Sam Lowes will join the Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS in 2020, which will be his sixth season in the intermediate category. Born in Lincoln (England) on September 14, 1990, the Briton arrived in the MotoGP World Championship in 2014 after being crowned World Supersport Champion in 2013 with Yamaha. After three seasons in Moto2, Lowes made the leap to MotoGP with Aprilia in 2017 before returning to the intermediate category one year later. He has raced a Kalex chassis during the 2019 campaign, which saw the introduction of the new Triumph 765cc three-cylinder motor.
Toparis and Shaw fastest in Supersport and Supersport 300 classes.
Image: Russell Colvin.
Team Suzuki Ecstar Australia’s Wayne Maxwell has ended a rain-affected Friday practice on top of the timesheets at Winton’s fifth round of the 2019 Motul Pirelli Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK), the premier class managing just one session under reasonable conditions.
Former champion Maxwell, who won last time out at Morgan Park, lodged the fastest time of 1m21.499s in session two, edging out Cru Halliday (Yamaha Racing Team) and defending champion Troy Herfoss (Penrite Honda Racing) in the top three, the duo recording times of 1m21.724s and 1m21.851s respectively.
Points leader Mike Jones (DesmoSport Ducati) was fourth with a 1m21.995s time, followed by Josh Waters (Team Suzuki Ecstar Australia), who recorded a best-lap of 1m22.649s.
Bryan Staring (Kawasaki BCpeformance) was sixth ahead of Alex Phillis (Team Suzuki Ecstar Australia), Glenn Allerton (Maxima BMW), Matt Walters (Kawasaki Connection) and Aaron Morris (Maxima BMW).
Image: Russell Colvin.
The Supersport category saw championship leader Tom Toparis (Landbridge Yamaha) set the fastest over Yamaha-mounted Ty Lynch, as Aiden Hayes (Yamaha) locked out the top three. Fourth and fifth were credited to Rhys Belling (Yamaha) and Chris Quinn (Yamaha).
Yannis Shaw (Kawasaki) was fastest in Supersport 300 ahead of Luke Jhonston (Kawasaki) and Luke Power (Kawasaki), as Max Stauffer (Yamaha) led Luke Jhonston (Yamaha) and Ben Baker (Yamaha) in the Yamaha R3 Cup.
Rodbell indicates Raceline KTM Thor switch for AUS Supercross
Section: Competition
American receives call up in place of injured Mellross.
Image: Foremost Media.
Justin Rodbell has indicated he’ll transfer to Raceline KTM Thor in place of an injured Hayden Mellross for the upcoming Australian Supercross Championship, the American previously fielded by KSF Suzuki in the Pirelli MX Nationals.
Rodbell, who earned his ride with KSF Suzuki by winning a pre-season competition hosted by the outfit, is understood to have been on a motocross-only deal, however following his campaign in the MX Nationals, discussions and preparation for him compete in supercross aboard a Suzuki were being made.
The 19-year-old received the call up by the factory KTM team last month to pilot the 450 SX-F made vacant by Mellross, who suffered a season-ending knee injury at Moree’s penultimate stop of the outdoor series before being operated on after Coolum’s finals.
“Nothing’s official yet, but I’m obviously filling in for Hayden Mellross,” Rodbell explained to MotoOnline.com.au. “I’ve made the switch to KTM, and I’m loving the bike so far – I’ve spent about a week and a half on it, and everyone at Raceline is treating me well.
“I have another chance in 2019, and it was really cool what KSF did this year, but I’ve got to move onto bigger things. It was just a motocross-only thing at first – I raced motocross and it was brought up if I wanted to race supercross, so I planned on racing supercross for them.
“I had some supercross suspension done and started riding the Suzuki, but then Chris from Raceline called and said ‘hey man, would you be interested in riding a KTM for supercross?’ Hell yeah, I’d love to. It’s a great opportunity.”
The KSF Suzuki team has since signed Gradie Featherstone for supercross, who competed for them in last year’s championship.
2019 Motul Pirelli Australian Superbike Championship
Winton – Round Five – Friday Practice
Things are tight at the top ahead of this weekend’s fifth round of the Australian Superbike Championship. Less than 30-points currently separate the top six in the championship with Mike Jones leading Cru Halliday by a single point.
After the conclusion of this weekend there will be only two rounds remaining and this fifth round will make or break the championship aspirations of a few of the prime contenders.
First practice this morning saw the heavens open just prior to the 1040 start time. As a result most of the field kept themselves and their powder dry for the remaining 2 x 30-minute sessions this afternoon. Only Bryan Staring and Lachlan Epis bothered to head out to get wet in the deluge, and both ended up crashing in the sketchy conditions.
