Therefore, Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Jorge Martin keeps hold of his place at the top of the timesheets ahead of teammate Brad Binder and Beta Tools Speed Up’s Jorge Navarro. Two more KTMs complete the top five in the form of Iker Lecuona (monday.com American Racing) and Marco Bezzecchi (Red Bull KTM Tech 3), before Di Giannantonio now in sixth.
Source: MotoGP.com – Read Full Article Here
The rain may have stayed away for the opening session of qualifying day on the Island, but strong winds meant the lightweight class riders had a tough time out there during FP3. At the end of it, only Sasaki went quicker than his FP2 time, but this was only good enough for P26 overall. For FP3 pacesetter Arbolino, Q1 beckons after placing P17 on the combined times, with Aron Canet (Sterilgarda Max Racing Team) heading into qualifying as the fastest man out there in the Moto3™ class. Romano Fenati (VNE Snipers) and Dennis Foggia (SKY Racing Team VR46) were inside the top five in FP3 as both Italians claim a top 14 spot for an automatic Q2 spot.
Source: MotoGP.com – Read Full Article Here
The rain may have stayed away for the opening session of qualifying day on the Island, but strong winds meant the lightweight class riders had a tough time out there during FP3. At the end of it, only Sasaki went quicker than his FP2 time, but this was only good enough for P26 overall. For FP3 pacesetter Arbolino, Q1 beckons after placing P17 on the combined times, with Aron Canet (Sterilgarda Max Racing Team) heading into qualifying as the fastest man out there in the Moto3™ class. Romano Fenati (VNE Snipers) and Dennis Foggia (SKY Racing Team VR46) were inside the top five in FP3 as both Italians claim a top 14 spot for an automatic Q2 spot.
Source: MotoGP.com – Read Full Article Here
The long-awaited 2-litre Honda Goldwing has again failed to materialise, instead receiving minor tweaks for 2020, just two years after a major update.
Honda fans have been tapping a 2-litre version for some years, but instead of making a more powerful bike, the Honda techs have made one that handles better at low speeds, such as parking.
We’ve seen people grappling with the heavy bike in parking situations and dropping them.
So Honda has improved the fuel injection and Dual Clutch Transmission so it is smoother at walking pace.
They have also fiddled with the suspension for better balance in parking situations and some other minor tweaks.
Surely these minor tweaks for 2020 mean the bike might finally be due for an upgrade to two litres the following year for Euro5.
It is also tipped to get emergency brakes, a head-up display windscreen with touchscreen sensitivity, a climate-controlled seat and a seven-speed DCT.
Other minor tweaks for 2020 are a second USB connector in the left saddlebag, while the new Tour version gets LED fog lights and bigger passenger grab handles.
The 2018 update was much more extensive with the introduction of Apple CarPlay, adjustable electric windscreen, major weight loss, new frame, double wishbone front suspension, Smart Key, four selectable riding modes, Hill Start Assist and Honda Selectable Torque Control (HSTC).
The flat-six engine was also revamped with four valves per cylinder.
There is no word yet from Honda Australia on arrival or pricing.
Colours options may include Candy Ardent Red, Matte Ballistic Black Metallic and Pearl Glare White with a combination of black, silver and red engine details. 
Source: MotorbikeWriter.com
| 1 | JONATHAN REA | 626 |
| 2 | ALVARO BAUTISTA | 473 |
| 3 | ALEX LOWES | 321 |
| 4 | MICHAEL VAN DER MARK | 314 |
| 5 | TOPRAK RAZGATLIOGLU | 304 |
| 6 | CHAZ DAVIES | 269 |
| 7 | LEON HASLAM | 268 |
| 8 | TOM SYKES | 219 |
| 9 | MARCO MELANDRI | 177 |
| 10 | JORDI TORRES | 132 |
After the opening ten minutes of the session had seen the times settle down and the grid begin to take some sort of shape, Lucas Mahias was on top, with the Frenchman towing Federico Caricasulo around the Losail International Circuit. Provisionally second and third were Ayrton Badovini and Jules Cluzel, the latter being the top Championship contender.
Randy Krummenacher was the first rider to get down to business and hit the top of the timesheets with the fastest lap of the weekend. Corentin Perolari was right in behind the Swiss rider and took second, but there were strong times coming in from Mahias and Caricasulo – both riders looking to secure pole position and now, running separately on the track.
