APRILIA RSV4 RF
YAMAHA AMAHA YZF-R1
TECH LADEN UBER RACE REPS SET TO BOSS THE HE NEW YEAR
JAN 2015 ISSUE 296
2014
AWARDS THE
Dog DAYS
BARkinG MAD RAcE ThRoUGh FRAncE
NEW
MV AGUSTA BRUTALE RR & DRAGSTER RR
ikE of 2014 b Ew n T Es b E Th g n E honour of bEi 20 bikEs scrap for Th FBM296 JAN 2015
PRINTED IN THE UK
£4.30
Eicma ExaminEd, 2014’s championship winnErs, macau, ThE honda musEum, nEw honda crossrunnEr, riding Tips, JamEs haydon, addicTion, ThE ridEr cup, and much morE! fastbikesmag.com
ROAD TESTS LAUNCH
MV Brutale and Dragster RR . . . . . . 24
BJ jets off to the sun to try two variants of Brutale – the 800 RR and Dragster 800 RR
LAUNCH
Honda VFR800X Crossrunner. . . . . . 30
The second stab at the Crossrunner’s is a far more enticing prospect
GROUP TEST
2014 New Bike of the Year. . . . . . . . 34
We’ve seen a stack of new bikes launched this year, but which machine was the best of the bunch? Time to hand out the last Fast Bikes award of the year!
KTM RC 390 Yamaha MT-07 Ducati 899 Panigale
30
2015 CRossRunneR: shaRp, FasT, Fun
54
gong Time: iT’s The 2014 FasT Bikes aWaRDs!
60
a nighT aT The museum: anD The DaYTime...
70
DaRk Dog: BuT is BRuCe a DaRk hoRse in The RaCe?
90
Rev heaD: 2006 Yamaha YZF-R6 useD TesT
24
MV AGUSTA BRUTALE 800 RR
et tu, brutale 800 rr 4 JANUARY 2015 WWW.FASTBIKESMAG.COM
ISSUE 296 JANUARY 2015
Contents IT’S THE NEWS
Upfront . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Al goes to Eicma to sniff out what’s new.
GEARED UP
Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Some Christmas ideas for under the tree.
GET IT FIRST
Subscribe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Get it 13 times a year – with a free gift!
THE KNOWLEDGE
Used Buyer’s Guide. . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Does a used 2006 Yamaha YZF-R6 make sense when second hand?
MASTERCLASS
Riding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
34
CORE TEST
2014 New bike of the year
On road or track, it always works if you’re decisive. So make a decision!
Technical. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Fitting a new system isn’t as straight forward as you think these days...
Legal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
You should never assume you’re in the wrong, even if a cheap brief tells you so.
YOUR LIFE ON BIKES
Chatter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
FEATURE
Macau . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
The word on this street is that racing’s cool, especially when it’s round this track
FEATURE
Ten With . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 James Haydon talks for ten minutes on crashing, not crashing and TV
78 Japan vs Europe
ADDICTION Triumph Daytona 675 SE . . . . . . . . . 64 A classic Trumpet gets specced to the gunnels with some classy components...
The letters bag bulges this month...
Travel and Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Great holidays and hot tracks!
OUR LIFE ON BIKES
Staff Bikes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
It’s been wet, but warm too!
Kawasaki ZX-6R
Yamaha MT-09
Ducati 1199 Panigale
Suzuki Hayabusa
KTM 1290 Super Duke R
Ducati 899 Panigale
Triumph Street Triple R
Yamaha YZF-R6
RACE SECTION
Pit Pass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
That wraps up the season then. And what a 2014 it’s been. Plenty of thrills, spills, and now it’s time for the bills...
Race Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
We catch up with the champs of 2014, and not just the usual suspects...
COLUMNISTS
Chaz Davies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Our Chaz sums up his season... W W W. F A S T B
IK ESMAG.COM
Steve Parrish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
More news from the Parrish...
BUY FB GEAR
FASTBIKESMAG.COM JANUARY 2015 WWW.FASTBIKESMAG.COM 5
UPFRONt
THe BeST It’s been a busy, busy, busy show season, so we round up what’s hot and not what’s not!
EiAl cm At A
of the Rest...
Honda RC213V-S
apart from the road going racer wooing the crowdS, put on an al pacino voice and go into a honda dealer and aSk ‘whaddya got?’
