
Marquez, who was visibly irate.
This handed a first win to
Fernandez and put Binder back on a
well-deserved podium, after heroic
resistance almost all race long.
Luthi was still close in fourth,
With Corsi, Bendsneyder and R GARDNER 1m36.572s
FASTEST LAP (NEW RECORD)
title hopeful Jorge Navarro (Speed
A FERNANDEZ 1m37.323s (2015 T RABAT 1m37.449s)
Up) also crashing out, and Nicolo
STANDINGS AFTER 8 OF 19 ROUNDS
Bulega retiring with gear-shifting 1 LUTHI 117, 2 MARQUEZ 111, 3 FERNANDEZ 92,
problems, there were only 18 4 NAVARRO 89, 5 BALDASSARRI 88, 6 MARINI 84,
finishers, and first points for Jake 7 SCHROTTER 81, 8 BINDER 64, 9 BASTIANINI 56,
10 GARDNER 41, 11 VIERGE 39, 12 LOWES 33, 13
Dixon (Sama KTM) and Lukas
NAGASHIMA 30, 14 LECUONA 26, 15 LOCATELLI 20.
Tulovic (Kiefer KTM) in 12th and
13th, with American Joe Roberts
and teammate Iker Lecuona
(American Racing KTM) taking the
last of them.

116 amcn.com.au
race
report
Main. Kaito Toba, Tatsuki Suzuki, Raul Fernandez and Celestino Vietti all
crashed out together 1. Tony Arbolino gave Honda a 60th anniversary
Moto3 win 2. Dalla Porta, L, and Kornfeil joined him on the podium

Round 8 Assen TT Circuit, Netherlands 28-30 June 2019 Moto3 World Championship

Tony ends the Streak Round 8

Finishing positions

Arbolino doubles up as Canet struggles in Moto3 MOTO3

22 LAPS

TONY ARBOLINO BECAME the first Then it was Toba again, but all the way to the last fast corners POS RIDER NAT BIKE TIME
repeat winner in 13 Moto3 races, then came the retirements. Jaume leading to the chicane, when the 1 T ARBOLINO ITA HON 38m03.113s
2 L DALLA PORTA ITA HON +0.045s
with a forceful final-lap overtake on Masia, up from 17th to the front youngster pushed past to lead over
3 J KORNFEIL CZE KTM +1.562s
frequent leader Lorenzo Dalla Porta group, coasted to a disconsolate the line by a minuscule 0.045sec. 4 G RODRIGO SPA HON +2.168s
in a blazing hot first race of the day. stop while Albert Arenas, up from Kornfeil managed to hold off a 5 J McPHEE GBR HON +2.201s
Both Honda riders benefited 18th, crashed out. brawling pack, with third to 14th 6 A OGURA JPN HON +2.265s
7 M RAMIREZ SPA HON +2.436s
from a controversial penalty to Next time round, a major over the line in just over 2sec.
8 N ANTONELLI ITA HON +2.580s
Jakub Kornfeil (KTM), who had led upset, as Toba, Tatsuki Suzuki, Gabriel Rodrigo squeezed into 9 D FOGGIA ITA KTM +2.758s
from the 18th to the 20th lap of the Raul Fernandez and Celestino fourth, ahead of John McPhee, Ai 10 A LOPEZ SPA HON +2.900s
22-lap race… but he had been given Vietti crashed out together in a Ogura, Marcos Ramirez, Antonelli, 11 R FENATI ITA HON +2.916s
12 A CANET SPA KTM +3.081s
a “long-lap” penalty for having slow-corner heap at the Strubben Dennis Foggia and Alonso Lopez.
13 K MASAKI JPN KTM +3.267s
cut the chicane. He had gained hairpin. Shortly afterwards, Binder Fenati was right behind, better 14 F SALAC CZE KTM +3.737s
no advantage by that move, and also crashed out, all alone. than a tenth ahead of Aron Canet, 15 S GARCIA SPA HON +12.705s
didn’t lose too much either after By now Dalla Porta had been in Kazuki Masaki and Filip Salac. 16 C ONCU TUR KTM +12.796s
17 A SASAKI JPN HON +12.800s
stretching his lead over three all- front from laps 13 to 17 but Kornfeil Another nine seconds away,
18 M YURCHENKO KAZ KTM +12.894s
out laps, then rejoining in third. had been looking increasingly Sergio Garcia took the last point 19 A MIGNO ITA KTM +33.346s
Pole starter Niccolo Antonelli strong, and took over next time ahead of Can Oncu, Ayumu Sasaki 20 S NEPA ITA KTM +36.069s
(Honda) led away, then Qatar round. Knowing of his penalty, he and Makar Yurchenko. 21 R ROSSI ITA HON +39.997s
22 R VAN DE LAGEMAA NED KTM +1m32.359s
winner Kaito Toba (Honda) took forged away impressively, then Canet’s 12th was enough to
23 T BOOTH-AMOS GBR KTM +1m48.509s
over for a four-lap spell, before took the long-lap detour on lap 21, retain a shrinking points lead on DNF D BINDER (RSA, KTM), C VIETTI (ITA, KTM), R
Romano Fenati (Honda) – through still able to rejoin in third. 107, from the threatening Dalla FERNANDEZ (ARG, KTM), K TOBA (JPN, HON), T SUZUKI
from 13th on the grid – took over for Up front, Dalla Porta was ahead Porta on 100; then Antonelli 83, (JPN, HON), A ARENAS (SPA, KTM), J MASIA (SPA, KTM).
three laps of his own. again, and he held off Arbolino Arbolino 76 and Vietti 68. POLE POSITION (NEW RECORD)
N ANTONELLI 1m41.232s (2018 J MARTIN 1m42.039s)
FASTEST LAP
D FOGGIA 1m42.627s
1 2
STANDINGS AFTER 8 OF 19 ROUNDS
1 CANET 107, 2 DALLA PORTA 100, 3 ANTONELLI 83,
4 ARBOLINO 76, 5 VIETTI 68, 6 MASIA 65, 7 RAMIREZ
49, 8 McPHEE 58, 9 TOBA 51, 10 RODRIGO 50, 11
KORNFEIL 50, 12 FOGGIA 43, 13 MIGNO 40, 14 OGURA
37, 15 BINDER 33.

