News Articles
In 2018, Honda produced more than 20 million bikes, globally, in one calendar year—establishing a new record. This doubled its production output from 14 years earlier. For reference, Harley-Davidson built 228,665 motorcycles worldwide during 2018, while Yamaha Motor Company assembled 5,390,000 motorcycles in 2017.
Source: MotorCyclistOnline.com
As yet another action packed year draws to a close, what better time than now to reflect on some of the most dramatic MotoGP™ photos of 2019? While the pressure was always there to get results, it wasn’t always serious business in the Grand Prix paddock.
Source: MotoGP.com – Read Full Article Here
With Phil Aynsley
Continuing on from the last column (Doohan 1994 Honda NSR500 – Link), the other NSR from Mick Doohan’s collection I shot was the 1998 bike.
For the 1997 season Mick requested that his bikes revert back to the 180 degree “screamer” motor.
Advances to the electronics and tyres since 1991 meant the power (now near 200hp), while not totally tamed, was able to be used by those riders with the most ability.
Mick went on to win 12 of the 15 races, with Alex Crivillé taking two and Tady Okada one for a NSR clean sweep of the top four places.
The 1998 bike retained the “screamer” motor but power was reduced by up to five per cent due the new regulations requiring the use of unleaded fuel.
However torque was improved resulting in better traction and acceleration.
One other change to the motor specification was the adoption of a hydraulically operated clutch. Mick won 8 of the 14 races and his final championship.
The bike received a full rebuild by Honda technicians before being handed to Mick and is fitted with special presentation tyres from Michelin.
Source: MCNews.com.au
The King of Every Kingdom – Around the world on a very small motorcycle
With J. Peter “The Bear” Thoeming
Last episode we discovered that the beer was warm as The Bear and Charlie explored Nepal before heading on into India – this week we find that the food is hot!
Having arrived in Varanasi last time, we now retreated to the Hotel KMM, which had been recommended to us, and drank several gallons of tea and fresh lemon drink. It all went straight out again, mostly through the pores, and it kept us awake and buzzing.
On an evening stroll through the crowds of holy men and peddlers we acquired a friend, an eight-year-old boy who wanted to sell us some silk. He tagged along down to the river and introduced us to his father, who had just had his evening dip in the holy river. We sat watching the sunset reflecting in the river as the father told us some stories about Varanasi and the Hindu gods.
The next day was devoted to looking over such unique Varanasi attractions as the ghats on the riverbank, where corpses are burnt before being consigned to the sacred embrace of the river—a very quick look at that. Fighting off prospective guides took more time than anything else.
We returned to our little friend’s shop, in fact the family living-room and no doubt bedroom, and I bought some silk batik scarves for presents. They were beautiful, with motifs from Hindu mythology in rich colours. One hangs on my office wall to this day.
It seemed to us that the best way to deal with the heat was to get up early, do most of our riding in the cool of the morning and rest in the afternoon, and with that in mind we rose at 4am to discover that there was a blackout.
We loaded the bikes by the light of our torches. The electricity came back on at about the same time as the sun came up. This little scheme did work quite well after that, though.
It was still cool when we stopped in Mirzapur for a cup of tea at the railway station and the road outside showed us the reason for the blackout. There must have been a storm the previous night, because a number of poles had come down and filled the streets with a tangle of wires.
We ordered the ‘Vegetable Preparation’, which is a selection of violently coloured pastes, presumably originally sourced from vegetables, in an aluminium TV dinner tray. It has little flavour beyond ha… ha… HOT!
We had a good road that day, still lined by mangos, which were inhabited by monkeys, and quite spectacular where it climbed the edge of the Deccan. Our host for the night was a retired lawyer-turned-spiritualist who now ran a hotel in Satna. He assured us that, wherever we went in the universe, we would always find people who spoke English. I guess a spiritualist ought to know.
A look at the erotic carvings on the temples at Khajuraho, which are incidentally very good and actually quite erotic, was followed by our hottest day to date. We pulled in to the courtyard of an Irrigation Department rest house and tried to find out from the chowkidar—the caretaker—if we could stay the night there and get something to eat. No luck. Our recently acquired few words of Hindi didn’t seem to mean anything to him at all. What was the world coming to.
Lady Luck chose that moment to arrive in the shape of a short chap driving a locally made Fiat with a hang glider on top. He told us later that it was the only one in the country and he had brought it in under the pretext that it was a tent – substantial aircraft import duty would otherwise have been due on it. Tent duty, it seems is more reasonable.
It appeared that we had not been able to communicate with the chowkidar because he only spoke the local dialect. Our newfound friend then reached into his car, where the thermometer (in the shade) read 52 degrees C, and produced two bottles of beer in dry ice and wrapped in a back copy of the Times of India, which he invited us to share with him on the verandah.
The beer, that is. I could have kissed him. The bungalow, he explained, was not set up for meals. We thanked him for the beer and rode on to Jhansi. The heat, all the worse now we knew just how hot it was, was coming up off the road like laser fire.
