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Preview of the Valencia GP: Farewell to Teams & Sponsors, And Hello to New Opportunities

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And so the 2016 MotoGP season is nearly at an end. Though the major honors have been awarded, there are still the final few t’s to cross and i’s to dot. We have our three champions – Johann Zarco the last to wrap up the title in Moto2 at Sepang.

Honda are hot favorites to win the constructors’ championship, while Movistar Yamaha hold a narrow lead in the team championship. Cal Crutchlow has a commanding 17-point lead in the battle for top independent rider. Second place in both Moto2 and Moto3 is still up for grabs.

In reality, these don’t matter all that much. Once the championship is settled, the riders on the grid race for pride. And given that we are talking about the best professional motorcycle racers in the world, there is an awful lot of pride at stake.

So the battle at Valencia will be just as fierce as anything that has come before. If anything, it will be even more fierce, given that nobody has very much to lose.

They will need an extra dash of abandon at Valencia. The circuit is pushed up against a hillside, and encircled by grandstands, cramming a serpentine four kilometer track into a very tight space. Reaching the required Grand Prix length requires a lot of corners, and that drops the average speed.

Valencia is the slowest circuit on the calendar, and with so many tight corners, passing spots are few and far between.

Turn 1 is an obvious candidate, a hard-braking left turn at the end of a long straight. Turn 6, another sharp left hander after a short straight. And a final dive up the inside into Turn 14, after the long and glorious left at Turn 13.

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Dirt

Alta Motors Beats Gas Bikes at Red Bull Straight Rhythm

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A bit of history was made this past weekend, at the Red Bull Straight Rhythm event in Pomona, California.

Amongst the star-studded lineup of riders who competed head-to-head in the straight-line supercross races, we were also treated to the return of Josh Hill, who pulled himself out of retirement to ride the electric-powered Alta Motors Redshift MX.

Winning his quarter-final heat, Hill gave Alta Motors its first national-level supercross win, the first for an electric motorcycle. However, succumbing to Mitchell Oldenburg in the semi-finals, Hill finished the day fourth overall, meaning Alta Motors narrowly missed out on a podium debut.

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Racing

Alta Motors Will Compete in the Red Bull Straight Rhythm

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The concept behind the Red Bull Straight Rhythm event is pretty easy to explain: take your typical supercross track, remove all the turns, thus making the course one big straight line, and unleash the riders in a head-to-head battle.

The Red Bull Straight Rhythm is a pretty intriguing and approachable event, and with the backing of Red Bull, it’s gaining steam and popularity.

The 2016 Red Bull Straight Rhythm will be even more interesting though, as we get word that electric motorcycle startup Alta Motors will compete in the 250cc lites class, with Josh Hill riding the Redshift MX electric dirt bike.

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Bikes

XXX: Even More Photos of the KTM RC16

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This is our third story about the KTM RC16, in I don’t know how many weeks, but the Austrian brand just dropped off a bunch of high-resolution images of its MotoGP race bike in the company’s media gallery, and we feel obligated to share them with you because they’re just that good.

While the MotoGP paddock is in Valencia right now testing machines, electronics, and riders for the 2016 season, KTM is busy looking farther down the road with their plans to join the premier class in 2017.

The KTM factory team is being cagey about how many resources it is devoting to the MotoGP project, though we do know that KTM is building a dedicated facility for the MotoGP project in Mattighofen and hiring top-level talent right and left for the effort.

So far KTM’s hard work has brought out a machine that visually looks like a lot like the Honda RC213V, and smart speculation pegs the power plant between the fairings as being very similar as well: a 90° V4 with a “screamer” firing order.

KTM is of course using a steel trellis frame design and WP suspension, and numerous more subtle changes abound. Reportedly KTM is keen to hire MotoGP suspension gurus to help add to the knowledge already found at WP – could we see a new brand come into MotoGP to rival standard-bearer Öhlins?

While we ponder all that, there are 22 ultra high-resolution photos for you to ogle over, after the jump.

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Bikes

More Photos of the KTM RC16 MotoGP Bike Testing

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We got out first look at the KTM RC16 last week, the Austrian company’s MotoGP race bike that will debut in 2017, along with a customer version that will cost around €140,000.

The RC16 draws some serious inspiration from the Honda RC213V, with its whale-shark air intake design, underbraced swingarm, 90° V4 engine with a “screamer” piston firing order. There are of course obvious differences, with the KTM RC16 having  steel trellis frame, WP suspension pieces, and 17″ wheels.

