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Trying to bring you as many breaks from the coronavirus news as possible, today’s installment features the Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade. A new superbike for the 2020 model year, the venerable Blade earns its extra “R” by being the most potent liter-bike ever produced by the Japanese brand.

Already showing itself to be capable on the race track, we have high hopes for the machine when it finally comes to the USA later this summer.

Until then, we will mostly have to suffice ourselves on spec-sheet items, like the 215hp (160 kW) inline four-cylinder engine, which makes 83 lbs•ft of peak torque; the pod of aerodynamic winglets on each side of the fairing; and the wet weight of 443 lbs (201 kg) .

A crash at the Isle of Man TT is not a light affair, and more often than not, a mistake by a rider means grave bodily harm, and even death. The TT course is unforgiving like that, lined with houses, trees, posts, and all other manner of obstacles. This isn’t the Grand Prix, there are no run-offs.

James Cowton got this reminder the hard way, running wide on a turn during the Superstock TT race. In the video, you can see Cowton crashing into the barrier, and taking the sponsor banner with him. Cowton then rolls back into the racing line…right in front of Horst Saiger, who was trailing close behind.

Saiger manages to miss Cowton, only hitting the sprawling banner on the road with his Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R. This is a crash that with a difference of just millimeters could easily have meant the end for both riders.

Cowton walked away with bumps and bruises, and Horst finished the race in 13th place – his personal best. A very lucky crash, indeed.

The fastest motorcyclist up Pikes Peak this year, Jeremy Toye upset the Ducati contingency in the “Open” class, with his stellar 9 minute 58.687 second race to the clouds, aboard his Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R superbike.

A newcomer to the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, Toye also laid claim to the “Rookie of the Year” title with his impressive pace. So, sit back and take a ride up Pikes Peak’s 12.42 mile course, with its 156 turns and 4,720 feet of elevation change, courtesy of Toye and Kawasaki. This is probably as close as you’ll get to the event from now on.

Stop what you’re doing for the next 18 minutes — just stop right now. Take a ride with Michael Dunlop on his Honda CBR600RR during the Isle of Man TT’s second Supersport race.

We enter the race on lap three of four, Michael Dunlop has just finished his pit stop, and is in second place on corrected time — Bruce Anstey is leading. On the course, Michael is behind John McGuinness and Cameron Donald, who serve as his carrot.

At this point in the TT fortnight, Dunlop has already won three races and the nephew of Joey is looking for win number four as he puts the hammer down coming down Bray Hill. This is more than a video of an epic lap around Snaefell Mountain Course, it’s a lap of Michael Dunlop’s determination. There should be no doubt about Michael being a force to be reckond with in 2014.

If you’re like us, you’re still buzzing over this weekend’s Superprestigio flat track event. Flat track racing is always a great spectacle, but as the name of the site suggests, it’s not something that comes across our radar too often. However, put together a competition amongst some of the best GP and SBK riders in the world, and you have our attention.

While the spotlight this time around was on American Brad “The Bullet” Baker (the current Grand National Champion) and his showdown with MotoGP Champion Marc Marquez (who organized the Superprestigio event), it was easy to forget that another American was a top contender: Kenny Noyes.

A former Moto2 racer, Noyes has perhaps spent too much time in Spain to be recognizable to some American fans, but the young and talented rider not only has some impressive GP results to his name, but he also currently runs the Noyes Camp, a dirt track school at the Motorland Aragon facility.

Finishing third in the Super Final at the Superprestigio event, Noyes brings us some on-track footage from the two-wheeled melee. If you think rubbing is racing, we think you will enjoy this video.

The Macau GP is just nuts, let’s just get that thought out and up front. A proper road race on, you know, the road…it boggles the mind to think that competitors at Macau share the circuit’s near four-mile course length with each other, unlike the Isle of Man TT’s single-rider time trial format.

This of course means riders are angling for apexes with each other, all the while there is virtually no run-off to be seen. No margin for error, triple-digit speeds, and 200+ horsepower machines — like we said, the Macau GP is just nuts.

Don’t just take our word for it, have a look for yourself with this excellent on-board footage from eighth-place finisher Didier Grams and his gyros-stablized camera. It’s epic to watch the armco go flying by while this talented German rider does his thing.

