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: Valencia Race 2 Results

04/06/2009 @ 2:39 am, by Jensen BeelerComments Off

WSBK: Valencia Race 2 Results valencia race 2 biaggi aprilia 560x371

After his poor start in the first race, further pressure was put on Spies who now stood 35 points behind Noriyuki Haga because of his crash out in Race 2. Surely Haga felt the pressure too, knowing that the American wouldn’t make the same mistakes a second time. With the Championship already playing out in the third stop of the WSBK tour, Race 2 already had more than just a purpose. Continue reading for spoilers from Race 2 of the Valencia World Superbike Races, and to see how Race 2 sorted itself out.

Trying to get a better start than before, Spies still had difficulty launching the Yamaha from the front of the pack. Instead, it was Regis Laconi again who held the lead going into Turn 1 of the Spanish circuit. Running wide on the exit however, Laconi allowed Max Neukirchner and Michel Fabrizio to get by and take the first and second place positions.

To make matters worse, Laconi also had Noriyuki Haga all over his tail section. Haga would later pass the Frenchman by the end of lap one. Seeing Haga pass Laconi, Spies followed suit, diving underneath the DFX Corse Ducati into Turn 6 to take fourth place. Haga made his way through the competition, passing teammate Michel Fabrizio, with Spies following doing the same. As the front runners entered the long left handed Turn 13, Haga was pushing Neukirchner hard for the lead, finally passed him going into Turn 1. Spies coming along a lap later.

Despite his efforts, the American could not touch the show that Haga was putting on for the Spanish crowd. Noriyuki Haga increased his lead lap by lap, to take his second win of the day, and third win of the Championship, by over 5 seconds. This included time lost in a big standup wheelie across the line to cap the day off.

Spies was lucky the race was not longer. After giving up on chasing Haga, the Texan spent the last few laps nervously watching Michel Fabrizio and Regis Laconi approach. Conversely, if the race had been three laps shorter, John Hopkins would have taken a very respectable eighth place finish. But Hopper had used up his tires in the early running, and was forced to allow first Max Biaggi, then Ryuichi Kiyonari, Tom Sykes, and finally even Shakey Byrne past, finishing the race in twelfth.

Results from Race 2 of the World Superbike Stop at Valencia:

Pos	No.	Rider	Country	Bike	Fastest Lap	Diff	Laps
1	41	N. Haga	JPN	Ducati 1098R	1’34.618		23
2	19	B. Spies	USA	Yamaha YZF R1	1’35.004	5.105	23
3	84	M. Fabrizio	ITA	Ducati 1098R	1’35.301	6.386	23
4	55	R. Laconi	FRA	Ducati 1098R	1’35.085	6.573	23
5	91	L. Haslam	GBR	Honda CBR1000RR	1’35.624	14.075	23
6	7	C. Checa	ESP	Honda CBR1000RR	1’35.337	17.333	23
7	76	M. Neukirchner	GER	Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9	1’35.336	19.207	23
8	3	M. Biaggi	ITA	Aprilia RSV4 Factory	1’35.674	20.697	23
9	9	R. Kiyonari	JPN	Honda CBR1000RR	1’35.519	21.015	23
10	66	T. Sykes	GBR	Yamaha YZF R1	1’35.928	22.581	23
11	67	S. Byrne	GBR	Ducati 1098R	1’35.938	22.604	23
12	121	J. Hopkins	USA	Honda CBR1000RR	1’35.889	23.952	23
13	65	J. Rea	GBR	Honda CBR1000RR	1’36.098	29.082	23
14	96	J. Smrz	CZE	Ducati 1098R	1’35.963	29.277	23
15	11	T. Corser	AUS	BMW S1000 RR	1’36.030	32.384	23
16	111	R. Xaus	ESP	BMW S1000 RR	1’36.381	35.125	23
17	23	B. Parkes	AUS	Kawasaki ZX 10R	1’36.244	38.344	23
18	24	B. Roberts	AUS	Ducati 1098R	1’36.986	39.161	23
19	31	K. Muggeridge	AUS	Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9	1’36.507	39.374	23
20	94	D. Checa	ESP	Yamaha YZF R1	1’36.788	49.904	23
21	25	D. Salom	ESP	Kawasaki ZX 10R	1’36.975	52.631	23
22	33	T. Hill	GBR	Honda CBR1000RR	1’37.021	52.966	23
23	77	V. Iannuzzo	ITA	Honda CBR1000RR	1’37.016	53.196	23
24	99	L. Scassa	ITA	Kawasaki ZX 10R	1’37.107	53.491	23
25	88	R. Resch	AUT	Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9	1’37.297	1’19.946	23
RET	71	Y. Kagayama	JPN	Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9	1’35.461	2 Laps	21
RET	15	M. Baiocco	ITA	Kawasaki ZX 10R	1’37.264	3 Laps	20
RET	100	M. Tamada	JPN	Kawasaki ZX 10R	1’36.674	12 Laps	11
RET	86	A. Badovini	ITA	Kawasaki ZX 10R	1’37.070	16 Laps	7

Tagged under: Ben Spies, Noriyuki Haga, Race 2, results, SBK, Spain, Valencia, world superbike, World Superbike Championship, WSBK

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