February 2003 All Moto
news (from the web)
*March 3) An organisation calling itself Celebration of Australian Motorcycling has developed a national television campaign, with support from the Motor Cycle Council of New South Wales, and featuring Kieren Perkins and Wayne Gardner. The Federal Transport Minister, Mr John Anderson, will be launching it on Friday, March 7.
* (March 3) Australian motorcycle
rider Anthony West will enter hospital in Italy tomorrow to have a back brace
fitted to speed up his recovery from injuries sustained when he crashed during
a 250cc grand prix test session in Portugal four days ago. West, who is riding
an Aprilia in this year's 250cc world championship,
suffered a cracked vertebrae when he crashed on
February 27 during the second and final day of the International Road Racing
Teams Association (IRTA) test at the Estoril track.
The 21-year-old from the Gold Coast said he would be hospitalised
in
* (March 3) Former Australian Superbike champ Mal "Wally" Campbell helped launch Australian Motorcycle Week in Tasmania today, an event for which the Launceston resident will be acting as official tour guide. It all happens in the last two weeks of November.
* (March 3) Neil Hodgson
comprehensively stamped his authority on the opening World Superbike
round in
* (February 28) Former 500cc
Grand Prix rider Brendan Clarke will make his debut in the premier Xtreme class at the upcoming second round of the 2003
Yamaha Formula Xtreme TT Series set down for Sydney's
Oran Park Raceway on the weekend of March 15 & 16. Nineteen year old Clarke became the youngest rider to score World
Championship points in the prestigious 500cc GP when he competed in the 2001 Championship
aboard a Honda NSR500 V-twin, but in 2003 his attention has turned to the
Australian racing scene where he is riding for the Nikon Yamaha Racing Team.
The diminutive Brisbane teenager, who tips the scales at just 53kg, gets his
chance to do battle with Australia's best big bore racers when he takes the
controls of one of his teams potent Yamaha YZF R1s for the first time at the
Oran Park round. "I'm excited about jumping on the R1, but I don't know
what to really expect from it," said Clarke. "Hopefully if it stops
raining up here (
* (February 28) From MotoGP: The HRC three-day MotoGP
test at Phillip Island ended today with Valentino Rossi once again taking the
fastest time. Meanwhile poor weather has been hampering the 250 tests at
*(February 26) If you happen to be touring through the Daylesford (Vic) area, keep an eye out for a new bike shop - the owners wrote to us at Motomail.
* (February 24) Yamaha has been playing with a new twin-shock rear end for its M1 MotoGP bike.
* (February 24) Yamaha-mounted Alex Barros topped the weekend's MotoGP testing at Jerez, though it's worth keeping in mind that Honda was absent - testing in Malaysia.
* (February 24) The off-season break has been a very good one for three times American AMA Superbike champion, Australian Mat Mladin, as he prepares for the famous Daytona 200, the opening round of this year's AMA Chevy Trucks US Superbike Championship on March 9. The most significant change is that Mladin will compete in this year's 18-round championship aboard a Suzuki GSX-R1000 rather than the GSX-R750 that took him to three AMA Superbike crowns and two Daytona 200s.
* (February 24) Australia's Ant West is rapidly growing in confidence for his tilt at this year's 250cc motorcycle world championship after a productive three-day test session at the Jerez circuit in Spain. The 21-year-old Azzurra Aprilia rider emerged third fastest among the 21 competitors from the 250cc category who took part in the International Road Racing Teams Association (IRTA) test, which finished today. West, who did not race in 2002, clocked a best lap time of 1-min 45.593-secs around the 4.4km Jerez circuit on the final day in windy conditions. The only riders who finished ahead of him were Frenchman Randy de Puniet and former 125cc world champion Manuel Poggiali, also riding Aprilias. "In the fast right-handers the wind was picking the bike up and it was hard to stay on line," said West. "It was blowing from the left, or from behind at different places, and a few people crashed."