amcn.com.au 117
race report
YOUR FORTNIGHTLY FIX
Motto
Mo
Moto
to
Up, then out for Remy
Gearbox gremlins rob Aussie Moto2 star of Assen result
A CAREER FIRST Moto2 pole
position turned to race-day
despair for Remy Gardner,
whose run of rotten luck
continued in the Dutch TT.
A bizarre series of gearbox
glitches – six neutrals in as
many laps – conspired to cost
Gardner a prime opportunity
for a breakthrough grand
prix victory.
Gardner was set to grab the
lead from Brad Binder (KTM)
on the exit of the De Strubben
hairpin on lap three when it
all went wrong.
Moto
Moto P
Rossi’s rocky road
THE REALITY CHECK was brutal
and embarrassing for Valentino
Rossi at the Dutch TT.
Not only was the seven-time
MotoGP world champion slow,
he was forced into making
an apology to Takaaki
Nakagami, whom he
sent barrel-rolling
out of the race on lap
fi ve. Rossi and his
Yamaha YZR-M1 joined
Nakagami’s Honda RC213V
in the gravel at Turn Eight,
which meant three consecutive
crash DNFs for Rossi.
“I tried to overtake Nakagami
in the entry to turn eight but I
was a little bit too much out of the
118 amcn.com.au
“It really felt like I could
have won that race until
things got out of control,”
Gardner told AMCN after the
race. “I was going to overtake
Brad when I was second and
I would have been past him
and gone, I had the pace.
“I did the same as I was
doing in practice, pushing
extra hard on the downshift to
make sure it went into first but
it just jumped into neutral.”
Gardner dropped to
seventh but as he surged
back to fifth and a chase
line because I lost the front and
unfortunately I took out Taka. I
said sorry for my mistake,” Rossi
said. “It was quite big crash. I’m
okay and also Taka is good,
which is important.”
Rossi has extended his
race losing streak to two
years. His last MotoGP
win was the Dutch TT
in 2017. Worse, Rossi
crashed out while in
11th place in a race won in
superb style by his Yamaha
teammate Maverick Viñales
with star rookie Fabio Quartararo
putting his Petronas Yamaha
YZR-M1 on the podium in third.
“I’m not sure if it’s the stability of
for the podium the gearbox
issue worsened and finally
triggered his demise.
“I was pushing like a
maniac to catch up and then
I threw in the dirt at the last
corner,” said Gardner of lap
10 exit.
“Every lap I found a
neutral, always at the hairpin
and then at turn three, when
I ran wide and dropped back
even further.”
Gardner was not alone in
suffering downshift issues,
with concerns raised by
the bike, but I was slow in the fast
(sections), the bike felt heavy and I
didn’t feel comfortable,” he said.
“Three crashes in a row is
big, big shame because they
were at three favourite tracks
(Mugello, Barcelona and Assen)
so it is a great pity and also for
[the} championship.
Gardner was on top after
practice and qualifying, left,
but crashed out of the race
after gearbox dramas
many Moto2 teams regarding
similar gear selection
problems at Assen with the
Triumph-supplied engine.
Pole position in qualifying
and a dominant advantage
of 0.5s over the field across
the three free practice
sessions gave Gardner good
reason to be confident for a
breakthrough Assen win.
“Pole is pretty cool but it’s
just qualifying, the race is
more important,” Gardner
said after his pole lap.
COLIN YOUNG
“The important thing is to find a
solution to be faster.”
After a strong start to the
season, with second places in
Argentina and Texas, Rossi is
out of championship contention
after eight races. He is fi fth in the
standings on 72 points, 88 points
behind Marc Marquez. CY
 Motto
Mo toGP
toGGP
Now Marc’s
title to lose
MOTOGP MASTERMIND MARC
Marquez has taken complete
control of the 2019 world
championship.
Marquez’s speed and
consistency on the Honda
RC213V is now matched by the
deployment of a race strategy
that is solely focussed on
winning a sixth premier class
title. Putting aside his once
trademark win-it-or-bin-it style,
Marquez has destabilised his
rivals with a willingness to settle
for second place in order to win
the championship.
Marquez executed his plan
perfectly in the Dutch TT
knowing that second place
to Yamaha rival Maverick
Viñales would have no impact
on his title aspirations. With
his main championship rival
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) in
an uninspiring fourth place,
Motto
Mo toGP
toGGP
Miller mad
at Michelin
JACK MILLER WAS a bored
and decidedly unhappy
spectator at the Dutch TT.
From his seat aboard the
Pramac Ducati GP19, Miller’s
frustration was triggered
by early signs of rear tyre
problems. He was mystified
by his tyre issues, saying he
had no option but to race the
hard compound rear on his
Ducati, which is normally
suited to softer compounds.
Miller was in sullen mood
as he lamented his surprise
with the issues, and buffeting
from strong winds, which saw
him finish a lonely ninth and
26sec behind race winner
Maverick Viñales (Yamaha).
“It was shit, the most boring
race of my life. After three or
Marquez extended his lea ad overr
the Italian to 54 points.
