On-Track Off-Road issue 177

July 2018 No 177

MX

close closer

Fantastic image from Ray Archer of Red Bull KTM’s Jeffrey Herlings tussling with Clement Desalle in Semarang on his way to asserting some authority over the class

once more. Herlings won his sixth national title last weekend and is closing on MXGP destiny‌particularly if he catches a good result at bogie track Loket this Sunday

MotoGP

curtain call

Marc Marquez’s German run continues but for once his teammate also held the headlines in Sachsenring. After his first season in 2001 Dani Pedrosa only missed the top five of a championship term once in sixteen years and finished as the bridesmaid three times in MotoGP. A big name and ‘part of the furniture’ will be lost for 2019 Photo by CormacGP

OTOR

winding back For readers of a certain age then its hard not to get nostalgic over this image of motocross, freestyle and stunt icon Travis Pastrana completing an Evel Knievel ‘triple’ of jumps last week, including the famous Ceasar’s Palace leap. #199 even made the jumps on a Scout FTR750 Indian. Very cool Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images

MX

clear sight Tony Cairoli pushes through sharp red roost but also adversity at round thirteen of twenty in MXGP. The World Champion could have returned from Asia with Jeffrey Herlings’ red plate but instead faces questions marks over an injured left thumb? What next in this fascinating title duel?

Photo by Ray Archer

motogp

pramac motorrad grand prix de

sachsenring ¡ july 15th ¡ Rnd 9 of 19 MotoGP winner: Marc Marquez, Honda Moto2 winner: Brad Binder, KTM Moto3 winner: Jorge Martin, Honda

t

eutschland

motogp germany

the likely lad

By Adam Wheeler. Blogs by David Emmett, Neil Morrison & Sienna Wedes. Photos by CormacGP

motogp germany

revolution 9 MotoGP World Champion Marc Marquez pulled the biggest grimace from most of the pre-race talk at Sachsenring that the series would find a new German home for 2019 and beyond. Aside from Circuit of the Americas the swirling layout - “a go-kart track…but enjoyable” according to Cal Crutchlow – is very much Casa Marquez.

After thirty laps on Sunday and three days of bizarrely consistent summer sun, the achieved his ninth win in a row and fifth of the season and from the last seven MotoGP races, not to mention second in succession after a similar performance of stalk-andpounce at Assen.

Sachsenring may have grouped riders together (and saw a freakishly low number of falls throughout the weekend…although several sessions were red-flagged due to airfences needing reapplication, a situation pertinent to the track and a stark reminder that the barriers are worryingly close in sectors) but this was no repeat of the Dutch thriller.

The HRC man was far less buffeted on his way to the front having passed numbers ‘9’ [Danilo Petrucci] and ‘99’ [Jorge Lorenzo].

Once more Marquez nursed the front tyre issues particular to the Honda and that caused malaise for Dani Pedrosa and caused Crutchlow to tumble out of the front-running pack at Turn 12.

motogp germany

“It looks like every year [that] it is more and more difficult,” the 25 year old said, who also has Pole Positions to match his streak. “Especially this year as we had good conditions all weekend so everybody can set up the bike and the riding style correctly.”

“I saw Valentino was coming quite fast so I said okay, now it is time to use all of the potential from the tyre,” he added. “I did the fastest lap on lap 22 which is amazing because normally the tyre drops quite a lot.”

In the wake of Jorge Lorenzo’s emphatic double at Mugello and Catalunya this was a powerful bang-bang answer from #93. His previous eight wins in Germany put him almost beyond the role of being the favourite but – as any sportsman will admit – a streak of invincibility also means extra pressure.

A 46 point lead over Rossi in the championship was celebrated with verve in Parc Ferme

(Marquez and his crew were firmly on-point with their strategies during the weekend, including rapid-fire outings in Qualifying Practice) and also with MotoGP’s first ‘stage dive’. Marquez bounced with glee as he mounted a tyre wall and waded into the Turn1 grandstand, almost crowd surfing with the stunned public. It was a cool and spontaneous gesture. “I just stopped there to say hello the fans but then I saw that I was able to be inside the grandstand so that was very nice…then there was a problem to get out of the grandstand!” he admitted.

Brno in three weeks means a pithy summer break for the championship but it might be the breather that the rest of the field needs from this Dutch-German salvo to try and rattle Marquez resolve (he only fell once at Sachsenring as well). At the moment he looks a distant figure from the reckless and erratic problem in Argentina.

Maverick Viñales is making a habit of exciting rushes through the field and last Sunday moved up from seventh to clinch third with a late lunge on Danilo Petrucci. “Actually, I didn’t expect to be seventh, I expected to be there in the front, to try to be battling,” #25 said surrounded by rumours that he could have a Crew Chief change in the pipeline. “Still we need to work, to become even stronger. I think at the moment we are recovering this feeling that I can be fast at the end of races. I need to improve my riding style to be fast at the beginning.”

motogp germany

motogp germany

he ain’t heavy For the smallest rider in MotoGP, Dani Pedrosa’s ability, stoicism, sense of decency and general lack of controversy means he is one of the biggest names in the series. His departure from Honda for 2019 prompted consideration of retirement and the 32 year old made his call and subsequent announcement on Thursday in Germany.

It was a move mooted for the Grand Prix of Catalunya, Dani’s home event, five weeks earlier and still caught some off-guard. “I didn’t expect it as I thought he may have continued maybe with Yamaha but he’s changed his idea. A great shame,” said Valentino Rossi in reference to #26’s alleged chance to head-up the new Yamaha Petronas squad.

Pedrosa’s speech was quietly-spoken and a short discourse of thanks and explanation.

There is little doubt the repeated surgeries and injuries, particularly of his torso and arms, wrists and hands, had played a part. His 31 wins and 112 firmly positions the Spaniard (a double title winner in 125 and 250 categories) as the most successful MotoGP racer never to grasp the championship and Pedrosa perhaps had an inkling that this status would not change with a risky but fascinating carrot at Yamaha.

Some will feel that he might have been fortunate to remain part of the biggest and most prestigious factory team in MotoGP for thirteen years but the fact that he crested the podium every single season and managed 10 top four championship finishes give justification beyond his nationality, talent and undisruptive demeanour.

Dani was the recipient of a wave of goodwill from Thursday onwards, both from the paddock and wide sporting circles. The very first comments originated closer to home. “I want to say thanks to him because he was one of the heroes to all the kids when we were following our dreams,” offered Marc Marquez.

“He was one of my references and we shared the box with him and shared many good moments. He taught me how to ride the Honda…”

Other peers credited Pedrosa’s style. “He was one of the first ones to pick up the bike in acceleration very early, which I think is one of the particularities of his riding style,” said Rossi, referencing a trend that the Italian icon himself tried to exploit.

“The way he picks up the bike…it was amazing,” offered Andrea Dovizioso.