Jhansi’s Central Hotel was pretty basic, with those dreadful short charpoys – beds made of timber and rope and designed for Indian not Australian bodies – but there was quite a good curry to be had downstairs and we were entertained by a wedding across the road. A lot of the wedding seemed to involve firecrackers.
Next morning, road works gave us a bit of trouble on the way to Agra. A row of stones across the road can mean one of two things—either there used to be a broken-down truck there that’s been repaired and moved, or there’s a bridge out around the next corner. It’s not always easy to tell if the road ends dramatically a few yards farther on. We were also getting sore bums in the heat; XL seats are not comfortable at the very best of times and this was not one.
But the Taj Mahal took our minds off our worries. It is the only building I have ever seen that lives up to the tourist hype, and we were fortunate enough to have a full moon to see it by. There were fireflies in the gardens, too, and it was almost unbearably romantic. Charlie and I would gladly have exchanged each other for female company. Sadly, this was not to be.
We found lots of mail waiting for us in Delhi, but the money that should have been sitting at the bank had allegedly not arrived. I checked every day, and one day in the lift at the bank, an aristocratic-looking Indian gent looked me up and down, said hello and ascertained that I was Australian and then asked: ‘What is your purpose in life?’ I was still frantically trying to formulate a reply when we reached my floor and I beat a disorganised retreat.
The Tourist Camp in Old Delhi looked rather more comfortable than most of the cheap hotels, so we pitched our flysheet there over a large bit of carpet donated by the manager. Charlie did a bit of maintenance work on the bikes, among other things replacing the rubber seal on one of the fork legs of my bike. It had been weeping oil and proved to be rather badly scored.
Visas were a headache. The Afghanis weren’t issuing any, having just had a revolution. The Iraqis wanted our passports for three months, to send to Baghdad for approval, so we decided to give them a miss. At least the Iranians only took two days.
Outside the Iranian Embassy we met Paul, a fellow biker and a Sikh from Chandigar who also intended to ride over to Europe. He invited us to come and stay with his family when we passed through Chandigar, and we gratefully accepted.
We had a lot of trouble with our money transfers to Delhi and waited for over a week. It was partly the fault of our bank back in Australia, but the Indians certainly weren’t overly organised.
After we had covered Delhi’s tourist attractions we whiled away the time in the US Information Service and British Council libraries which offered air conditioning and newspapers.
We also bought some sheepskins and made them into seat covers for the bikes. Our money came eventually; Charlie found the advice for his while glancing idly through one of the file folders in the bank. Like they say, if you want something done…
Crossing the bridge out of town over the Yamuna River was like riding through a suburb of hell. It was a closed, boxy steel affair and hot, claustrophobic, slippery with dung, and predictably enough it stank. The roads up to the foothills of the Himalayas weren’t much, either. We passed a totally flattened three-wheeler van lying in the ditch.
We were on our way up to Rishikesh, yet another holy town. Hardwar, at the entrance of the valley, looked interesting with its hundreds of little shops in booths lining the road, but Rishikesh itself was more like a Hindu Disneyland, complete with helicopter pads for the affluent gurus.
Down by the river we met one who was still working his way up. “I have only one disciple so far,” he said, “A Swiss man. But there will be more in time, do not fear.”
The road over to the old British hill station of Shimla was better. Lined by pine trees, it was chiseled into the sides of the hills. Every now and then the fog lifted and opened out spectacular views of hillsides and forest.
There were some river fords, too, crossed amid much white water, and very little traffic, a great relief after the crush down on the plains. For a while the road ran parallel to the Shimla railway, which looks like a big toy with its narrow gauge.
Next time we manage to score a full-on hot curry at a roadside stand and impress the locals.
Source: MCNews.com.au
There was a big drop in the number of safety recalls for motorcycles in 2019.
In fact, with 27 motorcycle recalls, it was the lowest number in seven years.
That drop in recalls is good news and shows that manufacturers must be taking a bit more care to test their product before rushing a new model to market. Mind you, it’s still 27 too many. In fact, even one may be too many if it affects your bike.
However, there were also four recalls for motorcycle-related products and accessories: Harley saddlebags, a Honda Monkey bike rack, an O’Neal helmet and Avon Cobra tyres. That’s unusual, as there is usually only about one motorcycle-related product a year except 2013 which had eight.
The most motorcycle recalls this year was six for Yamaha; followed by four for BMW, Ducati and Triumph; Suzuki and Triumph on three; two for Harley, Honda and Indian; and one each for Kawasaki, Piaggio and KTM.
That compares with the previous year where Ducati had 6; Indian, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Yamaha, KTM and Triumph 3; BMW, Harley, Husqvarna and Moto Guzzi 2, Aprilia and MV Augusta one each. There were no other product recalls.
Most recalls are issued voluntarily and posted online by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
Even though manufacturers and importers usually contact owners when a recall is issued, the bike may have been sold privately to a rider unknown to the company.
If you believe there is an endemic problem with your bike that should be recalled, contact the ACCC on 1300 302 502.
