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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
An interesting development on the aftermarket side of things has graced our desks, as Öhlins has released a “suspension control unit” (SCU) that upgrades the electronically adjustable suspension on the Ducati Multistrada 1200 S so that it becomes a semi-active suspension system. Whhhaaaat??! So, if you’re the proud owner of a pre-2013 Ducati Multistrada 1200 S, and you think that your electronically controlled Öhlins suspension is no longer boss, now that Ducati has released its Sachs-powered “Skyhook” semi-active suspension pieces on its new batch of Multistrada sport-tourers, there is a remedy for your motolust.
In case you missed our exhaustive coverage of the Grand Prix of the Americas, those fools at Dorna gave me pit lane access this MotoGP season. So while the whole paddock waits for the Spaniards to come to their senses, I don’t plan on wasting the opportunity to share with our readers our extreme access to motorcycling’s premier racing class. Accordingly, here comes another installment into our ever-continuing “Up-Close” series, featuring the very finest Iwata has to offer: the Yamaha YZR-M1. Thirty 2000px-wide photos are waiting for you after the jump.
Hoppers loyalty to Suzuki, while admirable, has limited his career dramatically. Not sure what kind of a deal keeps you stuck at one manufacturer for close to 10 years, but I sure hope it’s lucrative cause I believe Hoppers got the goods to run up front, and has for a long time, but been limited by the sled. Spies was a Suzuki rider through AMA, and did a wild card ride at Laguna and Indy. My guess is that he rode the GP and said “Nope, that’s not gonna get me where I can go”. The switch to Yamaha and the WSBK tour was the right path. So, when I hear Hopper saying “A full time ride in MGP is my long term goal” while professing loyalty to Suzuki, a couple sayings come to mind: “If you do what you always did, you’ll get what you always got.” and “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing twice and expecting a different result.”
Hopper had some stints with Kawasaki and Triumph in those 10 years you know. I think Hopper knows his only ticket back into MotoGP is with Paul Denning, and his not keen on ruffling any of his feathers, or the feathers that oversee the Crescent Racing team.
Andrea Iannone lets see what that italian missile can do on a Respsol Honda
Jonny Rea, seems like an obvious choice for the Honda fill in, he already tested
Eugene Laverty is a GP hopeful in the future
Leon Haslam is hating life at BMW and would skip town in a heartbeat if he could.
Of course I dont know these guys contracts but I would like to see what they could do on a gp bike
Hopper on the other hand also had that huge fallout between Ulrich saying he basically lied about his health last year, I’m guessing his word is a fragile thing in the racing worlds eyes or at least his own.
@76
Here we go again……Hopper did not lie to Ulrich when he signed contract. As far as Hopper knew his surgery had been a success until a while later (after signing ) He found out the Doctor had secured pins through his tendons (by accident) and killed off his tendons.
Hopper rode several races in pure agony and was then told to retire by same doctor. Thank God he didn’t listen and we all know what the end result has been there. PODIUMS for Ulrich. Who I might add got his money 100 fold out of Hopkins over the years.
Oh and Beeler,
I don’t believe Suzuki will be Hopper’s only option back to Motogp. If that was the case why was he Repsol and Tech 3′s first choice as replacement rider??
He has a lot of credability in the paddock, he is well liked and respected. I would guarantee a couple of offers for next year. not just Suzuki.
If only half of the CRT bikes that have put their deposit down make the grid next year, Hopper will have at least a dozen full-time MotoGP rides to choose from so long as he doesn’t mind racing for 10th place. But with the bikes he’s been on, he’s used to that anyway.
@raymond17
I was just reiterating what Ulrich’s accusations were, I dont know ether. Its was a big hoopla though when it went down and I’m sure neither has forgotten, it just seemed to me that Hopper was keen on stating hes keeping his word/ 100% loyal. Not that he ever did anything wrong but definitely seems to make it a point here in his statement.
sidenote, with all that hoopla it did seem to me that Ulrich blew his lid and was rather determined to hurt Hopkins career with his very public statement, his actions were unprofessional simple as that
I say what about Josh Hays for the Tech 3 slot. at his age that will be his only shot. Not that he is not awesome. but even he will tell you that late 30′s is kinda long in the tooth for a full motogp ride. may be is last chance to ride with the big boys. plus it may help him get to World SBK. He’s got friends there plus the age thing won’t be an issue. i say use a wild card in moto gp to get into SBK. worked for Spies and R.L.Hayden.
It was reported/confirmed (in his own words) that Hopper has addressed an earlier alcohol problem. Although he is thankfully over that, I suspect his “recovery” requires undying support from his current management – full stop.
Well, Ipso. That is an idiot thing to write. What has that got to do with current management?? Hopper quit drinking almost 2 years ago.
Well, Raymond; sorry you have to revert to name calling. (Did it hurt you that bad? ..It only hurts if it’s true ya know.)
His drinking is subject in major journalism within the last couple of months. It is not a forgotten 2 year old issue; probably nor will it ever be. Perhaps you don’t understand how current management can poison the well of future management’s perception of Hopper as a risk? It wouldn’t take much would it? If you don’t see the need for increased loyalty, which is exactly what he is saying in various interviews, then maybe you’re post is the more idiotic.
Let’s not all forget the guy was in his early 20′s, GOOD for him to be partying! That makes me like him more, and he is still one of my favorite riders! He’s growing up a bit, and he’ll be back.
Way to go, Alex…..someone with a clue. The only thing Teams and Managment and Whoever else in racing are concerned about is if you can deliver the goods. Otherwise, most racers would not be racing. Not everyone is squeeky clean!
It seems like John can handle himself and Team managers are calling him……….