Photo: © 2010 Jason Yu / Asphalt & Rubber – Creative Commons – Attribution 3.0
Hanspree Ten Kate Honda has announced that it has retained the services of Johnny Rea for the 2011 season. Rea is two years into his three-year contract with Ten Kate, with the Dutch-based team having an option to renew the Irishman for another year. Currently third in the World Superbike series, Rea joined Ten Kate Honda in 2008 as one of the team’s World Supersport riders, where he finished second to teammate Andrew Pitt.
Photo: © 2010 Jason Yu / Asphalt & Rubber – Creative Commons – Attribution 3.0
AMA Pro Racing will continue to field its three support races for the Laguna Seca GP during the 2011 season. The announcement made about the 2011 season makes for the seventh consecutive season that AMA Pro Racing has supported the sole MotoGP race at Laguna Seca. Unlike the Indianapolis GP, the Laguna Seca GP runs without the 125 GP & Moto2/250 GP support classes.
With the announcement of the Moto3 series replacing 125 GP in 2012, there’s been some talk about whether the other GP series will make the trek out to California. The answer, at least for 2011, is no, but with only a one-year renewal on the contract, 2012 could be another story.
As a nine-time Grand Prix Champion, Valentino Rossi might be the most iconic rider in the MotoGP paddock, if not the greatest motorcycle racer of all-time. Now that Rossi has signed-on with Ducati for the next two MotoGP seasons, there is a wave of enthusiasm in Italy about the duo, and what it could mean for the sport.
Along with Rossi’s move to Ducati, MotoGP is set to go back to 1000cc capacities, Dorna has allowed claiming rule teams to run production-based engines, all in the hopes of turning the sport around into the spectacle it once was.
Of course the greatest excitement will be seeing Rossi on a Ducati GP bike that he helped develop, so we thought it fit to give Valentino the Shepard Fairey treatment for his “Barack moment”, and thus we whipped-up some posters of the Italian. Check them out after the jump.
BMW subsidiary MINI is set to debut an electric scooter concept at the Paris Motor Show later this year in October. Dubbed the MINI E Scooter Concept, the bike will likely be shown along with MINI’s rumored electric car, or MINI E Concept, which has been testing in New York and Los Angeles. The pairing of electric cars with electric scooters is becoming the go-to strategy for the German automakers, as Mercedes-Benz is expected to unveil an electric scooter along with an all electric car at the Paris Motor Show, both under the company’s Smart brand.
With the NCR Leggera 1200 Special, Ducati tuner NCR is setting two firsts with its titanium clad Hypermotard. Known for making gorgeous work out of already gorgeous motorcycles (NCR Corse Millona One Shot anyone?), none of LCR’s prior creations are destined for a life of street use, and come absent of any lights, mirrors, etc. However, the NCR Leggera 1200 Special is the first NCR that comes out of the crate street legal, and oh…it’s also the lightest Hypermotard in existence, dropping 125 lbs off the stock Ducati Hypermotard…it’s not bad looking either.
Xerox essentially foots the bill for Ducati’s World Superbike racing adventures, so it’s not surprising that the company, whose name is synonymous with photocopying, would like to capitalize on that relationship. It’s hard to imagine how one can make an intriguing commercial about xeroxing some documents (see what we did there?), which may be why Rochester-based brand is involved with WSBK in the first place, as the company has tapped its relationship with Ducati to help sell some copy machines. The result is an actually semi-engaging ad, but we’re just not sure what Xerox is going to do next year. Video after the jump.
The death of Shoya Tomizawa has rocked the MotoGP paddock and cast a dark cloud on the motorcycle industry. The tragic incident was especially tough on Scott Redding, one of the riders involved in the crash. According to Redding’s father, the British rider was initially uncertain if he’d return to motorcycle racing, but after taking some time to heal the laceration to his back, Redding now seems poised to return to Moto2 racing next week.
Asphalt & Rubber has gotten some more photos from the 2010 BUB Motorcycle Speed Trials held at Bonneville last week. Taken by A&R reader Constantine Blias (color photos) and MotoCzysz friend Thomas Knudson (black & white photos), we get a glimpse of what the MotoCzysz E1pc looks like slammed to the salt and without its front brakes.
For Czysz, racing is becoming a family affair with his father Terry working the pits, and sons Max and Enzo helping push the E1pc to the starting line (MotoCzysz GM Ryan Taylor also pictured). Czysz concluded his email to us with this line, “…and yes — I rode and hope to keep riding until MotoCzysz is the Worlds fastest motorcycle.” Also photographed was Swiss motorcycling legend Fritz Egli with his 500hp Hayabusa-based sidecar.