Asia Talent Cup unable to be completed this season

News 3 Aug 2020

Asia Talent Cup unable to be completed this season

Event cancelations and travel restrictions cause early end to series.

Image: Supplied.

This year’s Idemitsu Asia Talent Cup (ATC) has been cancelled due to COVID-19, with border restrictions causing a number of associated events to be dropped by organisers.

With the MotoGP rounds in Thailand and Malaysia both cancelled recently, plus travel restrictions making additional rounds unable to go ahead, only the Qatar round has been contested in 2020.

Every rider who was set to compete in the cup this season will automatically have an available spot on the 2021 grid. Any remaining places in the 2021 cup will be filled by riders from national championships or racing schools across Asia and Oceania, with competitors chosen by the ATC selection committee.

This is due to the fact that the 2021 selection event, set to be held before the Malaysian GP in October at Sepang, cannot take place this season. A 2021 calendar will be announced following publication of 2021 dates or calendars for the championships alongside which the ATC often race, such as MotoGP, Malaysian Superbikes (MSBK) and Australian Superbike (ASBK).

In 2020, the focus for the riders will now move from on-track battles to virtual workshops aimed at improving some important skills off the bike. These will focus on communication and social media, as well the importance of the English language for those who are not native speakers. The first two workshops took place mid-July, with more organised for the coming weeks as the grid gear up for 2021.

Source: CycleOnline.com.au

Search begins for 2021 Oceania Junior Cup competitors

News 3 Aug 2020

Search begins for 2021 Oceania Junior Cup competitors

Australia’s ‘Road to MotoGP’ now open to expressions of interest.

Image: Russell Colvin.

Motorcycling Australia (MA) is seeking expressions of interest for riders aged 11 to under 16 to be considered for the 2021 Oceania Junior Cup (OJC) series.

The OJC Junior development program made its debut in 2019 and is Australia’s premier junior road racing academy, officially recognised by the FIM and Dorna Sports as part of the ‘Road to MotoGP’ program.

Riders are provided with a race-prepped Yamaha YZF-R15 bikes, equipped with Pirelli tyres, Ohlins suspension, RK chains, Motul oil, Ricondi Motorcycle Apparel leathers and gloves, AGV helmets, TCX boots, round entries, transportation of bikes, pre-event service of bikes, technical support, spare parts budget and OJC team uniform.

Riders competing in the 2021 championship will receive elite coaching to help develop their bike skills and technique, health and fitness, sportsmanship and off-track activities such as media and fan engagement.

The OJC, which is featuring as part of the 2020 Mi-Bike Australian Superbike Championship (ASBK) was also part of the Australian round of the Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK) and was scheduled to be a feature race at this year’s MotoGP at Phillip Island prior to its cancellation.

“Motorcycling Australia are committed to developing Australia’s junior talent on the Road to MotoGP, aimed at developing Australia’s next national talent and international champion,” said MA operations director Martin Port. “Our current riders come from a multitude of disciplines including road, speedway, motocross, enduro and dirt track.

“Every bike is identical – there are no haves and have nots in the OJC program. The racing is spectacular and victory comes down to a rider’s ability to get the most out of himself or herself, but winning isn’t everything in the OJC program. Our focus is the development of these juniors, both on and off the track. It’s about learning, developing as a rider and opening up opportunities.”

Dorna’s commitment has already seen OJC riders qualify for the 2020 Asia Talent Cup selection event and cements MA’s objective to develop clear pathways for junior road racers in the Oceania region. Additionally, selected riders from the OJC were provided the opportunity of participating in the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup selection event last year.

Expressions of interest applications are available at www.asbk.com.au.

Source: CycleOnline.com.au

Talking ASBK and BMW with Shane Kinderis – A deep dive…

NextGen Motorsports BMW Interview

Trev chats with NextGen BMW tech guru Shane Kinderis

Images by Russell Colvin


Trevor Hedge, MCNews.com.au: How’s it been going with your recent tests and the St George Club racing in NSW recently?

Shane Kinderis: “Really good, obviously we’ve been up there doing a little bit of testing and things and I think we’ve come a long way from where we were. The bike is night and day better than anything we’ve had before, and I am so disappointed we’re not racing as I think we’ve got something that we are really excited to race.”

NextGen Motorsports BMW S 1000 RR

Trev: You said you had some software updates recently, to get independent control of the throttle bodies?

Shane: “The software update came through and we were on our way – literally loading the trailer for Winton to go testing – and it came up on my computer that there was a new software update available, this was four weeks, five weeks ago so when we did a couple of Winton tests, we put that in the bike when we were at the test. So we did Winton, we’d been there previously using the combined throttles, so I said let’s throw it on and test it. Glen said, ‘Ah nah, they never work’, he pretty much hated the previous versions of the split throttles, and the beauty of it now we’ve got different maps, different modes, and Glenn can jump from split throttle to combined throttles on the fly. So he pushed the button and you could hear it, all of a sudden it sounded more like a crossplane crank Yamaha out on the racetrack, especially at Winton, he came back in and said holy shit what have you done. That is unbelievable.  (Split throttles means that the ECU is working the throttle bodies independent of each other with different openings rather than as a matched set)

“So we spent the day working on it and we just went faster and faster and faster. I think we dropped in to the high 1m20s at the end. It was just a winters day, nothing special in the track conditions, and he was picking up the throttle that early in the last corner I just kept waiting him to run fair straight into the fence. It just frightened me how easily he could pick it up. Normally you hear them when they pick it up, and they’ve apexed already, but he’s starting to pick it up before the apex and you can hear the thing just dropping onto two cylinders, powers along, and then as soon as it starts to come upright, two, three, four, and away it goes. Between two and four it also spark cuts, it sounds real rugged. It’s hard to explain, but it sounds like a proper World Superbike.

