“A lot, but it counts for very very few,” said ‘Petrux’ when asked how pleased he was to set a new lap record at Sepang. “I’m happy, especially about yesterday, the race simulation, about how we performed in hot conditions. That, I think, was the main focus we had. This morning I only did one attempt, and it was very very fast, I didn’t believe it, I thought maybe it was wrong.”
Source: MotoGP.com – Read Full Article Here
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing test rider Dani Pedrosa has undergone surgery at the Barcelona Teknon Medical Centre due to his right collarbone non-union fracture (lack of consolidation), diagnosed at the beginning of January. Doctors Soler and Orozco have performed a reconstructive surgery consisting in the fracture stabilisation on the Spanish rider, using osteosynthesis material and a contribution of bio-graft with a dose of forty million of autologous stem cells, an Advanced Therapy drug authorised by the Spanish Medicine Agency (Agencia Española de Medicamentos y Productos Sanitarios AEMPS).
Source: MotoGP.com – Read Full Article Here
“For sure, we’ll struggle a bit in Qatar and in the next two or three races but our goal is to improve the bike and if we can be fast, we can win races and if it’s something much better than expected, we could fight for the world title. For now, I’m not one of the favourites, there are other riders like Marc, obviously, who must lead and fight for the world title, together with Dovizioso, Valentino, who is always there and knows the bike and Viñales, for example.
Source: MotoGP.com – Read Full Article Here
The Grand Prix Commission, composed of Messrs. Carmelo Ezpeleta (Dorna, Chairman), Paul Duparc (FIM), Herve Poncharal (IRTA) & Takanao Tsubouchi (MSMA), and the SBK Commission composed of Messrs. Gregorio Lavilla (Dorna, Chairman), Franck Vayssié (FIM) & Takanao Tsubouchi (MSMA), in electronic meetings held on 5 February 2019 have decided to make use of FIM homologated helmets by riders in all Grand Prix and WorldSBK Championships mandatory from 3 June 2019 rather than from the first events of the 2019 season as announced earlier.
Source: MotoGP.com – Read Full Article Here
However, Viñales was upbeat about how the test went. “Well, (it was) really good,” he began, describing his feeling on the 2019 YZR-M1. “I actually missed one time attack in the morning which I planned to make in the afternoon but finally it was so hot that the tyre was sliding a lot, so I couldn’t improve my laptime from the morning.”
Source: MotoGP.com – Read Full Article Here
After Day 2 saw Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) miss out on setting the fastest ever lap of Sepang by just 0.067, Friday saw action in Malaysia end on a high as not one but six riders went quicker than Jorge Lorenzo’s quickest effort in 2018. The quickest of them all, however, was Danilo Petrucci (Mission Winnow Ducati) as the Italian stormed the timesheets with an awe-inspiring 1:58.239 after 32 laps – with rookie Francesco Bagnaia (Alma Pramac Racing) hot on his heels and only a fitting 0.063 in arrears after 21 laps. Next came his teammate Jack Miller only another small margin further back, the Aussie doing 47 laps and quick despite a crash, with Andrea Dovizioso (Mission Winnow Ducati) completing the top four, three tenths off the top. All in all, a stunner of a day for Ducati machinery.
Source: MotoGP.com – Read Full Article Here
Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol) continues to impress on his return from a lengthy injury layout, the British rider sixth on the timesheets after setting a fastest time of 1:58.780 – 0.541 off P1. Crutchlow has completed another 35 laps so far on Day 3, however, the number 35 rider has crashed – Turn 2, rider ok.
Source: MotoGP.com – Read Full Article Here
The final day of the three-day 2019 MotoGP pre-season test at Sepang is hotting up with with times now tumbling and a new outright (unofficial) fastest ever motorcycle lap of the Malaysian circuit by Danilo Petrucci.
He is not the only one under previous benchmarks though as it is a Ducati 1-2-3-4 at the top of the timesheets with five hours still remaining.