Alex Hofmann took the reigns of the KTM RC16 at its three-day shakedown test at the Red Bull Ring, but soon development duties will be handed over to former-MotoGP rider Mika Kallio, with a second test that is scheduled for this year.

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Bikes

First Photos & Video of the KTM RC16 MotoGP Race Bike

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The KTM RC16 has finally been spied testing, this time at the Red Bull Ring in Austria. For those who don’t remember, KTM is set to join the MotoGP paddock for the 2017 season, after announcing that it was working on a new V4 MotoGP platform that it will sell to the public for €140,000 (presumably slightly detuned).

The Austrian firm recently signed Mika Kallio as its test rider, though the photos here seem to be of Alex Hofmann. As a former MotoGP racer, Kallio’s input on the KTM RC16 will be of great benefit to the race team developers, although it appears there is already a muse for KTM’s inspiration.

Though there are substantial differences between the machines, a quick look of the KTM RC16 brings thoughts of the Honda RC213V – as much as we hate to make those kind of comparisons.

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Dirt

Watch Only Five Competitors Finish the 2015 Erzbergrodeo

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The Erzbergrodeo billed as the toughest single-day motorcycle race on the planet – a name the race more than live up to each year. For 2015 though, Sunday’s Red Bull Hare Scramble, as its known to the marketing-hip, was something out of Dante’s seven circles of Hell.

500 riders qualified for the main event, a number that was whittled down from the 1,500 entries. Of those 500 riders though, only 5 of them finished the course, known better as “The Iron Giant”.

Though the Erzbergrodeo is known for its low-finishing rate, this year’s event was extra difficult because the race organizers added an additional 21 miles to its length, including the new “Downtown” section, which was a virtually impassable with its ravine and steep muddy hill.

With four co-winners (Jonny Walker, Graham Jarvis, Andreas Lettenbichler, and Alfredo Gómez), and a fifth lone finisher (Mario Roman Serrano), we bet this will be a race talked about for some time. Luckily if you missed it on TV, we have the full TV episode right here, after the jump. Enjoy!

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Dirt

2015 Erzberg Rodeo Finishes With Four-Way Tie

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The Erzberg Rodeo billed as the toughest single-day motorcycle race on the planet, and all you have to do in order to check that superlative against hyperbole is to ask a competitor about the Red Bull Hare Scramble event.

With 500 riders qualifying for Sunday’s Red Bull Hare Scramble, out of some 1,500 entries, only five…yes five…finished the gruelling “Iron Giant”.

As if the past races in the open-air Austrian pit mine, haven’t been hard enough, this year’s event included a number of changes, including an all-new section lovingly named “Downtown” that was right before the finish line.

Adding 21 miles to the previous course length, the Downtown section was virtually impassable with its ravine and steep muddy hill, even for the top entries. Accordingly, the Top 4 riders banded together in order to make it through the meatgrinder and finish the race.

As such, Jonny Walker, Graham Jarvis, Andreas Lettenbichler, and Alfredo Gómez are this year’s joint Erzberg Rodeo winners, with Mario Roman Serrano credited as the fifth and final race finisher.

In case the race wasn’t breath-taking enough, the photos seemingly do it justice. We have 71 high-resoltuion shots for you, after the jump.

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MotoGP

MotoGP Will Race in Austria, Starting in 2016?

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MotoGP looks set to head to Austria from 2016. Today, Red Bull co-founder Dieter Mateschitz and Dorna reached an agreement to host an Austrian round of the series at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg. The agreement is merely preliminary, and subject to the track gaining FIM homologating the track and granting it a license to stage a MotoGP race.

The Red Bull Ring – previously known as the A1 Ring, before being bought by Mateschitz – has been upgraded and this year hosted both a round of Formula 1 and a round of the Red Bull Air Race. It was also the scene of the last Austrian Grand Prix, held back in 1997. The race was dropped after that year due to poor spectator attendance.

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MotoGP

HRC and Red Bull Expand MotoGP Partnership

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Honda Racing and Red Bull have announced an enhancement to their collaboration in MotoGP through the Repsol Honda team, which sees the energy drink company’s logo featured on Honda’s factory team starting in the 2015 season, as it becomes the official energy drink for the team as well.

The two parties have collaborated over the last nine years, but the Red Bull logo has never before been featured on the Repsol Honda machinery, despite Red Bull supporting both Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa with personal sponsorships.

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