* (February 24) The Foggy Petronas superbike team is very upbeat about recent testing: "Troy finished the test with the eight fastest time, of 1:36.148, and was fifth fastest in the final session, while James knocked another half a second off his previous best with a time of 1:36.640. These times, set on 2001 specification tyres, served to further emphasize the potential of the Foggy FP1. And the team received another welcome boost when the issue of flames coming out of the exhaust appeared to be solved by the end of the final session. Chief engineer Steve Thompson said: 'We have again shown that the Foggy FP1 is capable of not only winning races but also winning championships. I am delighted with Troy and very pleased with James. Their professionalism and performance has clearly shown the potential of the motorcycle and the team.'"
* (February 21) From the PR wire: The California Superbike School (www.superbikeschool.com) announced it will conduct classes for motorcyclists in 12 countries during the 2003 calendar year. Founded in 1980 by Keith Code, the Los Angeles based school established permanent branches in England and Australia in the 1990s. This year, in addition to its operations in the US, England, and Australia, Code's school will hold classes for riders in Ireland, France, Spain, Germany, Greece, Norway, Sweden, Malaysia, and the Philippines.
* (February 20) Aussie world supercross title contender Chad Reed had a weekend he'd rather forget, suffering crashes and being pushed back to sixth place in the latest round.
* (February 20) From H-D: Harley-Davidson motorcycle sales in Australia and New Zealand set an all time record in January '03 with 400 units being delivered to customers. This was the best ever month for the brand in the Australasian market and 60% up on January last year.
* (February 20) Kawasaki is offering a $40,000 support fund for riders racing its new ZX-6RR in major race series. Talk to your dealer for more info.
* (February 20) From Motorcycling Australia: Winner of the 2002 inaugural Motul Women's Cup, Alyssa Culley, has jet-setted off to the USA this week to ride in the AMA Women's MX League (WML). WML races get ESPN coverage and Alyssa is hoping to emulate the great work done by fellow Australians Chad Reed, Michael Byrne and Craig Anderson on the American motocross circuit.
* (February 19) From the PR wire: Global sales of Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd and Suzuki Motor Corporation's first jointly developed motorcycle will commence in September of this year. Kawasaki and Suzuki announced their business alliance in August 2001. Starting in February 2002, mutual provision of a number of motorcycle and All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) OEM models has taken place in both Japanese and foreign markets. The first jointly developed motorcycle model is a motocross machine powered by a 250cc 4-stroke engine. The motorcycle will be produced at Kawasaki, however each company will promote a version of the model as one of their own brand, and sales will be through individual sales networks. Both companies plan to enter the model in the All-Japan Motocross Championship starting in April 2003.
*(February 18) Newcastle's Kevin Curtain totally dominated round one of the 2003 Yamaha Formula Xtreme TT Series, held at Sydney's Eastern Creek Raceway last weekend. Curtain, riding for the new Nikon Yamaha Racing Team this year, was in blistering form as he took pole position and a clean sweep of all eight races that he contested. Changeable weather conditions made machine preparation difficult for the competitors. Saturday's qualifying sessions and opening races were held in hot conditions, while rain showers passing over the circuit at irregular intervals affected Sunday's races.
* (February 17) Australian motor racing legend Wayne Gardner today announced his retirement from professional motor sport after a quarter of a century racing motorcycles and cars. Click here to read the full story.
* (February 16) Australian road race GP rider Anthony West has clinched a ride in the 250 class for this year, on an Aprilia alongside Johan Stigefelt. West rode for the 250cc Shell Advance team in 2000, coming 6th in the championship, and then punted a 500 V-twin for a time on 2001. However he had to sit out 2002 after failing to score a seat.
And another item: Yamaha Tribe is pleased to announce the very first of its series of Ride with the Starstrack days that will be held around Australia in the coming months. The first of these days will take place at Phillip Island on Tuesday, March 18, just over a week prior to the World Superbike round. The Ride with the Stars days are aimed at providing the participants an alternative to the host of ride / track days that are currently held at most circuits around the country. As well as providing participants with a considerable amount of track time, those who attend will be able to meet and share the track with a host of Yamaha's racing stars that will be in attendance. See www.yamaha-motor.com.au/
* (February 13) UK MCN reports that Kawasaki may be on the verge of releasing a ZX-10R, which hangs its marketing hat on the ZX-RR MotoGP bike being ridden by Aussies Garry McCoy and Andrew Pitt this year.