Asphalt & Rubber may not have been in Bologna for the international press launch for the Ducati 899 Panigale “super-mid” sport bike, so unfortunately we can’t give you any first-hand experience with Ducati’s newest sport bike (newest for a little while longer, at least).

However, we are in luck because Ducati test rider Alessandro Valia was on-hand for the event, and did some hot laps for the camera. A super nice guy and a very talented rider, we met Valia earlier this year at the Ducati 1199 Panigale R press launch, where he helped us find the right lines around the very technical Circuit of the Americas.

Now, Valia takes us for a spin around one of Italy’s most iconic circuits, Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari — or as it is better know, Imola. No music, to fast-cuts, just a bike being ridden hard on a sunny afternoon. Enjoy!

We’ve just about wrapped up our coverage of the 2013 Isle of Man TT, but I wanted to leave you with this final video. On-board with Joey Dunlop during the Formula 1 practice session for the 1983 Isle of Man TT, you can hear the roar of Joey’s Honda V4 RS850R production racer, and watch one of the greatest riders ever on the Mountain Course.

With its ultra-short stroke, titanium valves, magnesium case covers, and a reported 135hp at the rear wheel, the RS850R is the machine that Joey took to his first win with the Japanese brand — a landmark occasion, which HRC just celebrated the 30th anniversary of at this year’s TT, with John McGuinness wearing Joey’s old livery.

We can’t think of a better way to end the TT season, nor can we think of a better way to remember Joey. Listen carefully as he narrates the course, you are listening to a true legend of the sport.

The progress in the last five years on electric motorcycles has been astounding. Taking their first laps around the Isle of Man TT Mountain Course, a 87.434 mph pace was the best an electric motorcycle could do at the prestigious road race in 2009 — a pace that was on par with the 50cc record set in 1971. Since that time though, the development of these machines has grown by leaps and bounds.

In just five years after the first laps were taken by electric motorcycles at Snaefell, these machines have grown their average lap speeds by over 20 mph at the TT Zero race, setting a new record of 109.675 mph in 2013, and boasting a rate of improvement of roughly 5 mph each year since 2009.

If hitting 142.2 mph down the Sulby Straight speed trap wasn’t further proof of the speeds these bikes are achieving, maybe some visual evidence will help support the notion. Checkout the on-board videos of Michael Rutter (on the 2013 MotoCzysz E1pc) and John McGuinness (on the 2013 Mugen Shinden Ni) after the jump.

UPDATE: Dani Pedrosa’s and Marc Marquez’s on-board laps have been added to this post.

Ask and yee shall receive, here is some more movie magic from HRC’s private test at the Circuit of the Americas. For this go-around, we feature LCR Honda’s Stefan Bradl, as he takes the factory-spec Honda RC213V for a quick lap around the new Texan GP circuit.

Honestly, I was all set to drop some mega-hyperbole on the whole situation, and maybe even get a few digs in about MotoGP’s media policies along the way, but I am too depressed at the moment to make that happen.

You see, having just ridden COTA only a couple weeks ago, I was fairly pleased with my lap times, especially after having only spent an hour on the circuit. Now, I wasn’t the fastest guy out there by any stretch, but my times were dropping with each lap and session, and I certainly wasn’t the slowest at the end of the Ducati 1199 Panigale R bike launch, so I call that a win for a Thursday afternoon.

But no, Mr. Bradl had to go and show me up. Close to 15 seconds quicker on his out-lap than my best hot-lap, I guess we see why he races motorcycles for a living, while I blog from my mother’s basement, wearing nothing but a bathrobe and bunny-shaped slippers. Le sigh.

Still fairly new to the road racing scene, Brandon Cretu is a three-time Isle of Man TT racer, and for 2012 the young racer was one of only two Americans on the Macau GP grid.

Coming off a big crash at the TT during the fourth lap of the Superbike race, we are still pretty amazed that Cretu made the trek down to Macau, let alone got back in the saddle for another road race this season. Road racers, they’re a special breed apparently.

Slapping some GoPros to his Hel Performance Honda CBR1000RR, Cretu gives another perspective of what a lap around Macau is like (read his race report here).