Incredibly, rookie rider and Moto2 World Champion Francesco Bagnaia, onboard the satellite Alma Pramac Racing Ducati is currently second on the timesheets.
Jack Miller is currently third ahead of Andrea Dovizioso while day two dominator Maverick Vinales is fifth ahead of Cal Crutchlow.
| MotoGP Sepang Test Day 3 Time. | |||
|
1 |
9 |
D. PETRUCCI |
1:58.239 |
|
2 |
63 |
F. BAGNAIA |
+0.063 |
|
3 |
43 |
J. MILLER |
+0.127 |
|
4 |
4 |
A. DOVIZIOSO |
+0.299 |
|
5 |
12 |
M. VIÑALES |
+0.405 |
|
6 |
35 |
C. CRUTCHLOW |
+0.541 |
|
7 |
41 |
A. ESPARGARO |
+0.783 |
|
8 |
21 |
F. MORBIDELLI |
+0.902 |
|
9 |
30 |
T. NAKAGAMI |
+0.909 |
|
10 |
46 |
V. ROSSI |
+0.916 |
There is still 5 hours remaining for today’s testing so we may see times drop further. We’ll have the complete times for the day published later on so stay tuned.
Source: MCNews.com.au
Glenn Allerton is a three-time Australian Superbike Champion and along with Josh Waters would love to claim a fourth, however the last two years have been fraught with well documented injuries for GA.
He is now fully recovered and ready to launch a major assault on the 2019 title. This year he has the new BMW HP4 coming to the Next Gen Motorsports team and they have also switched to Dunlop tyres.
MCNews: First test for the year, is it your first hit-out that you’ve been on the bike, or have you been testing like some of these other guys?
Glenn Allerton: “We’ve been to Wakefield about a week ago, and were still trying to make up our mind with which tyres to go with, between Pirelli and Dunlop. Basically we just want to go with whatever gave the best chance of winning we can get. We had a really good test, I did a bloody competitive race run there, that would have been racing for the win versus what we had printed off as the race time there, and we were fast. I felt really comfortable on the Dunlops, which is why we decided to go with them, because the feeling is really good, and they’ve got some new stuff.”
MCNews: Nothing to do with the fact you’re racing in the Asian Championship and there’s Dunlops there?
Glenn Allerton: “At this point in time, we’re not actually racing in the Asian Championship, so I don’ really know what’s going on, we haven’t made up our mind as we have some budget problems for Asia. At this point, it’s on hold, so I don’t know what’s going to happen with that. I’ll have to wait and see what the boys come up with. It’s a tough situation, that one, because they committed, and then the budget sort of got changed a bit and now we’ve got to scramble to try and make something happen. But the tyres are a lot different over there, to what we have here, so it’s really difficult to even compare. Riding on the tyres they have there and then the Dunlops we have here… It’s as different as between Dunlops and Pirelli’s here, they are that much different. The diameters are different and everything, the grip level is different…”
“So we had a really good test there at Wakefield, and we haven’t changed that much really, we’ve just come down here and actually ridden on the tyres that Dunlop have for Phillip Island, but we seem to be going pretty good. I expected some teething problems, as there’s a few diameter differences with the tyres, and while Dunlop has some new stuff coming, that’ll be here after Round 1, we’ve just got to try at the moment. We’re a little bit in the phase of trying to set the bike up for the tyres that they currently have, but we already know that the tyres that are coming are a step better again. We know we’ve got a good setting, good feel with those tyres at the moment, so we’re just trying to make do with what we’ve got available for Phillip Island, because this place is so hard on tyres.”
MCNews: With the Dunlops traditionally as it gets hotter, they work better. Today got hotter but the wind got up?
