September 2017 - Page 4 of 9 - Asphalt & Rubber

MotoGP

Valentino Rossi Will Travel to Aragon & Attempt to Ride

By David Emmett 09/20/2017 No Comments

Valentino Rossi is to travel to Aragon and attempt to race in the fourteenth round of MotoGP at the Motorland Aragon circuit.

After evaluating his fitness on a Yamaha R1M at Misano on Monday and Tuesday, the Italian had his leg assessed by Dr Pascarella, who performed the surgery on his broken tibia and fibula. After that examination, Rossi decided he was fit enough to travel to Aragon and attempt to race.

Rossi faces one more hurdle before he is allowed to race. He will be subject to a further assessment by the circuit doctors at the Motorland Aragon track, who will have to evaluate whether he is fit enough to race.

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MotoGP

Why Valentino Rossi Will Try To Ride at Aragon

By David Emmett 09/20/2017 No Comments

20 days ago today, Valentino Rossi fell off an enduro bike at slow speed, breaking his tibia and fibula in the crash. That night, he had pins fitted to fix the bones, and went home the next day to recover.

It looked like his championship was over. He would have to miss both Misano and Aragon, and that would put him too far behind to ever catch up.

20 days later, and Rossi has already ridden a motorcycle on track. Twice. On Monday and Tuesday, he rode a Yamaha R1M around a damp Misano. A few laps on Monday, a total of 20 laps on Tuesday.

The press release Yamaha issued said that he finished the second day “with an improved feeling and a more positive impression compared to yesterday.” Translation? He’s going to try to ride at Aragon.

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MotoGP

Paddock Pass Podcast #60 – San Marino GP

By Jensen Beeler 09/19/2017 No Comments

Episode 60 of the Paddock Pass Podcast sees David Emmett and Neil Morrison on the mics, as they cover both the San Marino GP at Misano.

Despite the absence of Valentino Rossi, who injured himself just before the race weekend, the coastal race was a busy one, as MotoGP once again saw a new championship leader emerge from Sunday’s results, Marc Marquez.

Further back in the finishing order showed some big changes for the championship title as well, with Dovizioso settling for third, Viñales getting fourth, and Pedrosa struggling just to finish a lap with his ever-cold tires.

Analyzing what this all means for the end of the season, Neil and David provide some great insights, and also discuss what is going on in the Moto2 and Moto3 categories.

After a quick talk about Moto2 and Moto3, the conversation turns to the big winners and losers of the last two rounds. It’s another great show from the Paddock Pass crew, and you won’t want to miss it.

As always, be sure to follow the Paddock Pass Podcast on Facebook, Twitter and subscribe to the show on iTunes and SoundCloud – we even have an RSS feed for you. If you like the show, we would really appreciate you giving it a review on iTunes. Thanks for listening!

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Bikes

Benelli 302R – Rebranded & Now Euro4 Compliant

By Jensen Beeler 09/19/2017 No Comments

The Benelli Tornado 302 is an adorable motorcycle that boasts Italian design with Chinese manufacturing. When we showed it to you two years ago, it received positive acclaim, and was one of a handful of stand-out bikes that the Italian brand surprised us with at the 2015 EICMA show.

It seems now that Benelli is relaunching the Tornado 302, under a new name, the Benelli 302R. Little seems to have changed in the past two years, aside from a new graphics package on the bodywork, Euro4 compliance, and over course the new moniker.

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Products

Metzeler Brings Out 18″ Tires for Classic Racers

By Jensen Beeler 09/19/2017 1 Comment

Vintage racers know all too well the difficulty there can be when it comes to finding appropriate tires for the race track, as the odd rim sizes of classic motorcycles are often outside the sizing parameters of good modern sticky tires.

This leaves many racers using street-focused tires for their racing needs, but that could all come to an end, as Metzeler is expanding its Racetec RR Range to include 18-inch wheel sizes.

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News

Sweet Jesus, Investors Revive Skully Helmet Project

By Jensen Beeler 09/18/2017 No Comments

For reasons beyond our imagination and comprehension, the failed business experiment that was the Skully AR-1 helmet has been revived by new investors.

