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2016 Dakar Rally – Stage 11: A Tough Day at the Office

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Stage 11 of the 2016 Dakar Rally proved to have more drama, despite KTM’s Toby Price extending his overall lead. The big news though was Honda’s Paulo Gonçalves crashing out, 118km into the timed section of the stage.

Trying to make up time to the front-runners, Gonçalves’s crash was pretty severe, and he had to be airlifted to a hospital in San Juan for his concussion. Thankfully though, doctors in San Juan determined that beyond the concussion, Gonçalves had no other major injuries.

“Today my participation in the Dakar 2016 came to an end in the worst way. It appears that I had a heavy fall, but I can’t remember what happened. I was told that I arrived on the bike to an area where there were spectators and ambulances,” said Gonçalves.

“It’s a Dakar that finishes for me in the worst way. It is a shame because the team really deserved much more. The competition is that hard and the last few days hadn’t been going that well. But we have to keep going and think that soon we will be back in competition.”

Honda’s hopes for the 2016 Dakar Rally now rest on the shoulders of American and Dakar rookie, Ricky Brabec – who is almost an hour back from overall leader Toby Price.

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Bikes

Ducati Sold 54,800 Bikes in 2015 – Another Record

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As expected from earlier sales reports, Ducati Motor Holding is posting a banner year for 2015. The Italian motorcycle maker says that it sold 54,800 bikes last year, a 9,683 unit (+22%) increase over the number of bikes sold in 2014.

Helping break the 50,000 units barrier, the Ducati Scrambler line accounted for virtually all of Ducati’s sales growth in 2015, with over 16,000 Scrambler models sold worldwide. As we have reported before, this paints an interesting picture of what is going on behind Borgo Panigale’s walls.

“The record sales of 2015 are the result of our company’s courage and skill,” said Claudio Domenicali, CEO of Ducati Motor Holding.

“Ducati closes 2015 with record volumes and also a substantial growth of 22% over 2014. During the year Ducati not only launched successful new motorcycles, but also a new brand, Ducati Scrambler, which immediately won global acclaim with over 16,000 sales worldwide.”

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News

Erik Buell Racing Sold at Third Auction, Will Live On Again

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Don’t believe everything you read on the internet today. Much like the spirit of its riders, Erik Buell Racing refuses to go quietly into that good night. After two failed receivership auctions, the brand has now been acquired for $2.05 million via a third auction held Wednesday, and seems set for another revival.

The winning party of this latest auction is the same winner from the second auction, Liquid Asset Partners – the same company that liquidated Buell Motorcycles when it was shutdown by Harley-Davidson, which makes for some interesting trivia.

Walworth County Circuit Judge Phillip Koss approved the winning bid today, despite a similar bid from Bruce Belfer, the first auction winner. According to a report by the EBR receiver, Belfer’s bid did not conform to the terms of the auction, and thus was not recommended to the court.

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MotoGP

Seven Tips for Young Racers on How To Be a Champion

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So you made it into Moto3. Well done. That feat alone makes you one of the most talented motorcycle racers on the planet. You may think that the hardest part of the battle is behind you. You would be wrong.

You have your foot on the bottom rung of the ladder to MotoGP stardom. It is a rickety old thing, slick with grease, littered with broken rungs, and what look like short cuts and easier routes.

Before you embark on your Grand Prix adventure  -and what an adventure it is! – some words of advice from someone who has been in the paddock long enough to have his illusions shattered.

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Dirt

2016 Dakar Rally – Stage 10: HRC Overcomes Adversity

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Stage 10 of the 2016 Dakar Rally didn’t have much movement on the leaderboard, but it still was an eventful day, especially for the Honda factory riders.

With Paulo Gonçalves suffering a punctured radiator on Stage 9, and as a result a damaged engine, right before the start of the second marathon stage, things seemed dire for Honda.

Luckily, the HRC factory riders were able to replace the radiator, and inspect the engine. With the piston showing less damage from the heat than previously thought, only the compression needed to be adjusted on the Honda CRF450 Rally, in order for Gonçalves to continue onto Stage 10.

“The day was a positive one. I started behind the trucks and the tracks weren’t good. The sand was very unstable and I had to ride very smoothly. The good thing is that I arrived without problems,” said Gonçalves. “I’m still in the fight for the top positions and now we will set the bike up for an attack tomorrow because in the marathon stage I repaired the bike as best I could.”

“After what happened on Tuesday it will be very difficult to fight for the victory because the difference is very big. But it isn’t over yet. After the problems that I’ve had, to be here is very positive. I have to keep up a good pace every day, starting tomorrow.”