* (February 13) From MotoGP: With just under two months remaining until the 2003 season kicks off in Suzuka, the Harris WCM team is rapidly bringing its brand new prototype machine to the testing stage.
* (February 12) From MotoGP: Proton Team KR Managing Director Chuck Akland has revealed that development of their all-new V5 four-stroke machine is coming along slower than expected, but insists the prototype machine will be competitive from the start of the season despite the progress made by rival manufacturers over the winter period.
* (February 11) AllMoto is very sorry to report that Kim "Mole" Wilson passed away in his sleep yesterday morning, as the result of cancer. He was legendary in riding - particularly rallying - circles and proved himself to be a funny columnist for Australian Rider a few years ago. He is survived by wife Janette and two children Rachel and Cooper. Motorcycling is much poorer for his loss.
* (February 11) From UK MCN yesterday: "Speed limits are being raised in Italy to improve road safety. Italian transport minister Pietro Lunardi believes higher speeds will improve the traffic flow, and encourage motorists to pay attention. The change will affect three-lane motorways, with the limit raised to 150km/h (93mph), from January 1, 2004. Lunardi went on to say that psychologists and doctors say people who go faster drive better and are more careful, and that only 9 per cent of fatal accidents were caused by speeding." Thanks to Hutcho for spotting it. So who's got this wrong? The Italians, or our local safety geniuses, who are going in the opposite direction?
* (February 11) Motorcycling Australia says Channel 9 has confirmed broadcasting of the Shell national road race series. The event will be televised between 11.00 am and mid-day on the following dates: Saturday 19 April, Saturday 24 May, Saturday 28 June, Saturday 16 August, Saturday 6 September.
* (February 10) Aussie Chad Reed won round 6 of the AMA Supercross Series in San Diego last weekend. He is now only four points behind series leader Ricky Carmichael.
* (February 10) A bumper crowd of at least 8000 saw Australian Supercross riders Jay Marmont and Troy Carroll dominate their respective classes in Round Two of the 2003 Australian Supercross Championship at Avalon Speedway near Geelong last night.
* (February 8) From Suzuki: Team Suzuki riders Kenny Roberts Jr. and John Hopkins concluded a week of testing at Australia’s Phillip Island GP circuit yesterday, with their all-new GSV-R racer growing up fast – and easily going faster than the previous version. These were the second tests for the 2003 machine, which made a surprise appearance in January at tests in Sepang in Malaysia. The huge improvements wrought by the Suzuki factory race department over the winter infused the whole team with enthusiasm at Sepang. In Australia, the faster and friendlier new Suzuki showed its mettle again, confirming the promise of competitive potential at the fast and sweeping circuit. The team tested for four days, starting on Monday and taking a break on Wednesday, finishing early on Friday when high winds spoiled the conditions, and the seaside circuit’s notorious seagulls mustered in menacingly large numbers. "We’re still learning a lot about the machine – its good and bad habits," said Roberts, 2000 World Champion. "But right off we went faster than last year, and there’s more to come." Engineers in Japan will continue to refine the exciting new GSV-R, all changed from last year’s ground-breaking first 990cc V4 MotoGP four-stroke, in the break before the next tests at Jerez on February 21-23. There the new Suzuki will meet its MotoGP rivals for the first time.
* (February 7) Reader Tom Odda sent us the links for this "Super-retard" - which is Oddlish for a retro Supermotard. It's a combo of XT and SR Yamaha bits, with some hot-ups that give it a claimed 50 horses and 175kmh top speed. Very cute and worth a look at http://www.miles-motors.de/morsxt597.html
* (February 7) From our scuttlebutt department: We hear that Italian scooter giant Piaggio is in the throes of appointing new national distributors for its various brands including Piaggio, Gilera, Derbi and the historic Vespa marque. Frasers, in Sydney, is likely to be taking up the first two brands, while Peter Stevens in Melbourne is in line for the last two. The splitting of the brands follows the parent company's international practice.