“It’s just that software, obviously the dribble down from WSBK to us took longer than we thought. But getting access to what they have has always been a BMW thing. Whatever they have you can buy, anybody can buy it, there’s no secrets, if you want a factory engine they’ll sell you a factory engine. If you want anything from the factory they’ll sell it to you. For our land speed project in America I asked them for the best engine you guys can put together. I wanted the bottom end out of the original Troy Corser era engine, the 2010, the one that had a million horsepower and was un-ridable, I wanted that cylinder head, that camshaft, but I needed a custom gearbox, with extra long gears, custom primary gear sets, so we could run 270 odd mile an hour. ‘Yea no worries, here’s the invoice, you pay you can have it,’ they said.

“So they are really good, their technology is…. I’m fortunate enough to have a good working relationship with Mark Bongers (BMW Motorrad Motorsport Director) and Peter Lauche (BMW WorldSBK Electronics Engineer) who does all the electronics, so I know those guys and that helps being able to ring up. We’ve had a few debates over the split throttles and that previously, but as I said, I think something got misread there and it’s been fixed now in this latest update.

NextGen Motorsports BMW S 1000 RR – Shane Kinderis (L), mechanic Brad Lewis (R)

Trev: “If he’s getting on the throttle that early and it is driving so smoothly, that must be half the work of the shock set-up done for you in one fell swoop…?”

Shane: “We started the year at Phillip Island, we raced on a 5.2 kg spring and that’s crazy. We’re now hovering between 6.8 and 7 kg, that’s how far away we are from where we were.

NextGen Motorsports BMW S 1000 RR

Trev: And I know Glenn hasn’t eaten a lot of pies in the plague lay-off as Brookesy told me that Glenn is fit as, and pumping plenty of power through the bicycle?

Shane: “*Laughs* “While we struggled at Phillip Island, one lap was incredible, we did 32.7 in that one lap in qualifying, and that was on the old tyre from the first practice session. We never got to put a zero in it because we couldn’t get the axle in, the brake pads fell out, all that shit didn’t go our way. But it was really good for one to two laps, and then it would fall off a cliff and we couldn’t put a finger on why. We just weren’t pushing the tyre hard enough into the ground, it was just spinning. Because we were the only people using stock links, the WSBK data was no good to us, and the WSBK guys were in our pits trying to help, but none of those guys use the stock stuff that we have to use in ASBK. You can buy a kit link that will fix all your problems, but we can’t use it.

“And Glenn and I butt heads now and then, ‘Why don’t we just put a link it to try’ he asks, but we can’t race with one… But after last week I said I’d probably buy a kit link and we’ll map it, and get some data off it, and run two bikes back to back, until we can simulate the kit links, shock travel and stuff like that.

“Because the big issue is the stock bike was designed for electronic suspension. The only way you can make electronic suspension work is to have a long shaft travel stroke, to give the electronics time to react. So this has a link ratio that is so far away from any other superbike that it’s not funny, so nothing convetional set-up wise works. So that’s why you run around with 5 kg springs in it. Now we have a bit more of a handle on it, we’re up to 6.8 or 7 kilo spring now the bike is so much better behaved, we may as well have started all our development four weeks ago because it is pretty much starting all over again from a new base.”

NextGen Motorsports BMW S 1000 RR

Trev: There’s been a few man-hours spent….?

Shane: “Yea, so much time and anguish and we’ve looked stupid. It wasn’t for lack of trying, we worked so hard to get the thing to be competitive, but we couldn’t get it to do what we wanted to do. But now it’s a different story. We’re happy, we started to get an idea at the Wakefield test, but that was on the combined throttles. We started going that way on the suspension geometry at the Wakefield test, so that chassis geometry, we figured out a direction where the bike was starting to work. And we definitely need to get back to Wakefield, with the split-throttles, you can pick the throttle up anywhere, and that’s a big thing at Wakefield, being able to get on the throttle. So we’re excited to get back and doing those sort of tracks again, and especially Phillip Island. You know at Phillip Island you always go up a spring rate because of the g-forces, and we are 35 per cent stiffer than we were at Phillip Island. So it’s going to be night and day as to what it’s capable of doing. Let’s hope we can get to go racing.”

NextGen Motorsports BMW S 1000 RR

Trev: We’ve been talking so much about electronics development, what’s your thoughts with the M.A. canvassing the introduction of a control ECU, and on the current battle between Wayne wanting to run a MoTeC ECU on the V4 R, but M.A. trying to prevent that from happening?

Shane: “It’s one of those things, the computer is only as good as the guys operating it. And I think for an even field, a kit ECU gives all the punters the chance, because the software – the factory kits aren’t that complicated – ours are more complicated than most. In this day and age of flashing ECUs, and there’s so many different ways, Flash Tune out of America, I can do it myself, I know what I can do with an ECU, but joe punter has no chance, nothing. You go to a control ECU and he will.

“We go back to 2001 or 2002, with everyone running MoTeCs back then, because there was no kit ECUs. We all had 10k MoTeC ECUs on our bikes. Now it would cost $8000 to have a MoTeC specced out the way you want it. I was going to have one for our turbo bike for land speed racing, I was going to put a M150 MoTeC in it, but the whole BMW electronics package is 1500 bucks.

“As for Wayne and the Ducati, I now know why Wayne was struggling, because there was an issue there more so with the trickle down from Ducati, not going to him directly, there was some politics in there. Which isn’t fair, because if you have a kit ECU, everyone should be able to have that. I agree with Wayne 100 per cent, he should have been able to have what Mike had access to at Round One. 

“For MA though to say yes, you can run a MoTeC, it’s just a big can of worms. I’ll happily run MoTeC if they made us, because I know the stuff back to front, inside out. So I know what I can do with MoTeC. I know there’s so much more you can do with MoTeC, the MoTeC drives split throttles, not a problem. The dash we use is basically MoTeC, it’s an easy transition. But is it cost effective for joe public? No.”