To check whether your motorcycle has been recalled, click on these sites:
• USA
• Canada
Source: MotorbikeWriter.com
Each New Year we make resolutions to do something new, better or at least different for the next year.
This year we thought we would do something different for the new decade and compile a wish list of 10 New Year resolutions we would like others to make.
We know most of these are just vain wishes, but we thought we would present them anyhow in the hope someone out there takes up at least one of them!
The list includes other motorists, but is also aimed at other riders.
Source: MotorbikeWriter.com
The distinguished Skram riding sunglasses have been designed to allow riders to continue to ride on into the night.
They have been designed by Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride founder Mark Hawwa and the three different designs certainly do look distinguished.
Mark says Skram Motorcycle Eyewear is “a product that as motorcyclists we wanted to wear” and was a joint effort by him, colleague Rocco Repice and optometrist Elias Combes.
The flexible sunglasses cost $199 with a choice of brown tortoise shell (“Havana”) or black frames.
They are claimed to have 100% UV protection with shatterproof polycarbonate lenses that makes them the “most protective” sunglasses on the market.
Skram glasses are also available in clear and yellow photochromic lenses that transition to a tint when exposed to the sun.
Prescription lenses are also available for an extra $159.
Mark says they “searched for years testing over 50 different lenses until we found the set that we could put all of our trust into”.
He sent us a pair of Moto Ones to test and here are our results.
Skram Moto Ones arrived in an elaborate box that was way bigger than the glasses themselves.
Inside is a handsome leather carry pouch, cleaning rag, distinguished keyring with leather tag and a useful keyring tool.
The tool unscrews to reveal two small screwdrivers for tightening the arms of the glasses as well as other uses.
These lightweight glasses have sturdy and flexible frames that don’t get bent out of shape as you put them on. They actually become more pliable the more you use them.
However, the arms are a little thick and may pose a problem with some helmets. They can also be uncomfortable against your ears in a tight helmet.
We tested the acetate lenses with a UV sensor and found they give pretty good protection.
The photochromic tinting effect is quite slow to transition from clear/yellow to tint which means you will come out of a tunnel into broad daylight and squint for a few seconds.
Vice versa, if you ride into a tunnel you have to wait several seconds for the full tint to disappear so you can see clearly.
They also won’t tint to the maximum level if you are wearing a full-face helmet, even with a clear visor or a tinted visor open as helmet visors reduce UV rays.
You need direct sunlight on the glasses.
We found even our Biltwell Gringo which has no visor prevented sunlight because of the thick “brow” overhang.
A peak will also shade the glasses and prevent them fully tinting.
The instructions say it takes a few wears to reach the full photochromic effect. That’s what we found too. Right out of the box, they weren’t great, but after a couple of weeks they improved.
However, they never really got all that dark, compared wth our normal sunglasses.
They claim they will tint to 80% darkness in full sunlight and meet Category 0 to 3 sunglass standards with 0 legal for night riding.
Mark says the glasses are “perfect for those who wear open-face and 3/4 helmets as well as those who like to ride with their full face helmet visor open”.
We couldn’t test the shatterproof ability of the lenses, but they aren’t scratchproof. We lightly used the tool on the corner of the lens and it easily left a small scratch line.
While they do work better with an open-face helmet, they are not wrap-around, so over about 80km/h you get a lot of wind in your eyes.
This can lead to windburn over time which can promote dry, itchy eyes and, in extreme cases, possibly blurred vision.
And despite all the wind that gets in behind the glasses, we found they fog up fairly quickly on a rainy day, even with an open-face helmet.
These are certainly quality, stylish sunglasses, but they aren’t much use for most riding conditions.
However, they work ok around town on a fine day. For example, they would be an excellent pair of glasses to wear on a DGR ride … so long as it isn’t raining!
Website: www.skram.cc
Facebook: www.facebook.com/skramcc
Instagram: www.instagram.com/skramcc
Source: MotorbikeWriter.com
In a tragic end to 2019, a 22-year-old male rider has died in a late-night crash in Sydney’s Royal National Park while on a group ride.
NSW Police say the accident occurred at 10pm on Monday (30 December 2019) on Lady Wakehurst Drive at Lilyvale, in the Royal National Park.
“Police have been told a group of motorcyclists were travelling north when the bike left the road and struck a road sign,” they say.
The rider died at the scene.
Officers from Wollongong Police District established a crime scene and commenced an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the crash.
Inquiries continue, and a report will be prepared for the information of the Coroner.
Anyone with information about this incident is urged to contact Crime Stoppers: 1800 333 000 or https://nsw.crimestoppers.com.au. Information is treated in strict confidence. The public is reminded not to report crime via NSW Police social media pages.
Our sincere condolences to the rider’s family and friends.
Night riding can be fun, but it is also more dangerous for a host of reasons.
We advise riders to take care and read our tips on how to be a better and safer night rider.