Things were dry early in the afternoon for the second session and this time around the Superbike field got down to business proper/ They knew that there was chance that this could be the only dry track time they would get before Sunday’s 2 x 16-lap races.
Troy Herfoss was quick out of the blocks as was Cru Halliday and Wayne Maxwell.
Ultimately it was the #47 that ended the session on top with a 1m21.499s today’s benchmark.
Halliday’s quickest time of 1m21.724s came on the final of his 17 laps during the session to displace Herfoss from that second spot on the leader-board.
Mike Jones was the only other rider in the 21s and had more than half-a-second on fifth placed Josh Waters.
Alex Phillis pretty much destroyed a GSX-R1000R today, he is fine but his wallet took a hefty impact…
A heavy shower then completely soaked the entire Winton venue ahead of the third and final practice session of the day. Even if riders get back on track late this afternoon none of them are going to better the times set in FP2.
Superbike Friday Times
Wayne Maxwell – Suzuki 1m21.499s
Cru Halliday – Yamaha 1m21.724s
Troy Herfoss – Honda 1m21.851s
Mike Jones – Ducati 1m21.995s
Josh Waters – Suzuki 1m22.649s
Bryan Staring – Kawasaki 1m23.060s
Alex Phillis – Suzuki 1m23.888s
Glenn Allerton – BMW 1m24.505s
Matt Walters – Kawasaki 1m24.908s
Aaron Morris – BMW 1m24.985s
Mark Chiodo – Honda 1m25.059s
Arthur Sissis – Suzuki 1m25.114s
Kyle Buckley – Kawasaki 1m25.124s
Daniel Falzon – Yamaha 1m26.724s
Damon Rees – Honda 1m27.165s
Lachlan Epis – Kawasaki 1m27.244s
Brendan McIntyre – Suzuki 1m30.101s
Ted Collins – BMW 1m31.399s
Hamish McMurray – Kawasaki 1m32.677s
Supersport Friday Times
Tom TOPARIS (NSW) Yamaha 1:27.677
Ty LYNCH (SA) Yamaha 1:33.425
Aidan HAYES (NSW) Yamaha 1:33.910
Rhys BELLING (VIC) Yamaha 1:35.129
Chris QUINN (NSW) Yamaha 1:37.650
Ryan SELLEN (NSW) Kawasaki 1:42.926
Andrew EDSER (NSW) Kawasaki 1:44.296
Avalon BIDDLE (NZ) Yamaha 1:44.638
Chandler COOPER (VIC) Yamaha 1:55.043
Supersport 300 Friday Times
Yannis Shaw – Kawasaki 400 1m35.481s
Luke Johnston – Kawasaki 400 1m38.383s
Luke Power – Kawasaki 400 1m39.118s
Brandon Demmery – Yamaha 1m39.612s
Senna Agius – Kawasaki 400 1m39.640s
Reece Oughtred – Yamaha 1m39.941s
Peter Nerlich – Kawasaki 300 1m39.989s
Harry Parker – Yamaha 1m40.605s
Ben Burke – Kawasaki 400 1m41.280s
Hunter Ford – Yamaha 1m41.396s
John Lytras – Yamaha 1m41.627s
Stephany Kapilawi-James Yamaha 1m43.324s
John Quinn – Kawasaki 400 1m43.382s
Seth Crump – KTM 1m44.078s
Ryan Smith – Yamaha 1m44.168s
YMF R3 Cup Friday Times
Max Stauffer 1m36.486s
Luke Johnston 1m36.624s
Ben Baker 1m37.107s
Locky Taylor 1m37.857s
Hunter Ford 1m38.715s
Brandon Demmery 1m39.482s
John Lytras 1m39.542s
Harry Parker 1m40.442s
Jacob Roulstone 1m41.604s
Tristan Adamson 1m41.855s
bLU cRU Oceania Junior Cup Friday Times
Angus Grenfell 1m50.592s
Lucas Quinn 1m51.060s
Archie McDonald 1m51.327s
Tom Drane 1m51.568s
Cros Francis 1m51.746s
Jacob Roulstone 1m51.914s
Reece Oughtred 1m52.046s
Jamie Port 1m52.124s
Zak Pettendy 1m52.674s
Carter Thompson 1m54.392s
2019 Motul Pirelli Australian Superbike Championships Calendar
Round 5: Winton Motor Raceway, VIC – 6-8 September 2019
Round 6: Phillip Island GP Circuit, VIC – 4-6 October 2019
Round 7: Sydney Motorsport Park, NSW – 1-3 November 2019
Motul Pirelli Australian Superbike Championship Standings
Man-made circuit not to the factory Yamaha rider’s liking.