Glenn Allerton: “The wind definitely got up, earlier in the day I was always in sixth gear in the straight, and sometimes in that last session I was only getting to fifth gear, and not even getting sixth gear. Which is a pretty good indication of how much the wind is pushing you. I’ve had some struggles today, with the front brakes, I had problems all mornings and just with the feel being different every time we move the front brake lever. We’re trying to get on top of that with some different pads and different material. We’re going to change the discs, and figure out what combination is going to work, because the front brake pressure is always feeling odd. And then we had a couple of other issues along the way, today wasn’t smooth sailing, but I kind of knew we were going to be in this situation of chasing our tail a little bit, with the se-tup. Just because of how different the tyres we have to run here are, the shape and the diameter, they are a lot different to the other ones we tested on at Wakefield.”
MCNews: So Dunlop have done something similar to Pirelli with the bigger tyre?
Glenn Allerton: “I think what’s actually happened with Dunlop is they are actually going the other way with the new tyres, they are smaller in the rear, whereas Pirelli are going bigger. Our bike works really good on the small tyre and that’s the direction we’ll be going in. It’s not a small tyre, it’s still a 200 series, it’s just a different shape. Not quite as big as the tyre we have to use here. So the bike handles really good on that tyre and that combination is awesome. The outlook for the year is great, but we’ve just got to get through this first round. The start of the season is going to be like that for us – as we’re still on the old bike, we do have some new parts coming, we’ve just got fresh engines coming basically.”
MCNews: You’re not on the HP4 are you?
Glenn Allerton: “No, this bike that I’ve got here, it’s done some kays, the one I’ve been testing I believe is a 2016 model, the team has had it for quite a long time. We’re just getting through this weekend and the race, with some fresh motors. The outlook is actually good with the new bike and at that point, Dunlop will have the new tyres.”
MCNews: When is that expected?
Glenn Allerton: “The possibility to race it could possibly be Round 2, but none of the kit racing parts will be available like the wiring harness, the ECU, and all the suspension, which won’t probably be here until Round 3 at Tailem Bend. So we’ll definitely be on it at Tailem Bend, but I’m hoping we can make some stuff happen, and get it to Wakefield, but we’ll have to wait and see.”
MCNews: And the biggest difference from Pirelli to Dunlop, what have you got to adapt to?
Glenn Allerton: “Well it used to be the front tyre, but the new Dunlop front tyre is really good so it’s a lot softer than what they currently had, and it gives you a lot of confidence. Just the rear tyre is a lot bigger than the Pirelli, the new Pirelli is bigger again, so maybe they are around the same size, but the one we’ll race on here at Phillip Island is quite big. It’s changed the geometry of the bike, so we’re trying to adjust it to suit.”
The first round of the Australian Superbike Championship will be held alongside the opening round of the Superbike World Championship at Phillip Island 22-24 February.
| Kawasaki Superbike – Phillip Island Test – Merged classification |
Source: MCNews.com.au
Yamaha Motor Australia have welcomed the arrival of the 2019 model of their XV250, a machine which has ushered countless new riders into motorcycling. The 2019 Yamaha XV250 arrives in silver and will be priced at a RRP of $6,799 RRP + ORC.
Yamaha boast the XV250 offers an easy-riding nature and low seat height.
Yamaha’s bullet-proof air-cooled 249cc V-twin engine features a long 66 mm piston stroke for more torque low in the rev-range, and smooth roll-on power.
Designed tough enough to handle the mishaps dished out by learning riders, the XV250 is also forgiving enough to encourage them to continue and improve.
Based on the larger-capacity XVS range, the classic cruiser look features a riser-mounted flat handlebar, low 685 mm seat height, forward controls, dual exhausts, 18-inch (front) and 15-inch (rear) wheels and lashings of shiny chrome, an integral part of any cruiser.
Visit your local Yamaha Motor dealer today to organise a test ride or to check the XV250 and Yamaha LAMS range out in person.
| 2019 Yamaha XV250 features |
| 2019 Yamaha XV250 Specifications |
Source: MCNews.com.au