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Is That Fabio? Yamaha Produces More MotoGP Video Gold

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Yamaha had several generations of of GP legends on-hand yesterday to celebrate the company’s 50th Anniversary of Grand Prix racing. Current Yamaha team riders Jorge Lorenzo, Ben Spies, Colin Edwards, and Cal Crutchlow rubbed shoulders with Kenny Roberts Sr., Eddie Lawson, and Wayne Rainey.

Listening to the group trade stories, comparing past with present, along with giving insights on where the sport was headed was quite an experience. Yamaha had more up its sleeve though, and true to its Laguna Seca tradition, released another bit of video gold in time for the Red Bull US GP at the Californian track. Double bonus points for a Fabio cameo, watch the bar on GP comedy get raised after the jump.

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Twelve Entries for the FIM/TTXGP Round at Laguna Seca

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After seeing a flop of a round at Infineon earlier this year with four, then three entries racing on the two race days, it would seem that some good has come from the FIM and TTXGP playing nice with each other, as twelve entries have been listed for the upcoming electric motorcycle race. Poised to be perhaps the best e-moto race to date, we have virtually all the major players in the electric motorcycle production, technology, and racing gig as entrants for the event (noticeably absent are Zero Motorycles and the “banned” Chip Yates).

Other notable notations include Lightning fielding two bikes, one in each TTXGP class, as well as eCRP entering two bikes in the open class. It also looks like Michael Czysz will be once again riding again on-board his 2011 MotoCzysz E1pc, personally defending his victory at last year’s Laguna Seca gathering. Find all twelve entries for the FIM/TTXGP round listed after the jump.

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The Perfect Lap with Andrea Dovizioso at 1,000 fps

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After showing us Casey Stoner at 40x slower than normal, the folks at Red Bull have taken their high-speed cameras to work on another Red Bull sponsored rider: Andrea Dovizioso. Filming the Italian also at the Catalan GP, Red Bull shows us a man at his craft with every gritty detail exposed. It’s really quite interesting to see all the movement that occurs on Dovi’s motorcycle as the camera zooms in on his front wheel.

Imagining how small that contact patch is, and contrast that with Andrea explaining the perfect lap and what cornering a MotoGP machine is like, and you have another compelling clip from the drink that gives you wings. Enough hyperbole, watch Andrea Dovizioso at 1,000 frames per second after the jump. Thanks for the tip Craig!

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MotoGP: Hopper Also to Wild Card at Brno for Rizla Suzuki

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John Hopkins is a busy man with his duties to Crescent Racing. Not only is the Anglo-American riding as a wild card at World Superbike’s next round at Silverstone, but the former-MotoGP racer will also ride Álvaro Bautista’s back-up Suzuki GSV-R at the Czech GP in three weeks’ time (the same course where Hopkins secured a second place finish in 2007, his best-ever results in MotoGP).

The outing will be Hopper’s second cameo appearance in the teal blue colors of Rizla Suzuki this year, as he filled-in for Bautista at the Spanish GP in Jerez, after the factory rider broke his femur at the Qatar GP. Hopkins is currently second in the British Superbike Championship, in a season that many are tipping as a trial-point for Hopper’s return back to MotoGP.

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Jorge Lorenzo: Japan Yes, Motegi No

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Asphalt & Rubber is coming to you live from Laguna Seca for the rest of the week and weekend, and upon our arrival at the historic Californian track, we had a moment to talk to Jorge Lorenzo about his recent statement that he would not race at Motegi, even before Dorna’s independent safety review of the Japanese track was published.

Responding to the criticism that his statement ran counter to the “With You Japan” message Yamaha and the rest of the MotoGP paddock have been showing, Lorenzo made his position clear that he was for Japan, but not Motegi. Perhaps hinting that another circuit should be chosen for the Japanese GP.

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John Hopkins to Wild Card at WSBK Silverstone Round

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Announcing its plans back in March to skip Donington Park for Britain’s other track, Samsung Crescent Suzuki has confirmed that the team, along with Anglo-American rider John Hopkins (and teammate Jon Kirkham), will be attending the upcoming World Superbike round at Silverstone as wild card team entry. While Kirkham will be making his WSBK debut, this will be Hopper’s first time on a World Superbike-spec machine since his 2009 campaign with Stiggy Honda.

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Are You the 2012 Triumph Daytona 675?

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According to MCN, this is a “spy photo” of the 2012 Triumph Daytona 675, which was spotted outside of Triumph’s Hinckley factory. The British mag says that it has other, much more clearer photos, that clearly show the new Daytona in detail (of course, we’ll have to take their infallible word on this since they didn’t publish them online), revealing a new styling update, and complete mechanical design overhaul. Gone is the underseat exhaust, though the front looks fairly similar, with a center running light seemingly added. Expect to see the new Daytona 675 debut later this year.

Source: MCN

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Bill Warner: The First Man to Go 300 mph on a Motorcycle

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Racing his 1,299cc turbo Hayabusa to 311.945 mph, Bill Warner (you may have heard of him) became the first man to break the 300 mph barrier while sitting on a motorcycle. Eeeking close to 312 mph, Warner set the speed at Loring Air Force Base in Limestone, Maine, which has a 2.5 mile concrete runway that serves as the LSR course. With 1.5 miles to hit a top speed, the Loring Timing Association certified Warner’s run, though it would appear that a follow-up pass in the opposite direction was not undertaken, meaning that the speed is not an official FIM land speed record. Don’t let that fact leave you unimpressed though, few riders see a true 200 mph, let alone 300 mph in any direction.

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What MotoGP Racing at Laguna Seca Would Look Like Without Electronic Rider Aids

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Back when men were men…yada yada yada, and all that. You know, the real interesting thing about watching this footage from 1985 is, well…how interesting the racing is to watch, even with the commentary being in Japanese. Front wheels several feet in the air on acceleration, plenty of rider-on-rider corner stuffing, and the only traction control coming from the rider’s right wrist.

Perhaps making this 26-year-old clip such a keeper is how cool racing at Seca used to be is the recurrent wheelies the riders are popping coming down the corkscrew. Jaws dropped when

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Polaris Posts 41% Sales Revenue Gain for Q2 2011

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Polaris has been the company on the move in 2011, and its second quarter earnings show why. Gobbling up Indian and then later GEM, Polaris has shown that it has an appetite for growth, which has been fueled by its strong sales, which have increased in revenue by 41% over Q2 2010. Perhaps more impressive is that the American company has parlayed that increase in revenue into a 90% increase in net income over the same time period, which has been a boon for the company’s shareholders and a testament to the company’s reduced-cost structures.

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Harley-Davidson Posts First YTD Growth since 2006

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Harley-Davidson had some good news to report in its Q2 2011 financial report, as the Milwaukee company reports selling 53,599 units to customers in the US during the three-month period, and total of 83,396 units worldwide (120,642 units worldwide so far this year). These sales figures translate into a 5.6% sales increase worldwide, and an even more impressive 7.5% sales bump in the United States market.

While those increases might seem modest, CEO Keith Wandell’s restructuring efforts have clearly been paying off for the Bar & Shield brand as operating income was up 36.8% for Q2, while revenue was up only 18% to $1.34 billion. This is also the first year-over-year quarterly rise for unit sales that Harley-Davidson has seen since the Q4 2006. Read that last sentence again, but it’s sort of a big deal for Harley-Davidson.

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