Source: MotorbikeWriter.com
Toby Price is all set to defend his Dakar Rally title in 2020, alongside teammates Sam Sunderland, Matthias Walkner, Luciano Benavides and Mario Patrao for the KTM Factory Racing Team, no doubt hoping for a repeat of 2019, where KTM clinched the top three positions.
The 42nd running of the event is not far off either, starting January 5 from Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, the 12-stage 2020 Dakar Rally will cover a total of 7,856 kilometres, 5,097 of which are timed specials. The race will incorporate two marathon stages, with a rest day for all teams on January 11.
New to the Dakar, the road book will be pre-coloured, reducing the preparation work for all competitors prior to the next day’s stage. For at least four of the 12 stages, the road book will be presented to the riders just minutes before the start of the day’s racing.
Seemingly achieving the impossible, Toby Price won the 2019 Dakar while nursing a broken wrist. Ending the event having secured a deserved and hard-fought victory, Price’s success came at a cost with the Australian needing surgery to repair damage sustained during the race.
Returning to rally competition only in August at the Atacama Rally, Price soon settled back into a fast rhythm, placing fourth overall. Showing impressive speed at the Rally du Maroc in October, the reigning Dakar Champion now looks ahead to January and the defence of his title.
“Winning the 2019 Dakar started off as a bit of a dream, but with a lot of hard work put in behind the scenes by myself and the team we were able to make it happen, even with a broken wrist. It took a little time to recover from that event – I had aggravated the injury during the race and needed another surgery and bone graft to fix things. I spent the first part of the year recovering but then was back on the bike for the Atacama in September. My feeling on the bike was good there, which was encouraging and I’ve been getting steadily stronger ever since. Testing has been good, as usual the team have made some important tweaks to the bike, primarily with the suspension, so I’m really pleased about that. 2020 is going to be a whole different Dakar for us. It’s putting everyone back on a level playing field, which I think is good for the sport. It’s going to be a new race, a new look and I’m really excited for the challenge.”
Enjoying a successful 2019 season, Sam Sunderland went straight from the Dakar into the FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship and dominated the first two rounds. A runner-up result in Chile was enough for the likeable Brit to claim his first ever world title with one round to spare.
“I’m confident going into this Dakar. You kind of judge your pace on how you have been riding the previous year and winning the world championship and coming third in the Dakar earlier in the year has been a real boost for me. Both the team and the bike have been fantastic all year and I’m going into the race fit and focused on doing my best. I’m looking forward to the new challenge that awaits us too – it’s going to be a new adventure for everybody and I think that really sums up the spirit of the Dakar. I like the fact that we are going somewhere new and that everyone is going to have to adapt and overcome all the new things that are thrown at us. The route is looking tough, but I’m certainly going to give the race my best shot.”
Runner-up to Price at the 2019 Dakar, despite carrying an injury through the majority of the race, Matthias Walkner also needed surgery and recovery time during the year. Building up his speed over the final two rounds of the world championship, the 2018 Dakar Champion has been putting in many valuable hours of testing ahead of the 2020 event.
“The last Dakar was really tough for me. Finishing second was fantastic but breaking my ankle on only the fourth day made the rest of the race a massive challenge. Thankfully I was able to finish but the recovery process since then has been quite long. The training I’ve been doing has had a massive benefit to my fitness and although I haven’t spent as many hours on the bike as I would have liked, I feel great within myself and certainly ready for this new challenge. Testing has gone well, not just with the feeling on the bike but with navigation too, as I think it’s going to prove extra-important at this Dakar.”
Luciano Benavides successfully completed the 2019 Dakar well inside the top 10, while gaining valuable experience at the gruelling event. After showing increased pace and maturity over the course of the 2019 season the young Argentinian secured the Junior Cross-Country Rallies World Championship title and now hopes to carry his momentum into the forthcoming Dakar in Saudi Arabia.
“2019 has been the best year of my rally career so far. To finish the last Dakar in eighth and then win the junior world title with fifth in the overall is amazing. After such a strong season I’m really looking forward to the 2020 Dakar. I feel I have come on a lot since last year and I’m excited to put my experience to the test. The Dakar for me is like no other rally – you have to take the event day by day and treat each stage as a single race. I try not to worry too much about the overall time, the most important thing is to get to the finish safely and do the very best performance that I can.”
Source: MCNews.com.au
MX1 rider Kayne Lamont of the Altherm JCR Yamaha team had a strong start to the season, dominating the MX1 class at the 2019 Whakatane Summercross.
Held over the weekend, at the Awakaponga circuit, the 48th annual event always sees New Zealand’s motocross elite turn out in droves, as the hundreds of riders use the five races as a springboard into the 2020 national championship season.
Hamilton’s Lamont dived in headfirst and came up with a near-perfect scoreboard. The new race format meant there were five motos, which consisted of two back-to-back motos, with a five-minute break between them. After qualifying in P2, Lamont showed he’s a force to be reckoned with this season. He repeated that successful formula in the next three races, taking the win each time.
