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.

The MotoGP Season Ends at the Valencia GP

10/26/2008 @ 8:38 pm, by Jensen BeelerComments Off

The MotoGP Season Ends at the Valencia GP 232537 motogpgroupinaction 1280x960 sep28 original

Well that’s it folks, the MotoGP season is over. Not to spoil it, but Randy de Puniet was not the come-from-behind points winner for the rider’s cup. Click on the jump to see every dirty spoiler.

 

Stoner, Pedrosa, Rossi…

The MotoGP Season Ends at the Valencia GP 235866 danipedrosacaseystonerandvalentinorossionthepodiumatvalenciamotogp 1280x960 oct26 original 300x225This season ended the same way it started, with Casey Stoner riding the Ducati all the way to the finish line…ahead of everyone else. Stoner pulled out an early lead, after reeling in Dani Pedrosa, leaving the rest of the pack to play “follow the leader” for the rest of the race.

Valentino Rossi could only watch from his third place position while Dani and Casey lengthened their leads on him lap after lap. Valencia is a track that has plagued the multiple (and no record number) World Champion Valentino Rossi, and today was no different. The Italian still showed the crowd what Champions are made of, but was unable to give them a top podium finish. In typical Valentino style before the race, Rossi made remarks of doubt about his expected performance citing issues getting the bike to respond the way he wanted in the rain and damp of qualifying and testing.

Despite his podium, Stoner finishes the season in second place 93 points behind Rossi. The Australian superstar of last year has certainly had a season worthy of praise, but lacked the complete and total domination that Ducati had last year.

Other star performances came from Danny Pedrosa, who was up to his usual rabbit starts, but was unable to hold off Stoner’s advances, and had to be content to finishing the race over three seconds behind the Australian.

The MotoGP Season Ends at the Valencia GP 232924 original 300x225Andrea Dovizioso who has had an amazing season by any racer’s standards, let alone a rookie. No surprises there, Dovi is sure to be a racer to watch in the next few seasons. Despite his epic rides, Dovi couldn’t stop the other resident Rookie Jorge Lorenzo from taking the rookie of the year crown. Lorenzo has had a stellar season, which has only been marred by his physical injuries. Hopefully he can heal up over the winter months, and make a proper bid for superstardom next season.

Anthony West didn’t get achieve his goal of besting Marco Melandri who is to replace him at Kawasaki nextseason. Marco finished three seconds ahead of Anthony.

Tomorrow starts a whole new season, with almost all the 2009 MotoGP teams starting their testing at Valencia. Say goodnight sweet prince…of cake…or…have your cake, and eat it too. Damn, I can’t decide what pun to use.

 

2008 Valencia Results:

Pos.RiderNationTeamTotal time
1C. STONERAUSDucati Marlboro Team46’46.114
2D. PEDROSASPARepsol Honda Team+ 3.390
3V. ROSSIITAFiat Yamaha Team+ 12.194
4A. DOVIZIOSOITAJiR Team Scot MotoGP+ 24.159
5N. HAYDENUSARepsol Honda Team+ 26.232
6C. EDWARDSUSATech 3 Yamaha+ 32.209
7S. NAKANOJPNSan Carlo Honda Gresini+ 34.571
8J. LORENZOSPAFiat Yamaha Team+ 35.661
9L. CAPIROSSIITARizla Suzuki MotoGP+ 38.228
10A. DE ANGELISRSMSan Carlo Honda Gresini+ 47.583
11J. TOSELANDGBRTech 3 Yamaha+ 52.107
12S. GUINTOLIFRAAlice Team+ 52.350
13C. VERMEULENAUSRizla Suzuki MotoGP+ 52.833
14J. HOPKINSUSAKawasaki Racing Team+ 53.227
15R. DE PUNIETFRALCR Honda MotoGP+ 53.411
16M. MELANDRIITADucati Marlboro Team+ 1’08.387
17A. WESTAUSKawasaki Racing Team+ 1’11.181
18T. ELIASSPAAlice Team+ 1’37.055

 

 

Final 2008 MotoGP Championship Standings:

Pos.RiderNationTeamPoints
1Valentino ROSSIITAFiat Yamaha Team373
2Casey STONERAUSDucati Marlboro Team280
3Dani PEDROSASPARepsol Honda Team249
4Jorge LORENZOSPAFiat Yamaha Team190
5Andrea DOVIZIOSOITAJiR Team Scot MotoGP174
6Nicky HAYDENUSARepsol Honda Team155
7Colin EDWARDSUSATech 3 Yamaha144
8Chris VERMEULENAUSRizla Suzuki MotoGP128
9Shinya NAKANOJPNSan Carlo Honda Gresini126
10Loris CAPIROSSIITARizla Suzuki MotoGP118
11James TOSELANDGBRTech 3 Yamaha105
12Toni ELIASSPAAlice Team92
13Sylvain GUINTOLIFRAAlice Team67
14Alex DE ANGELISRSMSan Carlo Honda Gresini63
15Randy DE PUNIETFRALCR Honda MotoGP61
16John HOPKINSUSAKawasaki Racing Team57
17Marco MELANDRIITADucati Marlboro Team51
18Anthony WESTAUSKawasaki Racing Team50
19Ben SPIESUSARizla Suzuki MotoGP20
20Jamie HACKINGUSAKawasaki Racing Team5
21Tadayuki OKADAJPNRepsol Honda Team2

 

Source: MotoGP.com Photos: MotoGP.com

Randy de Puniet…we’ve never seen someone look so good, going so slow.

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