Pedrosa’s way to glide and achieve this was helped by his stature. Ironically it is this same physical attribute that many were quick to identity as a reason for his injuryspates and lack of FIM medals. “His physical condition was sometimes a disadvantage in MotoGP but in the way of technique, performance and sensibility with the bike he is one of the best riders; when everything is in place on his day he is nearly unbeatable,” said Marquez.

“I would have loved to have had a more ‘robust’ physique to resist some impacts,” Pedrosa himself admitted. “It’s true that the injuries accelerated things for me [with his retirement decision] and stopped me giving 100%.”

motogp BLOG

ain’t nothing but a number...

Who would you put on the second M1 in the Petronas SIC Yamaha team?

Since the team moved from the negotiating stage to becoming reality – or at least, behind-thescenes reality, rather than official-press-release reality – that seat has seen a string of candidates consider and then turn it down. First, the team were in talks with Jorge Lorenzo, who had decided to leave Ducati, but had not yet struck a deal with the Repsol Honda team. Then, there were serious talks with Dani Pedrosa, available because there was no room for him in Repsol Honda. Pedrosa gave the offer major thrift but decided to retire instead. “What led to the decision was the intensity of the races,” Pedrosa said at the press conference announcing his retirement. “You have to live the races to the limit and I had to give everything that I had.”

After eighteen seasons in Grand Prix racing, that was too much to ask.

The Petronas SIC team’s original plan had been to pair a rider capable of winning with Franco Morbidelli, giving Morbidelli a chance to grow, while the successful rider would try to win races and perhaps even a title on a factory-spec Yamaha M1. But with the top riders all signed up, they had to reevaluate their options. Should they take a more experienced rider, such as Alvaro Bautista or Bradley Smith? Or should they try to secure a young talent, and let him develop in the shadow of Morbidelli?

In the end, they went with the latter. Franco Morbidelli will be the lead athlete, on the factoryspec M1 and the team will sign French Moto2 rider Fabio Quartararo, who will steer an older spec bike as he adapts to MotoGP. But was this really the right choice?

I can understand the dilemma the team faced in trying to answer this question. For whenever I try to answer it, I find myself changing my mind every time I examine the options.

Does Quartararo have the talent to make the step up to MotoGP? When he was racing in the FIM CEV championship, he was considered good enough that they actually changed the rules to allow him to start the season in Moto3 before he reached his sixteenth birthday. Any winner of the FIM CEV Moto3 title is now allowed to move to Moto3 a year early, something which is being repeated this year to allow the Öncü brothers to do the same from the Red Bull Rookies Cup. But after an astonishing start – a podium in his second race at Austin, the another at Assen, and a couple of pole positions – he struggled, not helped by an ankle injury sustained later that year.

By David Emmett

A lacklustre second term in Moto3, followed by a similarly anonymous first year in Moto2 left him languishing. It is only since Barcelona that the Frenchman has found something special again. Pole and victory in Barcelona were followed by a podium at Assen, but Quartararo disappeared into the pack once again at the Sachsenring.

This is the danger of signing Quartararo. There can be no doubt that he has a prodigious talent, but having talent is not enough. You also have to be able to use that talent out on track every weekend, and not have to try to figure out why things simply aren’t working.

Quartararo may well be fast, and may well have incredible potential. But there are absolutely no guarantees that he will be able to convert that potential into results.

The deal may not be great for Quartararo either. It is said that he wanted to try to win a Moto2 title before making the step up, as he still felt he had plenty of time (he is, after all, still only

nineteen years old). But the current contract cycle means that almost everyone is on two-year deals, and if he misses out now, he would probably have to wait until 2021 for a decent seat to open up. Waiting that long is as big a risk as moving up too early.

If not Quartararo, who? Bradley Smith is out of a job at the end of this year, and spent four years riding a Yamaha in the Tech3 garage. But Smith has not adapted to the Michelins as well as some others, and his results in the last three years have been nothing to write home about.

Alvaro Bautista is the other option, the perky Spanish veteran also out of a ride. After a couple of years on a slow Aprilia, Bautista has found some speed on the Ducati, finishing fifth at the Sachsenring now that the team have found the right setup for the GP17. “A top five rider with no bike for next year?” Bautista complained in Germany, after finishing fifth in the race.

Is Quartararo a better bet than Smith or Bautista? I still don’t know. He has the potential to be better than both and the two veterans have not shown themselves capable of winning races. The lower risk gamble in such cases is to go for youth over experience, as the cost of failure is lower. “He failed to live up to his promise” is an easier sell to sponsors than “the top ten is where he belongs.” Age discrimination is alive and well in MotoGP.

red army blues Rear rubber. Jorge Lorenzo led a grand prix for the sixth time in a row and Andrea Dovizioso had podium potential stamped all over his Desmosedici (in spite of a small dalliance with Q1 on Saturday) but the Ducatis (including Danilo Petrucci) were never in the running for a trophy, particularly when Maverick Viñales initiated his usual trick of picking up speed after the first third of the race.

Lorenzo dropped back to 6th with his team and brand mates behind him and claimed: “it was impossible to have normal acceleration even if I was smooth with the throttle.”

Dovizioso was even more precise with his description. “I was trying to save the tyre in two fast corners, and I was losing a lot. But I was able to stay with them, so I thought it was the right strategy. But in the end I lost energy and I couldn’t ride the bike in a perfect way: when you are not able to ride the bike in the right way you lose more than what you can lose from the drop of the tyre.”

Both Ducati riders are the only ones to have taken a chequered flag aside from Marquez this year but they both sit fourth and sixth in the standings. #4 in particular is 77 points adrift from Marc and 31 from Rossi and the chance to repeat his runner-up finish from 2017. “I’m more worried about the gap to the Yamahas,” he said when asked if the title is already a distant prospect.

motogp germany

motogp BLOG

Hitting a glass ceiling?

When discussing that titanic brawl at the front of the Dutch Grand Prix for the past two weeks, the first reaction was to state: “It had a bit of everything.” OK, the final lap sort-out at the chicane for the lead was lacking. But what more can you ask of a race that boasted of 175 overtakes – 99 coming between the lead group – eleven passes on one lap alone and the closest top 15 of all time?

When discussing that titanic brawl at the front of the Dutch Grand Prix for the past two weeks, the first reaction was to state: “It had a bit of everything.” OK, the final lap sort-out at the chicane for the lead was lacking. But what more can you ask of a race that boasted of 175 overtakes – 99 coming between the lead group – eleven passes on one lap alone and the closest top 15 of all time?

But upon further viewing, there was something that still wasn’t clear. It wasn’t how Jorge Lorenzo managed to steer clear of sure-fire disaster by saving a front-end slide at well over 100mph. Nor was it Alex Rins’ transformation for a little over 41 minutes from softly spoken nice guy that greets you with a nod and smile to a madcap

tearaway that wouldn’t look out of place in a bar room brawl.

It was the last of those eight bikes coming home in, well, eighth that stood out. After a handful of promising exchanges, Johann Zarco slipped behind Cal Crutchlow on lap 15. Soon he was trailing the group entirely, and by the end he was seven seconds back, struggling to fend off Alvaro Bautista. Then came his post race comments: “I was struggling but I could finish and collect the points … it’s so great for me.”