NextGen Motorsports BMW S 1000 RR

Trev: What about for the equalisation and parity of racing, if you went to a MoTeC ECU, potentially would that help equal the field, if say one or two brands aren’t quite up to speed, or does it just come back to who is driving the computer?

Shane: “I think at the end of the day it’s the guy who is operating the sytems. At any World Championship, it’s only as good as the team running the electronics. MotoGP they all have the same electronics, but some of the teams are light years ahead of others. That’s because you’ve got some very very smart people out there that know their electronics.”

NextGen Motorsports BMW S 1000 RR

Trev: And with your bikes, you’ve got two different specs of the S 1000 RR?

Shane: “Originally we got a Race, we didn’t get an M because we don’t need the carbon wheels, we don’t need the bling, so it’s a base model bike. So our first bike was the first bike in the country of the new model, but it was a base model. It doesn’t have an adjustable swingarm pivot, doesn’t have the adjustable link, and the only thing we really need is the adjustable swingarm pivot. Especially now we did some tests for the weekend, for the first time shifting the pivot and made some very interesting gains, but gains in some places, losses in other places. But we haven’t had time to go back and go over the data. But for joe public you can go and buy a Race.”

NextGen Motorsports BMW S 1000 RR

Trev: Which isn’t a HP4 race.

Shane: “No it isn’t, it’s just a Race, you get forged wheels, adjustable swingarm pivot, adjustable link or ride height in the link, and that’s all you need to go racing. 26 grand or something, that’s cheap. Everything you need, and you can go buy a race kit on top of it and away you go.

“The M is an incredibly cheap road bike for what it is, but we don’t need the carbon, I’d like to revisit the carbon wheels, our initial test, our suspension set-up didn’t work, we had too many other things going on. I’d like to revisit it, because there’s some weight savings there, but our bike is underweight as it is now, so we put carbon wheels on it, we’d need to strap lead to it. So we need to finish every race with at least a litre of fuel in it, or we are underweight. So you know, carbon wheels are kinda pointless in some ways, although it may help the gyro.

“With $25,000 difference in price between a Ducati V4 R, or Honda in comparison to the much more affordable BMW. And the BMW is an awful lot of motorcycle for the money.

“We’re getting back into this homologation special stuff we had years ago, you and I have been around this for a long while, and we had all those homologation specials. The RC30s, the trick bits of kit and that’s fine, because at the end of the day you get a really nice race bike base, for fifty-odd thousand dollars. These (NextGen BMW ASBK bikes) are probably about that with the race kit on them, but that’s ready to race, that’s not as a road bike. And I think at some point you’re going to get, either a price cap, which is 40K Euros in World Superbike, which is pretty much the price of the Ducati and the Honda, that they are coming in at. And it’s like ok, if that’s the price cap, then make that the price cap and then everyone says, that rules out Joe Public, but you know it’s a fine line between Joe Public and racing at the end of the day. Racing we’ll spend money, where we can spend money and have money to spend.”

NextGen Motorsports BMW S 1000 RR

Trev: I remember I was reading some books by some F1 engineers, I can’t remember what the last one was, but he was saying when they bought in mandatory wheel changes and all the rest of it, he said, ‘you’re going to have to have a control wheel-gun, otherwise we’ll spend million euro making the best wheel gun, but they didn’t mandate a controlled wheel-gun, but they should have done, that left then spending endless man hours and money in wheel-gun development to try and gain an advantage.’

Shane: “V8 Supercars made a control rattle gun because of exactly that. It’s the mentality we all play.

Trev: I’ve often said, with our rules, we are allowed to do so little, and that is a good thing in some ways as there are a lot of guys racing, who need protecting from themselves with how much they can spend on racing.

Shane: “I mean it’s things like we have to run factory wheels, I’ve got a couple of sets of Oz wheels, they are cheaper than BMW wheels… But we can’t use them.

NextGen Motorsports BMW S 1000 RR

Trev: Which is an example of what I just said, having things as standard can work in the opposite direction in some ways when it comes to costs.

Shane: “The sub-frame of these bikes is double the price of a racing one. But at least they changed that rule, so that you can put an aftermarket sub-frame on now.”

Trev: That is great that has been changed, obviously a race sub-frame doesn’t need to be strong enough to carry a pillion.

Shane: “MA have been good with some of the rule changes, the brake discs was another good one. We don’t need to run factory brake discs any more, I still think brake calipers on the front could probably have a price cap, because you know some brake calipers are better than others, especially for pad wear, pad price, but that said, these Hayes brakes on these things are unbelievable. They initially copped a lot of flak, but we’ve had nothing but success with these using standard pads. At the end of the day, the electronics are where it’s at, and it is the largest part of getting a 200 plus horsepower motorcycle to do anything. But it’s the guy who’s running it, and who’s got the most budget, as you’ll get the best guys.”

The BMW S 1000 RR uses Hayes brake calipers

Trev: So how much horsepower are you pushing now?

Shane: “That thing is 205 at the rear tyre on my dyno.

Trev: And you could potentially make a fair bit more but the ASBK restrictions are quite strict, we are more stock than most international Superstock classes, despite being called Superbike.

Shane: “There is a lot left in them within the rules, we can’t port the head, you can’t put cams in it, you can’t buy camshafts for a BMW anyway, a K67, you’ve seen how complex they are with ShiftCam etc. which we do use. You cannot buy aftermarket camshafts for ShiftCam, there are none. At Phillip Island we were 317km/h down the straight, Tom Sykes was 316 km/h as we were all running, even the WorldSBK team, were running standard engines back then. We’re happy with what we’ve got. Yes the Ducati is faster than us, but only just. It is what it is, we’ll run a whole season without looking at that engine, we’ll change the oil. I don’t know how often the boys are pulling their Ducati’s apart, but I tell you it’s not after a whole season.