“Race 1 was a 10-minute race and then we headed back to start line and raced again for 10 minutes. I managed to get the holeshot in race 1 and race away comfortably on my YZ450F to win it. Race 5 was a single race of 15 minutes, plus two laps, and I managed to sneak another holeshot in this race but was passed mid-way through the opening lap. I ended up settling for second behind visiting Belgian rider Jens Getteman, as I knew I didn’t need to win to get the overall for the day. The track was hectic for me but I’m happy to have some race time under my belt. I’m excited to improve on what I achieved today – with myself fitness-wise and for my bike setup heading into Woodville at the end of January.”
Altherm JCR Yamaha Team Manager Josh Coppins praised his MX1 rider for bringing it home safe in the fifth moto. The former international motocross GP legend wasn’t just watching from the side-lines at the weekend and instead jumped on board a Yamaha YZ250F to fill in for his recuperating MX2 rider Maximus Purvis.
The Mangakino youngster is nearly recovered from an ankle injury and will race with the Altherm JCR Yamaha team at Woodville on January 26.
| Pos. | # | Rider | Total | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 |
| 1 | 94 | Kayne Lamont | 246 | 50 | 50 | 50 | 50 | 46 |
| 2 | 251 | Jens Getteman | 234 | 46 | 46 | 46 | 46 | 50 |
| 3 | 338 | Brad Groombridge | 211 | 41 | 43 | 43 | 43 | 41 |
| 4 | 14 | Tyler Steiner | 209 | 43 | 41 | 41 | 41 | 43 |
| 5 | 7 | Hadleigh Knight | 197 | 40 | 39 | 39 | 40 | 39 |
| 6 | 491 | Sam Cuthbertson | 196 | 39 | 38 | 40 | 39 | 40 |
| 7 | 8 | Roydon White | 188 | 38 | 40 | 37 | 35 | 38 |
| 8 | 9 | Sam Guise | 182 | 37 | 35 | 35 | 38 | 37 |
| 9 | 87 | Quade Young | 181 | 34 | 37 | 38 | 36 | 36 |
| 10 | 27 | Daniel White | 175 | 35 | 36 | 32 | 37 | 35 |
| 11 | 75 | Joshua Jack | 171 | 36 | 31 | 36 | 34 | 34 |
| 12 | 45 | Alain Pretorius | 161 | 29 | 33 | 34 | 33 | 32 |
| 13 | 166 | Andy Todd | 155 | 31 | 32 | 30 | 29 | 33 |
| 14 | 11 | James Wilson | 152 | 30 | 29 | 31 | 31 | 31 |
| 15 | 40 | Caleb Franklin | 142 | 27 | 30 | 28 | 28 | 29 |
| 16 | 125 | Joel Trappitt | 124 | 32 | 27 | 33 | 32 | – |
| 17 | 586 | Jaakan Horne | 116 | 28 | 28 | – | 30 | 30 |
| 18 | 105 | William Ogle | 96 | 33 | 34 | 29 | – | – |
| Pos. | # | Rider | Total | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 |
| 1 | 23 | Josiah Natzke | 239 | 46 | 50 | 43 | 50 | 50 |
| 2 | 2 | Wyatt Chase | 238 | 50 | 46 | 50 | 46 | 46 |
| 3 | 6 | Josh Coppins | 209 | 41 | 41 | 41 | 43 | 43 |
| 4 | 338 | Brad Groombridge | 200 | 40 | 40 | 39 | 41 | 40 |
| 5 | 203 | Luka Freemantle | 189 | 31 | 39 | 40 | 40 | 39 |
| 6 | 935 | Scott Barr-Smith | 178 | 28 | 37 | 38 | 37 | 38 |
| 7 | 615 | Joel Johnson | 174 | 37 | 30 | 33 | 38 | 36 |
| 8 | 108 | James Scott | 173 | 43 | 43 | 46 | – | 41 |
| 9 | 982 | Aaron Manning | 173 | 33 | 29 | 35 | 39 | 37 |
| 10 | 157 | Logan Maddren | 170 | 38 | 35 | 37 | 27 | 33 |
| 11 | 197 | Nick Hornby | 168 | 25 | 38 | 34 | 36 | 35 |
| 12 | 270 | Dylan Yearbury | 166 | 32 | 36 | 31 | 35 | 32 |
| 13 | 232 | Tom Armstrong | 157 | 35 | 32 | 30 | 33 | 27 |
| 14 | 81 | Carter Hanes | 156 | 30 | 33 | 27 | 32 | 34 |
| 15 | 278 | Yanni Emerson-Rae | 146 | 27 | 34 | 26 | 29 | 30 |
| 16 | 47 | Troy Wilson | 138 | 34 | 18 | 21 | 34 | 31 |
| 17 | 24 | Liam Hutton | 136 | 22 | 31 | 25 | 30 | 28 |
| 18 | 818 | Jack Rodgers | 131 | 24 | 28 | 32 | 24 | 23 |
| 19 | 266 | James Steele | 126 | 20 | 20 | 29 | 31 | 26 |
| 20 | 279 | Sam Corston | 125 | 29 | 22 | 19 | 26 | 29 |
| 21 | 441 | Adam Molloy | 122 | 23 | 27 | 22 | 25 | 25 |
| 22 | 274 | Harrison Chissell | 114 | 21 | 26 | 23 | 23 | 21 |
| 23 | 394 | Richard Horne | 103 | 39 | – | 36 | 28 | – |
| 24 | 901 | Mitchell Armstrong | 100 | 17 | 19 | 20 | 22 | 22 |
| 25 | 515 | Lee Ormsby | 94 | 19 | 23 | 28 | – | 24 |
| 26 | 2S | Diquon Snookes | 82 | 18 | 25 | 18 | 21 | – |
| 27 | 115 | Bradley Watling | 71 | 26 | 21 | 24 | – | – |
| 28 | 50 | Jonno Barnes | 57 | 16 | 24 | 17 | – | – |
| 29 | 88 | Brodie Connolly | 36 | 36 | – | – | – | – |
Motorcycling Australia and Kurri Kurri Speedway Club have announced a fundraiser for victims of the NSW fires as part of a special February 1 speedway event featuring solo riders and sidecars.