So great? Eh? For a rider who had qualified on pole position at the same track a year ago (and gave Valentino Rossi mild heart tremors with a hair-raising move while doing so), this was an oddity.

Was this really the same Zarco that relished contact throughout last year’s run out at Phillip Island, and did nothing but shrug indifferently when the ire of the class’ serial champions was directed his way through flashes in 2017?

There can be no mistaking the double Moto2 world champion has looked off-colour in recent weeks. At Assen he was subdued, and after a frustrating German Grand Prix, it’s now five races that Zarco has come nowhere close to a podium challenge. A run of results that reads tenth, seventh, eighth and ninth hardly represents a crisis. Yet for a rider that was headed by only Marc Marquez in the title race after Jerez, and consistently outperformed both factory Yamahas from October

By Neil Morrison

last year to the May of this, the recent developments have been somewhat puzzling.

There was more evidence at the Sachsenring last weekend to suggest this is more than a temporary slump. Zarco was almost holding back tears when fielding questions on Saturday.

“I don’t understand why I can’t improve,” he told us in English, legs crossed, face riddled with anguish. “It’s difficult to accept.”

The fact he later tore into Tech 3’s Ohlins suspension technician when switching to French – he lacked the necessary desire, according to Zarco, something later denied by team boss Hervé Poncharal - didn’t exactly paint a picture of internal harmony.

From premier class maverick to lost at sea in just over a month, the 28-year old who was apparently courted by four manufacturers in the spring of this year is going through his first real dip as a premier class rider.

And all since his admirable, but ultimately doomed win-it-or-binit approach to his home grand prix in May. So what’s happened? A simple reading of the situation is Zarco has encountered his difficult second season. There were several unspectacular results that littered a largely positive rookie campaign (ninth at the Sachsenring and Aragon, twelfth at Brno) but he had the excuse of being new to the class.

One reason for his stellar opening to 2017 was the lessening of pressure compared to the year before, when, for the first time, he faced the grinding expectations that accompany a title defence. “The fact that I’m not under pressure, like I was in Moto2 last year, can help me to just go,” he told me soon after that sensational debut in Qatar last March. That situation has long passed, and expectations from him, the team and back home are to, at the very least, be fighting for regular podiums.

See that needless crash in warm-up for his home grand prix before falling from third that afternoon? The actions of a man who knew second place would not suffice.

It’s also worth reminding ourselves of his current status within Yamaha. Zarco’s M1 has received no updates through the season’s past five months. On paper at least, a two-year old chassis, and an engine boasting just 500 extra revs are hardly ingredients to carry you to the title. There was a sense of resignation in some of his words at Assen, when saying, “it brings frustration … I don’t know if it’s me who is going in the wrong direction or just maybe we touched the best we can.”

We often heard Bradley Smith and Pol Espargaro, Tech 3’s previous incumbents, voicing similar concerns. Yet Zarco never spoke in such a way last year.

motogp BLOG

One of 2017’s joys was observing his approach, leftfield in the sense he was disinterested in specs and models (remember him scolding onlookers at the Valencia test for asking which chassis/engine combination he preferred – “Really, I don’t try to know which bike it is, which bike they were using, because it’s going to be too much information”), instead focusing solely on riding.

The fact manager Laurent Fellon was absent in Germany, preferring to stay in Paris, working for Eurosport France, did little to assuage the suspicions the pair is in the midst of a contretemps.

Aside from negotiating contracts, Fellon has acted as a father figure during his nine years in the paddock, advising him on riding technique and acting as the yin to Zarco’s yang, calming him down when his rider hits overdrive, and telling a few home truths when he feels his man is getting overly comfortable.

Not only has he been absent; there are rumours Fellon’s negotiation technique that secured his rider a place in KTM’s factory squad for 2019 were something of a bone of contention.

It’s believed Zarco’s ’19 deal with the Austrian factory was agreed as early as the autumn of last year. So why was Fellon talking to other factories in the early races of this campaign, stoking suggestions Zarco could team up with Marc Marquez at Repsol Honda? It also appears Fellon’s outspoken comments, which bluntly stated on the Saturday of the Spanish Grand Prix that Rossi had blocked the chance of Zarco staying with Yamaha, were not well received.

And perhaps the former Red Bull Rookie champion is asking himself how 19-year Fabio Quartararo has landed a more competitive satellite Yamaha for next year when the same factory appeared disinterested in retaining his own services just several months ago.

For a rider who demands his mind remains free of worry and stress, the distancing from such an integral figure in his career must be having an effect.

Still, it’s too early to be speaking of a crisis. Zarco sits fifth overall, level on points with Andrea Dovizioso. He didn’t exactly excel during this part of 2017 (he scored just 29 points at Mugello, Montmeló, Assen and the Sachsenring, just one less than the current campaign), and his pre-MotoGP career was always beset by a series of peaks and troughs. A period of reflection over the short summer break beckons, and during this time, the Frenchman must rediscover that inner calm that caused him to be a force of nature in 2017. If he succeeds, the feathers of MotoGP’s top brass won’t remain unruffled for too long.

motogp germany

orange crush In just their second attempt at the Sachenring Red Bull KTM’s fortunes rose and dipped like the trajectory of the track itself. The well-supported factory effort has made gains with the RC16 in the hands of Pol Espargaro and Bradley Smith this year and have further cut their deficit in race times to the leaders – who have also advanced (the tricky spoiler of motorsport ambition) and have a promising new version of the bike in-the-works that seems to have nullified some of the turning issues the crew had been having.

In Germany test rider Mika Kallio, a lynchpin in the testing programme and attempting his third wildcard of the year on the 2019 spec, flew into the air fence during FP2 and injured his right knee. Initial MRIs did not bring good news for the Fin who could face surgery and a hefty period of convalescence. Espargaro then had to work on some “radical things” during the remaining sessions and until Sunday morning warm-up when he could focus entirely on race set-up (having set a mean rhythm and top ten pace in FP4).

The fastest time in warm-up (“not something the other teams just give you,” said Team Honcho Mike Leitner) was the first time the RC16 had stared down at the competition. It was a small milestone. Espargaro could not make good on perhaps the best chance for KTM to shine after his run-in with Andrea Iannone on Turn 3 that collected Alex Rins and also ran Jack Miller into the gravel. “I was really surprised in warmup because it came so easy,” the Catalan said afterwards. “I was with Dovi and I was catching him like he was a backmarker and I said to

myself “today is the day”. The crash only happened because I was trying to get into a position on the first lap to do something interesting.

Too much.”

From disappointment to joy to disappointment… and then back to joy with Bradley Smith pushing into the top ten for the first time this season. “I start good…and at this moment I have nothing to lose,” the Brit said. “I’m not looking at anyone in the first corner. I know where I want to go and everything is very clear in my mind and I know the best place to attack is in the first lap. It is harder to pass anyone in the race when they are all up to race pace so logical thinking means the best way to attack is when everyone is hesitating and give them no chance to fight back. It is a case of risk versus reward.”