This, right here, is what we’ve all be waiting for; Honda’s road-legal proddy racer, although currently it’s not very production at all. The RC213V-S was ridden onto the stage by Marc Marquez (as Dani Pedrosa looked on and up in envy), and it sounded, er, very quiet. A Honda suit told us that the bike may not even make production (corporate speak for ‘it will, but it won’t be anytime soon’), and the Milan show was a chance to gauge interest. He/she/it also said that it would cost well into six figures, and that the bike is far from finished. There are bits and pieces on the machine that shouldn’t be there; the dash was actually a sticker, the mirrors looked like they were from a Motrax catalogue (no offence), and the engine looked Karaoke time!
14 JANUARY 2015 WWW.FASTBIKESMAG.COM
like it was lifted from an early MotoGP prototype. But there was definitely a catalytic convertor and some sort of road-based exhaust fitted. Is this a sign? Bar some scooters, a CB125F and a Dakarspec sand urchin, there’s nothing fresh from the Big H for 2015. Whether or not Honda needed something wiz-bang to launch in Milan and rushed the RCV in preparation for the show, we’ll never know. Like Suzuki, the rest of the sporting range is old and desolate. We’ll go into more detail as and when things firm up for the road-going RCV, but when a deposit for this bike is likely to cost the same price as an Aprilia RSV4 the world’s elite had better start making the right noises… Mmm, carbon
Team Green are we cloSing in on h2 overload?
Kawasaki opened a serious can of whoop-ass at the Intermot show in Cologne. The release of the supercharged H2R and its 300bhpplus output stunned the motorcycling fraternity, backing up the slogan, ‘Built Beyond Belief’. In fact, in Milan, just before the unveiling of the road-legal version, Kawasaki announced the ‘track-only’ H2R exceeded initial predications with 306bhp – and more with ram-air feeding the fire. It was recently confirmed it’ll cost you £41,000, far less then originally thought, and you’ll get some paddock stands and tyre warmers thrown in. Meanwhile, the H2 is priced at £22,000 and, disappointingly, packs far less of a punch with a claimed output of 197bhp. In today’s climate of misery, a manufacturer releasing 300bhp on the road will probably never happen, but thanks to emission laws and saving lives, it is what it is. Many assume you could save £20k, buy an H2, and derestrict the motor, but it’s much more complex than that. The H2 still uses the 998cc-supercharged motor, but different cams, head gasket, clutch and smaller exhaust headers, plus some intake system changes are responsible for the loss of 100+bhp. But thanks to the blower, it’ll still be a riot getting there…
Yamaha Yard Built
Stick a coat on, it’S cool round here…
Hidden amid the onslaught of R1 techno waffle on Yamaha’s Milan press kit, and crowds flocking to see the R1M, were the Yard Built concepts. Following a year of collaborating with some of the world’s best custom builders, Yamaha unveiled three retro concepts, and one stood out. The Bender brothers, for that is their name, took one cheap and cheery XV950 and transformed it into the Boltage using bespoke components handbuilt in Germany. Raphael and Christian Bender kept the budget fundamentals of the XV and finished the job nicely with the TZ750 paint scheme. Also present were the KeDObuilt SR400 Stallion and Bronco, with the former attracting our attention in its LC-esque guise. Too cool…
Suzuki
Any relation?
WAy of Life?
Poor old Suzuki. Aside from the very lightly revised GSXR1000 in MotoGP livery and the K5-engined GSX-S1000 (which has popped up a few years too late), there was nothing really worth exhibiting in Milan – very much the story for the past few years. Even the girls were distinctly average. Still, there’s always MotoGP…
Busiest stand award goes to...
Cop a load of that!
MV AgustA
Fresh from a Mercedes financial injection (and an AMG one at that) MV, ahem, flooded its stand in Milan with every single model currently on sale, plus a few extras. This Rivale 800 Polizia edition, complete with functioning blues and twos, certainly grabbed attention. You almost wouldn’t mind getting nicked by this – for crimes against wheelies!
And the coolest display… The Zard stand broke the coolometer. The Italian exhaust manufacturer gets 10/10 for creativity... Retro sexual
Doing it for da kidz
Being one of the biggest motorcycle shows on earth, Milan doesn’t just cater for the big boys. There are little boys’ toys, too. Italian marque Ohvale displayed its latest creation, the GP-0, which is a step-up from minimotos for the tykes, and a bit of playtime for the adults. Powered by a 25bhp four-banger (or an 8bhp two-smoke) all GP-0s also come with a full Arrow exhaust and weigh just 65kg. Check out www.ohvale.com for more
launcH
Highlights
798cc inline triple Auto-blipper shift RBW throttle 8-level TC 168kg 140bhp £11,599
track
8
FaSt rOaD
9
Probably pretty good Brilliant
HOOLIGaN
Utter nut job!