Kurri Kurri Speedway Club President, Peter Campton, said the fires had taken a toll on the local community with some not only losing animals but their family property to the fires, with his club wanting to give them something back. Mr Campton said it was important that the victims received directly the money the club would raise.
“We just want to try and get a few bucks for the local people that got burnt out, as the insurance won’t cover everything. Hopefully we can get a few corporate sponsors as we won’t have big prize money on the night as we want to give as much as we can to the victims of the fires. It’s Christmas and we just want to help as many people as we can, and do our best by them, as they must be feeling pretty bad, especially losing animals as they are family also.”
Motorcycling Australia Track Events Manager, Sam Redfern, said Motorcycling Australia members had been impacted by the terrible fires in NSW.
“Many of our members have been in the path of the fires and without the brave men and woman volunteers fighting these fires many more homes and properties would have been lost, so this is a small way our speedway family can help those in the Kurri Kurri region that have lost everything. What Peter and the Kurri Kurri Speedway Club members want to do for fire victims in the region is a wonderful initiative and shows the true Aussie spirit of helping your mates when they are down. We would certainly encourage everyone in the Kurri Kurri region to attend the special fundraiser event not only for the spectacular racing that will be on display but to also help us raise much needed funds for local fire victims.”
With no brakes, gears or fear, the fire victim fundraiser event will be held on February 1, 2020. Organisers are hoping for a star studded field of solo and sidecar riders, which will be announced in the lead up to the event.
Ricky Brabec proved himself to be one a favourite in the previous Dakar Rally, with the rider within reach of final glory had it not been for a mechanical setback. From the Californian desert, the Monster Energy Honda rider is once again poised to shine in the most important race of the year. Here’s what he had to say ahead of the 2020 Rally:
How are you feeling physically and how are the preparations for the next Dakar going? What are you expecting from it?
Ricky Brabec: Physically, I feel really good. Mentally, I’m still working on it. I had a tough break in the 2019 Dakar and it was pretty hard getting back in the saddle and pushing for victory after that one. There’s a lot of emotions and mixed feelings. But unfortunately what is done is done. So now we have to push and hopefully gain the confidence and the speed back as we head into the Dakar 2020 with more confidence and hopefully with a bit more speed. We will keep the fight alive and show up in Saudi Arabia Dakar ready for a full-on fight.
Last Dakar you took a huge step and you were leading the rally up until a few days from the finish. In the next Dakar you will be one of the favourites for the victory.
RB: Being one of the favourites is cool, but there’s a lot of people that think that if they are favourite, they’ll have a lot of ‘water-boys’ supporting them, but for me, coming from America, we do things a lot differently. I’m not expecting other riders to ride for me and I’m not going to ride for other riders. We are all in the race together. We are all trying to win. But in the end, when one of our team-mates wins, yeah, that guy won, but the whole team also wins. I’m really big at being a fair player. For me I will do the best I can at the Dakar. Hopefully I can come out on top and make all my friends and family proud.
Is it better to start the race as one of the favourites or one of those in the background?
RB: To start as a favourite I think you might have a lot of weight on your shoulders because everyone is watching you. But I prefer to start as an underdog and then come in and show people ‘Hey! Here I am.’
There’s about fifteen riders who could win the rally, so it’s not easy and we are not going very slow. Every day anything can happen and everything changes. The idea is to put in a really good first stage and start the rally on a good note. Hopefully the organization plays it safe. It’s rally. Everything changes. Every kilometre. What really matters is who crosses the line first.
The rally will change this year as they will give you the roadbook in the morning. You’ve already experienced this in Morocco. How will the race change with this rule?