KTM lost and gained in Germany but when the bikes were being packed away Sunday night there must have been a general feeling of concern. Kallio’s surgery could seriously impact the fast progress the factory is making just threeand-a-half months before Johann Zarco gets on the bike. Espargaro knew the potential longterm loss of their test rider was cause for worry.

“100%,” he said with a stern face. “We have a lot of things to test but the problem is who can you catch that will know the old bike from the new bike? The important thing is that the rider is good. It is a big change. The situation now is not easy because we are in a very critical moment with the changes that we make. We have to be careful as we are very close to the top.

Maybe everything [development] is going to be slower now and for sure I will have extra work but I will try to handle it.”

motogp BLOG

where time stood still...

As an adolescent evolving through your conventional school routine you learn about pivotal moments in the past that forge the world’s history. Ancient and modern antiquity broadens our understanding of countries, people and their experiences. During these lessons one country that frequently emerges in our textbooks is Germany.

We learn of abhorrent dictatorship, bitter segregation and tough customs and yet amid the mercilessness you are also educated in their substantial intelligence and efficiency. You are taught of big cities like Berlin and Munich but it’s the smaller towns that have silent stories, skills and a hefty impact. Here in Hohenstein-Ernstthal, home to the Sachsenring circuit, the history runs deep and the motorcycle sphere is one of complex beauty.

During the days of black and white photography and simplistic design (a period for us today that seems so distant) the first two wheeled motorsport event took place. In 1927 the public roads of Hohenstein-Ernstthal opened their arms to the arrival of boisterous machinery.

The event was a triumph and uncovered a strong yearning for the sport. This signalled the beginning of a trend that would unfold over decades.

Take thirty four steps forward to 1961. Walter Kaaden, German engineer and mastermind behind the evolution of twostroke engines delivered an even richer essence of motorsport to this circuit. It was at Sachsenring (a circuit that was then comprised of public roads) that this colossal development was presented in the form of an MZ 125cc motorcycle. The birth of this concept would, in turn, power the World Championship (achieving 13 GP victories and 105 podiums over 21 years) but not entirely at the hands of the man who created it. Former Grand Prix and road racer Ernst Degner struck gold when he allegedly poached Kaaden’s technology and presented it to

Suzuki, winning him the 1962 50cc World Championship. This did not halt Kaaden’s mission to create the world’s best engine, but it wasn’t the fairy-tale narrative that one would hope for.

In saying that, every little bit of this struggle was essential in shaping today’s modern era of motorsport.

In this small town an eerie ambience simmers and its difficult not to feel as if time has stood still. As you approach the track the region comes to life with the sound of engines. This circuit is famously known for being the shortest (measuring only 3.671km) and most complex on the MotoGP agenda. Its unique topography has influenced the construction of undulating curves (majority left hand) and boundless uphill and downhill movement.

By Sienna Wedes

“Sachsenring is such a particular track. Sometimes it’s not easy and different to the rest. Especially for the uphill and downhill,” confirmed Valentino Rossi.

The blueprint of the circuit is very narrow which leaves little room for error. Danilo Petrucci: “The problem is that the track is very compact, it is the shortest track and we try to find a solution but it is too hard to move walls because we have to change the track.

The walls are very close at some points. Like in turn 8.” There is no apprehension that the left-hand favoured layout makes it one of the most physically demanding. At Ducati’s debrief on Friday, Jorge Lorenzo invited us into his world to shed light. Pointing to his shoulder with an expression of discomfort he explained: “the lay down of the bike in the corner on the body is very demanding.

Especially for the left side. It is more demanding than the other side. It’s demanding because you start to compensate and you aren’t symmetrical”. The strain on the body is measurable and no easier when you have 30 laps to complete.

Navigating around the service road on race day, I found myself in-between the main straight and turn 11. On my right you have Marc Marquez going full throttle down the main straight, he then grabs the brakes and fish tales before he slides into the first corner. You also have a small boy no older than 10, dressed to the nines in Valentino Rossi apparel.

He turns to his father, pauses and says “Daddy, Daddy, it’s Valentino Rossi” and proceeds to clap in the one moment of silence with the biggest grin I have ever seen.

On my left you have the notorious 11, a plunging right-hand corner that looks like the edge of a cliff when standing at the top. There is a very overwhelming awareness that captivates you when watching the riders’ body hang off the side of their bike whilst entering a corner with high speed and completely disappearing down a very steep decline. You feel obliged to hold your breath until they pop out the bottom safely. These are just two among the many points that make this circuit and the race so special. There is no room for mistakes, no time to rest and it highlights an air of intensity.

You feel by the end of the 30 laps that whoever takes gold, silver and bronze (Marc Marquez, Valentino Rossi and Maverick Vinales) truly deserves it, no questions asked.

Whether it’s one man like Walter Kaaden, one circuit like Sachsenring or one idea like two stroke engines, the size does not amount to the impact it has on history.

If you strip back the lifecycle of Sachsenring you could also say it represents the hardship and positive evolution of Germany’s past life. This circuit has been the assailant to many dangers and obstacles and like the country did, it is continually attempting to make changes and mature into one of the most intriguing of its kind.

There is no doubt that the physical challenge and intricacy of this track causes it to stand out. If this is the year we have to say goodbye (political and organisational discord with the elements that make up event and circuit ownership) but if we return to this very spot in 2019 we can look forward to experiencing this spectacle all over again.

motogp germany

meeting cal

By Alex Wheeler, aged 11

I went to Circuit of Barcelona-Catalunya hoping to interview someone. This time, I got an interview with Cal Crutchlow. Now for who doesn’t know, Cal is a Monster and Honda rider, so far he’s doing well in the championship and he won the Argentine Grand Prix.

We met in the hospitality of LCR Honda. I think he was very friendly and he said some things to me that surprised me. I was surprised as well that Cormac (the magazine photographer) was taking pictures of me.

Finally I want to say that I had a great time there and that I recommend that you get to the races.

What do you think of this track?

First of all it is great to be interviewed by you. It is always better to be interviewed by someone who is learning and who enjoys it and that doesn’t think they know everything about the sport i.e. your Dad! I like the track.

It’s a difficult track but it has a bit of everything. We have a really fast straight. We have hard braking, we have fast corners and now the two final corners are back to the original layout.

How does it feel to be going 350kmph?

Like you want to go faster! At 350kmph we don’t realise the speed because after 250kmph your mind doesn’t see anything different. I think it is from 250 to 400 we don’t see anything different in the brain or the mind. The actual problem is the acceleration from 100 to 250 tis where everything feels so fast. We know we are going fast because the bikes starts to shake, your head shakes and in the end you just want to go faster to have an advantage over your rivals.

What do you think about when you’re racing?

