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September 2014

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2015 Aprilia Tuono V4 R APRC ABS Gets More Power

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It’s hard to fault the current Aprilia Tuono V4 R APRC ABS, except perhaps the sport bike’s alphabet soup name, which the Italian company seems to grow longer with each passing year and added feature.

That being said, the Tuono V4 R is easily our pick for the best streetfighter on the market — it packs a punch with its V4 engine, has the industry’s best electronics package, and is just downright fun to ride.

Noale, Italy isn’t resting on those laurels though, so accordingly the 2015 Aprilia Tuono V4 R APRC ABS is getting some minor updates: namely a bump in peak power (170hp) and torque (83.3 lbs•ft), thanks to a new exhaust system.

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Racing

So Long DMG — New North American Road Racing Series Established by Wayne Rainey & Co.

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For months now, we have been talking about a North American road racing series that would compete against the ailing AMA Pro Road Racing championship that DMG runs. The series in question was rumored to be headed by Dorna and Wayne Rainey, and today’s news confirms at least half of that partnership, as the three-time World Champion is affiliated with the project

Called MotoAmerica, the North America series is run by KRAVE Group LLC. Rainey is a partner in the KRAVE Group, along with Chuck Aksland who was a 20-year manager of Team Roberts and recently the Vice President of Motor Sport Operations at the Circuit of the Americas race track. Terry Karges, a marketing executive from Roush Performance is a part of the team, as is Richard Varner, a motorcycle industry entrepreneur.

According to the AMA, MotoAmerica will promote and manage the series, which will be sanctioned by the AMA and FIM North America. This means that MotoAmerica will be able to award AMA and FIM North America #1 plates to series class champions, replacing the role of AMA Pro Road Racing as run by the Daytona Motorsports Group.

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Bikes

Listen to the Sound of the New Supercharged Kawasaki H2

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Continuing to build the buzz around its newest sport bike, Kawasaki has sent us a sound clip of the new H2 motorcycle, which the company will debut at the upcoming INTERMOT show.

Team Green has been pretty tight-lipped about the Kawasaki H2, though there have been plenty of clues sprinkled around for us to suss out that it will be a sport bike with a supercharged inline-four engine.

Listening to the provided sound clip seems to confirm our notion that Kawasaki’s new supercharger system is at work.

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News

German Motorcycle Brand Horex Files for Bankruptcy

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The restart of the German Horex brand hasn’t been an easy one, as we watched the company’s impressive plans for a supercharged VR6 roadster slowly become watered down into a handsome, although entirely uninteresting naked bike, which included the addition of the derivative “Classic” and “Cafe Racer” models as well.

It’s not that the Horex VR6 wasn’t received well, it’s just no one wanted to purchase the bike at its $30,000+ price tag, especially after the numerous production delays. As such, we sadly report that Horex has become insolvent, and filed for bankruptcy, according to reports out of Europe.

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MotoGP

MotoGP: Donington Park Will Host British GP in 2015

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Donington Park is to host the British round of MotoGP in 2015. The Leicestershire circuit has reached agreement with the Circuit of Wales to host the British Grand Prix while the Welsh track is being built.

The Circuit of Wales was in talks with both Donington, which hosted the British Grand Prix from 1987 until 2009, and Silverstone, which hosted the race from 2010 until this year, but agreed more favorable terms with Donington.

The deal is a little more complicated than most contracts with racetracks. Dorna has a contract with the Circuit of Wales to host the race for the next five years, but the Circuit of Wales is yet to be built. Construction on the ambitious project has yet to be started, and the project is still a long way short of the money it needs for completion.

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Columns

Trackside Tuesday: A Manx Perspective on the Classic TT

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The dust has now settled on this year’s Classic TT. For those unfamiliar with the event, the Classic TT was born from the ashes of the old Manx Grand Prix. Run on the same Mountain Course as the TT, the Manx as it was affectionately known, featured racing on modern and classic machinery.

Originally created as the amateur rider’s TT,  TT legends such as Steve Hislop and Philip McCallen first cut their teeth at the Manx before moving on to the TT. Multiple World Superbike champion Carl Fogarty won at “The Manx” in the 1985.

As media interest in the old Manx Grand Prix format dwindled, the Manx government started looking at ways to improve its marketing appeal and increase visitor numbers.  Early proposals to cut the amount of modern classes were met with protests by some local fans, but a new format was eventually agreed and the Festival of Motorcycling was born.

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MotoGP

Moto2: Alex Marquez Signs Two-Year Deal with Marc VDS

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Alex Marquez is to join Marc VDS in the Moto2 class. The Spaniard has signed a two-year deal with the Belgian racing team to compete on their Kalex Moto2 bike for the next two seasons. Marquez will join Tito Rabat at Marc VDS to form a Spanish dream team in Moto2, with Rabat once again challenging for the title, while Marquez gets up to speed.

The Marquez announcement will likely be the first of many in the weeks leading up to the Aragon entry deadline. Both Jack Miller and Alex Rins will also be leaving Moto3, with Miller widely rumored to be moving up to MotoGP, and Rins off to join the Pons team with Luis Salom. However, there were whisperings at Silverstone that Miller may not be going straight to MotoGP after all.

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Bikes

The New Supercharged Kawasaki Ninja H2 is Coming Soon

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Kawasaki is teasing a new model today, which it will unveil at the upcoming INTERMOT show in October. Called the Kawasaki H2, the name harkens back to a pivotal time in Kawasaki’s motorcycle history, where the Japanese company made one of the most highly regarded line of sport bikes of its time.

While the video itself reveals very little in information, and only a couple looks at the machine, the teaser website provides us with a little more information.

Hidden in the website is the following phrase: “The Ninja H2 was not designed with meeting regulations a primary concern. Kawasaki’s latest flagship is the result of a pure exercise in pushing the limits of motorcycle technology with the goal of creating the ideal road sports bike.”

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