Tag

dirt track

Browsing

When Harley-Davidson showed its design concepts for its future electric motorcycles, we were struck by the Bar & Shield’s plans for a road-going flat track bike…for two reasons.

For starters, the design and vehicle format seemed promising. In fact, it was surprising that it took an electric powertrain to get Harley-Davidson hip to its flat track roots and then apply them to the company’s street-bike offerings.

The second reason our interests were piqued was because of the bike’s very obvious use of Alta’s EV powertrain components, which made sense at the time since Harley-Davidson was a major investor in the electric motorcycle startup.

Super Hooligan Racing is officially a thing now, with the big-bike flat track racing event taking-on a nationwide racing series format for 2017.

The brainchild of Roland Sands Design, Super Hooligan racing adds a sort of “production racing” element to flat track racing, with competitors on motorcycles that are 750cc and up, along with stock frames, dirt track tires, and no front brakes.

The first race of the season has already taken place here in Salem, Oregon – tied into the The One Moto Show – and other Super Hooligan events will take place at similar motorcycle festival events throughout the year.

With contingency money and purse prizes going to race winners, and an Indian Scout FTR750 race bike going to the series winner, there is a good incentive here for riders to come out and try wrangling 500+ lbs street bikes around a dirt oval.

Not too many MotoGP racers have their own YouTube channel, which is interesting in its own right, but it doesn’t surprise us to see that the two biggest personalities in the GP paddock are constantly churning out content for their fans: Valentino Rossi and Marc Marquez.

Just recently, the 2016 MotoGP World Champion won his own event, the Superprestigio Dirt Track race in Barcelona. That victory might not have been as big of a deal as winning again the MotoGP title, but make no mistake, Marquez’s victory over Brad Baker & Co. was very important to the Spaniard.

To celebrate that win, Marquez and his crew have made a little video celebrating the occasion. Whether you love or hate Marc Marquez, we are sure the video will only fuel those feelings further. Enjoy!

Marc Marquez has taken revenge at the event he helped to create, winning the 2016 edition of the Superprestigio in dominant style. The 2016 MotoGP champion had dominated the qualifying heats, and chose the inside gate to start from.

Though he dropped behind the excellent French Supermoto champion Tom Chareyre off the line, he entered the first corner in good position, with AMA star Brad Baker tight on his tail. The pair quickly slid through to take the lead.

In previous years, Baker was capable of taking the fight to Marquez and beating the Spaniard, but this time, Baker struggled. Marquez quickly built up a lead that would not be challenged.

Baker, meanwhile, had trouble behind him, with Toni Elias sliding inside him to take second, leaving Baker to battle with Chareyre for the final podium spot.

Chareyre tried one hard move on up the inside with a couple of laps to go, but Baker kept the door closed, and Chareyre went down after hitting the inside of Baker’s Honda. A disappointed Baker crossed the line to take third. 

The Barcelona Superprestigio has proven to be a popular staple of the winter break. The indoor flat track race, which takes place at the Palau Sant Jordi, is returning for its fourth edition on December 17th.

Once again, the stars of the MotoGP, World Superbikes and Endurance will take on the cream of dirt track and off-road disciplines. Former winners Marc Marquez and Brad Baker face off for the fourth time.

The event follows the formula which has been so successful in the past. The field is divided into two classes: the Superprestigio class, which features some of the best asphalt riders in the world; and the Open class, in which the best of the off-road world will compete.

If you have been following Asphalt & Rubber for the past week, you would know I was just in Italy for World Ducati Week. A bi-annual gathering of Ducatisti from around the world, for three days the Misano circuit and surrounding areas are flooded with Ducati motorcycles.

The tagline for WDW2016 was “More than Red” and part of that credo is a nod to the addition of the Scrambler Ducati line, with the yellow-colored “Land of Joy” sitting in prominence at the circuit’s entrance.

With the Scrambler too came a new event for World Ducati Week, flat track racing, which featured eight GP and SBK riders competiting on Misano’s TT-styled flat track course. In competition were Andrea Dovizioso, Troy Bayliss, Tati Mercado, Davide Giugliano, Danilo Petrucci, Yonny Hernandez, and Alessandro Valia.

The racing was head-to-head, with a pair of riders battling against each other over three laps, from a staggered start of 100 meters or so. It was good fun to watch, and the crowd seemed into it. I only took a few shots from the races, but thought I’d share them with you.

Above “Desmo Dovi” on the gas, and on his way to a race win. There’s more after the jump.

What you see here is the first purpose-built Harley-Davidson race bike to come from the Milwaukee for quite some time, as its been several decades since the Bar & Shield brand formally offered flat track racing machines – 44 years, to be precise.

Called the Harley-Davidson XG750R, the flat track racing machine is based off the Harley-Davidson Street 750 platform, and it will make its racing debut this weekend at the AMA Pro Flat Track Springfield Mile in Illinois.

As the name suggests, the Harley-Davidson XG750R features the same 750cc v-twin engine that is found in the Harley-Davidson Street 750 street bike, though it has been tuned for racing duty.

We have a bevy of Two Enthusiasts podcast shows to get out to you, as we clear our backlog. First up is Episode 15, where we tackle a few news items that have been going on in the industry these past couple of weeks.

As such, Quentin and I talk a little bit about the Superprestigio, and finish up the nonsense with the Yamaha YZF-R1 recall. We also give some time to the Dainese/Alpinestars legal happenings, the sale of Miller Motorsports Park, and the changes to the World Superbike Championship.

What we definitely don’t talk about is the new Star Wars movie. Nope, not at all. Not even a little. Anyhoo…keep an eye out for a few more shows over the next few days.

As always, you can listen to the show via the embedded SoundCloud player, after the jump, or you can find the show on iTunes (please leave a review) or this RSS feed. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter as well. Enjoy the show!

Just because it’s the off-season, doesn’t mean that the Paddock Pass Podcast has a dearth of topics to cover. As such, Episode 13 comes to you from Barcelona, where the guys were on-hand for the third meeting of the Superprestigio event.

This special race, hosted by Marc Marquez, once again showed some close racing from riders across a variety of disciplines and nationalities. If you happened to miss the Superfinal, or your live feed died on you mid-race, you can watch/re-watch it on FansChoive.tv now.

In addition to all the happenings in Spain, the crew also wraps-up some updates from the MotoGP and Moto2 paddocks, namely the progress of KTM’s factory MotoGP team and the departure of Suter Racing from the Moto2 series.

If you notice a new voice on the show, it’s because Steve English is back on the mics with us. We are very happy to have Steve working with us again, and we think his exceptional insights will be enjoyed by all racing enthusiasts.

As always, be sure to follow the Paddock Pass Podcast on FacebookTwitter and subscribe to the show on iTunes and SoundCloud – we even have an RSS feed for you. If you like the show, we would really appreciate you giving it a review on iTunes. Thanks for listening!