In the last 13 races he has
h
fi nished, Marquez has be een
either fi rst or second. Onlyy rare
DNFs blot his scoresheet,, as in
Texas this year and Phillip Island
and Valencia late last sea ason.
“This is the main targett. I
have been working very, very
hard with Honda to try to have
that consistency at all the e race
tracks,“ Marquez said.
“For me it has no mean ing to
have a weak track. Before e wee
had a feeling of being very strong
in some tracks and with weak
points at others.
“So now we have found a good
balance. I wasn’t ready to fi ght for
the win in Assen so second is like
a victory for the championship.”
This season Marquez has won
four out of eight races, with three
seconds and one DNF (Texas).
four laps I had warning
lights coming on saying I was
going to f*** the right hand
side of the tyre,” Miller said.
“It wasn’t much fun. And
with the wind I was being
pushed off line, especially at
turn 15 and trying to hold up
the bike in the marbles and
not lose the front.
“Normally we are the best
on the soft tyres, we can
make them last the longest
but some way or another we
can’t use them any more.
“I’m not happy at all. I’ve
made my thoughts clear to
the guys in blue (Michelin)
and other people just to see
what the f*** is actually going
on here because that’s two
races in a row we can’t use the
Th st
The strategy
t rategy increasingly
t egy is in
incre
creasi
asingl
ngly
y ma s siv
demoralising for Dovizioso, who
has not won a race since the
opening GP in Qatar.
Worse still, while Dovizioso
has, like Marquez, just the
single DNF, he has been fourth
three times. That’s a nightmare
for him and Ducati, which was
exposed at Assen when the best
GP19 finished in fourth place, a
soft at all, no way.
“The tyre life is there and
in theory you can make the
race distance (on the soft),
but your race pace is going to
be all over the place. So we
have to go with the stable and
sturdy hard option.”
Not helping Miller’s mood
was that he finished three
places behind factory Ducati
rider Danilo Petrucci on a
similar GP19 also fitted with
the hard rear.
“Finishing eight seconds
massivesive
e 10se
110sec
0sec
cbbehind
ehind Marquez
hi nd Mar
Marque
quezz
in second.
“When you have Marc in this
situation, it is bad because he is
always there,” Dovizioso said.
“In some race we can’t fi ght
for the podium so we lose more
points. It’s not terrible to be fourth
if you fi ght with the fi rst three.
The point is the gap; the gap is
the reality.” CY
Miller is looking for
answers after tyre
problems at Assen
behind Danilo is not good
enough and I’m not happy
with that but I didn’t feel
comfortable,” Miller said.
“I needed points today so
I did that, and I never lost a
position in the race.”
As previously indicated
Ducati is formalising an
unchanged line-up next
year, with Miller set to stay
at Pramac Ducati alongside
Italian youngster Pecco
Bagnaia. Both will be aboard
factory GP20s. CY
amcn.com.au 119
 sport
BSB
BS
SB
David Yoemans Photography
Danny Buchan claimed
his first BSB win at
Knockhill. He had
to fight off Scott
Redding, top, who took
out the second race
Redding takes BSB
lead in Scott-land
Ex-MotoGP star takes four-point lead in title chase
BE WISER DUCATI'S Scott
Redding claimed a win in
the fifth round of the British
Superbike Championship
to secure the lead in the
points chase, while FS-3
Kawasaki’s Danny Buchan
claimed his first-ever BSB
victory on the shortest track
on the calendar, Knockhill
Racing Circuit.
Buchan was met
by challenging rivals
McAms Yamaha’s Tarran
Mackenzie and pole getter
Xavi Forés (Honda Racing
Team) in the opening
stages of race one. However,
Mackenzie crashed out of
podium contention and
Forés made a mistake which
allowed Buchan to pull a
gap and manage the race
from the front.
Having fought his way
from his 16th on the grid,
120 amcn.com.au
Redding was able to use
his experience to claw his
way up to second place,
finishing 6.232sec behind
Buchan across the finish
line. Forés claimed the final
podium position in race
one, redeeming himself
from his earlier mistake.
Despite taking the lead in
race two, Buchan crashed
out of the battle for first,
leaving Redding to fend off
Mackenzie and a charging
Tommy Bridewell (Oxford
Racing). Redding stretched
out the gap on Mackenzie
by lap 25, when the race was
red-flagged due to errant
engine fluid on the track.
Josh Brookes (BeWiser
Ducati) finished race two
in fourth place after his
eighth-place in race one.
Misfortune struck both of
the race’s other two Aussies.
Jason O’Halloran (McAms and a short weekend for
Yamaha) retired from Queensland’s Sharni Pinfold
both Superbike races due in the Hel Performance
to technical issues, while British Motostar
Quattro Plant JG Speedfit Championship (Moto3).
Kawasaki’s Benjamin The Superstock 1000 class
Currie, making his return will next run in conjunction
from injury to the Superbike with the World Superbike
class, showed promising round at Donington Park
pace, before a poor tyre over 5-7 July, with all classes
choice in race one forced a returning to action at