NextGen Motorsports BMW S 1000 RR

Trev: Back on the rules and regulations, what would you like to see changed from here heading into next year, that might benefit the series and racing in general?

Shane: “From where we’ve been, to where we are at now, I think we’ve got a pretty good mix. The tyre thing now is pretty good, we’re not throwing qualifiers at them for days, the qualifying format works pretty good, with having to make that tyre stretch a little bit. It’d be nice to have one more tyre, as I think that effects the show a little bit. People won’t go out in the second part of the session because you’ve gotta get that one tyre in. And that kind of hurts the spectacle, and when you’ve got paying spectators there. I think you should have the extra tyre, only if you get through as perhaps a congratulations you’ve done well. But people say that’s another 300 bucks, but what’s that in the scope of what you spend…

“But everything else I’m pretty happy with how it’s all been run. I feel there’s been some management stuff we could probably do better. As far as working as a unit, and we had some pretty good discussions in Eastern Creek a few weeks back, about maybe it’s time as teams we sat down and really joined forces together, because at the end of the day, we’re the ones spending the money and I don’t think the teams have enough of a say in the overall what happens. Like the calendar this year, fair credit to MA for doing what they are trying to do, I understand how bad it all is, but every time they change their mind if costs us money. Its logistics we have to shift, we’ve already booked accommodation, we’ve lost a bit of accommodation getting refunds. Most places now will say ok to refunds, but they kept shifting the goal posts, but what they’ve done now is fine.

NextGen Motorsports BMW S 1000 RR

Trev: Yes as of now they’ve said nothing more will be changed in regards to dates, if a round needs to get cancelled it gets cancelled and not rescheduled.

Shane: “Honestly I don’t believe we’ll race this year, which seems sad to say. I’m good friends with Lachy and Greg Epis,  I was talking to them, and Greg said, do you think we should go back to the World Championship or go to ASBK this year, and I said, ‘we aren’t going to race this year’. Thus they raced at Jerez last weekend. 

“That’s what’s disappointing, to not see everybody at St George the other week.  We’ve done the right thing to get clubs involved in the series again, which is good. Clubs are where everyone comes from. The St George meeting the other weekend was insane. I’ve never seen so many bikes on the grid. We can never get a crowd out at Eastern Creek, and we can never get people to enter ASBK at Eastern Creek. But you can go there on any ride day, any weekend and the place is packed. Sydney is the biggest motorcycle market in this country and we can’t seem to make it work there… I don’t know what we have to do.

“The lighting and the facility they have got there is unreal, let’s go race at night, on a Saturday night and make a big show out of it. The other thing we talked about, there was a few teams all together at Eastern Creek, and we all talked about maybe we should have more control over what happens, and yes I get that there’s the 600 guys, and the 300 guys have different priorities… I get that, but we’re spending ten or a hundred times the money they are spending. Without us (Superbike) there is no show, let’s do the best for our show, so we can get sponsors. The follow on effect is how it works.

“Anyway we were talking about all that amongst the teams up in Sydney. When V8 supercars said they would race at night they had no support categories or anything. So lets go, we’re all ready, the bikes were all ready to go. Two-minutes and we can be there… Lets run middle of the week, what difference does it make. We get to take a day off work. We’re all doing that anyway. If we can’t race with crowds, let’s fit into a TV environment, where we can get some TV audiences, making it a Friday night. Gotta think outside the box. People go and watch people Playstation before they’ll go to the racetrack in this day and age. We’ve got to be in people’s faces and Friday night, who wouldn’t go and have a beer on a hill and watch a bike race. That would be huge. The infrastructure, the lighting towers up at that place (Sydney) are incredible… why not use all of the facility.

Nathan Webb fellow team owner of NextGen BMW

But we’ve got this issue with M.A. and Eastern Creek and we know why the issue is there (a long story that harks back a few years amongst the whole ASBK v Formula Xtreme contest), but for the good of the sport… that sorta stuff frustrates me. Wayne (Hepburn fellow team owner of NextGen BMW),  and I talk about it a lot, because as I said before, we have the longest running team in this championship and it’s Wayne, Nathan and I, and we do it for shits and giggles. We never made one dollar out of it. We do it for fun, to meet our friends, it’s a good reason to hang out with the guys every couple of weeks.

Wayne Hepburn fellow team owner of NextGen BMW

Racing we love to win, we take it serious, but we’d still be doing it if we were racing a bunch of 300s, if we run out of money, we’d still run a couple of 300s. It’s a passion, it’s not a business, it’s certainly by far from a business for us, we all have our own businesses but racing is not our primary business. I think, when you do it for a passion you have to have a little more control over what happens. I know Greg from Racer’s Edge Fairings, Craig McMartin, Nathan Spiteri, a whole bunch of us the other week out testing, and we’ve got no control over what’s happening. We plan out at the start of the year, and I get this year’s a complete cluster, but if you can’t make the date just cancel it.”

Trev: That’s where we’ve got to now… And I understand the logistics, I think I’ve missed one ASBK round this century, which is probably a bit sad, but it is what it is. But the cost and logistics of taking a whole team, and bikes, mechanics, riders, everything else is obviously infinitely large. It’s hard enough just taking myself without having to take a fleet of people.

Greg Stevens from SignPro is an integral part of the NextGen Team

Shane: “Hotels, and food… it all adds up.”

Trev: And then spending too much in a bar on the Friday night…

Shane: “Yeah we have all been there but on that previous topic I do feel that we should have – we talked about it years ago – about an entrants group, same as what TEGA with touring cars have, F1 have it, Superbikes, they have teams, they have people, everyone has a say. We have no say.”

Trev: Can you possibly imagine that most of the top level teams would be able to do anything but argue, or see past their own backyard?