I used to get asked this question a lot many years ago and I always used to say the same thing: I think about what I am having for dinner and what I am doing the next day. It’s a strange thing. If you are in a battle then you think about the battle but if you are alone on track and you think about catching the guys in front then it might not be possible and to think about it means making a mistake, so it is better to be calm and stay in position and you start to think normal things. When I won in Australia in 2016 on the last couple of laps I was thinking how it was a shame my wife and daughter were not there to see me but I knew I had to finish so they could see me on the TV and the podium. You think [about] many strange things. You don’t lose concentration that you are racing or fighting for a position and when you are in a complete battle then you think about the guy ahead while also taking care not to let the guy behind pass. It is a more difficult situation but I like those races better because you become more focussed on the job.

A very unusual question: do you like pancakes?

Pancakes?!

Yeah…

I love pancakes. But normally I am not at home for Pancake Day! I love pancakes full of Nutella and nothing else. My wife likes it with lemon and sugar but for me just Nutella. I have not eaten Nutella for five months but I’d normally go through one tub in a weekend. I think now, after this interview, you have broken me. I will have to go back and ask for one with Nutella.

Products

ktm KTM Street motorcycle riders might be interested in two new Shoei products to have joined the 2018 PowerWear catalogue. Once more the Austrian’s affiliation with premium companies for special KTM-themed items is another one of their strengths. We own and use a X-Spirit III so can vouch for its comfort (it comes in 4 shell sizes) and quality.

www.ktm.at Shoei claim that their ‘adjustable Inner System makes it possible to adjust wearing angle of the helmet corresponding to riding position.’ There is also a cheekpad ventilation system, 6 intakes and outlets and Emergency Quick Release System. For Adventure riders then the Hornet is a hybrid option between street and off-road ‘all road, all weather’.

Click the link to see the full Powerwear range

Feature

By Adam Wheeler, Photos by Ray Archer & CormacGP

ANTETITULO XXXXXX XXXXXXX Firma xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Feature

braking in MXGP & motogp

Braking is essential for competition and safety in one sport and is perhaps something of a diminishing art in the other. We chat with Andrea Dovizioso and Brembo about stopping MotoGP bikes and the forces this entails and then flip the coin by asking MXGP racers how modern day tracks are lessening the need for fierce out-braking skills on the dirt…

You could say that success in motorcycle racing is about effectively halting the bike as making it as fast and rideable as possible. At least in one discipline.

Braking is another sphere of riding where road racing and motocross differ so wildly.

Slowing a factory MotoGP machine is a punishing feat for both the riders and the teams’ budget sheets with Italian specialists Brembo supplying the entire grid with space-age type performing carbon. Speeds will top 360kmph and the pressure and precision on the lever and pedal is validated by the tiniest fractions of time (as I write the top twenty in Free Practice 2 at the Sachsenring in Germany is split by less than a second). In MXGP riders admit that a sandy Grand Prix can be completed without any front brake at all. The wavy and flowing nature of 21st century circuits (ten of the twenty venues in 2018 are man-made or purpose built layouts) promotes rhythm and intensity while attempting to curb high speed: passing usually comes through line choice, traction, corner exit speed and sheer will rather than a hard sweep into a turn on the brakes.

In an effort to dissect this facet of top level competition we coveted opinions from several riders in MXGP – from young to veteran – and also quizzed 2017 MotoGP runner-up, Ducati Racing Team’s Andrea Dovizioso (as well as asking Brembo for some insight to the fierce conditions on the asphalt). The aim was to highlight some of the skills and demands of what the riders are doing on the motorcycles and something that maybe fans are not so aware of…

all about the tracks?

Ben Watson, Kemea Yamaha, MX2: “Tracks are completely different now. If you watch videos of past races then it’s clear that modern tracks are far more ‘built-up’ and are usually in a flat field and the jumps and sections are made to spec. We miss hills and big downhills where braking is more essential.”

Kevin Strijbos, Standing Construct KTM, MXGP: “When I was first in Grands Prix tracks were quite flat because they were not groomed or ripped. So you had to brake harder. Now they are more rutty and some small jumps are built on the inside of the turns. You don’t have to brake as hard as you used to.”

Shaun Simpson, Wilvo Yamaha, MXGP: “There are too many tracks now that seem to be all about this essence of ‘flow’. That’s great…but there has to also be some 90 degree corners and hairpins to actually entice braking, getting almost stopped and on the gas again; these are three areas where you can make up time.

If you keep flow then 95% of the people out there can do that to within fractions of a second. The moment where you have to brake, hit your line, accelerate, get traction, deal with bumps, make your suspension work: these are things that make the difference and one rider better than the other.”

Max Nagl, TM Factory Racing, MXGP: “The biggest problem at the moment is something similar to what Formula One had a few years ago in that there is less passing. It is so difficult. Many times there are just one fast line and if you get out of that then it’s too slow to pass.”

Strijbos: “I like the old school tracks because there are more options for overtaking. They are not that ripped and it is easier to change from the outside to the inside. Now, sometimes, the ruts start before the corner and you just have to choose a rut and stay in it. There are also a lot of jumps. If you find a good flow then it is easy, if not then you struggle. It feels harder to make passes.”

braking in MXGP & motogp

is braking a lost art?

Tim Gajser, Team HRC, MXGP: “It is important. If you are even one metre longer on the gas then you are gaining tenths of a second. How you enter and take the corner and how you keep your momentum: braking is part of that. There are many techniques for many different types of corners: flat, off camber, berms, ruts.

You have to be ready to adjust.”

Simpson: “After fifteen years it still amazes me how much time you can make by braking properly. People these days use way-too much rear brake and not enough front. The power comes from the front.

I was shocked to see the gains I could make through braking on hard-pack recently because I’d been riding a lot of sand. In sand 90% of the lap you wont

touch the front brake; it’s all with the rear. The moment you start touching the front in the sand then it wants to tuck and it won’t work at all. You want all the weight towards the back of the bike and that’s also where you brake.”

Watson: “Momentum is everything and now, in 2018, so much of a lap-time is down to the power of your bike and the speed you carry. It’s all about how late you can brake and how early you can get the throttle-on. You are working on every second of the lap. Going through a big set of rollers you are doing everything you can to keep the speed up.

If you can make the turns work for you without much braking then you will be faster.”

Feature

braking in MXGP & motogp xxxxxxxx: xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hunter Lawrence, Honda 114 Motorsports, MX2: “In MotoGP your braking sets up everything, and I think that can still be said for some of motocross as well. If you have a track where you can make the difference on a bumpy section then you can choose the route. You cannot jump pass someone in MotoGP! Being able to head into those bumps is part of what makes it so demanding on your whole body. I’m guessing the arms and upper body are bearing the most brunt in MotoGP.”

Dirk Gruebel, Red Bull KTM Team Manager MX2: “You also have the four-stroke factor. You needed more braking emphasis with the two-strokes because when you shut-off the gas the bike kept going.

Now there is engine braking which the guys can also adjust – some prefer more and some prefer less – and that affects the set-up for brakes. I wouldn’t say that we have super-oversized brakes: they are the same dimensions that we were using ten-fifteen years. There might be some variation but we’re talking 260-270.