retirement and then pain in Snetterton over 19-21 July.
his foot forced a retirement ELIZA BERRY
in race two.
Superstock 1000 RESULTS AFTER 5 OF 12 ROUNDS
SBK
Championship competitor
1 S REDDING DUC 176
Brayden Elliott (No Bull
2 T BRIDEWELL DUC 172
Racing) had a consistent 3 J BROOKES DUC 145
weekend, finishing with 4 T MACKENZIE YAM 128
a 13-16 scorecard, while 13 J O’HALLORAN YAM 57
Levi Day (IN Competition) 24 B CURRIE KAW 3
retired from race one but STK1000
made it into the points in 10 L DAY APR 44
the second with a 14th place. 26 B ELLIOTT SUZ 5
An FP2 crash resulted MOTOSTAR
in a broken collarbone 12 S PINFOLD KTM 26
 ASBK
Staring leads ASBK
into Morgan Park round
AFTER A LENGTHY winter break
the Motul Pirelli Australian
Superbike Championship heads
to Queensland’s Morgan Park over
5-7 July when BC Performance
Kawasaki rider Bryan Staring
will defend his slim lead in the
Superbike class. Staring has
kept himself busy over the
break deputising for the injured
Thitipong Warokorn in the
Kawasaki Thailand Racing Team,
racing in the Asian Road Racing
Championship. His biggest
challenge at Morgan Park will be
finding a setup solution for the
Dunlop tyres, which are said to
favour warmer conditions.
A congested group of
challengers is headed by factory
Yamaha rider Cru Halliday,
returning to the scene of his 2017
race victory in the Superbike class.
Mike Jones has been strong during
testing for Desmosport Ducati and,
after setting two lap records this
year already, could be the man to
It will be Game On
TBG Sport
at Morgan Park’s
ASBK round
MotoGP
beat on the Panigale FE.
Reigning champion Troy
Herfoss and the Penrite Honda
team know race wins are required
to retain the title and test times
would suggest he will be fighting
at the pointy end. Josh Waters sits
a further six points adrift. Team
Suzuki Ecstar teammate Wayne
Maxwell will also be a threat and
has shown race-winning speed at
every track this year.
Penrite Honda’s Mark Chiodo
will be in the mix following a
breakthrough round at The
Bend, but two riders who won’t
be in contention are the Maxima
BMW duo of Glenn Allerton
and Ted Collins. Both are still
carrying injuries sustained
at The Bend and the team
will be represented solely by
Novocastrian Aaron Morris.
It remains to be seen if Troy
Bayliss will make his return from
injury and debut the Ducati V4 R.
MATT O'CONNELL
Jorge’s mods
MOTOGP'S REPSOL Honda
rider Jorge Lorenzo had a raft
of modifi cations made to his
bike ahead of the Dutch TT in
Assen, as HRC strives to make
the bike built for teammate Marc
Marquez’s aggressive style suit
the much smoother, older rider.
As at Ducati for the past
two years, the fi ve-time world
champ had requested diff erent
And the others?
IN THE SUPERSPORT class Tom
Toparis will be the man to beat
after returning to Australia
from Europe, where he is
sitting second in the German
IDM series after three rounds.
Queenslander Broc Pearson
will be lucky to make the grid
after a massive crash during
testing that destroyed his bike,
however many others will be
snapping at the heels of Toparis
including Nic Liminton, Oli
Bayliss and Reid Battye.
Max Stauffer faces a fight
in the Supersport 300s after
Motorcycling Australia
announced the Kawasaki
Ninja 400 would receive an
extra 650rpm to hit a limit
of 10,300rpm. All the race
action from Sunday will be
live streamed and broadcast
live on SBS Television. Check
asbk.com.au for details.
ergonomics, among other things
– and the Assen bike had a
revised version of the ‘wings’ on
the dummy tank cover, for him
to hook his knees under during
braking and cornering.
Lorenzo’s (but not Marquez’s)
bike also had new aero
bodywork, with a larger and
slightly more complicated
version of the bow-tie top
Moto 3
Deniz
to debut
DENIZ ONCU, TWIN brother of
rookie Moto3 rider Can, is to make
his own grand prix debut later this
year, with planned wildcard rides
alongside his brother in the Red
Bull KTM team.
Can made an under-age debut,
reward for winning the Red Bull
Rookies Cup, at Valencia last
year, and won at his first attempt.
But Deniz, runner up last year,
will have to wait until he turns
16, during the summer break on
27 July.
Deniz, currently lagging in the
CEV Junior World Championship,
rides for the same team in that
series. MS
Deniz and Can
Oncu are actually
twins. Yes, really
winglets, while he also had one
bike with the carbon-wrapped
frame tested but not used by
Marquez earlier this year.
It appears we’ll have to wait
until Brno before we see if there’s
any benefi t, after the Spaniard
crashed heavily during the
fi rst practice session, suff ering
two repairable fractures in his
vertebrae. MICHAEL SCOTT
amcn.com.au 121
sport
Main pic. Rennie Scaysbrook took Aprilia to the top of the world 1. Carlin Dunne, 2018 winner, was killed
in a crash near the top of the course 2. Lucy Glockner was a fan favourite on her BMW 3. Chris Fillmore
enjoyed owning all three class records for a few minutes until Scaysbrook reset the Open mark