Shane: “Well at a certain point we all have to get over ourselves, everyone will have an opinion on what will serve them best to win, but we also need to have at least some sort of unity, in what’s best for the sport. Racetracks that we should be going to, we should have been in Darwin weeks ago when the borders were open, Tasmania, another good race track we don’t go to. It’s always fun down there, we always get good crowds down there.”

Trev: But then you’ve got other teams that will argue black and blue that will not want to go to Darwin, or to Tassie.

Shane: “Yea, but it doesn’t cost you any more, logistically, you’ve got to put a driver in there and do a couple days worth of driving, but logistically it’s not that much more. Anyone who’s ever been to Darwin it’s a great trip. The racing is always good there, the track is good. There’s just things we should be doing, but even MA says its expensive, but we were going to go to WA this year, and we’d all budgeted for that, then when that doesn’t happen, then you have got the Western Australians, like Adam Senior and that saying that well we’re still coming over here…. It’s gotta go a little bit both ways, everyone has to have some kind of input.”

NextGen Motorsports BMW S 1000 RR

Trev:   We have come across this in previous years, some factories team have chosen not to go to WA before, many years ago, and so in later years we’ve just taken Superbike to Perth, or Darwin, so the mums and dads with R15s or 300s don’t have to lose as much time off work, which is understandable, so basically I think what we’re saying is the superbikes are most important and run stand alone if need be and a business case can be made to run stand alone Superbike rounds.

But then we have the mums and dads with kids on R15s will spend 10 times more than we ever will, because they’ll get the shits with it here, and go to Europe. That is what a lot of people are doing. If you’ve got the money you’re going to spend it. It doesn’t matter if it’s a lot of money or a little bit of money, if you’re serious you’re going to spend it.

“Every year we do the budget, and every year we spend 10 times what we ever planned on spending. But as I said, we’re a little bit different to everyone else as we’ll do it regardless, we’ll race 150s around the car park somewhere if that’s all we can do for a bit of fun.

“Some people don’t want to go to Perth, then don’t go, I don’t care. It’s the same deal. All the years we drove to Perth it was a great trip. I remember back in the good ole days, 2003-2004 the trip from Perth back to Melbourne, every night a roadhouse, it was just a big ASBK party, traveling across the country. It was brilliant. It’s like, everyone will punch each other in the face on the racetrack, but having a beer with someone in a road house in the middle of nowhere… it needs to be a little more of that.

“Yes we’re all professional at what we do, and everyone cares what happens, but every time we come to make a decision we can’t agree. It does my head in, at a certain point we need to get together and say, you’re our riders/teams representatives, and you have a say at MA, because I feel we don’t have enough. That’s the only thing that M.A. does wrong… everything else they’ve done in the last years has been fantastic, and the sport is on the up. We’ve been talking before that the motorcycle market is going well, things aren’t as bad as people thought, but if we miss the opportunity to make hay while sun shines, we’re buggered.

NextGen Motorsports BMW S 1000 RR

Trev: Thanks for your time Shane!

Source: MCNews.com.au

Beaubier leads Yamaha domination at Road Atlanta

2020 MotoAmerica

Round 3 Road Atlanta

Images by Brian J. Nelson


Road Atlanta has seen Cameron Beaubier return to dominance over the weekend, after a setback at Round 2, claiming both race wins as Yamaha closed out the top three in both races. The result sees Beaubier continue to hold the lead after six races with 125 championship points, while teammate Jake Gagne trails by 19 points on 106. The weekend also saw Mathew Scholtz move past Bobbie Fong into third with 76 points – three more than Fong.

Cameron Beaubier – Monster Energy Attack Performance Yamaha Racing

“The weekend couldn’t have gone better with the double along with a Yamaha sweep on both days! The guys had my bike working great all weekend and I was impressed with the times that we could do on race tires. I’m looking forward to lining up next weekend!”

Cameron Beaubier chases down Jake Gagne
Cameron Beaubier chases down Jake Gagne

Sean Dylan Kelly and Richie Escalante had to share the wins in the Supersport class, with the duo each taking a win and a second place finish for the weekend, while Brandon Paasch claimed third across both days. Escalante now leads the standings on 145-points, with Kelly second on a distant 105, and Paasch third on 84.

Corey Alexander dominated the Stock 1000 races, with a technical issue taking Cameron Petersen out of Race 2, with Alexander now the leader on 76-points, Peterson second with 65 championship points, and Alex Dumas third with 58-points. Kaleb De Keyrel won the single Twins Cup race of the weekend, with Hayden Schultz and Rocco Landers rounding out the podium. Keyrel now holds the lead on 95-points, with Landers second on 77 and Schultz third on 46, equal points to Jason Madama.

Rocco Landers took both wins in the Liquid Moly Junior Cup and now leads Dominic Doyle by four points, with Doyle having to settle for a 3-2 result, swapping podium positions with Samuel Lochoff over the weekend.


Superbike Race 1

Cameron Beaubier looked back on form after a Round 2 crash, on the scorching hot Saturday at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, the four-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion riding to his fourth victory of the season in the opening Superbike race of the weekend.

Cameron Beaubier
Cameron Beaubier

Beaubier led off the start, but it was quickly Jake Gagne leading the way through the esses on the opening lap. Although his lead was short lived, it still marked the first time the Monster Energy Attack Performance rider had led a Superbike race. Once his teammate Beaubier sped past, the two teammates circulated together for a few laps before Beaubier pulled away. The points leader slowing in the closing stages of the race to beat Gagne by 4.786 seconds, but said his race was by no means mistake-free. The win was the 42nd AMA Superbike victory of Beaubier’s career and his sixth at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.

Gagne, meanwhile, was well clear of Mathew Scholtz, the South African trailing the Californian by 16.3 seconds at the end of the 19-lap race. The third-place finish was Scholtz’ second podium of the year and came at a track that he calls one of his favourites.