Nothing like they use in road racing.”

Simpson: “Braking is a fundamental part of racing and riding that a lot of people forget about.”

Strijbos: “I don’t make so many passes going into corners. I know where I should brake and I’m not going to do any stupid things to pass a rider or maybe make both of us crash.”

Nagl: “I think it is a lost art, and it’s because of the track developments. In the past they were hard and faster. On the straight you had more speed and could really catch-up some metres on the brakes if you could do it later. Nowadays the tracks are ripped so much and they are so deep with deep ruts that you cannot push until the last metre. You need to let-off the brake ten metres earlier, and before the corner you need to get on the throttle again for the ruts and bumps. Matterley Basin is a track where you really can work on the brakes.”

Lawrence: “Engine braking? It has been so long since I rode a two-stroke so I’ve kinda forgotten what it is like! I late-brake but I also try to miss braking bumps. If there are some I can jump or lift the front over then I’ll do it. I do remember the two-stroke rolling the bumps better. The inertia of the fourstroke engine seems to suck on the bumps a bit more.”

Simpson: “Braking is a really underrated part of training as well. I remember being 13 years old out in a stubble field with two poles and my Dad saying I had to fully hold on the gas until the first post and had to be stopped-dead by the second. When he set the posts up I thought ‘that’s impossible…’. The first few times I overshot but then began to stop before the second post, so we made the distance shorter. I’ve see YouTube videos of Ricky Carmichael doing exactly the same training for supercross.”

point where it can be nearly touching the handlebar. A lot of feeling. Arnaud like to just touch his and it’s locking up! With aftermarket brake parts the possibilities are endless with brake pad compounds and circumferences of the disc.”

testing for stopping Strijbos: “Every year brakes change a bit and seem to be lighter and stronger but only very slight changes. I never really recall having any problems with my brakes. We used to test at lot with different discs and different types of pads and cables.”

Lawrence: “We tested but with the Honda the low centre of gravity is good and balanced, which is great on a hard-pack track because as soon as you are off a bump then the bike stops moving. It’s planted and ready to turn. This is a big positive because if the bike is settled and ready to turn then it makes your life ten times easier.”

striking the balance

Watson: “Yeah we test for brakes. We tried some different sized rear discs. We don’t spend a lot of time on it but it’s about making the set-up more personal.”

Gajser: “I’m not too hard on the brakes.

In the past yes, but now I am more balanced using both the front and the rear. I would say I am consistent.”

Nagl: “I run Galfer brakes and they gave me an update this year with lighter discs and better braking power…but braking generally is still not as important as it was in the past.”

Nagl: “I liked a lot of front braking and was using special discs to be hard and strong and very aggressive, but on the rear I like it very loose. If the rear is locking too much then the suspension doesn’t work. Everyone has their own preference, and for a lot of years I liked the brakes very strong and hard and then I remember in 2015 I was in the US and I had to use [Christophe] Pourcel’s bike for training and he had the opposite: very spongy and I liked it and started using it more. I always brake with one finger, the same on the clutch, and his bike just made it less tiring.”

Simpson: “I don’t think you can make a massive gain by testing. I’ve used MotoMaster for years now. It is more a feeling preference. The power can come from how hard you grip the lever. My teammate, Arnaud [Tonus], likes a very aggressive front brake but I hate that. I like it to be almost spongy and really progressive and the further I pull the lever the harder the bike brakes, almost to the

braking in MXGP & motogp

Simpson: “Back brake? I use it a lot. If you have a long corner then just easing your foot on the back brake a little while you are on full gas it makes the bike squat into the track a bit more and I feel that it gives me more traction and stabilises the suspension. If you hit a bump then there is less chance of it kicking. There is a lot more feel. But it is very hard on the material. The discs and pads heat up and past teams have cracked-up to see how hard I treat the brake. It is something I have tried to get out of. My disc will look black or deep brown because it’s been so hot whereas other guys’ will look brand new. They only brake for braking and not while on the throttle to produce ‘load’. I wouldn’t advise any kids to do that. You’ll get to my age and think ‘how many pads have I binned through my career?!’ There were some GPs where I’d need to have a new set of pads for each session. That technique is only really applicable to the rear but I suppose you could also use it lightly for the front on a low-speed flat turn to help force traction and feel. The front end is far more prone to losing grip.

Watson: “I use too much rear brake.

We have over-sized discs on the front and normal on the rear but 70% of our braking is done on the front. It is much sharper and locking the back brake just induces a slide. The front brake just loads that area more. I typically drag the rear brake into corners and control the speed for entry. If I feel I’m going to miss it then I’m applying more pressure.

It’s something I need to work on actually.”

Lawrence: “I’ve never had a problem with overheating so I guess you can say I’m quite a balanced braker. I probably use the front more than the rear. You have to keep the speed so as soon as I’ve finished my braking I try to get back over the bike and be strong. I think your body position plays a part and if you are crouched, ready and slightly set to the rear of the bike then you’ll be in a better place to cope with a braking bump.”

Watson: “I’m sure if you lost your front brake in sand then you wouldn’t affect your speed at all.”

Simpson: “On hard-pack I would go as far to say it is 70-30 front-rear braking going into turns. You can get later and later but it still comes down to carrying momentum in the corner. You can leave your braking really late and then wreck your flow; that’s fine if you want to make a pass and block the other guy but not useful otherwise. You want to be braking but with the power on so that when you let-off then you are already driving through the turn.”

Lawrence: “Your style generally stays the same no matter what bike you ride. Comparing the Japanese bikes to the Austrian ones it seems those guys have less of an issue in deep sand with the bumps wanting to stop and grab the bike. They tend to roll over. I think that is more the bike rather than the rider and maybe the area and emphasis on development.”

Lorenzo Bortolozzo MotoGP Customer Manager: “We supply all the MotoGP riders and almost all the Moto2 and Moto3 riders with our calliper, discs, pads and master cylinder. We design and produce all the parts in Italy, in our facility close

Feature

Upping the stakes

example the carbon material comes from Japan because it is not so easy to find the right material for the MotoGP application. We ask them to produce the carbon according to our specs and we machine and assemble the disc inside Brembo.”

Lorenzo Bortolozzo Brembo MotoGP Customer Manager: “We supply all the MotoGP riders and almost all the Moto2 and Moto3 riders with our calliper, discs, pads and master cylinder. We design and produce all the parts in Italy, in our facility close to Bergamo [northeast of Milan]. The whole process from design and manufacture is done inside Brembo but we use some external suppliers, for

Andrea Dovizioso: “People will never be able to understand the intensity we have to put on the brake; it is something unreal, and year-by-year it has become more and more. The bikes and tyres are always improving but the human body is always the same! We have to use the energy in a different way. It is so hard.”

braking in MXGP & motogp

Bortolozzo: “The braking power is very high and the limit of our system is not the brakes or the material but the tyres.

It is not the force but the grip. You can see that when the riders are braking and slowing on just one wheel. The power is more than enough and the rider has to manage this power and the way to do it changes according to the rider.”