10
NEW rIDEr
7
DESIraBILItY
9
Steady away
Dragster looks cooler
Not as good looking as the Dragster, but still pretty!
save any weight (they actually add a little), but in the bling stakes they’re utterly boss. They’re assembled by hand via a third-party manufacturer specifically to MV’s particular wants, and suit the Dragster wonderfully with the huge 200-section rear dominating the looks. The fact they’re traditionally spoked just adds to the coolness. The engine has also seen some work done to it to justify the extra cost over the standard versions. The counter-rotating cranked lump has been tweaked in many areas, and MV has added an extra injector per cylinder to the fuelling assembly, as well as redesigning the airbox. The hydraulic cam-chain tensioner is new and the exhaust system is also fresh off the design board, which all adds up to an extra 15bhp and 5Nm or torque, with 140bhp and 86Nm being claimed, respectively. As with most modern MVs, both have an extensive electronics suite to play with. As well as having preset modes of Rain, Sport and Normal, there’s the ability to adjust all the separate parameters too. Just some of those are as follows; rev limiter, traction control, torque response, throttle sensitivity, engine braking and engine response, phew… Each preset mode has its own version of those separate settings dialled in, but the custom map options allows you to create either your own personal suite, or to adjust what’s already there. The rev-limiter, for example, can cut off quickly, or tail off to different degrees in the preset modes. In ‘Sport’ it cuts off fast, but you can go in and change it to tail off instead, while keeping the other parameters as set. Mind boggling in some respects, wonderfully cool in others. What a long way we’ve come in the six years since traction control (alone) was first introduced. Did we forget to mention both now come with not only a quickshifter, but a 26 JANUARY 2015 WWW.FASTBIKESMAG.COM
downshift blipper, too? As far as equipment goes, both are stacked to the gills. The launch was held in the hills of Tuscany, and proved a perfect testing ground for the 800s. The first keys I grabbed were for the Dragster. The seating position is good, and the reach to the (variable) bars feels natural. Your legs and hips are splayed a little wider, as though the bike is lower, but in actuality it’s 1mm higher than the Brutale according to MV. The clutch is very light, and while it sometimes takes a second stab to get it into first gear, the ‘box on the move is great. It’s immediately clear MV’s ride-by-wire throttle has hugely improved too, and the 200-
section rear tyre doesn’t affect everyday handling at all, rather it helps it feel solid and secure. The suspension setting is quite stiff, however. It can be adjusted, but it’s set that way by MV as it doesn’t have as much travel as the Brutale, a concession towards the Dragster’s style. The first few miles are otherwise spent acclimatising to the bike, feeling out its capabilities. The extra power is also obvious from the off. Set it on Sport and it’ll wheelie in the first two gears under hard acceleration, with it easily obeying in third if asked to misbehave at speed. The increased thrust is impressive, you can really feel it as the bike flies through its The Brutale handles like a dream, in any arena
MV AGUSTA 800 RR
ThE MV SpInS up AS ThOuGh ThE CrAnK IS MAdE OF pApEr, IT’S Truly SOMEThInG TO BEhOld...
Verdict
9/10
Brilliant fast naked bike, crammed with goodies, performance and power. Brutale indeed!
This kind of thing happens a lot. It’s awesome!
✚ handling, power, auto-blipper, electronics Can take time to set-up to how you like it ■
ENGINE
Type Bore x Stroke Compression Fuelling Claimed Power Claimed Torque
798cc, 12v inline triple 79 x 54.3mm 13.3:1 Electronic Fuel Injection 140bhp@ 13,100rpm (claimed) 86Nm@ 10,100rpm (claimed)
798cc, 12v inline triple 79 x 54.3mm 13.3:1 Electronic Fuel Injection 140bhp@ 13,100rpm (claimed) 86Nm@ 10,100rpm (claimed)
CHASSIS
Frame F Suspension R Suspension Front Brakes Rear Brakes
ALS tubular trellis 43mm USD fork, fully adjustable Monoshock, fully adjustable Four-piston calipers, 320mm discs Two-piston calipers, 220mm discs
ALS tubular trellis 43mm USD fork, fully adjustable Monoshock, fully adjustable Four-piston calipers, 320mm discs Two-piston calipers, 220mm discs
DIMENSIONS
A wealth of cool stuff going on under the hood...