R d

Ups and downs

at Pikes Peak
Triumph and tragedy atop America’s Mountain 1

AUSTRALIA'S RENNIE
Scaysbrook celebrated a
much-deserved victory
at this year’s Pikes Peak
International Hill Climb in
Colorado on Sunday 30 June,
hours before it was confirmed
that four-time Pikes Peak
winner Carlin Dunne had
succumbed to injuries
sustained in a race-day crash.
High profile entrant
and Pikes Peak first timer
Michael Dunlop was forced
to withdraw from this year’s
event after a high-speed crash
during a rally event in his
native Ireland, from which the
19-time Isle of Man TT winner
suffered “serious injuries”.
Dunlop’s teammate,
this year’s only female
two-wheel competitor and
2018’s quickest rookie Lucy
Glöckner began her race to
the clouds just after 10am
and was the first rider to
crack the 10-minute barrier.
The German talent rode her
Tyco BMW S 1000 RR to an
impressive 9m58.878s to
finish first in her Exhibition
Powersport Category and
second overall to Scaysbrook
in the two-wheel entries.
Chris Fillmore, who was
Scaysbrook’s KTM teammate
in both 2017 and 2018, rode
his KTM 450SX-F to a new
record in the Lightweight
division with a 10m20.819s
time, earning the former AMA
Superbike racer the bragging
rights of becoming the only
rider in the event’s 104-year
history to hold three records
all at once.
As well as breaking this
year’s Lightweight record, he
rode a KTM Duke 790 to a new
middleweight record last year,
12 months after setting the
Heavyweight record on board
a KTM 1290 SuperDuke.
But Fillmore’s glory was
short-lived as Scaysbrook
went on to rewrite the
Heavyweight record less
than 10 minutes later on his
factory-backed Aprilia.
The weather took a turn
once the motorcycle category
was finished, with many
four-wheeled competitors
opting to use rain tyres for
their 19.99km run up the
Mountain. Former FMX great
Travis Pastrana was one such
driver, racing his Porsche
Cayman GT4 Clubsport
to the summit in a time
of 11m24.287s, before the
finish line at the summit was
officially closed.
Rain and lightning on the
summit meant the finish line
was bought down to Glen
Helen for the remainder of the
four-wheeled events.
KELLIE BUCKLEY

2 3

Next
issue!
Don’t miss Rennie’s
feature next issue
revealing just what
it took to fi nally
conquer America’s
Mountain

