Reports are coming out from the Spanish media that Hector Barbera, of the Avintia Blusens MotoGP team, has been arrested for the assault and battery of a woman identified as his girlfriend. The incident took place after the Spanish GP, as Barbera and his girlfriend were staying in Jerez for a few extra days before heading to Le Mans for the French GP. Coming to blows during a heated argument, Barbera’s girlfriend was treated for bruises and contusions, and spent the night in the hospital.
Receiving a lightning-speed trial, both Barbera and his twenty-three-year-old girlfriend were found guilty of assault and battery against each other, with Hector being sentence to six months in jail, and his girlfriend receiving five months of jail time. The sentences can likely be commuted to community service time, according to the Spanish media.
Shipped up and on its way to the Isle of Man, we can finally now see more than test shots of the Mugen Shinden Ni and get its basic racing specifications. The electric superbike that John McGuinness will ride in the 2013 TT Zero race at the Isle of Man TT, the Mugen Shinden Ni represents that evolution of the Japanese firm’s design, having now a TT race under its belt.
Like its main competitor MotoCzysz, Team Mugen is eyeing a 110 mph lap around the Mountain Course, which would be a pretty remarkable one-year advancement for either team. With Mr. McPint at the helm, and seemingly brimming with on-board energy, Mugen is a serious contender for the top stop on the podium. It should make for some good racing in a few weeks’ time.
BMW Motorrad Goldbet SBK’s Chaz Davies had some homework ahead of this weekend’s World Superbike round in Monza, as the Welshman spent time in BMW’s high-speed wind tunnel to work on his aerodynamics with the BMW S1000RR. With Monza being one of the fastest courses on the WSBK calendar, a rider’s ability to have the optimal body position down the the track’s long sections, where speeds can easily exceed 200 mph, is a crucial element to race-day success.
“It was a really interesting afternoon”, said Davies. “When testing on a track, you try new development parts and different settings but you are not working on your body. So it was great to experience in a stable environment with my riding position, to move myself around on the bike, to have elbows and shoulders in different positions and to then see in the data what difference it makes.
From what we can gather, Dirt Quake II is an anarchist movement grounded in the English biker gang scene that celebrates pagan rituals from ancient and mystic Britannic times. Mixed with a dystopian view of the world to come, along with an overindulgence of bangers and mash during childhood, the competitors who take part in the race are more than a special breed, and frankly we wonder if they still qualify as human.
As the following video depicts, attempting to join in this two-wheeled revelry could result in a propensitiy to only turn left on a motorbike, eat mud and other ferrous-rich dirt products, and possibly engage in intercourse with women of illrepute. We highly advise staying clear of the Norfolk Arena in King’s Lynn, Norfolk on the Eighth day of June in the year of our Lord, 2013. You have been warned.
Dorna Sports issued the following press release on the acquisition of the broadcast rights for MotoGP in the United Kingdom for the next five years. More information and full commentary will be released soon, but there are a few key details which are already known.
Firstly, for details on how to receive BT Sport, see the BT Sport website. Secondly, although the commentary team is as yet unknown, the names of Julian Ryder and Keith Huewen are circulating, though this could of course be wishful thinking.
Thirdly, it seems almost certain that British Eurosport will no longer provided delayed broadcast of the MotoGP races, as that deal was tied up with the BBC contract. After the jump is the press release from Dorna:
Ducatisti: do you want the good news or the bad news first? The bad news is that the market for motorcycles 500cc and up is down 17% worldwide for the first quarter of this year, which means the “good” news is that Ducati is only down 5% for Q1 2013.
Not exactly the start out of the gate that Audi was hoping for its newly acquired two-wheeled brand, but what are you going to do? Western Europe is a mess, with Spain and Italy continuing to go down like a…well, you know.
Even the American market is on a slight decline for the first quarter, after showing signs of hitting rock bottom earlier last year. Accordingly Ducati sold 1,605 units in the USA — it’s the largest market by volume.
So why are we a bit giddy here at Asphalt & Rubber? Well while we don’t enjoy the misery of motorcycle brands, the fact that Ducati Motor Holding is now under the Audi AG umbrella means that we get far more detailed quarterly and yearly reports from the two-wheeled marque.
Want to know which Ducati model is out-selling them all? How about how many of each model were produced versus how many were sold? We’ve got the digits after the jump.
John Shofner is back with another one of his short films for Bell Helmets, and like the first one, it is some two-wheeled goodness for your Wednesday afternoon. Following JD Beach as he hosts his personal hero Troy Bayliss for a few days flat track fun, it is just another low-key day of playing in the Kentucky mud for these two riders.
It is pretty cool to see two different generations of road course racers come together, and JD is quick to remind us of Troy’s epic wild card victory at the Valencian GP on the Ducat Desmosedici GP6. If this flat track thing looks like your cup of tea, the AMA Pro Flat Track series is going to be live-streamed this year. It’s great two-wheeled racing (even better in person), and we highly recommend you go check it out.
Mission Motors tweeted out something interesting just a moment ago, a link to a new website for Mission Motorcycles. Teasing there a photo of the Mission R, it would seem that the electric superbike that does competitive AMA Supersport lap times at Laguna Seca, is finally set to come to production.
The stars have been aligning these past few months for such an occasion, with rumors that an old Mission Motors investor was back in the mix, and looking to bring the Mission R to production. You may recall that Mission Motors made a course correction away from the two-wheeled world, focusing instead on supplying the automotive world with electric-drive components.
That change of course saw the departure of two Mission Motors founders, and the heartbreak of two-wheeled enthusiasts, petrol and electric alike, who wished to see the Mission R come to market. With layoffs reported at the San Franciscan startup just six months ago, it would seem more changes are afoot for the EV company, but we think you will like the sound of this.