Image: Supplied.
Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jeremy Seewer has expressed the MXGP of Turkey is not his favourite track on the calendar as the series heads there this weekend for the penultimate round, the Afyonkarahisar venue being one of a selection of man-made circuits in the championship.
Seewer currently has a firm grip on runner-up honours in the championship rankings, holding down a comfortable 41-point margin over third’s Gautier Paulin (Monster Energy Wilvo Yamaha).
“Turkey is a place that we know, so we know what to expect,” Seewer stated. “It’s not my favorite place, it is one of these newer man-made tracks, but it is fun and I have done well there in the past.
“I will go there with a smile on my face and keep pushing to be on the podium. I am trying to not think about the championship too much just yet. It’s hard with just two races to go but we need to keep going and having fun.”
It was revealed last month that Monster Energy Wilvo Yamaha will become the official factory team in 2020, which will field a three-rider squad consisting of Seewer, Paulin and Arnaud Tonus.
Recent advancements motivating for Davies as Portimao looms
Section: Competition
British ace acknowledges tough weekend ahead in Portugal.
Image: Supplied.
Advancements made at Laguna Seca’s ninth round and testing at Portimao last month have motivated Chaz Davies for this weekend’s 10th round of the 2019 Motul FIM Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK) in Portugal, despite the British ace acknowledging it’s going to be a tough encounter
The Aruba.it Racing – Ducati broke through for victory at Laguna Seca’s ninth round before the WorldSBK went into an extended break for the European summer, and after testing in Portugal, he has an extra ‘spring’ in his step for this weekend’s trio of races.
“After the summer break and about two months after my win, I know it’s going to be a tough race here at Portimao, but the gains we made at Laguna Seca and the work we did in the test have really put a bit of a spring in my step,” Davies explained.
“I feel like the bike is now a lot different to the one I’ve been racing this season and I’m looking forward to the race because I feel our pace is quite decent.
“Going on past results, for me this track is not the easiest one to get a win at, but I’m feeling optimistic because the Panigale V4 R is going better around here than the twin ever did. I’m feeling confident, even though Portimao is not an easy track and the bumps and undulations throw up a lot of different challenges.”
Davies is currently ranked seventh in the championship rankings as four rounds remain.
However, they should also be alert to the bushfire conditions.
Fire and Emergency Services have specifically asked all motorists to stay away from Lamington National Park Road, Illinbah and Upper Coomera Road in the Gold Coast hinterland.
They say motorists “rubbernecking” are putting their workers’ lives at risk as well as the lives and properties of the public.
Bushfires can spread rapidly and even outrun a vulnerable rider, no matter how fast you are riding!
Riders are also in danger from smoke inhalation, low visibility and eye irritation.
Rural fire services also point out that fires have been sparked by motorcycles in the past.
They say about 40% of all bushfires are accidentally started by humans dropping cigarette butts, campfires, discarding bottles, sparks from machinery and motorcycles.
Most riders who accidentally spark these blazes are off-road and adventure bikes riding in the bush and on forestry tracks.
However, there is also the possibility of fires being started by road bikes if the rider pulls over to the side of the road where they may be long, dry grass.
The bike’s engine, exhaust, or catalytic convertor can be hot enough to set dry grass alight.
Just days after we published an article in which Queensland Police waived an erroneous fine for a “void” helmet sticker, a second similar incorrect infringement has surfaced.
And it seems one of the chiefs of the Road Policing Command is so out of touch with the Australian and Queensland Road Rules and Standards he even thinks European-approved helmets can’t be sold legally in Queensland stores.
The lack of police knowledge about helmet rules has alarmed the new Australian Motorcycle Council chairman, Guy Stanford.
He has called on Police Minister Mark Ryan and Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll to ensure officers are correctly educated about the rules before more riders are erroneously fined.
And Queensland is not the only state where police are getting the rules and standards wrong. Click here for more details.
Incorrect fine
In the first instance of an incorrect helmet fine, a rider had an external sticker showing “VOID” from sun exposure and an internal certification label affected by wear and sweat.
Neither the Australian Road Rules nor the Australian Standards make any reference to an age limit for motorcycle helmets.
Police admitted their error and said it was an “isolated incident” and “the officer has been given guidance regarding the matter”.
However, that is not the case and police are issuing incorrect fines because they apparently don’t know the relevant road rules and helmet standards.
Second fine
In the second incident, Robbie Graham copped a fine for a non-compliant helmet even though it had a proper Australian compliance sticker on the outside although the interior label had disappeared with normal wear and tear.
Guy says riders only need one form of certification “mark” on their helmet, either the external sticker or internal label, not both.
