Mission Motorcycles: The Mission R Lives??!

Mission Motors tweeted out something interesting just a moment ago, a link to a new website for Mission Motorcycles. Teasing there a photo of the Mission R, it would seem that the electric superbike that does competitive AMA Supersport lap times at Laguna Seca, is finally set to come to production. It seems we won’t know everything about the new Mission Motorcycles project until June 3rd, though we can speculate pretty accurately on what the A&R Bothan spy network has been telling us. Expect to see the Mission R electric superbike in street legal trim, honed even further than when we rode the machine back in August last year.

Goodbye Husqvarna Nuda, We Hardly Knew Thee

Stefan Pierer’s acquisition of Husqvarna continues to baffle me. You will note I say Pierer, and not KTM, bought Husqvarna, since the Austrian CEO used Pierer Industrie AG in the transaction as a means to help side-step European antitrust issues. After all, we can’t have Europe’s largest dirt bike manufacturer, nay largest total motorcycle manufacturer, gobbling up even more brands in the two-wheeled world. But, I digress. Developing three road bikes (Husqvarna Nuda 900, Husqvarna Strada 650, & Husqvarna Terra 650), with three more concepts waiting in the wings (Husqvarna Moab, Husqvarna Baja, & Husqvarna E-G0), it is with even more confusion that we learn that Pierer & Co. intend to kill the Husqvarna Nuda project and its other street siblings.

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.

MotoGP: British GP Gives Vital Confidence Boosters

06/17/2012 @ 6:40 am, by Jensen Beeler7 COMMENTS

With Sunday’s race having perhaps some of the best weather yet at Silverstone, the British GP started with concern, after Cal Crutchlow missed qualifying after a hard crash in FP3. Getting cleared to ride Sunday morning, the Honey Badger was relegated to the back of the grid for the start, dashing any hopes of a podium finish.

Still, the man from Man delighted British fans with his resolve to go racing, with further spectacle coming in the form of Alvaro Bautista’s first MotoGP pole-positiion start, putting his black San Carlo Gresini Honda in front of the factory machines of Ben Spies, Casey Stoner, and Jorge Lorenzo. With the British GP showing the first signs of Spies’ renewed confidence, MotoGP fans had all the makings of a good race as the sun shined through the cloud cover. To see how it all finished out, click on past the jump.

Getting the jump off the line, Ben Spies lead the grid through the first turns, as he took control of the race ahead of Stoner, Bautista, Hayden, and Lorenzo. Leading the first four laps, it looked like Spies was going to runaway with the British GP, but the reigning-World Champion Casey Stoner caught up to the American with 16 laps to go. Capitalizing as Spies entered a corner too hot and ran wide at the apex, Stoner had no further contest from Spies who tried to hang onto the Honda’s pace, despite the Yamaha’s tires fading lap-by-lap.

Putting his own gap on the field, the only man that could respond to Stoner was Jorge Lorenzo. Moving up through the field at a rapid pace, Lorenzo found himself coming from fifth to second in just six laps. With Stoner enjoying a margin to Lorenzo, and Lorenzo gapping with a comfortable buffer the five-way battle for third , the Spaniard went to work on catching the Australian in front of him. Watching Stoner fade, Lorenzo passed the factory Honda rider, and never looked back as he finished over three seconds ahead of Stoner. Casey’s fate would be less certain however, as Dani Pedrosa soon caught his teammate, and put pressure on him all the way to the line, though could not close the deal on the soon-to-be-retired racer.

As that rounded out the podium, other notable races came from Nicky Hayden, who looked to be in the hunt for a podium until a mistake cost him several places, and found himself out of touch with the front-runners as he too had trouble with his tires lasting on the British course. Putting in a fantastic showing for the satellite Honda team, Alvaro Bautista held his own at the British GP, and finished fourth for the day. However, the ride of the day certainly has to go to Cal Crutchlow, who managed to make a sixth-place finish out of his last place start. Crutchlow may now have landed on a podium this weekend, but you would be hard-pressed to find a British fan who wasn’t proud of their pseudo-countryman.