RB: We will get pre-painted roadbooks. On four or six days we will get the roadbook in the morning. It definitely slows the rally down and makes the riders think a bit more. We won’t just look down and see the colours as usual and know what we are going to do. It’ll be more equal. You don’t want to be really far up front or really far back, you always want to be conservative and consistent and right in the middle: if you start at the front, then you are going to be the first one opening with a roadbook that nobody has seen. That can cause a lot of lost time. You want to finish fifth to tenth everyday, that will make you do really well: you won’t lose a lot of time, but you won’t gain a lot of time. You’ll always be in the fight. So you come in on the last day and attack. I’m training with the new roadbook at my house as best I can. Hopefully I can come into the Dakar with a lot of experience of the new roadbook and be more comfortable when I get there.
Saudi Arabia is a new country, so for this year all the riders arrive under the same conditions.
RB: We’re going to a different country, to Saudi Arabia, so no-one is familiar with the country and no-one has any insight into the route. We’re all going in pretty equal, not knowing what the heck is going on. It’s going be fairer. You know, it’s not going to be like, ‘Hey I know a guy that says that here is like this or whatever.’ We are all going in basically blind. We’re all going to go in not knowing what each day is going to be like. We go to Peru, we go to Argentina, we go to Bolivia, we go to Morocco, we go to Dubai and we can go to Chile and we already know what each day is going to be like by looking where we’re going or by what they’re telling us. This time we are going to Saudi Arabia where we haven’t raced before. The new generation hasn’t raced there. So we are going to start not knowing anything. They are going to tell us what the stage is like and that’s all we are going to know. So it’s going to be fairer. All the riders get the same roadbook, at the same time of the day. I think the rally is going to come down to not just speed, but being smart and being collective.
Could this be good for you?
RB: Hopefully. We’ll see at the end of the Dakar.
You are an American and you live in California. If you go back to when you first went to dirt races or desert races, did you ever imagine that one day you would be leading the Dakar Rally, the toughest race in the world?
RB: I would have done a lot of things differently had I known I would be where I am at today. I probably would have paid attention better in math class at school. I would probably have fewer tattoos… I probably wouldn’t have grown up as a punk kid… I don’t know. I never thought that I’d be leading the Dakar, but in 2019 I was doing that, and I believe that there’s a little fight left in me to do it for 2020.
When you started to ride, did you know about the Dakar?
RB: No. I didn’t know about the Dakar until 2008. One of my friends came to watch the Dakar. I was watching Quinn Cody and Robby Gordon.
Out of a Rally bike… Your normal training is with a bicycle?
RB: I ride a bicycle, I ride a mountain bike, I do some downhill… I go to the gym, some motocross track. Hiking… I do a lot of things because I hate to sit still and I hate to sit inside and I hate to watch TV. So I try to do something whether it’s playing in the truck or riding trails, riding Enduro, mountain biking, going to the downhill mountain bike park to go jumping with the bicycle, hiking with friends, camping…
Is there any race similar to the terrain that you are used to?
RB: The terrain near my house is like Morocco. Really rough and really dry. We have many dunes near my home where I do my training and the Baja 1000 is very close to my house. It’s exactly like Morocco. Hopefully it will be like Saudi Arabia, so I will feel comfortable.
With Anaheim 1 landing this weekend, there’s a strong showing of Aussies over in the States battling it out, with Chad Reed and Joel Wightman in the 450SX class. In the 250SX class it’ll be Geran Stapleton, Aaron Tanti, Jay Wilson, Jett Lawrence and Luke Clout representing Australia. You can check out the full rider list below.
The AMA Supercross has announced the 450SX and 250SX entry lists for the Anaheim 1 event, running this Saturday at Angel Stadium of Anaheim, CA. The current list sees 53 250SX riders line up, while 50 will be racing in the 450SX category.