TECHNICAL: BRUTALE 800 RR / DRAGSTER 800 RR
Wheelbase Seat Height Dry Weight Fuel Capacity
1,380mm 810mm 168kg 16.6L
1,380mm 811mm 168kg 16.6L
PRICE
midrange. MVs spin up as though the crank is made of paper, and if you’ve not experienced this it’s truly something to behold. On the hoof you’re feeding it gears at some pace, the quickshifter cracking it up ratios seamlessly. As speeds rise though, and more stunts are on the cards, the throttle does seem a little edgier and you need real precision to control it. No problemo, go into the electronics options, select a ‘normal’ throttle response while keeping the rest of the ‘Sport’ settings and hey presto, fixio! This is some cool shit right here. Yet heading into the hills the roads get bumpier, and here the Dragster gets found out a little. The stiffer suzzies and lack of travel means more care is needed if cornering hard. There’s no doubt it fares far better the smoother the surfaces are. With that in mind it was time for some Brutale in my life. It may not look as special as the Dragster, but it’s still a great looking bike. If you’ve ever ridden a Triumph Street Triple, or similar, you know roughly what to expect from a riding position point of view. It’s comfy and it feels very lithe underneath
Price From
£11,599 www.mvagusta.it +39 0332 254443
£13,299 www.mvagusta.it +39 0332 254443
JANUARY 2015 WWW.FASTBIKESMAG.COM 27
feature LAUNCH
Honda
VFR800X
Crossrunner
Words: rootsy Pics: Ula serra, Francesc Montero, FĂŠlix roMero
30 JANUARY 2015 WWW.FASTBIKESMAG.COM
HONDA VFR800X CROSSRUNNER
Honda’s second stab at tHe crossrunner certainly looks a lot sHarper, but is tHat enougH to spark sHowroom sales?
I
f you’re going to turn up to a party, you’d better be fashionably late. Honda forgot to check the time on the adventure sports party invite, so when they pitched up with the VFR800-powered and platypus-inspired Crossrunner in 2011 they were late, and unfashionably so. The Big H saw that the BMW R 1200 GS had cleared the bar out and chatted up all the pretty girls, leaving the Crossrunner to sit in the corner and navel gaze. That was three sorry years ago now, and despite the resurrection of the VFR800F last year, it was still a surprise to see Honda having a second stab at the Crossrunner. Almost ignored by customers in the UK, the
first incarnation was actually a decent dynamic package if you could get beyond the bike’s looks. Anything that offers V4 thrills and belches out that sounds gets our vote, and packaged into an accomplished chassis, this was a bike that erred on sports, rather than adventure. We’ve long said that 100bhp is about as perfect a power number as you’re going to need on the road, but the bike was all a bit long in the tooth. The V4 motor was from a thirstier era, the cockpit almost medieval, luggage was an afterthought and there were no gadgets to play with. At just over nine grand then, it was a bike that was easy to look over, especially if you didn’t get on with the looks. So nearly four years on, what’s changed? Er, not much is the short answer. The release earlier this year of its faired brother, the VFR800F, ensured that this wasn’t a ground up revision with the kitchen sink thrown at it. Both bikes were developed together, so after Honda finished making changes to the motor, chassis, swingarm and added a new traction control system (HSTC) to the VFR800F, the job for the Crossrunner was also pretty much done. That’s not entirely the whole story, as a few extra months of development has seen changes to the fuel injection system to offer more power and better economy. But with the powerplant, chassis, wheels, brakes, electronics, five level heated grips (that have a touch of the Spinal Tap about them – five levels!) and selfcancelling indicators (an elaborately engineered solution to this minutia of a
JANUARY 2015 WWW.FASTBIKESMAG.COM 31
FEATURE
2014
Awards
It’s time to don the dinner jacket, prepare that speech and get the Alka Seltzer ready for the next morning, because gong season is upon us again. We round up the best and worst of 2014 in the awards that everyone has been waiting for….
Luxem bourg . Sma ll cou ntry, big
fun...
Very Seville surroundings...