122 amcn.com.au
 MotoE
Gentlemen,
Ctl+Alt Start
THE HILLS AROUND the
Sachsenring Circuit will be
strangely quiet for a time this
weekend, during the sessions
for the opening round of the FIM
MotoE Cup.
The much anticipated series
will whirr into life after the
regulations for the inaugural
electric-bike series were
published last week. There will
SGP
Good signs from young Aussies
AUSTRALIA HAS BOOKED a
berth in the fi nal of the FIM
Team Speedway Under-21 World
Championship after being the
higher scoring runner-up from
the two semi-fi nal meetings
staged last weekend.
The fi nal will be staged at the
Belle Vue track in Manchester on
12 July, where host nation Great
Britain will be joined by Poland,
Denmark and Australia.
Poland not unexpectedly
fi nished on the top of the score
chart at Daugavpils, Latvia with
49 points, heading Latvia (36),
Germany (19) and the Czech
Republic (18).
The fi nal scores at Vetlanda,
Sweden saw Denmark on top
with even contributions from
all fi ve riders in their total of 50
points, ahead of Australia (40),
Sweden (36) and Finland (2).
Australia had the individual
top-scorer of the meeting in
Jaimon Lidsey who scored 17
including an extra outing as
the Joker (for double points),
Along with the other
racers, Josh Hook
tested his MotoE bike
last month
be 12 teams fi elding 18 riders,
all aboard bikes supplied by
Energica Ego Corsa.
As in the other classes, MotoE
competitors will participate in free
practice and qualifying though,
because of the fewer number
of competitors, the grid will be
determined by a single qualifying
session on Saturday afternoon.
Friday will see two 30-minute
practice sessions while qualifying Aussie Josh Hook will race
– or ‘E-pole’ – will be the only for Alma Pramac team in the
session on Saturday, slated to series alongside Alex de Angelis.
take place directly after Moto2 Among the competition will be
qualifying. On Sunday, MotoE will MotoGP veterans Sete Gibernau,
be the opening race of the day, Bradley Smith, Mike de Meglio
the 10-lapper to be held at 10am and Randy de Puniet.
German time (6pm AEST). Following its delayed start,
With 120kW to drag their caused by a fi re wiping out all the
250kg-plus weight around, the bikes and equipment in Spain in
bikes are expected to lap the March, the series will continue
circuits with times between next month in Austria, following
those of Moto2 and Moto3 by two double-headers, at Round
bikes, on Michelin control tyres. 3 at Misano in September and
Top speeds are anticipated at Round 4 at Valencia in November.
250km/h at the German track. PHIL BRANAGAN
which produced one of his
three heat wins. Jordan Stewart
contributed nine points,
while Matthew Gilmore, after
starting the meeting as reserve,
provided a much needed boost
for the Aussies.
Kye Thompson and Zac Cook
both scored two third placings
by beating Finnish opponents,
then Gilmore stepped in taking
fi ve rides in the last 12 heats and
scoring a vital 10 points.
One week earlier Lidsey got
as far as the semi-finals in the More SGP for Fricke the opportunity to do these one-
THE CONTINUING ABSENCE of off events as a reserve “as the
first round of the final of the
former champion Greg Hancock ideal preparation for becoming
World Under 21 Championship
and the injured defending a full-time GP rider one day.”
after a mixed bag of race results.
champion Tai Woffinden will The SGP Challenge Meeting
Two wins and a second were
give series reserves, British on 24 August looms as Fricke’s
good, a last and an exclusion not
rider Robert Lambert and avenue to becoming a full-time
helpful, before he was passed
Australian Max Fricke another SGP rider, unless of course his
by two rivals after a good start in
outing in this weekend’s Norrbil form is so good he commands
the semi-final.
Swedish FIM Speedway Grand a wildcard berth – the chances
Russian Gleb Chugunov won
Prix at Hallstavik. of which would be enhanced
the fi nal but only shares the
Fricke almost made the by more good showings in
overall lead on points as there are
final in his most recent SGP 2019 rounds when given the
four Polish riders in the top six
appearance and is looking on opportunity. PB
after the opening round.
PETER BAKER
amcn.com.au 123






 




 






 
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Grassroots racing at its best
HCV

1 2

3 4 5

On your bike, Barty!

What do Ash Barty, Brooke Lonie and Layla Norton
have in common? We’re glad you asked
REPORT HAMISH COOPER
LAST ISSUE (AMCN Vol
68 No 25) we reported how
the Harley Club of Victoria
had organised a new class of
racing for women at the 2019
Australian Classic Dirt Track
Championship.
The Evolution Women’s
All Power Class was run at
Broadford, with Tayla Street
becoming the inaugural
winner on her Yamaha.
A few weeks later
Broadford hosted the final of
the 2019 Victorian Senior MX
Championship. This time
the winning women were on
modern dirt bikes.
Motorcycling Victoria is
actively encouraging more
women into the sport, and
PHOTOGRAPHY IAN DUNCAN
the success of this policy
relies on clubs becoming
involved because they are
the grassroots and lifeblood
of our sport.
Success in your local club,
then state championship
leads to potential success in
a national championship,
and with the right support
competitors can head
overseas and attempt to
become a world champion.
You only have to look at Ash
Barty to see the career path.
Her sporting journey began
playing at her local club in
Ipswich as a four-year-old.
Her Wimbledon win as a
junior in 2011 set her on the
road to her recent Grand Slam
win and world No 1 ranking,
the first for an Aussie woman
since Evonne Goolagong in
the 1970s.
Along the way she has
relied on a strong support
network to overcome injury
and a change of focus to play
cricket when she felt burnt
out by tennis in 2014.
There have been many
quotes published from
Barty after her recent wins.
Let’s hear some from a
participant at the 2019
Australian Classic Dirt Track
Championship and one
from the Victorian Senior
MX Championship to put
this into perspective for
motorcycle racers.
Nicole Thompson
Brooke Lonie
2nd Evolution
Women’s All Power
Class
“It was an exceptional event.
The Harley Club of Victoria,
their event committee
and all the volunteers put
together a fantastic two
days. We had a strong field
entered in the Evolution
Women’s All Powers Class,
with riders coming from
NSW. Things are starting
to gel for me on the mighty
Yamaha DT!”
Layla Norton
1st Victorian MX
Female Clubmans
Senior Class
“For my first year in Seniors,
the 2019 season went
awesome. After sitting out
2018, coming into the first
round I didn’t know what to
expect. After taking the win
in the first race I definitely
gained a lot of confidence and
from then on I continued to
take three race wins at each
round. I’m excited for the 2020
season in the Expert Class.”