| 1 | Webb, Cooper | Clermont, FL | |
| 3 | Tomac, Eli | Cortez, CO | |
| 7 | Plessinger, Aaron | Hamilton, OH | |
| 9 | Cianciarulo, Adam | New Smyrna Beach, FL | |
| 10 | Brayton, Justin | Charlotte, NC | |
| 11 | Chisholm, Kyle | Valrico, FL | |
| 15 | Wilson, Dean | Murrieta, CA | |
| 16 | Osborne, Zach | Abingdon, VA | |
| 21 | Anderson, Jason | Rio Rancho, NM | |
| 22 | Reed, Chad | Cornelius, NC | |
| 27 | Stewart, Malcolm | Haines City, FL | |
| 31 | Noren, Fredrik | Indian Trail, NC | |
| 34 | Bowers, Tyler | Lake Elsinore, CA | |
| 37 | Davalos, Martin | Tallahassee, FL | |
| 44 | Cunningham, Kyle | WIllow park, TX | |
| 46 | Hill, Justin | Yoncalla, OR | |
| 50 | Bloss, Benny | Oak Grove, MO | |
| 51 | Barcia, Justin | Greenville, FL | |
| 53 | Decotis, Jimmy | Huntersville, NC | |
| 61 | Ray, Alex | Milan, TN | |
| 64 | Friese, Vince | Menifee, CA | |
| 65 | Weeks, James | Punta Gorda, FL | |
| 70 | Merriam, Dylan | Corona, CA | |
| 82 | Autenrieth, Cade | HEMET, CA | |
| 86 | Cartwright, Josh | Tallahassee, FL | |
| 92 | Politelli, Austin | Murrieta, CA | |
| 94 | Roczen, Ken | Clermont, FL | |
| 111 | Tedder, Dakota | Surfside, CA | |
| 114 | Schmidt, Nick | Lake Elsinore, CA | |
| 135 | Fitch, Robert | Watkins, CO | |
| 138 | Pulley Jr, David | Lake Elsinore, CA | |
| 145 | Smith, Travis | Lancaster, CA | |
| 230 | Wightman, Joel | Singleton, NSW | |
| 240 | Stewart, Bryce | Canyon Lake, CA | |
| 256 | Milson, James | Granbury, TX | |
| 280 | Clason, Cade | Tucson, AZ | |
| 282 | Pauli, Theodore | Edwardsville, IL | |
| 330 | Catanzaro, Aj | Reston, VA | |
| 360 | Siminoe, Aaron | Reno, NV | |
| 421 | Martin, Vann | Cypress, TX | |
| 424 | Custer, Tyler | Creston, CA | |
| 501 | Wennerstrom, Scotty | Jefferson, TX | |
| 509 | Nagy, Alexander | Richmond, IL | |
| 526 | Aeck, Colton | Simi Valley, CA | |
| 651 | Hogan, Jake | Acton, CA | |
| 722 | Enticknap, Adam | Lompoc, CA | |
| 817 | Clermont, Jason | Plesse, France | |
| 848 | Cros, Joan | Manlleu, BC | |
| 976 | Greco, Josh | Lucerne Valley, CA | |
| 981 | Thurman, Curren | Rosharon, TX | |
| 1W | Ferrandis, Dylan | Lake Elsinore, CA |
| 6 | Martin, Jeremy | Rochester, MN |
| 12 | McElrath, Shane | Murrieta, CA |
| 13 | Nichols, Colt | Murrieta, CA |
| 26 | Martin, Alex | Clermont, FL |
| 28 | Mosiman, Michael | Menifee, CA |
| 29 | Mcadoo, Cameron | Sioux City, IA |
| 30 | Hartranft, Brandon | Corona, CA |
| 32 | Cooper, Justin | Menifee, CA |
| 40 | Oldenburg, Mitchell | Godley, TX |
| 54 | Smith, Jordon | Ochlocknee, GA |
| 55 | Castelo, Martin | Murrieta, CA |
| 57 | Drake, Derek | Corona, CA |
| 60 | Falk, Mitchell | Costa Mesa, CA |
| 62 | Craig, Christian | Orange, CA |
| 72 | Wageman, Robbie | Newhall, CA |
| 75 | Schock, Coty | Dover, DE |
| 83 | Lawrence, Jett | Wesley Chapel, FL |
| 88 | Karnow, Logan | Amherst, OH |
| 90 | Auberson, Killian | Winchester, CA |
| 95 | Brown, Carson | Ravensdale, WA |
| 97 | Howell, Chris | Spokane Valley, WA |
| 98 | Lionnet, Bradley | Menifee, CA |
| 101 | Clout, Luke | Hemet, CA |
| 106 | Wilson, Jay | Palm Beach, QLD |
| 108 | Tanti, Aaron | Silverdale, NSW |
| 118 | Harmon, Cheyenne | Dallas, TX |
| 120 | Bannister, Todd | Colorado Springs, CO |
| 154 | Felong, Chase | Oceanside, CA |
| 170 | Leib, Michael | Temecula, CA |
| 181 | Lyonsmith, Wyatt | Boise, ID |
| 227 | Kelley, Derek | Riverside, CA |
| 244 | Henderson, Mike | Littleton, CO |
| 246 | Blackburn, Chance | Newman Lake, WA |
| 259 | Hayes, Corbin | Folsom, CA |
| 260 | Woodcock, Dylan | Rayleigh, ENG |
| 277 | Caro, Kordel | Costa Mesa, CA |
| 284 | Camporese, Lorenzo | Campodarsego, PD |
| 311 | Gifford, Mitchell | Colorado Springs, CO |
| 316 | Newby, Dawson | Eaton, CO |
| 395 | Van Eeden, Charl | Menifee, CA |
| 427 | VonLossberg, Deegan | Murrieta, CA |
| 474 | Hallafors, Niclas | Mission Viejo, CA |
| 522 | Zitterkopf, Cole | Hurricane, UT |
| 538 | Emory IV, Addison | Queen Creek, AZ |
| 621 | Wageman, Rj | Newhall, CA |
| 702 | Hempen, Josiah | Argyle, IA |
| 767 | Wharton, Mason | Battle Ground, WA |
| 906 | Galamba, Adrian | Bucyrus, KS |
| 914 | Stapleton, Geran | Cape Schanck, VIC |
| 929 | Koga, Taiki | Kurume, Japan |
| 952 | Macler, Ludovic | Bliesbruck, FR |
| 974 | Marty, Brian | Olympia, WA |
Source: MCNews.com.au