52 JANUARY 2015 WWW.FASTBIKESMAG.COM
2014 FAST BIKES AWARDS
ROAD OF THE YEAR: B4391, Wales We were so close to missing this treat, the B4391 between, well, nowhere and nowhere. To be a little more specific, it runs from outside Bala and heads towards Ffestiniog, and we used it as a short cut on our Wales Ride Guide tour, but within half a mile we were bang on it, enjoying every lump, camber, corner and crest along its 16 mile route. The moorland is eerily pretty, the surface
consistent and even, making it just about the most fun we’ve had all year – and that’s saying something given what we’re privy to over the course of 12 months. We weren’t expecting such greatness in Luxembourg, but that’s what we got for our second placed road, the CR25 that runs alongside the river Wiltz for 10 miles towards Kautenbach. Our trip to this diminutive land was a real surprise, with
cracking roads everywhere – and it’s only four hours away from Calais... In third is a brilliant Spanish road. Michelin treated us to the HV-5131 just to the west of Seville. Setting us off in minute intervals, this was as close to the TT as we’ll ever get – about as long as a lap, too, although even that race has a few straights in it, unlike this stretch of fabulous road.
JANUARY 2015 WWW.FASTBIKESMAG.COM 53
JOSH THOMPSON’S
Triumph
675SE Josh took one amazing triple, and went to town jazzing her up - top work!
ended this mate recomm S-Rad, but a with it and ki ve zu lo Su in 98 ll a 19 a garage, I fe in used to have it tle ss lit ro a ac e n I came make min bike and whe ost as t I wanted to m bu t , us SE ha 08 ex 20 e sa ! I do love th nd the colour. It’ entire ha e of th t t ou bu t it got a bi -Fit end can, ce Ra a mate s A It’ . different, and e it. all company other one lik up Support, a sm ep ce ke there’s not an Ra d ul ph co m e by Triu tuned so I ne gi a en d e an th t thing was mad ch I go ipper clut ht an 899, so dash too, a sl hich w w ne it had just boug a un ve g lo lin zaaz fuel t easier. I’d lly it’d be a Ba with him a bi issus! n’t tell the m add to it. Idea do to t er bu ift n, sh tio kop l quic ro nt co nd tractio has the QS an
I
W W W.
P H O T O G R A P H Y: J E S S
FASTBI
KESMA
G.COM
MODEL: GEORGIA
Life On Bikes BUYING RIDING, MODIFYING, FIXING AND
MASTERCLASS
OUR LIFE ON BIKES
The CSS crew try and make you more decisive...
The winter may be upon us, but the warm climes give the fleet the last chance to stretch its collective legs.
Riding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Technical . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
How to go about fitting a new system. It ain’t easy...
Legal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
For free legal advice, this is a brilliant resource.
Staff Bikes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Kawasaki ZX-6R Ducati Panigale 1199 KTM 1290 Super Duke R Triumph Street Triple R Yamaha MT-09 Suzuki Hayabusa Ducati Panigale 899 Yamaha YZF-R6
YOUR LIFE ON BIKES
USEd BIKE gUIdE
What are you lot like? No, really. What are you lot like!
Should you be buying this little screamer? It makes a cracking tracking bike – but you have to be the right sort of rider to get the best from it. We round up the best and worst bits...
Chatter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Travel and Tracks. . . . . . 104
Rounding up the best in routes, tracks and tips...
06 Yamaha YZF-R6 . . . . 90
JANUARY 2015 WWW.FASTBIKESMAG.COM 89
RaCE fEatuRE
Racing Champions
of 2014
122 JANUARY 2015 WWW.FASTBIKESMAG.COM
2014 CHAMPIONS
Words: Benjamin j KuBas Cronin PiCs: Honda, YamaHa, Kel edge, jaCK snaPs, THundersPorT gB, d o u B l e r e d , a j B P H o T o g r a P H i C , i a n B a l d Y, C o l i n P o r T, d u C a T i , s Y s T e m 1 P H o T o g r a P H Y, K e r r Y r a W s o n P H o T o g r a P H Y
Is a MotoGP or WsB tItle More or less IMPortant, than one In cluB racInG? to the IndIvIdual chaMPIons, lIkely not, so let’s Broaden our scoPe just a lIttle thIs year
N
ever mind focusing on just Marc Marquez, there are a lot of champions from 2014’s various motorcycle race series, all just as deserving. After all, Marquez may be king ding-a-ling of the world’s greatest motorcycle race series, but he probably didn’t have to get on his knees begging for sponsorship, or plaster walls all week before heading off in the Transit to race against like minded folk who work for a living. One great thing about racing is that it’s one of the sports that breaks down barriers, from toffs to tarts, brigadiers to benefit fraudsters, and so on. The wealth of people, their stories, where they came from and exactly how and why they go racing is unbelievably diversified. And there were so many vying for titles in 2014. Even just splitting up the main club racing series, the number of champions adds up to almost 100.
