Racing

Last year we combined the QP2 times from World Superbike with the Qualifying times from AMA Superbike, to see how America’s finest motorcycle racers stack up on against the international championship of a similar name. Of course there are different regulations in each series (not to mention a variety of other factors), which vary a bit on how teams are allowed to modify their race bikes, so there isn’t an exact comparison between the two series, but it makes for something interesting to mull over with your morning coffee, and the results this year may surprise you.

Bikes

In Germany, and other European markets, the Honda CBR600F is offered alongside the venerable Honda CBR600RR, as a lower-cost and more affordable sport bike alternative to Big Red’s race-bred supersport machine. Zie Germans are a practical lot after all, and they also happen to be quite thrilled that native Stefan Bradl is now racing in the premier class of motorcycle racing, and doing quite well we might add with the LCR Honda squad. Getting their cross-promotion on, Honda Germany has teamed up with the Italian MotoGP team to bring a special LCR edition Honda CBR600F to market, which uses the same livery found on Bradl’s Honda RC213V race bike

News

The first major piece of debris to hit North American soil from the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, there is a happy ending to the story about the Harley-Davidson motorcycle that ended up floating across the Pacific Ocean over the past year after the Japanese natural disaster. Using the VIN and license plate, which were still readable on the motorcycle, Ikuo Yokoyama was ultimately identified as the owner of the Harley-Davidson Softail Night Train, and efforts were put in place to put the motorcyclist back in possession of his Harley-Davidson, but this is where the story gets interesting.