Dovizioso: “The problem is that it is very easy to arrive to the limit of the rear tyre.

If it starts to lift then you have to ease pressure on the brake; this is bad. You have to try and brake hard and strong and if you have to let-off then you lose a metre. You have to push your weight to the rear of the bike as much as you

can and if you use all your muscle strength you can stabilise the bike and brake to the maximum. Also in our sport it is impossible to breath in a relaxed or normal way. You have to ‘cut’ your breathing most of the lap and that’s the reason why our heart rates are so high from the beginning to the end.

It is not just intensity but breathing.”

Bortolozzo: “It is impossible to use carbon on the street because the working temperature range is between 3-800 degrees.

Under 300 the friction co-efficient is very low. It is dangerous because when you exit from your garage at home the brake system is cold, even more so in wintertime. Some very expensive cars using carbon ceramic, which is a different material.

Feature Carbon is very stable because the dimensions and thickness are always the same.

With steel – if the temperature increases a lot – then it is possible to bend the disc and it is dangerous for the residue on the wheel. In the last three years in MotoGP we have also used carbon in the wet, which was impossible in the past but now we have designed a specific tool with the carbon cover and this means it can be used in the wet. The riders also like to have the same means in every condition whether it is dry or wet. I think in 5-10 years we will see carbon-ceramic on the street.”

Dovizioso: “I use a lot of rear brake but I am not one of those riders that uses it in the middle of the corner. You can split the riders: there are some that never move their foot on the footpeg. They use the brake much more than other riders

from the middle of the corner and while they accelerate…like [Jack] Miller, Casey [Stoner] and some others. Then there are some like me who don’t use it so much and count on engine braking. I use it on corner entry and the first degrees of lean and then move my foot back to the peg so I cannot use it in the middle of the corner, so this is the reason I have the thumb brake.”

Bortolozzo: “We don’t have a single shape of carbon disc, we have two different diameters. The most important thing is the correct temperature range. For that we have to consider the track. Somewhere like Motegi [Japan] is very demanding on the brakes whereas Assen [Holland] is very light so we have to define the correct disc and calliper. We have to find the right specifications and the braking style of the rider is another factor.

Dovizioso: “You have to pull the bike to relax the bike.”

Some are ‘gentlemen’ with the system and not so demanding. Others like Dovizioso, Rossi and Marquez are very aggressive. So we need the right package for the track, rider and bike.”

Dovizioso: “The biggest difference now is not the braking but the corner-exit. There are much more electronics and you have to try and use less of the electronic ‘effect’ with your riding. If you pick up the bike out of the corner and head onto a straight then you have more wheelie and the electronics will work more and you don’t accelerate fully. If you keep full throttle and set-up the electronics in a certain way then you can weave across the track and this is faster. The bike wheelies less and

braking in MXGP & motogp

there is more balance. This why you see a lot of riders moving across the track out of a turn and not just going straighton. Using less electronics means more acceleration but this means more energy because you use more of the corner and you have to pull the bike with full throttle and maximum power: you have to shift and use all the track until the next braking zone. There is a lot of intensity everywhere. There is no moment to relax.”

Bortolozzo: “The rider doesn’t change the setting while on the bike but he will use a remote adjuster. An important thing for the rider is to have the lever and the initial bite in the same position but the position changes when the system is either cold or hot and depending on the wear of the carbon pad and disc. With the remote adjuster the rider is connected to the master cylinder and with his left hand is able to set the position of the lever. Dovi is very demanding because he wants the lever exactly right every time he brakes. We’ve improved our product a lot due to Dovi’s requests over the years! But all the riders are demanding.”

Dovizioso: “I hate a spongy brake and every mechanic that has to work with me hate me for that! On one side they are happy because they know they are working with a precise rider and I know what I want and I’m clear about what I want. I never change. On the other hand a small problem with the brake is a big problem.

It has to be perfect and it is always a lot of work because I am a hard braker; it has to be very reactive and consistent. I think I am the rider that moves the front brake remote adjuster more than anyone else. It depends on the track and if it’s qualifying or the race but I can move it up to eight times a lap. The way you

Feature

braking in MXGP & motogp

brake changes the position of the lever.

If you are hard-braking until the middle of the corner then the lever gets closer to the bar and it remains that way for the next corner. To have that ‘perfect brake’ you need to prepare and have the lever the way you want it. I am thinking about my braking and then the position of the lever in the next corner.”

Bortolozzo: “The cost of the brakes and the carbon is very high because of the cost of the material [a MotoGP factory team’s racing budget for brakes is estimated around seven figures]. The master cylinder and calliper is pricey because of factors like the calliper being monoblock; a special tool has been designed to machine the calliper to guarantee the minimum weight but also maximum stiffness. The price is not only the material and production but also the R&D and our test team. Wear? During one weekend can use three different sets of discs and pads. During the same free practice a rider can have one set on his first bike and a different set on the second machine. So it is tough to say how much usage it will have. More or less each rider will have eight sets of discs and the double of the pads.”

Dovizioso: “The speed we have at the track is amazing; so fast. So the braking is important.

If you are racing at 300kmph then you cannot always brake at the same place and you are always a little bit earlier or later. If you are doing it at 250m before the corner then you have margin to play and everything has an effect: if you brake in the right way, if you have reacted well and if you have improved to manage the ‘lock’. There is a lot of this with Michelin – like a ‘ta-ta-ta-ta’ – almost like ABS and you have to feel that and control it.

You have to be very reactive.”

mxgp

grand prix of asia

semarang · july 8 · Rnd 13 of 20 MXGP winner: Jeffrey Herlings, KTM MX2 winner: Jorge Prado, KTM

rea

mxgp asia

assertion Blogs by Adam Wheeler, Photos by Ray Archer

mxgp asia

mxgp asia

mxgp asia

MXGP BLOG

Is it over?

Red Bull KTM: it’s difficult to write about anything else.

Jeffrey Herlings’ brilliance is a fortified as Tony Cairoli’s pedigree, and just when MXGP looked to be heading towards a sturdy narrative the emphasis swung one way and then quickly again with injury drama for both title candidates. It was a doubleslap reminder that the sport is largely indiscriminate and utterly unpredictable.

Now that the original storyline seems to have been re-implemented (Herlings back on top) the big question with seven rounds of the twenty remaining is: is it over?

It might seem a stupid notion.

Consider that Herlings broke his collarbone while in full flight and arguably never looking more invincible (and could never had expected to win both Indonesian grands prix returning just 17 days after surgery), and that Cairoli took maximum advantage of his teammate’s one-race absence to hack 50 points away from the cushion but then had to cope with a twisted knee and

left thumb in the space of three weeks. Wow, what a sequence.

However Herlings has had his wobble. His grounding. And don’t expect him to take his superiority in this 2018 campaign for granted any time soon.