1. The start of the women’s race was just as frantic as in any other class 2. Maddy Brown takes some serious air 3. Ebony
Harris leads Brown 4. Jessica Koolen got in a full day’s [muddy] racing 5. Tanesha Harnett scored four podium finishes amcn.com.au 125
 sport
Grid talk INTERVIEW PETER WHITAKER
Col Metcher Archives
He’s 81 years old and he’s hoping to claim another Aussie motocross title next month!
THERE WAS A long period
in Col Metcher’s life where
his love of designing and
racing catamarans to two
World Championships took
precedence over his career on
two wheels.
“I get a real kick out of
fast bikes and fast boats,”
says Col. “But people find
it difficult to conceive that
high-performance sailing is
significantly more demanding
than motocross.”
That’s possibly why Col
has largely forsaken ocean
126 amcn.com.au
Colin Metcher
racing for dirtshifting after
successfully defending a hat-
trick of Australian Sports Skiff
Championships in 2005, the
same year he won four gold
medals at the Trans Tasman
Masters Games – two for dirt
track and two for motocross.
It’s not surprising for a bloke
who had already scored a
podium in the over-50s World
Vintage Championships held
in the UK, and a victory at the
over-60s World Vintage MX at
Glen Helen in California.
“I certainly won a couple of
events over there,” says Col,
before somewhat modestly
adding, “but every meeting
in the USA is claimed to
be a World Championship
something or other.”
Nonetheless Col has a
substantial array of silverware
on display in his Gold Coast
home, part of which has
become a de facto office for the
Gold Coast Motocross Club as a
consequence of his involvement
with VMX and, significantly, the
Pan Pacific Masters Games held
bi-annually in his home town.
Col’s introduction to the Pan
Pacifics was back in 2004 when
he won MX events on both his
Honda Elsinore 125 and Maico
250 at Reedy Creek. Since
then, both Col and GCMX Club
President Alan Bresson have
borne the major responsibility
for keeping MX included in the
Pan Pacifics.
“With Gold Coast City
expanding at such a rapid pace,
it’s becoming almost impossible
to find a venue,” says Col, who’s
reluctant to divulge where the
2020 MX events might be held.
Main. The beard may be a bit snowy but the fire is still burning when Col Metcher is on the track, particularly on his Maico 250 1-2. In Glen Helen in
California on his Husqvarna 430 3. Lunkoping Sweden on a CZ380 4. Winning the 2018 Dirt Track Championship on the 360 Honda powered Maico

1 2 3

“Alan Mitchell must have a reason for travelling all

the way from Western Australia now he’s turned 70”
He and his three sons –
Peter, Jamie and Simon – won
the four-hour Team Enduro
in 2018 but he doubts such
events can continue due to
noise restrictions. Besides, he’s
currently fettling his machines
for a far more important – and
imminent – event.
Harrisville, just south
west of Brisbane, will host
the 2019 Vintage Motocross
Championships over 13-14
July. Not only will there be
scores of race-ready VMX
bikes to ogle, but also quite a
number of vintage blokes who,
for the past decade, have been
known as the Super Seniors; an
accolade given to competitors
who have already celebrated
their 70th birthday.
Col is now 81 years old and
will contest the Pre-1965 event
on his CZ 250 Twin-Port, the
Pre-1979 event on his Maico
Evolution 250 and the Super
Seniors on his pride and joy; a
1973 Maico powered by a 250
Honda – now bored out to 360cc
– built by George McKenzie.
This is the machine on which he
won the 2018 Vintage Dirt Track
Championship, to which he’s
keen to add the 2019 VMX title
to his collection.
Col knows the form of Jens
Olsen’s Montesa 250 and has
been racing against fellow
sandgroper Bill Watson since
their clashes at Claremont
Speedway back in the 1960s.
“But Alan Mitchell, a bloke
whom I’ve not seen for 40 years
or more, must have a reason
for travelling all the way from
Western Australia now he’s
turned 70. Those youngsters are
always a threat,” laughs Col.
A new event, a father and son
handicap, has been introduced
for 2019. The oldest team is
Bill and Brian Watson with
a combined age of 150 years,
followed by Col and his son
Peter at 134 years. With eight
teams this shapes up as a fun
event but it’s no joke when you
see just how serious these old
blokes become once a race
number is affixed to their bike.
The machines may all be
pre-1979 but the riders are all
pre-1949.

