Quite some time after Stage 4 of the 2017 Dakar Rally concluded, the ASO handed down massive penalties to a bevy of Honda riders, including the HRC factory team, to the tune of roughly an hour each.
The crime? The ASO says that Joan Barreda, Michael Metge, Paulo Gonçalves, Ricky Brabec, Franco Caimi, and Pedro Bianchi Prata all refueled in an prohibited zone during Thursday’s Stage 4.
Marc Coma’s words ahead of the 2017 Dakar Rally seem almost prophetic right now, with the five-time winner and now Dakar Sport Director saying that this year’s edition of the iconic rally raid race would be the toughest ever held. The first four stages of The Dakar have proved this point, quite well.
As of Stage 3, eight motorcycle competitors had already retired, and Stage 4 claimed the Dakar’s first high-profile victim: KTM Factory Racing’s Toby Price.
Just a few kilometers from the end of the stage, Price had overtaken Honda’s Joan Barreda on the course, and while navigating a tough riverbed, the KTM rider crashed and broke his left femur.
The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is underway in Las Vegas right now, and while usually the event doesn’t have much overlap with the motorcycle industry, Honda has decided to use CES to unveil its “Riding Assist” technology.
Honda Riding Assist is basically a creative technology package that allows a motorcycle to self-balance, without the use of gyroscopes.
Honda achieves this by raking out the motorcycle’s front forks, and then balances the motorcycle by moving the front wheel back and forth – like you’ve probably seen skilled cyclists do at traffic lights.
Next up in our review of how the MotoGP riders performed in 2016 is Jorge Lorenzo. Here is our look at how the 2015 champion did last season.
Stage 3 for the 2017 Dakar Rally was a beast – especially in the first 70 km- as temperatures ranged from scorching hot to freezing cold; the climate changed from dry desert to patches of mountain rain; and the day saw nearly 4,000 meters of elevation. So, it shouldn’t surprise to see a shake-up on the leaderboard.
As such, Joan Barreda and his Honda are now the combo to beat in this year’s Dakar Rally, the Spaniard pulling out a solid 10-minute gap on his nearest competitor, who is now KTM’s Sam Sunderland.
Navigation was crucial in today’s two-part 364km special, with the terrain offering a bevy of challenges, including the dreaded fesh-fesh.
Where is Toby Price you might be asking? After a mistake during the very difficult first waypoint of the timed section, Price finds himself down in fifth place, over 16 minutes back from Barreda overall.
Stage 3 was also tough on the factory Yamaha team, with Xaiver de Soultrait slipping out of the Top 5, all the way down to 13th overall, after making a series of costly mistakes early in the special.
Conversely, the day was slightly better for the factory Husqvarna riders, with Pablo Quintanilla making some mistakes, but still seeing his name rise in the rankings. He’s just over a minute outside of the Top 3 now.
Tomorrow sees the Dakar Rally entering Bolivia, with high-altitude sand dunes and plenty of over challenges awaiting them. Still, none of the top riders are out of contention for ultimate victory, but they have a tough road to redemption.
However, Joan Barreda must surely be enjoying the padding he’s just given himself. The test, of course, is to minimize mistakes, and more important nurture his machine all the way to the finish line in Buenos Aires in ten days’ time.
What can I say? I’m a sucker for a good Hypermotard. So, when I saw this inaugural work from Vtopia Design, I was hooked.
Vtopia Design is the business name for Giorgio Cerrato, a 26-year-old designer from Italy. Vtopia has built his creation off the air-cooled generation of the street-going supermoto, creating something that brings the design more into a modern street-tracker aesthetic.
The Vtopia Hypermotard get this from the angular bodywork, which has an interesting geometric quality to it; along with the modified subframe, which cleans up the tail for the machine (for a lack of an undertail exhaust) and helps make for a flatter seat, like you would see on a proper tracker.
Not too many MotoGP racers have their own YouTube channel, which is interesting in its own right, but it doesn’t surprise us to see that the two biggest personalities in the GP paddock are constantly churning out content for their fans: Valentino Rossi and Marc Marquez.
Just recently, the 2016 MotoGP World Champion won his own event, the Superprestigio Dirt Track race in Barcelona. That victory might not have been as big of a deal as winning again the MotoGP title, but make no mistake, Marquez’s victory over Brad Baker & Co. was very important to the Spaniard.
To celebrate that win, Marquez and his crew have made a little video celebrating the occasion. Whether you love or hate Marc Marquez, we are sure the video will only fuel those feelings further. Enjoy!
Last year we covered a lot of motorcycle racing, and at many of those events Tony Goldsmith was the man swinging a lens for Asphalt & Rubber. We asked Tony to share some of his favorite snaps from 2016. We hope you enjoy them. -JB
As we look forward to the 2017 season I thought I’d share some of my favourites images from 2016. Above, the eyes of a man after a very fast lap at the Isle of Man TT.
Our review of the 2016 MotoGP riders continues with the championship runner up. Valentino Rossi ended 2015 just short of a tenth MotoGP title. Here is how he fared in 2016.