* (February 6) The Malaysian-backed Foggy-Petronas superbikes team has released photos of its first 75 road bikes - required by world superbike regs as part of the homologation process. There's no word yet on where or how they'll be sold, but you can visit the team at http://www.foggypetronasracing.com/
* (February 6) The worldwide maxi scooter war is hotting up with Benelli and Piaggio recently launching new models. Piaggio already has the 460cc X9 and has added the identically-powered Beverly to it's line-up. In addition to the very different styling, the Beverly boasts bigger than usual wheels: 16-inch up front and a 14-inch on the rear.
Meanwhile Benelli has replied with the Velvet Dusk 400 (actually 383cc), which doesn't pump out the power of the Piaggio (29hp versus 39), but is considerably lighter - claiming 140 kilos dry weight compared to the Piaggio's 189. The Dusk runs 13-inch wheel sizes.
* (February 6) Fair warning to road makers from a recent edition of the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper: "A man has successfully sued a NSW council for more than $700,000 after he lost his leg in a motorcycle accident. Justice Timothy Studdert found the accident most likely happened because there were no warning signs about the roadworks and the loose gravel caused Mr Fell to lose control of his motorcycle. 'The plaintiff impressed me as a responsible person who would have paid due regard to the presence of such signs had they been in place,” he said.
* (February 5 ) Many of AllMoto's readers have written to their local politicians expressing concern about the introduction of front number plates for motorcycles. An interesting development is recent letters from all states have hinted at the introduction of electronic tagging for all vehicles - which may supercede the number plate idea as a far more lucrative revenue-raiser.
* (February 5 ) High-profile world supersport racer Jamie Whitam has been forced to retire from racing by the onset of glaucoma. The Briton has been undergoing treatment, but says there is some irreversible damage.
* (February 4) The latest rumour doing the roundsof the MotoGP circus is that both Honda and Yamaha may be playing with V3 designs in addition to the existing V5 and in-line four powerplants. Time will tell...
* (February 3) Melbourne's Elizabeth Street motorcycle precinct celebrates its 100th anniversary this year.
* (January 31) From President of MV Agusta, Claudio Castiglioni: Last week Banca Intesa expressed their full support for our business plan, a result that rewards the strength of our brands and the high level of technology and style that distinguish our products. Today we can finally leave our difficult economic situation behind us which was the cause of our drastic halt in production. We can now look to the future with renewed optimism and begin production of our main models for Cagiva, Husqvarna, and MV Agusta in February. Our target for this year is to produce 24,000 motorcycles divided between our three brands. This goal won't be difficult to achieve due to the introduction of strategic new models for each of the three brands that will finally be able to enter into production. Husqvarna will be able to begin production of the 2003 model range including the sought-after twin cam four-stroke. In March we will finally begin producing the MV Agusta Brutale, which is renowned by critics worldwide. During the same month we will begin producing the hyper-sport F4 SPR and subsequently the exclusive and commemorative F4 Ago. Last, but not least, Cagiva will offer the Raptor range with the 125cc model and the new version of the XTRA. In addition to our relaunch, 2003 is the 100-year anniversary of Husqvarna as well as the 25-year anniversary of Cagiva. To mark this important event, Husqvarna will be producing in limited edition the new 510, tribute to the original four-stroke motorbike from the 1980s.
* (January 30) Mick Doohan is the proud father of a second child, a son, Jack Michael, Australia's Gold Coast Bulletin newspaper has reported. And the five-time 500cc world champion says he couldn't be happier. The Bulletin said Doohan welcomed his son after partner Selina Sines endured an early labour at the Pindara Hospital on Queensland's Gold Coast, where Doohan spends about half his time - when not on duty at Honda Racing Corporation. The couple's first child, Allexis, is now three. "We have one of each, so I think we'll call it quits after this," Doohan said.