Mahias came to the fore and briefly went top, only for Caricasulo to better it, as the Italian came up from ninth to pole position. It was more bad news for Mahias, as he had a lap time cancelled and saw him drop to fifth. Joining Caricasulo on the front are his title rivals, Randy Krummenacher and Jules Cluzel – all three WorldSSP title contenders in the top three positions – would that be how the standings would read come Saturday evening?
Corentin Perolari secured fourth place with a good lap time, ahead of a disconsolate Lucas Mahias, down in fifth. Hikari Okubo was back inside the top six and completed the second row, after what had been a relatively quiet weekend up until that moment, pipping the final second row spot away at the dying moments.
Nabbed right at the end, Badovini heads up row three from seventh on the grid, whilst Isaac Viñales’ podium charge looks set to come from eighth on the grid – the Spaniard on the rostrum in the last two rounds. Kyle Smith was once again in ninth place, whilst an injured and recovering Thomas Gradinger completed the top ten.
Outside the top ten, Raffaele De Rosa was only 11th, ahead of the top Honda of Jules Danilo. Home-hero wildcard and Qatari Supersport Champion Saeed Al Sulaiti was 13th. Peter Sebestyen was 14th.
| Pos | Rider | Points |
| 1 | Randy Krummenacher | 202 |
| 2 | Federico Caricasulo | 194 |
| 3 | Jules Cluzel | 180 |
| 4 | Lucas Mahias | 143 |
| 5 | Hikari Okubo | 97 |
| 6 | Raffaele De Rosa | 92 |
| 7 | Thomas Gradinger | 86 |
| 8 | Isaac Vinales | 81 |
| 9 | Corentin Perolari | 81 |
| 10 | Ayrton Badovini | 59 |
| 11 | Peter Sebestyen | 54 |
| 12 | Loris Cresson | 41 |
| 13 | Jules Danilo | 36 |
| 14 | Hannes Soomer | 34 |
| 15 | Kyle Smith | 24 |
| 16 | Hector Barbera | 22 |
| 17 | Federico Fuligni | 13 |
| 18 | Lorenzo Gabellini | 10 |
| 19 | Jack Kennedy | 9 |
| 20 | Glenn Van Straalen | 9 |
| 21 | Rob Hartog | 9 |
| 22 | Jaimie Van Sikkelerus | 9 |
| 23 | Kevin Manfredi | 8 |
| 24 | Brad Jones | 7 |
| 25 | Miquel Pons | 6 |
| 26 | Massimo Roccoli | 6 |
| 27 | Tom Toparis | 5 |
| 28 | Christian Stange | 5 |
| 29 | Maria Herrera | 5 |
| 30 | Gabriele Ruiu | 4 |
| 31 | Luca Ottaviani | 4 |
| 32 | Daniel Valle | 3 |
| 33 | Xavier Navand | 1 |
| 34 | Mattia Casadei | 1 |
The usual unpredictability of WorldSSP300 showed, with a group of over 20 riders lapping together and taking advantage of the front straight for slipstreaming. However, it was Ana Carrasco who was using her WorldSSP300 Championship-winning experience to set consistently strong lap times on her own, leading the session for the majority of the session. Her rivals for second in the Championship, Andy Verdoïa (BCD Yamaha MS Racing) and Scott Deroue were stuck in the battling pack.
Out front, nobody could keep with Ana Carrasco, who took her first pole position of the 2019 season. The out-going WorldSSP300 Champion headed Bruno Ieraci (Kawasaki GP Project), who achieved his best ever WorldSSP300 starting position, ahead of Australian, Tom Edwards – securing his first front row of the 2019 World Supersport 300 season.
Heading up row two on the grid is WorldSSP300 World Champion Manuel Gonzalez, uncharacteristically out-qualified by teammate Tom Edwards. Indonesian star Galang Hendra Pratama was inside the top five and finished fifth overall, whilst Jeffrey Buis (MTM Racing Team) continued his strong weekend to finish sixth, his second consecutive top six result after Tissot Superpole.