Jake Gagne
Jake Gagne

Elias rode his Suzuki to fourth, well clear of his teammate Bobby Fong who had crashed in the morning session at speed and injured his right hand. Fong, in turn, had a big lead over David Anthony, the Australian having a lonely ride to sixth.

Geoff May rode his Kawasaki ZX-10R to seventh, almost a second ahead of Bradley Ward. Max Flinders and Danilo Lewis rounded out the top 10, while two of the top riders in the series, Kyle Wyman and Josh Herrin, both suffered mechanical problems that knocked them out of the race.

Superbike Race 2

Beaubier completed a perfect weekend on Sunday, riding to his second victory in two days on another scorching hot day in Northern Georgia. The HONOS Superbike podium was an exact replica of Saturday’s, with Beaubier’s teammate Jake Gagne finishing second and Mathew Scholtz third again. It was also the second straight podium sweep for the Yamaha YZF-R1.

Cameron Beaubier topped the podium Sunday from Jake Gagne and Mathew Scholtz
Cameron Beaubier topped the podium Sunday from Jake Gagne and Mathew Scholtz

For Beaubier it was his fifth win in six races and his seventh career AMA Superbike win at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. Additionally, the win was Beaubier’s 43rd career victory in the premier class.

The race was red-flagged early when Danilo Lewis crashed in turn seven. It was restarted shortly thereafter and with similar results. Although he didn’t get the holeshot, Beaubier was at the head of the field when they hit the esses for the first time and he instantly gapped the field with Gagne getting baulked slightly by Toni Elias.

Soon Gagne was past the Spaniard after passing him around the outside, but he didn’t have the pace of his teammate. Ditto for Scholtz, who also made his way around Elias before trying unsuccessfully to catch Gagne. Both riders, however, ended up closer to the race winner at the conclusion of the race, though Beaubier slowed his pace toward the end.

At the finish, Beaubier was 2.5 seconds ahead of Gagne and 6.1 seconds clear of Scholtz, who was pleased with the progress he made from Saturday’s race.

Cameron Beaubier
Cameron Beaubier

Fourth place went to Bobby Fong, the winner of race two at Road America 2, hounding Scholtz for most of the race. He ended up less than a second behind the South African at the finish and 2.4 seconds ahead of his teammate Elias.

Kyle Wyman finished sixth, the Ducati Panigale V4 R rider making up for Saturday’s disappointing non-finish after a mechanical issue took him out of the race early. Wyman battled early with Josh Herrin before pulling away to a comfortable margin of some six seconds. David Anthony finished eighth with Cameron Petersen ninth and Corey Alexander rounding out the top 10.


Source: MCNews.com.au

Redding takes charge following Jerez WorldSBK double

News 3 Aug 2020

Redding takes charge following Jerez WorldSBK double

Defending champion Rea rises in Sunday morning Superpole race.

Image: Supplied.

Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK) newcomer Scott Redding leads the 2020 standings after taking a double win at as the series returned to action at Jerez, Spain.

Redding took Superpole on Saturday and went on to win his first SBK race with Aruba.it Racing Ducati that afternoon in race one.

That victory came ahead of defending champion Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) and Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha), before Rea turned the tables on Redding in Sunday morning’s Superpole race, topping Redding and Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha).

Race two on Sunday was a dominant showing from Redding, hitting the front early and comfortably crossing the line ahead of teammate Chaz Davies and Razgatlioglu, while Rea slipped back to finish in sixth position.

Redding now leads the points by 24 points over Rea, with former leader Sam Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team) now third after going 9-7-5 across the trio of races on the weekend.

World Supersport was dominated by Phillip Island winner Andrea Locatelli (Yamaha) after he took both wins at Jerez, topping Jules Cluzel (Yamaha) on both occasions.

Race one saw Philipp Oettl (Kawasaki) complete the podium, before teammate Lucas Mahias claimed the final place on the podium in the shortened second outing. Australian Lachlan Epis (Yamaha) went 17-16 on debut.

In World Supersport 300, race one belonged to Unai Orradre (Yamaha) before Turkish talent Bahattin Sofuoglu won on Sunday, while Tom Edwards (Kawasaki) was 25th in the second race.

Detailed results

Source: CycleOnline.com.au

Are roadworks speeds set too low?

While roadworks speeds in some jurisdictions can be as low 40km/h (25mph), the UK may be heading toward a standard 60mph (about 100km/h) on highway roadworks.

Speed limits through roadworks are reduced for the safety of road workers.

However, some riders question the low speeds when work is not happening and when workers are behind steal barricades or even up a side road.

Riders also claim their lives can be jeopardised by the sudden and dramatic drop in speed, especially when they are being tailgated by a large truck!

The problem stems from roadworks speeds being positioned too far ahead of the actual work and limits sometimes set too low, according to the RACQ.

Roadworks speeds

In most states of Australia, the roadworks speed limit is an enforceable 40km/h. Highway speed limits can vary right down to 40km/h, depending on the type of works.

In New Zealand, the lowest roadworks speed is 30km/h. In the USA roadworks speed limits are only advisory.

In the UK, highway roadworks speed limits are much higher from 40-60mph (64-100km/h).

To move toward a standardised speed limit for roadworks on UK highways, Highways England began a trial of 55 and 60mph speed limits in some roadworks.

They found “safety wasn’t compromised and customers preferred driving at 60mph”.

They have now asked roadworks companies to reconsider their speed limits.millions roadworks rain

Uniform speeds

Australian riders are also calling for more sensible and uniform roadworks speeds.

Russell Saunders of the Queensland-based Motorcycle Advocacy Group  says “inappropriate speed limits” are a concern.

“Forty kilometres an hour on multilane roads is not sensible and the maintaining of those speeds when no work is being undertaken is just plain stupid,” he says.

