I thought when I wrote this piece – “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly About Motorcycle Patents” – that we would see a more sophisticated handling of motorcycle industry patents from the motorcycling media going forward.
Clearly my expectations were too high, since I just saw RideApart’s story, “Honda Underseat Exhaust Patent Hints at V4 Supersport”, which claims to show a patent for a new Honda V4 supersport. It doesn’t, and quite frankly, RideApart should know better…let me explain.
A couple hours ago, Roadracing World broke the story that AMA Pro Road Racing will not be aired on TV during the series’ first stop of the year at Laguna Seca this weekend — and for bonus points, AMA racing action likely won’t even be seen on the screens around the track, including the team hospitality suites and pit boxes. The word you are now looking for is “shitastrophe” — it’s in the dictionary, right next to the DMG logo.
AMA Pro Racing continues to show that it’s homolo-flexible when it comes to supersport regulations, as America’s premier road racing series has homologated the 2013 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R and its 636cc engine displacement to compete in the supersport class (the new ZX-6R is also homologated for the Daytona Sport Bike class as well).
“Kawasaki has a strong racing heritage,” said Kawasaki Racing Senior Manager Reid Nordin. “Our Ninja brand is synonymous with success on the track. When we brought back the 636cc engine we knew there would be interest in racing and we have taken the steps necessary to have the new Ninja ZX-6R on the track and out front in 2013.”
Along with its third iteration of the 2013 MotoGP Championship’s provisional calendar, Dorna has issued a statement regarding the removal of the Argentinian round from the racing schedule for next year. In its brief statement about the “non-inclusion,” Dorna cites the Spanish government’s recommendation in June of this year, which said that Repsol teams and riders should not travel to Argentina for safety reasons.
Dorna also states that on November 20th, the Spanish government rescinded this “no travel” recommendation; however, because the deadline for the calendar was November 18th, the MotoGP rights holder had no choice but to cancel of the Argentinian GP. Read in between the lines as you will, the press release is after the jump.