Leading from row three in seventh place, 2017 WorldSSP300 Champion Marc Garcia made the most of his limited track time, whilst Scott Deroue was eighth, unable to match Carrasco in the battle for second overall in the Championship. Oliver König was a strong ninth, whilst completing the top ten was Victor Steeman.
| Pos | Rider | Points |
| 1 | Manuel Gonzalez | 148 |
| 2 | Ana Carrasco | 106 |
| 3 | Scott Deroue | 106 |
| 4 | Andy Verdoïa | 89 |
| 5 | Victor Steeman | 69 |
| 6 | Marc Garcia | 68 |
| 7 | Jan-Ole Jahnig | 61 |
| 8 | Galang Hendra Pratama | 55 |
| 9 | Hugo De Cancellis | 47 |
| 10 | Nick Kalinin | 47 |
| 11 | Kevin Sabatucci | 39 |
| 12 | Bruno Ieraci | 30 |
| 13 | Jeffrey Buis | 21 |
| 14 | Omar Bonoli | 19 |
| 15 | Koen Meuffels | 16 |
| 16 | Maximilian Kappler | 16 |
| 17 | Manuel Bastianelli | 14 |
| 18 | Tom Edwards | 14 |
| 19 | Beatriz Neila | 12 |
| 20 | Samuel Di Sora | 11 |
| 21 | Enzo De La Vega | 11 |
| 22 | Livio Loi | 10 |
| 23 | Dion Otten | 10 |
| 24 | Emanuele Vocino | 10 |
| 25 | Mika Perez | 10 |
| 26 | Dino Iozzo | 10 |
| 27 | Oliver König | 9 |
| 28 | Robert Schotman | 9 |
| 29 | Mateo Pedeneau | 8 |
| 30 | Tom Bramich | 6 |
| 31 | Ferran Hernandez Moyano | 6 |
| 32 | Unai Orradre | 6 |
| 33 | Ton Kawakami | 4 |
| 34 | Joel Damon Kelso | 4 |
| 35 | Jose Luis Perez Gonzalez | 4 |
| 36 | Dorren Loureiro | 4 |
| 37 | Paolo Giacomini | 3 |
| 38 | Filippo Rovelli | 3 |
| 39 | Borja Sanchez | 2 |
| 40 | Francisco Gomez | 2 |
| 41 | Yuta Okaya | 1 |
Source: MCNews.com.au
👋🏻 Morning! Who is coming out to Phillip Island this weekend? Be sure to send through your photos from the weekend below 👇🏻
Source: Jack Miller on Facebook
Decreasing entries and basically an inter-team challenge for the victory means the electric race is on pause for now.
Begin press release:
After a successful ten year program, the Isle of Man Government Department for Enterprise, as promoters of the TT Races, has confirmed that they will hold a moratorium on the TT Zero class participation in the TT Race schedule in both 2020 and 2021.
The decision follows a period of significant milestones and success, however, the running of this class and participation of the associated competitors has been increasingly challenging. Therefore, the moratorium will allow the Department to engage in a broader dialogue with stakeholders, including teams and manufacturers, to develop and expand the class, building on the success to date and working with the industry to establish long term plans for clean emission Motorcycle racing and technology development on the Isle of Man.
Rob Callister MHK, Member with responsibility for tourism and motorsport, commented:
‘As an island we remain committed to the principles and passion that continues to motivate everyone associated with the TT Zero class and the clean tech industry. Our intention is to have a moratorium on the event to allow the motorcycle industry as a whole to catch up on the leading edge developments that some manufacturers and individual race teams and universities have achieved to date.’
‘We remain incredibly proud of everything that has been achieved in clean emission racing at the TT and will work closely with the industry and with manufacturers without the pressure and focus of delivering a race format to build on the success to date.’
Introduced in 2010, the TT Zero race has premiered all-electric prototype and production machines on the TT Course, with significant milestone successes from both mainstream developers of motorcycles and University entrants.
Highlights including the first 100mph lap of the Mountain Course by a clean emissions motorcycle – Motoczysz – in 2012, the exceptional performances by the Japanese Mugen team raising the lap records over a number of years which now stands at over 121mph and the remarkable performance by Nottingham University in posting their own 120mph lap.
