Q&A: Yukio Kagayama Talks About the Upcoming Suzuka 8-Hour with Kevin Schwantz & Noriyuki Haga

In case you missed the story last week, Kevin Schwantz is preparing to race in this year’s Suzuka 8-Hour endurance race. For the race, Schwantz will be riding on a team formed by Yukio Kagayama, who in addition to having raced in the MotoGP, World Superbike, and British Superbike Championships, is also a previous Suzuka 8-Hour winner with the Suzuki Endurance Race Team (also joining the three-rider team Noriyuki “Nitro” Haga). Releasing a Q&A about his team’s Suzuka 8-Hour entry, Kagayama-san walks us through how the team came together, what equipment the riders will use, and his outlook on the team’s competitiveness.

KTM RC4 Concept by Luca Bar Design

A single-cylinder hooligan-maker, the KTM 690 Duke is 330 lbs (curbside without fuel) and 67hp of two-wheeled fun, and we hope that the Austrians bring the KTM 690 Duke R our way as well. While we are on the topic of things missing from KTM’s American line-up, a decent supersport is painfully obvious, yet we can’t see the folks at KTM following the paths of other brands. That’s where our friend Luca Bar comes to mind with his latest concept: the KTM RC4. Using the KTM 690 Duke platform and its LC4 engine, Bar has designed a super-single full-fairing sport bike that takes the Austrian company’s “Ready to Race” DNA and applies it to an idea that is not all that disimilar to the Ducati Supermono.

Q&A: Claudio Domenicali Talks Frameless Chassis, Sacred Cows, & The Future for Ducati

When I sat down with Claudio Domenicali at the Ducati 1199 Panigale R launch, the now-CEO of Ducati Motor Holding was still just the General Manager of the Italian motorcycle company. Four weeks after our interview though, Gabriele del Torchio would leave Ducati for Alitalia; and Domenicali, a 21-year veteran of both the racing and production departments of Ducati, would take his place at the top of Italy’s most prestigious motorcycle brand. After reading our interview from Austin, Texas after the jump, I think you will agree too.

Is Yamaha Using A Seamless Gearbox? The Data Says No

That Yamaha is working on a seamless gearbox is no secret, with Yamaha’s test riders currently racking up the kilometers around tracks in Japan. Recently, however, Spanish magazine SoloMoto published an article suggesting that Yamaha has already been using its new seamless gearbox since the beginning of the season. My own enquiries to check whether Yamaha was using a seamless gearbox or not always received the same answer: no, Yamaha is not using the seamless gearbox. To test this denial, I went out to the side of the track on Friday morning at Jerez to record the bikes as they went by.

OCC Coming Back to TV? — Universe Collapses in on Self

After a very public father/son break-up between Paul Teutul Sr. and Paul Teutul Jr., a steroid-ring scandal involving Paul Sr., and finally a bankruptcy proceeding, it appears that Orange County Choppers is the impossible to kill multi-headed hydra of doom that we all knew it was, as the custom chopper shop is once again headed to the small screen and recruiting some talent, on and off the show. Looking for “someone who will work alongside Paul Senior, running the shop and helping build some of the best custom motorcycles in the world,” OCC says it will be back on television with a new show later this month. Please for the love of god, will someone give this man the attention he craves so dearly??! Or, just shoot us in the face.

Alstare Superbike Concept by Team Alstare

We love us some concept bikes here at Asphalt & Rubber, and we have featured more than a few pieces of stunning design and imagination on our pages. Though, we can’t remember the last time one of these works of art were brought to us by a legitimate racing team, but that is what we have here with the Team Alstare Superbike Concept. A nod to the former Suzuki team’s return to the World Superbike Championship as the Ducati factory squad with Carlos Checa and Ayrton Badovini, Alstare has enlisted the help of designer Serge Rusak of Rusak Kreaktive Designworks to ink the shape of its futuristic Superbike concept, while Tryptik Studios handled the 3D modeling prowess.

Transcript: The Gay Question at Jerez

If you didn’t watch Thursday’s pre-event press conference for MotoGP at Jerez, it is worth a viewing right to the end (assuming you have a MotoGP.com account). Building off the news about the NBA’s Jason Collins coming out as gay in a self-written feature in Sport Illustrated, my good colleague David Emmett had the courage to inquire about the culture and acceptance of the MotoGP paddock for homosexual riders. For the sake of accuracy, after the jump is a full transcript of David’s question, as put to riders Cal Crutchlow, Jorge Lorenzo, Marc Marquez, Andrea Dovizioso, Stefan Bradl, and Scott Redding, as well as those riders’ responses to David’s inquiry.

2014 Suzuki GSV-R Spotted Again

News that Suzuki plans on returning to the MotoGP Championship in 2014 should be old information for dedicated Asphalt & Rubber readers, and the Japanese company’s inline-four race bike was already spotted doing test laps last year by the eager eyes at Cycle World. Well the American print-mag has another set of eyebrow-raising high-quality photos of the 2014 Suzuki GSV-R to mull over from the Motegi race track, along with some technical insights provided by the venerable Kevin Cameron.

BMW F800GS Adventure – Germany’s Middleweight ADV

A surprise addition to BMW Motorrad’s 2013 model line-up, zie Germans have announced a new middleweight adventure-tourer, the 2013 BMW F800GS Adventure. Like its larger predecessor, the BMW F800GS Adventure is a more travel-ready and off-road capable build of the recently updated BMW F800GS motorcycle. Featuring a larger windscreen, panniers, and a bigger fuel tank capacity (2.1 gallons larger, for a total of 6.3 gallons of fuel), the BMW F800GS Adventure keeps the same 85 hp, liquid-cooled, 798cc, parallel-twin engine found on the F800GS, as well as the same chassis configuration. Pricing in the US will be $13,550 for the base model BWM F800GS Adventure.