* (January 29) From Businesswire.com: "Norton Motorcycle Company announced today that it will premier the Norton Nemesis Power Cruiser at the Cincinnati V-Twin Expo Trade Show this weekend, February 1-3, 2003. Among the innovations is the engine. The Nemesis is powered by the largest production OEM engine available-- a 125 cubic inch, 2050cc Merch/Norton V-Twin delivering 130 ft lbs of torque at the rear wheel. 'We are extremely proud to re-introduce Norton as an American manufactured motorcycle,' says Terry Nesbitt, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Norton Motorcycle Company. "The new motorcycle is also unique for its 6-speed transmission with right-hand final drive, air ride suspension and 240/40-18 Metzler radial rear tire. These hi-performance features deliver excellent power transfer, enhance chassis stability and create superior handling characteristics. 'It is our intention to be a full-line manufacturer introducing numerous models competing in different segments of the overall market,' says Nesbitt. 'Our first model, the Nemesis Power Cruiser, will be available in the first quarter of 2003.'" The Norton Nemesis first popped up about four years ago as a British-made V8-powered bike claiming some outrageous performance figures. So far as we know, there was only ever one cobbled together prototype. The American company has a new website opening on February 1 at www.nortonmotorcycleco.com
* (January 29) Harley-Davidson is about to face a civil court action from the state of Wisconsin in the USA over claims of widespread cam failure in early TC88 engine series (up to early 2000 build). Harley-Davidson is contesting the court's decision to allow the case.
* (January 29) Keith Code in the USA has added wheelie schools to his menu. Here's the gist of the media release: The world's top motorcycle riding instructor, Keith Code, says "doing wheelies ranks high on the list of the most frivolous and decadent things in the history of Mankind! "I look at it from the perspective of skill and control," says Code. "It just happens to be one of the skills every top rider I have ever worked with has perfected." Riders have more confidence in themselves when they know they can handle the motorcycle, especially in extreme circumstances and a wheelie is an extreme circumstance. "The Wheelie School, appropriately named On One Wheel, will reduce fear... which is the best part," says Code. The highlight of the school is Code's newest invention, the Wheelie Training Bike which has two anti-flip-over mechanisms: one kills the power and the other applies the rear brake. "Your eyes will pop out of your head when it goes up--but flipping it won't be easy," says Code. The first Wheelie Schools began in Nov 2 at the Irwindale Raceway, California (20 minutes from downtown LA). Each school holds a maximum of 8 students per school-day session. All students are guaranteed to wheelie and will have the opportunity for dozens of runs. Along with the rest of his motorcycle training devices - the Brake Rig, the Onboard Camera Bike, the No BS Bike, the Braking Trainer and the Lean/Slide Machine - the Wheelie Bike will give students a whole new level of control over their riding. Code's local franchise is the Australian Superbike School.
* (January 29) Earlier this week: Proton Team KR is proud to announce that it's new V-5 four-stroke engine came to life for the first time. The 990cc Proton KR MotoGP engine ran successfully on an engine dynamometer for initial data generation. Staff are evaluating the data and performing initial post run hardware inspection. Kenny Roberts, team owner: "We've been through all of this before. I'm really happy to see it finally run. Now the hard and interesting work has just begun. It will be nice when we get it on the racetrack."
* (January 28) From H-D: Harley-Davidson motorcycle sales recorded an 18% growth in Australia/New Zealand over the previous year. Sales rose to 3124, up significantly from 2654 in 2001. Proving the mettle of the new and innovative motorcycles; Buell sales also grew by 18% from 144 to 170 motorcycles in 2002. The most sought after Harley-Davidson model was the Fat Boy (418 units), followed by the Heritage Softail Classic (332 units) and then the Softail Standard at 291. Not far behind were the V-Rod (220 units) and the affordable Sportster 883 (141 units sold).