“Those limits should be lifted when no road workers are in attendance, such as on weekends.

“I have ridden in many other countries and have formed the opinion that we are the worst for excessive over compensation towards ‘safety’.”

The Motorcycle Riders Association of Victoria also claims speed limits are often set with “blanket rules based on opinion rather than science”.

Source: MotorbikeWriter.com

KTM sells RC16 GP bikes as sales fall

Despite KTM Group’s boss saying sales were up during the pandemic, the Austrian company has suffered a one-third sales slump as it offers two rare RC16 race bikes for sale.

In the first six months of 2020, sales of KTM Group motorcycles, which also includes Husqvarna and Gas Gas, were down 33% from 135,711 to 90,331.

This is despite several reports that CEO Stefan Pierer said they were not affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and had hired more people.

Certainly sales are strong in Australia.

KTM off-road sales here were up 36.6% and road bike sales up 21.6% while Husky sales rocketed 59.8% for trail bikes and a whopping 134.9% for road bikes. Gas Gas sales are not available.

RC16 saleKTM RC16

Meanwhile, KTM Motorsports is selling two race-prepared KTM RC16 factory MotoGP bikes from last year’s season.

This is a very rare opportunity.

The only other time we can recall MotoGP bikes being sold was in 2012 when Ducati sold Casey Stoner’s 800cc Desmosedici for about $A455,000 and Valentino Rossi’s bike for $A444,000.

They were sold because the series moved from 800cc to 1 000ccc.

The unspecified 2019 KTM race bikes will come with a Pol Espargaro’s racing leathers and helmet, other merchandise and a VIP MotoGP hospitality weekend in 2021.

KTM is asking about $A475,000 each for the bikes.

If you’ve got that sort of money after raiding your superannuation, send an email to [email protected].

KTM will compile a list of buyers and make a final decision on the lucky buyers.

Source: MotorbikeWriter.com

Snake attacks Thai motorcycle rider

Video has emerged of a 2m snake attacking a motorcycle rider in Lampang, Thailand, that will send shivers down your spine!

Many riders will have experienced the same sort thing where a snake stands up to attack as you ride past.

This Viral Hog video shows the rider lifting his feet up to avoid being bitten.

Obviously long leather boots would be too hot in Thailand, but they certainly would protect from snake bite.

It is not known what type of snake it is, but there is a wide variety of snakes in Thailand and some of them are not dangerous to humans.

However, they can still inflict a painful bite that can become infected.

The video also includes an incident in India where a cobra was found in a scooter.

Snake tales

We have published several articles, photos and videos of snakes hitching a ride on motorcycles and even one where it hitched in the rider’s helmet without him knowing.

Here are a few:

This is a video of snake hitching a ride on a Royal Enfield in India.

Despite the Twitter caption, it’s a common cat snake (scientific name Boiga trigonata) which is semi-venomous and a good climber.

Back in February this Indian man rode 11km with a snake in his helmet before he discovered it!

snake
Rider finds snake in his helmet

In Brisbane, a rider reported he once had a tree snake crawl across his handlebars and up his arm.

He didn’t know which end he was grabbing, but he picked it up and threw it off as he rode 100km/h along the M1 without falling off.

He did get a fright, but says he wasn’t too worried as he suspected it was only a tree snake as they climb (like the cat snake) while deadly brown snakes don’t.

Snakes are attracted to the warmth of the engine as well as the dark and warmth of the cavity under the seat.

The reptile usually boards the bike while it is parked somewhere.

We have run over many snakes while riding and none has been flicked up on to the bike.

They also like to climb up into cars as this Gladstone driver recently found.

Spiders are also common unwelcome hitchhikers.

I once rode almost 500km from Bateman’s Bay to Mudgee with a big spider on my jacket which I had stupidly placed on the ground while I drank my coffee.

Never, ever put your helmet or jacket on the ground! Lesson learnt.

On another occasion I had a hornet in my jacket that repeatedly bit me for several kilometres until I could find it and kill it.

Medical advice

If you are bitten by a snake, spider or other venomous creature, obviously seek medical attention as soon as possible.

The Royal Flying Doctor Service has a Fast First Aid booklet with advice for people with no medical training on how to manage first-aid situations. It includes managing a heart attack, snake bites, choking, burns and severe bleeding.

It is free in NSW and ACT only. To receive your copy text ‘NOW’ to 0428 044 444.

According to the University of Sydney, Australia is home to 60 species of snakes, including the 10 most lethal in the world.

There are about 3000 reported snakebites each year resulting in between 200 and 500 requiring anti-­venom and an average of one or two fatalities.

Mt Tamborine Goat Track crashes
Tar snakes … not to be confused with real snakes!

RFDS guide on snake bites

  • Do try to note the colour, size, distinctive markings and patterns of the snake without putting yourself at risk. A positive identification will help medics get the correct anti-­‐venom into the patient more quickly.
  • Do NOT wash the area of the bite or try to suck out the venom. It is extremely important to retain traces of venom for use with venom identification kits.
  • Do NOT incise or cut the bite, or apply a high tourniquet. Cutting or incising the bite won’t help. High tourniquets are ineffective and can be fatal if released.
  • Do stop the spread of venom – bandage firmly, splint and immobilise. All the major medical associations recommend slowing the spread of venom by placing a folded pad over the bite area and then applying a firm bandage. It should not stop blood flow to the limb or congest the veins. Only remove the bandage in a medical facility, as the release of pressure will cause a rapid flow of venom through the bloodstream.
  • Do NOT allow the victim to walk or move their limbs.
  • Use a splint or sling to minimise all limb movement. Put the patient on a stretcher or bring transportation to the patient.
  • Do seek medical help immediately as the venom can cause severe damage to health or even death within a few hours.

Have you ever had a snake, spider or other unwelcome guest on your motorcycle? How did you deal with it? Leave your comments below.