Perhaps the most disappointing ride of the day came from Andrea Dovizioso, who crashed on the tenth lap while sitting in a very confident fourth place. While Yamaha’s day was surely made with Lorenzo’s victory (and now one full-race lead in the MotoGP Championship), Dovi’s crash today, Cal’s crash in FP3 yesterday, and Ben’s fifth place finish after leading the first quarter of the race all combine to make it a bittersweet weekend.

The good news for Spies is that he seems to have his fortunes heading once again in the right direction — the only question is whether the American can salvage his season rapidly enough to save his factory Yamaha seat for next year. Only time can tell, but MotoGP comes to The Cathedral on Saturday, June 30th.

Race Results from the British GP at Silverstone, Great Britain:

Pos.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Time
1	Jorge LORENZO	SPA	Yamaha Factory Racing	Yamaha	41’16.429
2	Casey STONER	AUS	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	+3.313
3	Dani PEDROSA	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	+3.599
4	Alvaro BAUTISTA	SPA	San Carlo Honda Gresini	Honda	+5.196
5	Ben SPIES	USA	Yamaha Factory Racing	Yamaha	+11.531
6	Cal CRUTCHLOW	GBR	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	+15.112
7	Nicky HAYDEN	USA	Ducati Team	Ducati	+15.527
8	Stefan BRADL	GER	LCR Honda MotoGP	Honda	+22.521
9	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Ducati Team	Ducati	+36.138
10	Hector BARBERA	SPA	Pramac Racing Team	Ducati	+41.328
11	Aleix ESPARGARO	SPA	Power Electronics Aspar	ART	+1’03.157
12	Randy DE PUNIET	FRA	Power Electronics Aspar	ART	+1’03.443
13	Michele PIRRO	ITA	San Carlo Honda Gresini	FTR	+1’07.290
14	James ELLISON	GBR	Paul Bird Motorsport	ART	+1’14.782
15	Yonny HERNANDEZ	COL	Avintia Blusens	BQR	+1’15.108
16	Colin EDWARDS	USA	NGM Mobile Forward Racing	Suter	+1’29.899
17	Danilo PETRUCCI	ITA	Came IodaRacing Project	Ioda	+1’40.302
18	Ivan SILVA	SPA	Avintia Blusens	BQR	+1’52.099
19	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	1 Lap
Not Classified
54	Mattia PASINI	ITA	Speed Master	ART	6 Laps

Source: MotoGP

Tagged under: Alvaro Bautista, Ben Spies, British GP, Cal Crutchlow, Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa, england, Great Britain, Gresini Honda, Jorge Lorenzo, MotoGP, Nicky Hayden, race, race results, Repsol Honda, Silverstone, United Kingdom, Yamaha Racing

Comment:

Jonathan says:
June 17, 2012 at 4:11 PM
What a race! The exchange between Lorenzo on the unflappable Yamaha and Stoner (who’s rear tyre was already shot on one side at least) was real cover-your-eyes stuff. For the first time I’m warming to the Aussie – the new tyres don’t flatter his “push… push… PUSH” style at all and the lap times (where no-one seems to be able to put in consistently fast laps) seems to back this up. He’s a purist who is dismayed by the misconception that hamstringing the fast guys is progress, but I digress…
I’m made up for Alvaro – the Gods may have blessed him with pole (the weather over here is proof that the Gods do play dice), but he didn’t fold under pressure. A lot of talented riders lose ther edge when thay have a spell at the stinky end of the grid, but he kept his head. He admitted after the race that he was a little cautious in the closing stages, but the guys in front of him were “just doing enough” too, so no point stuffing it into the gravel. His “I’m so happy…” is always great to hear when the others are cursing chatter / tyres / what they had for breakfast, etc. A charming guy and I miss seeing him on the Suzook, especially as it was just beginning to show promise at the end of last season. Perhaps if Dorna stop pulling rule changes out of a hat…
So, Crutchlow. The Honey Badger is the hardest guy on the planet. Suffering a freak crash in practice ( being hit by a 40mph crosswind while pushing to the limit is fairly freakish), he convinces the medical centre that he’s fit to race and starts from the back of the grid. Having lost 50% of his weekend’s setup time and feeling the expectation of a nation that’s not seen a Brit podium since the Earth cooled he passes all of the CRT’s within a couple of laps (which speaks volumes for the diesels), but instead of fading when the pain of a bust up ankle overwhelm thes start line adrenaline he just gets faster and puts an awesome pass on Hayden in the closing stages of the race to bag 6th. It’s a credit to his spirit, his evolving racecraft and the Tech 3 team.
Hayden and Spies: Damn, what happened there?
Rossi: Ditto.
The CRTs: Who?
Note to Dorna: The fuel limit serves no-one and makes racing more expensive. Spec tyres that fall off after a few quick laps kills the spectacle that fans (remember them?) are paying to watch. People pay to see the mavericks, the guys that push. If the racing is only close because no-one dare go fast then that’s not racing – it’s a procession. Give the guys the tools to do the job. You will never close the gap between the factories and the privateers, but flattering the no-hopers may just make the beancounters at Honda and Yamaha ask “Why are we sinking millions into Motogp when the guys on cement mixers are being given a three lap head start?” The CRT thing doesn’t provide any incentive for engine builders either. €15,000 to” claim” another team’s motor? Hmmm, how much are a set of Carillo rods again? Perhaps it would be better if the factories did bail – then racing wouldn’t be a showroom for rider aids that push up prices for everyone.
The lines between Superbike and Motogp are blurring. Motogp has to be the pinnacle of the sport, otherwise it is irrelevent. Maybe it’s just a reflection of how far roadbike tech has come since I tankslapped around on a GSXR75F in the mis ’80′s, but I’m getting a sense of deja-vu in club motocross – everyone has to buy horribly expensive four stroke bikes that only win because of bent rules. Quit with the rules and let the fastest guy (or gal) with the best solution win.
DareN says:
June 18, 2012 at 10:02 AM
Jensen – hire this guy! What a piece of writing!!! (see above).
s2upid says:
June 18, 2012 at 3:14 PM
booooom amazing analysis @Jonathan
Steve Lang says:
June 19, 2012 at 12:55 AM
Nicely done/said Jonathan, I could not agree more.
Trane Francks says:
June 19, 2012 at 1:56 AM
Jensen, what’s this about Crutchlow and the pseudo-countrymen? The lad’s from Coventry. That makes him as British as bangers and mash! The fact that he happens to live on the Isle of Man these days doesn’t make him Manx.
The guy is my new hero. Funny as hell, fast as hell, tough as hell.
Jonathan says:
June 19, 2012 at 2:23 AM
Thanks guys – right now I’m blushing all the way down to my (motocross) boots!
I wish I could sound more positive about the future of Motogp, but in the short term I think that what is required is stability in the rules – a constant drip feed of compromises helps no-one. I guess that as fans we’ll have to muddle through this rough patch and hope that the good imes will roll once more. I hope that the factories and major sponsors can be patient too.
Grant Madden says:
June 19, 2012 at 5:19 PM
If the factories had spent as much money on developing a direct injection system to clean up 2strokes as they have creating mega powerful 4strokes the world would be a better place.It would create a new “war within a war” in motogp.The weight and specific power outputs of the 2 strokes would make the big heavy.complex 4 strokes weep n shame
Oh woe is me,I miss the cackle and sound of the 2 strokes.Technically the 2 stroke is a more efficient motor giving power on every stroke of the piston.Who decided to give up on that?You know that diesels were inefficient untill the development ot fuel injection.Surely the 2 stroke is in the same basket.Look around now and see all the diesels on the roads now and they are smelly ,dirty(dusty) engines but they,re everywhere.why not the 2strokes(Diesels are effectively 2 strokes)running on petrol?
That sucks big time!Grrr

Follow Asphalt & Rubber on Facebook

Follow Asphalt & Rubber