He says there is no reference in the road rules nor standard to helmets being non-compliant because of the wear and tear to the certification sticker or label.
The Queensland Department of Transport also notes that “either” a sticker or label is all that is legally required.
Fight against incorrect fine
Robbie has vowed to fight the $400/three-demerit-point fine and has written to the Police Commissioner and Department.
We also contacted Police HQ to ask why this has occurred, how they would ensure proper education of their officers and whether they would waive the incorrect fine.
Their insufficient reply did not answer any of our questions.
Instead, police referred us to the officer in charge and said “personal correspondence has been provided to the relevant party regarding this matter”.
That “personal correspondence” consisted of a phone message left for Robbie by an officer from the Organised Crime Gangs Maxima Road Policing Unit.
The message suggested Robbie had “two options — you can pay the fine or go to court”.
We contacted the phone number supplied and spoke with the Officer in Charge of the unit, Sgt Cameron Wilson.
The Sgt agrees that riders only need either the sticker or label as stated on the Department of Transport website and admitted by police in waiving Ian’s fine.
However, he says if the helmet only has the sticker, it needs to have all the information that is on the internal label as well as a date of manufacture.
Guy points out that there has never been any external sticker with all that information and the date of manufacture is superfluous because there is expiry date requirement for helmets.
Not only was his interpretation of the rules askew, but he didn’t even know that European-approved helmets could legally be sold in shops.
We asked Police HQ what training police received on helmet rules.
They replied: “Although there is no specific formal training package regarding motor cycle helmets, all officers are trained in statutory interpretation to enable them to enforce the law.”
Guy says the term “trained in statutory interpretation” sounds like something the Red Queen from Alice in Wonderland would say.
“Perhaps this Sergeant needs to take advice from a hookah-smoking caterpillar before he goes crimson with rage and demands “Off with his head!” before going off to play croquet using flamingos for sticks,” he says.
“We really are in some childish alternate reality with this stuff.”
Court option
While police continue to incorrectly issue helmet fines, riders are left with the two options of paying a fine for an offence they did not commit or waste the court’s time and their time with the expense of a court hearing.
“They shouldn’t be issuing incorrect fines to people in the first place,” Robbie says.
“This doesn’t show ethics or integrity. It’s just wrong.
“You have to stand up for everyone else not just yourself.”
We contacted the Police Minister who has now asked the police to investigate the matter.
The Police Commissioner has been asked for comment, but is busy with bushfires this weekend and may not reply until next week.
We will follow the progress of Robbie’s fine challenge.
Factory Husqvarna re-signs Haaker in multi-year deal
Section: Competition
SuperEnduro world champion cements future through 2021 season.
Image: Supplied.
Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing has re-signed reigning SuperEnduro world champion Colton Haaker in a multi-year deal that will see him through the 2021 season.
In Colton’s four full years with the team, he’s earned an impressive number of championship titles across an extensive range of enduro events, both in the United States and worldwide. Haaker will continue to contest the AMA Endurocross series, US Hard Enduro events, and other selected international races.
“It is incredible to be with the team for another two years,” said Haaker. “I started with Rockstar Energy Husqvarna four years ago with no titles and since then I have earned five! We have set out new goals for the upcoming years and I hope to continue our winning ways.”
Team manager Tim Weigand added: “Watching Colton develop into a multiple world championship-winning rider over the last several years has been a privilege. His talent and determination make him a front-runner for any race series. We are happy to have Colton continue his journey with our Rockstar Energy Husqvarna family.”
Herfoss highlights importance of Winton in ASBK title bid
Section: Competition
Defending champion confident leading into this weekend’s fifth round.
Image: Russell Colvin.
Reigning champion Troy Herfoss has highlighted the importance that Winton’s fifth round plays in his bid for the 2019 Motul Pirelli Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) this weekend, as the points chase remains tight amongst the top six riders.
Following a mixed season so far, the Penrite Honda Racing believes his feeling with the bike is the best it’s been since wrapping up last year’s title at the Victorian venue, promoting a boost of confidence ahead of Sunday’s pair of races.
“Winton is a pretty important round at this point in the championship,” commented Herfoss. “It’s been an up and down series for a lot of people – a few have had some bad luck and others have kept themselves in it through consistency – so it is tight in the points.
“There are a number of guys who could capitalise on a strong round at Winton and, honestly, I feel the best on the bike since I did at this track last year when I won the championship. The test that we had here was really, really good for us, so I’m looking forward to getting out there no matter what the conditions are.”
The number one is ranked fourth in the championship standings, 15 points behind series leader Mike Jones (DesmoSport Ducati).
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