Imagine all those wishes and desires, all that work money and effort being put into making sure they end up as numero uno in their own respective field. When you actually think about it, it boggles the mind. And we haven’t even got on to national or international race series yet, or the endurance and road racing boys. That’s one hell of a lot of blood, sweat, tears and triumph if you add it all together. As this issue celebrates what’s best from 2014, we’ve got some words from various champions, from around the world in series big and small. So, yes, we have Marc Marquez here, but also lots of others too. They’ve all got their own stories to tell, have their own people to thank and their wishes and hopes for the future. At the very least, we will give as many as we can the chance to sound off before we hit 2015.
rory Skinner
2014 aprilia SuperteenS ChaMpion
“Winning the dunlop aprilia Superteens Championship this year was awesome! it was my first year racing in Superteens, a series which lots of world class riders such as Casey Stoner, Bradley Smith, Cal Crutchlow and the lowes brothers have all raced in. the best moment for me was when i won the championship on my 13th birthday – a double celebration! i’m looking forward now to 2015, when i move up into the red Bull MotoGp rookies Cup. Wish me luck!”
Alex MArquez
2014 Moto 3 World ChaMpion
“Marc helped me a lot in the last few races of the season. i always imagined that Marc and i would win a title in the third year. it took me quite a few days to realise that i had really won the championship. i had to thank others for the help they had given me though, like my team-mate. When i first crossed the finish line, for a brief moment i didn’t know what to do! the year wasn’t easy though, after Mugello and my crash, i had another crash and had to spend some time in hospital. then later there was aragon where we took the lead and i started to really believe. i will be sad to leave Moto3, but am excited to try Moto2 at the same time. We also went home for all the people of Cervera, to say thank you for their support, too, they deserve our titles as much as we do, and Marc and i had promised them we would do this. this year has been hard, but i’m looking forward to a new challenge in 2015.”
leAndro MercAdo
2014 european SuperStoCk 1000 ChaMpion
“this season has been fantastic, we won the Superstock title and i got also race in the CiV Superbike series too. i have to be grateful to the people who showed trust in me. i thank the entire team, the guys working here at the track but also those working hard at home. i thank everyone in ducati for their constant support and special thanks goes to my family, without their help i wouldn’t be able to do this job or the next, WSBk with Barni racing. i am very happy to earn this opportunity, all these years i have worked hard to achieve this goal and i believe now is the right time to prove myself. team Barni is one of the best in the paddock, and i have little doubt we can step up to the next level. From now on i am going to work extra hard so i am as competitive as possible at the first race.”
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W W W. FA S T B I K E S M A G . C O M
Tel: 01225 442244 Fax: 01225 732275 Email: letters@fastbikesmag.com EDITORIAL
Editor: Simon ‘Rootsy’ Roots, sroots@mortons.co.uk Deputy Editor: Benjamin ‘BJ’ Kubas Cronin, bkubascronin@mortons.co.uk Design: Justin Blackamore, Michael Baumber, Charlotte Fairman
CONTRIBUTORS
Words: Alastair ‘A-Force’ Fagan, Steve Parrish, Chaz Davies, Jon Urry, Andy Ibbott, Andrew Dalton, Chris Kallevag Photography: Jonny Gawler, Mark Manning, Kel Edge, Gareth Harford, Dom Romney
ADVERTISING
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MARKETING
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PRINT & PRODUCTION
Circulation Manager: Steve O’Hara
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NEXT ISSUE ON SALE: 06.01.15 Fast Bikes is the trademark of Mortons Media Group LTD. All rights reserved. Cover printed by William Gibbons & Sons on behalf of Mortons Media Group LTD Printed in the UK by William Gibbons & Sons on behalf of Mortons Media Group LTD. Distributed in the UK by Seymour Distribution Ltd, 2 East Poultry Avenue, London, EC1A 9PT-0207 4294000
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