Kevin Schwantz Returns to Motorcycle Racing – Enters the Suzuka 8-Hours with Team Kagayama

Former 500cc World Champion Kevin Schwantz has certainly been in the news a bit these past few months, mostly for his involvement and falling out with the Circuit of the Americas and the Americas GP, but also more recently for his comments regarding Dani Pedrosa — we also sat down with Mr. Schwantz in Austin, and the Texan gave us some sobering insight into the future of American road racing. As if all that wasn’t enough, Schwantz is making a return to two-wheeled racing, and has entered the prestigious Suzuka 8-Hours endurance race with Team Kagayama racing alongside Noriyuki Haga and team owner Yukio Kagayama.

MotoGP: Weather Changes Leaves Riders Out to Dry in Le Mans

05/17/2009 @ 1:41 pm, by Jensen Beeler3 COMMENTS

MotoGP: Weather Changes Leaves Riders Out to Dry in Le Mans jorge lorenzo fiat yamaha le mans 560x401

As we mentioned yesterday, Le Mans is known for its rapidly changing weather patterns, and a mixture of both rain and sunshine is not uncommon for the French track. The weather gods being unappeased, they decided to bring both the rain and the sun for MotoGP fans in France today. From the very beginning of the French GP things were interesting: with the GP run on a dry track, but riders leaving the grid on rain tires. With teams having to make the call on whether to stay out on rains, or sacrifice time and pit in, there were some interesting results from the choices being made. Continue reading for the spoilers.

The story of the first place winner is perhaps the least interesting story of today’s GP. Jorge Lorenzo grabbed the lead on the first lap, and left the rest of the field behind. Lorenzo easily won the day, with over 17 seconds between him and second place winner Marco Melandri, and he was never in trouble of being caught.

Exstatic about his win, and also his new lead in the overall standings, Lorezno commented on swapping bikes mid-race for the first time in his career:

“It was very difficult because I am not used to changing bikes in the middle of the race and this was the first time in my life that I have done it. I am grateful for the victory because I was fast with the wet tyres and also with the dry ones. I knew it would be so hard because you have to change bikes at the right moment, if you do it one lap too late you could lose. We changed at the perfect point and we are back on top.”

The day was a big day for the Hayate Team as well, scoring their first podium of the season. The success seemed to rest on the fact that Marco Melandri stayed out on the rain tires for a long time, whereas riders who entered into the pits earlier, payed dearly for their decision.

Riders who pitted early for slicks soon regretted their choice. The pitting process takes a long time, it took the riders a while before their slick tires could do times to match the fading wets. Valentino Rossi took the brunt of today’s punishment for his early pitting strategy. The Fiat Yamaha rider went into pit lane on four separate occasions today at Le Mans, three times to change bikes and once for a ride through penalty.

Rossi was first into the pits, and crashed almost immediately after changing to slick tires. He got back on his crashed Yamaha M1, making it back into the pits for another bike. Because his swapped bike didn’t have a pit-limiter, the Italian had to perform a pit ride through penalty for speeding in pit-lane. Rossi would then re-return to the pits later and take another bike. SOL, Rossi ended the day two laps behind Lorenzo, with his focus looking two weekends from now at Mugello.

“I had difficulties from the start and I really could not ride my bike to its best. By the fourth lap I felt that I was quite slow and that I couldn’t ride as I wanted. I decided to change bikes early because usually this strategy pays off. I knew that I had to warm the tyres up a little bit but I crashed anyway in that corner because at that point the track was still wet and I just didn’t ride into it in a calm enough manner.”

Dani Pedrosa caught team mate Andrea Dovizioso on the last lap, then passed to snatch up 3rd place.

Race Results from the MotoGP’s stop at Le Mans for the French GP: 

Pos.No.RiderManufacturerTimeDiff
199Jorge LORENZOYAMAHA47’52.678 
233Marco MELANDRIKAWASAKI48’10.38817.710
33Dani PEDROSAHONDA48’12.57119.893
44Andrea DOVIZIOSOHONDA48’13.13320.455
527Casey STONERDUCATI48’23.21730.539
67Chris VERMEULENSUZUKI48’30.14037.462
75Colin EDWARDSYAMAHA48’32.86940.191
865Loris CAPIROSSISUZUKI48’38.09945.421
952James TOSELANDYAMAHA48’42.98550.307
1024Toni ELIASHONDA48’45.89653.218
1115Alex DE ANGELISHONDA48’46.22853.550
1269Nicky HAYDENDUCATI48’49.32556.647
1372Yuki TAKAHASHIHONDA48’49.36656.688
1414Randy DE PUNIETHONDA49’03.9771’11.299
1588Niccolo CANEPADUCATI49’08.0631’15.385
1646Valentino ROSSIYAMAHA49’28.6852 laps
Not Classified
 36Mika KALLIODUCATI20’47.30217 laps

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Comment:

  1. Mark John O'Reardon says:
    May 17, 2009 at 2:55 PM

    MotoGP: Weather Changes Leaves Riders Out to Dry in Le Mans … http://bit.ly/SKlrt

  2. Razvan Popescu says:
    May 17, 2009 at 3:17 PM

    MotoGP: Weather Changes Leaves Riders Out to Dry in Le Mans … http://bit.ly/Dlo8S

  3. Mark John O'Reardon says:
    May 17, 2009 at 9:55 PM

    MotoGP: Weather Changes Leaves Riders Out to Dry in Le Mans … http://bit.ly/SKlrt