Continuing our look at how the MotoGP riders stack up so far, we already reviewed the top eight in the championship, from Marc Marquez to Andrea Iannone, and now we pick up where we left off, reviewing the bottom half of the championship standings.
We start with Stefan Bradl who is ninth the MotoGP Championship, and work our way down to Mike Di Meglio, who has yet to score a point in the premier class this year.
Just a couple weeks ago, we got to ride the Energica Ego, a bike that made quite an impression on us. Now it seems Energica is readying an encore to its first electric motorcycle, the Energica Eva. Details are light at the moment, though we know the Eva will debut at EICMA, and be based off the Ego’s platform.
A streetfighter to the Ego’s superbike format, we expect the Eva to come with the same 134hp PMAC motor and 11.7 kWh battery pack. With less fairings and a more upright riding position, the Energica Eva will go more head-to-head in form-factor to the Brammo Empulse R and Zero SR.
The following is the result of what happens when you put two World Champions in a room full of 500GP / MotoGP World Championship winning machines, and film the interaction.
Having both Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa on-hand to kick the tires on bike’s like Mick Doohan’s NSR500, Rossi’s RC211V, and Stoner’s RC212V, the two Repsol Honda riders compare and contrast the differences that generations and prodigies create.
It’s a pretty candid perspective on some of the most dominant machinery from perhaps the two most qualified critics. Enjoy it after the jump, you might be surprised by what they have to say.
This isn’t the first year where the Honda COTA 4RT 260 has been available in the United States, but until now only a limited number of these trials bikes have been available to American riders. Thankfully Honda America is changing that though, officially announcing the 2015 Honda COTA 4RT 260 & 2015 Honda COTA 4RT 260 Race Replica for the US market.
Essentially rebadged Montesa machines that come from Honda’s partnership with the Spanish marque, Honda’s COTA 4RT 260 models represent Big Red’s attempt to offer a competition-grade trials bike (2015 Honda COTA 4RT 260 Race Replica, shown above) as well as an entry-level trials bike (2015 Honda COTA 4RT 260) to American motorcyclists.
This year’s silly season may have been a bit disappointing, at least when you consider that many of the top riders had contracts up for renewal this year.
Instead, we saw Valentino Rossi, Marc Marquez, and Dani Pedrosa all stay-put with their current manufacturers, and likely we will add Jorge Lorenzo to that list during the Indianapolis GP, as the Spaniard is said to be close to a one-year contract with Yamaha Racing.
One of the bigger question marks though has been Cal Crutchlow, as the Briton has made no secret about his displeasure with the Desmosedici GP14. Finding the paddock gossip about the Ducati to be true, Crutchlow currently faces a steep learning curve to bring his performance on the GP14 in-line with Andrea Dovizioso and Andrea Iannone, both of whom already have a season on the Desmosedici under their belts.
With an option to leave Ducati Corse midway through his two-year contract, rumors about Crutchlow’s departure have been escalating, despite Ducati’s announcement at World Ducati Week 2014 that Crutchlow would remain with the team. Now, the Italian press tipping him to leave for a seat at LCR Honda.
The US economy has been slow to recover, and so too has the US motorcycle market. With first-quarter sales down 0.3% this year though, it looked like the US motorcycle market was about to flatline.
Thankfully, that has not been the case in Q2 of 2014, as the Motorcycle Industry Council (MIC) is proud to report that US motorcycle sales are up 4.0% in the second quarter of this year.
Selling 169,111 units in Q2 2014 (6,585 more than in 2013), motorcycles sales in the US so far this year are now up 2.6%, with 263,833 units sold so far in 2014.
With MotoGP on its summer break, and the riders combining a bit of relaxation with a lot of training, there is time to review the first half of the season. Who has performed above expectations, and who has fallen short?
Here’s a rundown of how we rate the MotoGP riders over the first half of the season. Today, the top eight riders in the championship, from Marc Marquez to Andrea Iannone. The remainder, from Stefan Bradl to Mike Di Meglio, will appear in another post.