Source: MotorbikeWriter.com

Motorcycle Traffic Collision Injury Statistics You Should Know

(Contributed article for our North American readers)

People love motorcycles because of their low purchase cost, ease of maintenance, fun and adventure. These machines, though, pose an extra risk to riders. Riders are more susceptible to injury and death due to the lack of protection in the event of an accident.

People involved in motorcycle traffic collisions can sustain long-term injuries such as a damaged spinal cord, fractured or amputated limbs and, in worst cases, death.

Below are some of the statistics you should know about motorcycle collisions.

1 Probability of Occurrence

The National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that motorcycle drivers were 27 times more likely to die in car crash per vehicle mile travelled.

In Australia, motorcycle registrations account for 4.5% of vehicle registration and 0.9% of total distance covered by vehicles. The low registration doesn’t correlate with the number of motorcycle accidents. Motorcycle collisions are responsible for 15% of fatalities and an even higher percentage of injuries.

So, despite the low numbers of motorcycles on the roads, the risk factors are high. Riders are also more susceptible to injuries and death than in any other category.

2 Helmet Use and Related Susceptibility Rate

Helmets and other safety gear offer additional protection and safety measures to riders. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the appropriate use of helmets reduces fatal injuries by 42%. Helmets also prevent head injuries by a further 69%.

Data from NHTSA estimates that economic loss amounting to USD$3.5 billion was prevented and other related costs amounting to USD$21 billion were saved. These amounts and a further USD$1.5 billion could’ve been saved if every rider wore a helmet.

The total fatalities that were prevented by wearing helmets amounted to 1,872, and the other 750 could have been saved if they wore helmets.motorcycle crash accident injury

3 Statistics of Other Causes of Motorcycle Traffic Collision

One significant factor in motorcycle traffic collisions is the age of riders. In 2016, the majority of crashes and fatalities involved riders more than 40 years old. Also, in 2017, a third of the riders involved in road crashes were more than 43 years old.

In a report commissioned by the Ministry of Infrastructure, the contributing factors of crash fatalities are excessive speeding at 70%, alcohol and drug abuse at 46%, and learner riders at 8%. Sometimes, up to three factors are related to a single crash.

It’s important to note that it’s advisable to seek compensation for injuries resulting from these accidents. Consulting a motorcycle personal injury lawyer can help you investigate the causes, negligence, gather evidence, and negotiate with insurance firms or lobby for fair compensation in courts.

4 Motorcycle Injuries and Injury Rate

There have been oscillations between 2008 and 2018 injury rates in the United States–from a high of 96,000 in 2008 to a low of 89,000 in 2017. Also, there has been an outlier in that curve with 104,000 injuries in 2016 and 81,000 in 2011.

The trend is replicated in different metrics, like injuries per 100,000 vehicles registered, and miles travelled in millions and injury rate per 100m vehicle. The general observation is the general reduction in these trends.

For instance, the injury rate per 100,000 registered motorcycles reduced from 1,238 in 2008 to 1,018 in 2017, with a low of 965 in 2011.

5 Motorcycle Fatality Statistics

According to the Governors Highway Safety Association(GHSA), there were 5,000 motorcycle-related deaths in 2017, down 300 on the previous year. The report, however, noted a big representation of riders in total fatalities.

In comparison with other fatality sections such as passengers, drivers and pedestrians, motorcycle-related fatalities have had an upward trend in the past decade. A report prepared by the ministry of infrastructure shows a continued rise from 10% in 1998 to 15% in 2007.

The driver death per billion kilometres travelled indicated that more motorcycle riders died. There were 116.4 rider deaths per billion kilometres compared withy 4.3 driver deaths per kilometre in 1998. In 2003, 116.9 deaths were reported compared with 3.9 driver deaths. By 2007, a 116.9 death rate represented an increase compared with a decrease of driver deaths to 3.9.

These figures indicate motorcycle fatalities haven’t reduced as compared with a 2.0% decrease in driver deaths in the last decade.

The Department of Transportation reports that in 100,000 registered vehicles, 59.34% of accidents related to deaths involved motorcycles, in comparison with 7.52% for light trucks and 10.05% for passenger cars.

Conclusion

Motorcycle traffic collisions are prevalent and more likely to occur than other classes of vehicles, even though motorcycles are fewer on the road. On a positive note, there was a reduced number of injuries in the United States between 2008 and 2017.

Some of the causes of motorcycle injuries include helmets, alcohol abuse, age factor, and excessive speed. World Health Organization (WHO) notes that correct helmet use reduces susceptibility to injuries.

Source: MotorbikeWriter.com

This morning was very good and I felt that it was my chance to go from the very beginning. I did a 1’40.6 from a standing start which was unbelievable. I had a really good rhythm so I was able to cruise the last few laps and really enjoy the race. In race two it was hard because as soon as I got the bike on its side in turn three and accelerated towards four, it was not pushing the tyre in and going forward. I was frustrated with that. We had the same set-up as we had in the Superpole race and the set-up change from yesterday was minimal, so we need to look at the data. This circuit is the one I feared the most, especially in the high temperatures, so it is not a bad outcome. http://jonathan-rea.com/news/rea-wins-spanish-superpole-race

This morning was very good and I felt that it was my chance to go from the very beginning. I did a 1’40.6 from a standing start which was unbelievable. I had a really good rhythm so I was able to cruise the last few laps and really enjoy the race. In race two it was hard because as soon as I got the bike on its side in turn three and accelerated towards four, it was not pushing the tyre in and going forward. I was frustrated with that. We had the same set-up as we had in the Superpole race and the set-up change from yesterday was minimal, so we need to look at the data. This circuit is the one I feared the most, especially in the high temperatures, so it is not a bad outcome. http://jonathan-rea.com/news/rea-wins-spanish-superpole-race
Source: Jonathan Rea On Facebook

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