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Jensen Beeler

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Josh Herrin Will Race Next Year in the Moto2 Championship

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After sewing up the AMA Pro National Guard SuperBike Championship, Monster Energy Graves Yamaha rider Josh Herrin is now headed to greener pastures, as the 23-year-old will make the trek across the pond, and join the Moto2 Championship for the 2014 season.

Announcing the move at the AMA awards banquet, Herrin was tight-lipped on who he would be racing for, but Asphalt & Rubber sources have confirmed that the American will be racing with Caterham Racing for the next two seasons. Replacing Herrin at Monster Energy Graves Yamaha is Cameron Beaubier, who will be Yamaha’s investment in the future, as he races alongside Josh Hayes.

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MotoGP

Say Goodbye to MotoGP Racing at Laguna Seca

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Ever since Indianapolis Motor Speedway re-signed to host the MotoGP Championship, the writing has been on the wall for GP racing at Laguna Seca. The tiny coastal track in California is a favorite amongst the riders, mostly for how different it is compared to the computer-designed Grand Prix circuits in Europe, but that distinction has also always been the Achilles heel of Laguna Seca.

While the circuit provides fans with the unique ability to get close to the racers in the paddock, as well as great general admission vantage points for watching the racing action on the track, Laguna Seca is only able to do so because of its low attendance figures, and generally campy approach to hosting motorcycle racing.

Looking for a more polished GP experience, one which would be more consistent with how MotoGP operates in Europe and other venues, Dorna has always viewed Laguna Seca as the black sheep of GP racing circuits. Looking now to push MotoGP more into developing regions, Dorna’s current holding of three American GP rounds seems to make less sense, and thus something has to give.

With drafts of the 2014 MotoGP Championship calendar circulating at the Aragon GP, and with World Superbike meeting this weekend in Laguna Seca, all but the official announcement itself has made its way through the two camps. As such, multiple confidential sources have reported to Asphalt & Rubber that MotoGP will not return to Laguna Seca, despite the track’s contract with Dorna for next season.

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MotoGP

MotoGP: This is HRC & This is How They Party

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Marc Marquez has made a name for himself this season, not only by being a prodigy on two wheels, but also for being the light-hearted breath of fresh air that the MotoGP Championship needed so dearly.

Marquez himself is perhaps a stark contrast to his employer, the Honda Racing Corporation (HRC), which is known for being a bit more uptight and mechanical with its persona.

After watching the video after the jump, we think we can safely say that Nakamoto-san and his crew have redefined HRC…and they might just be having the most fun in the MotoGP paddock in the process.

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Bikes

2014 Aprilia Tuono V4 R APRC ABS Coming to the USA

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While David is in Aragon, I am down in Laguna Seca for the World Superbike races (apparently AMA Pro Racing is here too, though you wouldn’t know it from their TV contract), and Aprilia USA just debuted and confirmed that the alphabet soup that is the 2014 Aprilia Tuono V4 R APRC ABS will be landing on US soil starting in October 2013.

The naked version of the venerable Aprilia RSV4 R APRC ABS superbike, the Tuono V4 R is our hands-down favorite liter-class streetfighter, with its burly, yet smooth, power delivery, and industry-leading electronics package.

Keeping the machine inline with its competitors, Aprilia is now adding ABS for the 2014 model year , and thus has raised the bar a little higher with its next iteration of the Tuono V4 R. Helping seal the deal is the $14,499 price tag, which is $500 less than last year’s MSRP.

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Lifestyle

How to Lose a Motorcycle in a Flash Flood

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During our Broventure, one of the things Tim and I worried while we were off-roading in Moab, Utah was the prospect of a flash flood. With heavy rain storms looming in the distance, and a forecast for afternoon showers in our location, the dry and rocky canyons and river beds that we were riding through were highly susceptible to flash flood conditions. This idea was only reinforced further by the weather alerts from NOAA, and reports of earlier flash floods from local officials

In a trip where we joked about “what could go wrong” on a regular basis, the real prospect of being caught off-guard by a flash flood in a remote location was something very real that could go wrong very quickly. Lucky for us, we were out of the canyons before the rain really started coming down, and the Moab area in general was relatively unaffected by the storms.

Meanwhile in Colorado though, things of course were very different, and it wasn’t until we got home that we could appreciate the full extent of the flooding that was occurring in The Centennial State.

That brings us to this video on YouTube, which shows a man attempting to cross the wash of a flash flood in Boulder, Colorado on his Suzuki DRZ. Things of course start out as well as one can hope, but like any situation with large volumes of moving water, things can get out of hand quite quickly.

Note the speed and intensity shown when the rider first starts fording the water, and how quickly that translates into a lost motorcycle (and phone). This video easily could have become a snuff film, but luckily our protagonist will live to ride another day. Thanks for the tip Gigi!

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Bikes

Say Hello to the 2014 KTM Super Duke 1290 R

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With four days still on the countdown clock, we didn’t expect to see the 2014 KTM Super Duke 1290 R until its October debut, but those crafty Frenchies at Moto-Station have gotten their hands on a couple photos of Austria’s new street hooligan machine.

Giving us a glimpse into “The Beast’s” final lines, we see that the new KTM Super Duke 1290 R retains the headlight shape from the prototype concept (better seen on the Patriot Edition concept), though sadly does not incorporate Kiska’s underslung GP-style system, opting instead for the standard single-can setup that was seen in the various spy photos that we have shown.

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