Over the ten year period many notable teams have participated in the event, although recent years have seen entries for this all-electric class reduce to the extent that the Department now needs to work with the industry to grow a modern zero emission class and encourage more teams, universities and manufacturers to participate
This will include looking at other technologies under development and to determine if these can be incorporated into the broader concept of zero emissions racing on the TT Course.
Minister Skelly continued:
‘In 2019, the carbon footprint of racing at TT was offset for the first time and the Department will continue to strive to reduce the broader environmental impact of the TT and the island as a whole. Zero emission racing machinery has an important part to play in this reduction into the future.
‘As such the Department wishes to hear from those stakeholders and organizations who feel they have the skills, knowledge and competence to be able to provide input into the process of determining the future look of the TT Zero Races.’
The Department is looking to arrange a series of clean tech industry and race team stakeholder sessions on the Isle of Man with the first one planned for early in the New Year.
The Department for Enterprise will shortly be announcing the full race program for the 2020 Isle of Man TT Races.
The post Isle Of Man Issues Two Year Moratorium For TT Zero Electric Race appeared first on Motorcycle.com News.
When it comes to personalizing one’s adventure/luxury/sport/cruiser touring motorcycle, windscreens and seats are among the more popular upgrades. National Cycle, maker of OE windscreens for leading manufacturers, also produces replacement screens. And ZTechnik, National Cycle’s in-house brand of bits and bobs for BMWs (“Zubehör Technik” is German for “technical accessories”), provides trim pieces, guards and other farkles.
For BMW’s popular R 1200/1250 GS/GSA models, National Cycle and ZTechnik offer two complementary upgrades — VStream windscreens in three heights and a windscreen stabilizer. When BMW gave its mighty GS a major makeover for 2013, one of the many improvements was a knob for on-the-fly, one-hand manual height adjustment of the windscreen. But, especially with larger aftermarket windscreens, some GS owners have complained that the OE mounting system allows too much windscreen flutter.
For our 2019 BMW R 1250 GS Exclusive, we requested the VStream Touring Screen ($129.95), which at 19.5 inches tall by 15.25 inches wide is the mid-size VStream offered for the GS (Sport screen is 15.5 x 14.25 inches; Touring Deluxe is 22 x 15.75 inches). As you can see in the above photo, the VStream Touring Screen is significantly taller and wider than stock, and it features National Cycle’s patented “V” profile to direct turbulent air away from the rider. The Quantum hard-coated polycarbonate is said to provide superior scratch resistance, clarity and strength, with 30 times more resistance to abrasion and 20 times greater crack and impact resistance than acrylic windscreens, and it’s covered by a three-year warranty against breakage.
We’ve tested VStream windscreens on a wide variety of motorcycles, and they work like a charm. In the case of the GS, the VStream creates a smooth stream of airflow regardless of windscreen height. No buffeting, no annoying wind noise. Given the Touring Screen’s added height, the top of the windscreen was just below my line of sight, so I had to look through the screen to see the road in front of me and over it to see off into the distance. Setting the windscreen in a middle-to-lowest height provided a more commanding view over the top as well as more direct airflow into the vents of my helmet.
Installation of the ZTechnik Windscreen Stabilizer Kit ($79.95) is straightforward, though it requires Torx wrenches (T25 and T30). Bolts for the stabilizer bracket are sprayed with a splotch of threadlocker at the factory, which is hard and made it nearly impossible to thread them into the bracket’s captured nuts. After using a rotary wire brush to clean the threads, the screws threaded in smoothly. Each side of the stabilizer bracket has two tightening knobs which must be loosened before the windscreen can be hand-cranked up or down, limiting the ability to adjust windscreen height on the fly with one hand. But, since most riders have a preferred height for the majority of their riding, it’s not much of a problem. Indeed, the windscreen stabilizer lives up to its name — there was nary a flutter in the taller, wider VStream. If you’re happy with the stock or other aftermarket windscreen, the stabilizer is compatible with them, too.
For more information, call (708) 343-0400 or visit nationalcycle.com.
Source: RiderMagazine.com
#QATWorldSBK🇶🇦 🏁Losail 🗓Friday 25th October
📋 Race 1
⌚ 20.00 local time (18.00UK)
📺 Live Eurosport UK 2
☀️31*C
🏍 20 Laps
Source: Jonathan Rea On Facebook