amcn.com.au 127
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sport
Where are they now?
“Let me and Bayliss go and do Suzuka”
DESPITE BEING FORCED out
of top-line racing by injury,
Texan rider Ben Spies toyed
with the idea of making a
racing return a couple of
years ago. And he is doing so
again now.
“There is really no plan,”
said Spies when we bumped
into him at the recent
WorldSBK round in Misano,
first recounting how he
nearly came back recently.
“A couple of years ago
there were some mutterings
about me coming back in
MotoAmerica. That was
serious but I did not like to
talk about it much because I
do not like to build everybody
up. And the sponsor fell
through. I actually did
contact Yoshimura Suzuki
and I said, ‘let me test for
Superbike, and see how I feel
and we can go from there’.
They said yes and then they
said no, for whatever reason.
And then Roger [Hayden]
retired and I thought that was
a pretty dumb decision on
their part.”
That close call sparked
something in Spies.
WorldSBK champion
and MotoGP race
winner, could Ben
Spies come back
to racing?
Ben Spies – The single-season 2009 WorldSBK championship phenomenon
“Ever since then I have had
motivation, but I have been
riding dirt bikes for fun, and
again my shoulder is not
perfect,” he admitted. “The
goal is that I would like to get
together with some sort of a
manufacturer, and I have two
in mind, and get a streetbike
from them and do some
track days, then I can get my
speed back on the road and if
something pops up, we do it.”
At 34, Spies is not that old
for a WorldSBK rider. Given
his well-known aversion to
flying, if he is fit and fast
enough, he could race in his
native USA again.
“Honestly, racing in
America, I would not turn
away completely,” he said.
“But from what I have heard
the factories are pulling out
at the end of this year, and I
don’t know the longevity of
that series. I do not think that
is a very good possibility but
you never say never.
“If I get back on a bike and
feel good, and start getting
my speed back, then doing
the 24 Le Mans, Bol d’Or and
Suzuka 8-Hour – that’s totally
possible. We will just see. I
think I can give a lot to racing.
“I sat down with Chaz
[Davies] two nights ago and
talked about the bike, what I
see with him and what’s going
on. I still think I have a lot of
knowledge that is still current
from what I have done. There
is not a lot of guys out there
that are my age that have done
it and are still young. I think I
have a lot to give.
“At the same time I live
in Texas and I hate flying;
everybody always knew that.
So for me to do consistent
work in Europe, people do
not want to pay me to do it,
because I am not going to
do it for cheap. So if I start
spending more time over
here, maybe there are more
possibilities. But the first idea
is to get back on a bike again
and get back up to speed, and
then just see what happens.”
Even though Spies admits
to speaking to some people
already, it is still just at the
discussion stage.
“I am just saying that once
I get back on a road race bike
and my speed gets back to
where I know it can be, then
it’s a possibility,” he stated.
“If that is something where
I got a deal and we are doing
something with Ducati, I am
going to tell them, ‘hey, let me
and [Troy] Bayliss go and do
Suzuka for fun!’ That would
be some cool stuff to do. That
is possible.
“But at the same time,
there could be a serious
part to it but I want to have
fun and get back going into
it and, again, there are two
manufacturers that I think it
is very possible with.
“One has already shown
interest, but it is basically not
until next year and we will
just see.
“If anything I feel I owe
something back to Ducati.
I was wanting to ride for
them and a lot of people
don’t realise I actually had
signed to race GP in 2013, 90
percent of the paddock has
no clue that I was going to
be in WorldSBK in 2014 with
Chaz. That was the contract.
If I could do something with
Ducati I would love it.”
GORDON RITCHIE
 Australian Motorcycle News road test photographs are posed for by skilled, professional riders under controlled circumstances. Attempting to imitate their actions may be dangerous.
Australian Motorcycle News supports and endorses rider training and wearing protective riding gear. We must ask Fred what he thinks of racing electric motorbikes. The FIM MotoE series
kicks off in Germany this weekend, and it will be entertaining to see the bikes in action. The noise; not so much. Surely it won’t be long before promoters come up with some kind of artificial
soundtrack to play over the bikes? Or better still, music? No not yer highbrow classics; we suggest ‘Kickstart my Heart’ by Mötley Crüe is not a bad place to start.
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UP TO $1,700 VALUE
ON TIGER SPORT

*Terms and conditions apply. Offer ends 31/7/2019 or while stocks last. Saving based on RRP. Offer only applies at participating Triumph Motorcycle dealers. Offer valid on MY17 Tiger Sport, MY18 Tiger Sport, MY18 Tiger 800,
MY19 Tiger 800, MY18 Tiger 1200 & MY19 Tiger 1200 including all model variants. Offer only valid on Aluminium Expedition Panniers for Tiger 1200 and Tiger 800 models, and 2 Box Pannier Kit and Lids for Tiger Sport.
Panniers listed above cannot be exchanged or returned for any other pannier colour or pannier type and cannot be exchanged or returned for any other part, accessory, clothing or credit.
Consult your participating Triumph Motorcycle dealer for further details. Triumph Motorcycles Australia reserves the right to change or extend the offer.