Sending out a blast to the “Skully Nation” email list, the brand’s new owners Ivan and Rafael Contreras, have announced their plans to revive this seemingly dead project.

One can barely fathom why someone would want to continue a project that so obviously was doomed to its own failure, and that also so grossly betrayed the goodwill of the motorcycle community; and yet, here we are, with Skully Technologies taking over where Skully, Inc. left off.

The presumption of this news is that the new management hopes to bring the AR-1 helmet, with its heads-up display technology, to market.

The announcement goes on also to say that Skully Technologies will leverage augmented reality, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence technologies for the wearable products industry – a nod to the three hottest technology sectors in Silicon Valley at this moment in time.

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MotoGP

UPDATE: Rossi Tests Fitness at Misano, Ahead of Schedule

By David Emmett 09/18/2017 No Comments

Valentino Rossi’s test to see if he is fit enough to compete at Aragon was brought forward a day. The poor weather expected for Tuesday and Wednesday forced Rossi to take to the track at Misano on Monday afternoon, according to reports from well-informed local paper Rimini Today.

The Italian paper reports that Rossi did four laps of Misano, before being forced to pull in due to the rain. Conditions were far from ideal, however, the track still having some damp patches from the poor weather the area has suffered.

Yamaha Racing states that Rossi rode a Yamaha YZF-R1M at the track, and Rimini Today suggests that The Doctor rode four laps on the machine.

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News

New Triumph Bonneville Speedmaster Teased for 2018

By Jensen Beeler 09/18/2017 No Comments

Are you ready for another flavor of Triumph Bonneville? We hope so, because the British marque is teasing a new model: the Triumph Bonneville Speedmaster.

Set to debut on October 3rd, Triumph’s social media channels are boasting that the new Speedmaster will have “classic custom style” and “class leading capability” – along with “British attitude” which either means a stiff upper lip, or passive-aggressive social graces…we can’t be sure.

In seriousness though, we can assume from the name and attributes that the new Speadmaster will be getting the same liquid-cooled upgrades that we have seen come to the Bonneville line in past few model years, following in the footsteps of the Thruxton and Bobber.

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WSBK

Tom Sykes Has Successful Surgery After Portimão Crash

By Jensen Beeler 09/18/2017 No Comments

Tom Sykes had to sit out the Portimão round for World Superbike this past weekend, after the Kawasaki rider had a fiery crash during Saturday’s FP3 session.

The crash saw Sykes fracturing his little finger and ring finger on his left hand, and it required him to have surgery on Sunday, at the Clínica Mi Tres Torres in Barcelona.

Sykes’ recovery isn’t expected to take long, as the Doctors in Spain fitted a plate on his finger, and he could be back on his Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10RR race bike as early as the next round, at Magny-Cours.

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MotoGP

Valentino Rossi Testing at Misano – Back for Aragon?

By David Emmett 09/18/2017 No Comments

Michael van der Mark may be flying to Aragon to replace Valentino Rossi at the fourth Spanish round, but it is still not 100% certain that the Dutch Yamaha WorldSBK rider will get to make his MotoGP debut aboard Rossi’s Movistar Yamaha M1.

According to reports in various Italian media, Valentino Rossi is to test his fitness on a Yamaha R6 at Misano this week.

Just 18 days after breaking the tibia and fibula of his right leg, and having surgery to insert titanium pins into the bones to fix them, Rossi will attempt to ride an R6 to gauge whether it will be worth his while flying to Spain for the Aragon round of MotoGP.

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A&R Pro

Portimão WorldSBK Debrief – Sunday

By Steve English 09/18/2017 No Comments

Jonathan Rea took another step towards retaining the World Superbike championship, after a dominant weekend at the Portuguese round of the series. In Race 2, the Northern Irishman took longer to hit the front, but the end result was the same: 25 points.

The victory saw Rea extend his title lead to 120 points over his Kawasaki teammate, Tom Sykes. With the Englishman sitting out this weekend due to injury, Rea’s path to the title was given an unexpected boost, but overall it was business as usual for the 30-year-old.

In claiming his 34^th Kawasaki victory, Rea became the Japanese manufacturer’s most successful rider of all time, but it wasn’t plain sailing for Rea.

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