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.

WSBK: Race 1 Shows New Contenders at Donington Park

05/13/2012 @ 12:16 pm, by Jensen BeelerComments Off

With good weather under British skies, World Superbike is making one of its few breaks from the European mainland, and racing at Donington Park this weekend. With a slew of local boys comprising the top spots of the WSBK grid, race fans at Donington had more than a few favorites for Sunday’s races, though pole-setter Tom Sykes seemed to be the favorite per usual, as the Brit looked for his first fair-weather win.

Though Melandri had the best start out of the front-row sitters, it was Leon Haslam who lead through the first turn at Donington, followed by Sykes, Melandri, and Guintoli. With the two factory BMW’s breaking away from the pack with Sykes on the Kawasaki, Max Biaggi lead the group for fourth with his Aprilia RSV4 Factory.

Out of touch with the front group for the first part of the race, Biaggi would eventually catch back up to the fron-runner, which also saw Sykes beginning to go backwards, as his rear tire faded in grip. With Haslam and Melandri getting around Sykes, it was a battle between the two BMW riders as to whom would bring the Bavarians their first WSBK win on the S1000RR superbike.

For a while, it looked like that man would be Leon Haslam, but an error with five laps to go, handed the Brit’s lead to his Italian counterpart. Hanging onto second place, Haslam had to contend with Sykes for the second step for Race 1, while Biaggi had to contend with Jonathan Rea, who showed a new-found pace in the latter stages of the race on his Honda CBR1000RR.

Taking a 1-2 finish for BMW, Melandri and Haslam gave the German squad its much deserved first World Superbike win on the S1000RR, and hope to repeat the feat for the Bavarian brand in Race 2. As if we needed any further proof of the fact, the factory BMW squad is serious contender this year in World Superbike.

Race Results from World Superbike Race 1 at Donington Park, England:

Pos.	Rider	Team	Bike	Diff.
1.	Marco Melandri	BMW Motorrad Motorsport	BMW S1000 RR	-
2.	Leon Haslam	BMW Motorrad Motorsport	BMW S1000 RR	0.728
3.	Tom Sykes	Kawasaki Racing Team	Kawasaki ZX-10R	1.609
4.	Jonathan Rea	Honda World Superbike Team	Honda CBR1000RR	1.819
5.	Max Biaggi	Aprilia Racing Team	Aprilia RSV4 Factory	2.102
6.	Carlos Checa	Althea Racing	Ducati 1098R	4.820
7.	Davide Giugliano	Althea Racing	Ducati 1098R	7.520
8.	Sylvain Guintoli	Team Effenbert Liberty Racing	Ducati 1098R	7.927
9.	Leon Camier	FIXI Crescent Suzuki	Suzuki GSX-R1000	15.144
10.	Michel Fabrizio	BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet	BMW S1000 RR	16.065
11.	Ayrton Badovini	BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet	BMW S1000 RR	19.805
12.	Chaz Davies	ParkinGO MTC Racing	Aprilia RSV4 Factory	20.170
13.	Maxime Berger	Team Effenbert Liberty Racing	Ducati 1098R	21.274
14.	Jakub Smrz	Liberty Racing Team Effenbert	Ducati 1098R	21.517
15.	Eugene Laverty	Aprilia Racing Team	Aprilia RSV4 Factory	26.920
16.	Loris Baz	Kawasaki Racing Team	Kawasaki ZX-10R	35.025
17.	Hiroshi Aoyama	Honda World Superbike Team	Honda CBR1000RR	39.193
18.	Lorenzo Zanetti	PATA Racing Team	Ducati 1098R	42.334
19.	Niccolò Canepa	Red Devils Roma	Ducati 1098R	43.554
20.	Mark Aitchison	Grillini Progea Superbike Team	BMW S1000 RR	83.617
NC	Peter Hickman	FIXI Crescent Suzuki	Suzuki GSX-R1000
RT	Gary Mason	Team Pedercini	Kawasaki ZX-10R
RT	Leandro Mercado	Team Pedercini	Kawasaki ZX-10R

Source: WSBK

Tagged under: Donington Park, england, Jonathan Rea, Leon Haslam, Marco Melandri, Max Biaggi, race, Race 1, race results, Sylvain Guintoli, Tom Sykes, world superbike, WSBK

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