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Bikes

A Turbocharged Suzuki Hayabusa Really Should Happen

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I have been trying to avoid this story, mostly because I think it is a pipe dream concocted from a dubious source, but the word circulating through the interwebs is that Suzuki is working on a turbocharged Hayabusa motorcycle, in the 1,500cc territory, for the 2017 model year.

While we are not confident about this exact rumor, we know two things for certain: 1) that Suzuki is finally ready to breathe some life into the GSX-R line; and 2) that the Suzuki GSX-1300R Hayabusa is in desperate need of an update.

The first of the new GSX-R sport bikes is the 2017 Suzuki GSX-R1000 superbike, though we can expect to see all-new iterations of the GSX-R600 and GSX-R750. There is even word of a GSX-R250/300 in the works.

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News

The Motorcycle Safety Foundation Wants You To Know What It’s Like To Ride a Motorcycle While High

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We really don’t talk about marijuana enough on Asphalt & Rubber. With the drug gaining acceptance around the country as having legitimate medical uses, and stigmas about its recreational use changing, we are seeing numerous states re-evaluating their policies regarding marijuana.

With no empirical evidence to support this claim, we can only imagine though the number of motorcyclists riding while high on marijuana is increasing, an act that certainly isn’t a good idea, nor is it legal.

Hoping to educate motorcyclists to the dangers of mixing marijuana and motorcycles, the Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) has created the Riding Straight – Marijuana Awareness Host-An-Event Kit, which essentially uses a special set of goggles and several exercises that show how marijuana use affects a motorcyclist’s perception, awareness, and physical abilities.

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Dirt

2016 Dakar Rally – Stage 9: This Is What Hell Looks Like

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Stage 9 of the 2016 Dakar Rally proved to be a hellish one, which ultimately saw race officials shortening the day’s route, even though some riders had completed the full-stage distance. The course shortening came about because temperatures reached 113°F (45°C), leaving the ASO no choice but to end Stage 9 at the second checkpoint.

From CP2, riders were sent straight to their bivouac, where they began their second marathon stage. As such, they will not have the benefit of their team mechanics to make adjustments and repairs to their machines for Stage 10.

This fact could be very significant for HRC, since their day was especially difficult, as Paulo Gonçalves suffered a punctured radiator, and lost significant time to KTM’s Toby Price.

The good news for HRC is that Paolo Ceci was able to tow Gonçalves’s bike to CP2, which meant he finished the stage because of the shortened course. The bad news though is that Gonçalves’s engine seized from a lack of cooling, and will require significant work before tomorrow’s start.

With the marathon stage, Gonçalves will have to rely on his teammates to help him repair the Honda CRF450 Rally race bike. Honda says it is far from throwing in the towel on the situation, though they have a difficult road ahead of them.

Despite this attitude, the 2016 Dakar Rally is essentially now Price’s to lose, with only a couple more days of solid racing remaining.

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Recall

Honda Shadow Recall Affects 22,000+ Motorcycles

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Honda has a fairly massive recall going for various iterations of its Honda Shadow cruiser model. In total, 22,142 motorcycles are affected by the Honda Shadow recall, ranging from 2010 to 2016 model years.

At issue is an engine vibration that may cause the bank angle sensor wire to rub against the wire harness joint connector. This can result in a loss of the sensor signal, which in-turn can cause the engine to stall and pose a safety hazard.

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Bikes

See How the Honda RC213V-S Is Painstakingly Built

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Whatever your thoughts are on the Honda RC213V-S, you have to appreciate the engineering and craftsmanship that goes into the $184,000 MotoGP bike with lights.

With just over 200 units being made, Honda had little incentive to design the RC213V-S for mass production, opting instead to make each unit by hand, with a small team of highly skilled builders.

There is something about that process that gets lost in description, so we are fortunate that Honda Hong Kong released a video (after the jump) that shows the Honda RC213V-S build team hard at work.

A couple mech-geek things of note: at 1:32, the jig used to bring the chassis pieces together for welding; at 1:50, the one-off shaping of the sheet metal for the headstock; at 2:12, how virtually ever metal piece is hand-welded. There is plenty here to geek-out over, enjoy!

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News

Pro Italia Online Sold to AMS Ducati Dallas

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Though the announcement is only going public today, Pro Italia Online was sold to AMS Ducati at the end of last year, on December 31, 2015.

The news is a big deal in the world of Ducatisti, as Pro Italia’s online store is one of the largest online retailers for Ducati parts in the United States.

Therefore, its movement from one top Ducati dealership (Pro Italia in Glendale, CA) to another (AMS Ducati in Dallas, TX) is tectonic shift in the retail power found in Ducati’s online landscape.

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