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February 2009

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Hungary GP Might Be Cancelled

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Motorcycle News is reporting that the , after funding problems have struck construction of the brand new Balatonring circuit. Rumors of the tracks financial problems have been circulating since the end of last year, but MCN is now claiming to have received information from “senior MotoGP officials”. MCN is also reporting that a move to the brand new Portimao circuit in Portugal was mooted, as a replacement for the Balatonring round, but that this was discounted because it would be too close to the official Portuguese Grand Prix at Estoril in early October. Given the current calls for cost-cutting in MotoGP, the more popular choice might be for the round to be canceled altogether. Skipping a whole weekend would cut down on expenditure significantly.

 

Source: MotoGP Matters

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Europe Starts Hypermoto Racing Series

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Bikes like the Ducati Hypermotard, KTM SuperDuke, and Aprilia Dorsoduro have been gaining in popularity not only in the United States, but also abroad. It is only a logical progression then that there would be some desire to start a formal racing series for these big-bore “hypermotards”, and Europe’s UEM European Supermoto Championship has that answer with a new “Hypermoto” racing class. The Hypermoto class will be open to motorcycles of 600cc and larger, with 1 or 2 cylinders, and can be either 2-strokes or 4-strokes. Races will take place on the same tracks as the Supermoto Championship (S1), minus the dirt sections. All riders will use Dunlop tires (eight tires per weekend), and have to be over the age of 16.

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Melandri And Kawasaki to Field Single Bike Campaign?

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According to both Tuttosport and Sportmediaset (both members of the overly-excitable and sometime unreliable Italian press), Marco Melandri will be riding a privately run Kawasaki for 2009. In a deal brockered by Carmelo Ezpeleta, the team will be led by Michael Bartholemy. Details are somewhere between sketchy and nonexistent, but it seems that Kawasaki will make all of the 2009-spec bikes available to Bartholemy, who will field a single rider, Marco Melandri.

Shortly after the news broke that Kawasaki would be withdrawing from MotoGP, the factory said that it had enough bikes and parts to last approximately a quarter of a season, and so presumably, this would be enough to run a single rider for at least half the season, or perhaps a little longer if the practice restrictions are pushed through as expected.

Finance for the project will most likely come from Dorna who want to avoid breaching their own contract with the FIM to field at least 18 riders for a world championship, with Kawasaki possibly kicking in some seed money since they don’t want to breach their contract with Dorna. Melandri would presumably be riding the 2009-spec bikes tested by Olivier Jacque in Australia during January, despite reports of poor reliability. 

Source: 

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Suzuki Contemplated Pulling Out of MotoGP

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Around the time that Kawasaki pulled out of MotoGP, rumors persisted that Suzuki could also be on the verge of pulling out of the racing series as well. Indeed at the time, , and the company seemed to be either circling the wagons or preparing to depart from the sport all-together. A number of sources inside Japan spoke of Suzuki withdrawing, but the Suzuki MotoGP team consistently denied the rumors. Those rumors now seem to be more than idle chatter around the water-cooler, and were in fact grounded in substantial truth. In an interview with Spanish site GPOne, Shinichi Sahara, head of Suzuki’s MotoGP team, makes it clear how close the team was to throwing in the towel.

 

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Tuner L-R-G Gives the Supermoto Treatment to the Suzuki Gladius

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The Suzuki Gladius is not a glamourous motorcycle. Destined to fill the market below the SV650 (we didn’t know there was a market below the SV650), the Gladius is a no thrills starter bike that you’ve probably already forgot existed. Luckily L-R-G, the makers of the see-through wheeled Hayabusa (seen in the background), have given the Gladius the supermoto treatment with stunning affect.

 

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Mission One Electric Sportbike Shakes Industry

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It’s the Mission One. It’s the electric motorcycle the blogsphere is buzzing about. It’s green (in energy, not color…although there are a lot of earth tones going on in its design).

It’s electric. It will hit 150mph, go 150 miles, make 100 ft lbs of torque, and take 8hrs to charge on a standard home outlet. Oh, and it’s also going to cost $68,995. That’s the bike in a nutshell, but digging deeper finds there is much more to it.

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