The Dutchman has broken a bone – but also records - every season since 2013. 2015 was the nadir with a collarbone snap, mangled little finger and the crushing hip dislocation in the space of two months. Add three more collarbone fractures (2013, 2016, 2018) and this part of his body is either very susceptible or heavily reinforced! For such an electric and relentless rider Herlings is not demanding of the 450SX-F (perhaps only in terms of the mileage he accumulates on the practice bikes, which KTM traditionally replicate to the factory spec machines) but he is not a frequent crasher. He might ride his luck quite often (and another racer, a certain #93 in MotoGP, comes to mind) but he is not reckless.

The biggest doubts for Jeffrey would have been his confidence, and the damage control that the trip to Indonesia should have meant. But he boarded the flight back from Jakarta in the extraordinary position of having replenished his esteem and form and having expanded his championship advantage once more.

It is not as if Cairoli had an ‘open goal’ through the Asian trip and rounds twelve and thirteen, but the target was wide and the previously imposing keeper was partially hobbled.

The situation quickly reversed after Pangkal Pinang and it was the world champion who was on the defensive, as he has been since the very first thrusts of 2018.

Herlings’ returning ‘double’ was again another symbolic moment in this title duel. He relegated Cairoli with relish in Argentina, Italy, Holland and Latvia and dealt with the Sicilian’s insurgence at the first possible moment in Pangkal Pinang.

By Adam Wheeler

On paper and in terms of psychology and momentum then it is hard to see Tony getting another chance to re-orientate the odds in his favour.

From the very start of the season it has been tricky for many members of the MXGP press circle to recall a time when Cairoli faced such opposition.

Pourcel, Rattray, Searle, Desalle are some of the names to have pushed #222 to a few new limits since 2004 but there has rarely been a sustained threat. For all his experience and capabilities, this current campaign represents unchartered waters for Tony. He is in the unusual predicament of needing to seize every single point and opportunity (especially with just seven rounds left to run) to aim for that red plate.

Very soon the dispute will reach a stage where he’ll require Herlings to start dropping the ball or for other peers – Tim Gajser and Clement Desalle the most likely – to interfere more regularly at the top of the moto classifications. He’ll need help. It will be slipping slowly out of his control.

Right now this weekend’s Grand Prix of Czech Republic will be a key event after the Asian affair.

The first matter of contention will be Cairoli’s fitness and whether his hand and knee have recovered sufficiently to allow him to operate at will.

The other issue is the Loket circuit itself. The compact, stony hard-pack is not a favoured venue for both MXGP frontrunners. Cairoli has won three times there since 2010. Herlings has tasted world championship success (2013) but also has the scars of a dislocated shoulder (an injury that prematurely ended his debut season in 2010) and the ghastly hip debacle. Due to incident, accidents and absences, Herlings has not trodden the Loket podium since ‘13; making the Czech soil his sparsest territory in MXGP. Is the MXGP battle a done deal?

24 points between the pair and Cairoli’s undeniable strength means it’s tempting to say ‘you’re having a laugh’ but Herlings has the baton again.

Victory at Loket and some preservation in the coming weeks by the championship leader will make, what some claim, an inevitable outcome seem all the more likely.

mxgp asia

NO SHORTCUTS

Boasting the thickest lens in the industry, a massive field of vision and SCOTT’s proprietary lens lock system, the Prospect MX goggle delivers on all fronts. Leave nothing on the table, your time is now. Allow the SCOTT Prospect to Defend Your Vision during your unwavering pursuit of victory.

SCOTT-SPORTS.COM © SCOTT SPORTS SA 2018 | Photo: Octopi Media

J O E Y SAVATGY

MXGP BLOG

The un-merry go round So far there is little confirmation of the shape of MXGP for 2019. Why? The usual hesitancy of manufacturers and the binding nature of riders’ contracts that usually forbids any fanfare or announcement. Perhaps the most extreme example in recent memory was Gautier Paulin’s departure from HRC after 2015-2016 and his signature for Rockstar Energy IceOne Husqvarna. It was a deal known to most of the motocross world in the summer but not publicly confirmed until November!

Paulin is one of the mysteries of 2018. The Frenchman is technically and physically one of the premium athletes of MXGP but four podium finishes represents a slim return for the factory Husky set-up and with the resources of a team like IceOne. Paulin has rarely figured in the running for holeshots – this has been an issue – and inevitably there have been rumours of discord in what is his second term with Husqvarna. If the 28 year old does want a ‘colour change’ then his options are very limited.

Roads with Kawasaki and Honda are closed, Suzuki are no more and are unlikely to return in 2019 according to the latest gossip and that leaves a return to Yamaha and the works set-up that he represented in 2010 and 2011.

But Yamaha themselves are facing a mix-up. Romain Febvre is contracted to the Monster Energy works crew while the Italians are expected to interchange ‘Jeremys’: Van Horebeek for Seewer. The latter has another year on his Yamaha Motor Europe agreement and the former is almost certainly expected to curtail his blue association that began in 2014 and never reached the giddy heights of that first term (the only one where JVH did not have a teammate in direct competition) as he classified second in the world.

Another aspect of the relative quiet when it comes to transfers is the status of the principal names.

Febvre, Cairoli, Herlings, Desalle, Gajser are all set and this swallows the budget and focus for four brands (meaning that both Husqvarna and Paulin would be wise to arrest any complications in their working relationship and plough forwards together). The scurry for second saddles and the plumpest rides in satellite teams is thus occupying most of the talks.

The small market for riders (teams once again have a merry pick of the athletes) means that squads like Standing Construct – an operation fuelled by good and strong relationships between the staff and the passion of owner Tim Mathys – are able to offer KTM-supported equipment and a solid employment option for an athlete only a year after coming back into the paddock. Glenn Coldenhoff’s consistency and wise stock-piling of goodwill with Red Bull KTM over the last three years means the Dutchman is already signed and set with Standing.

By Adam Wheeler

The rush is on for the other berth; assuming that Kevin Strijbos stops his long GP career this summer and Valentin Guillod is not given another opportunity after his desperately unlucky pre-season leg break.

Again it feels like MXGP is narrow for prospecting. And it comes at a time when the 2019 provisional calendar has the series at arguably its most cosmopolitan and adventurous. Riders such as Wilvo Yamaha’s Shaun Simpson, who gave the burgeoning satellite Yamaha operation their very first GP win, is facing an uncertain time after eighteen months of injury upheaval.

New teams like the experimental BOS GP outfit (with Evgeny Bobryshev steering a stock Suzuki and Jordi Tixier – how injury cursed has the former MX2 world champion been in the last three years?

– on a KTM under the same awning with the French suspension firm) are greatly welcomed if perhaps seen as a risky move by the older echelon of the MXGP regular.

Small holes and windows have appeared and have allegedly been filled. It is common knowledge that HRC have looked around for a replacement for the luckless Brian Bogers (there are apparently concerns over the Dutchman’s badly broken foot) and have identified Max Anstie to sit alongside Tim Gajser on the works CRF450R. Incredibly an HRC machine will represent the Brit’s fifth different bike in five years and his fourth team. Anstie is only 25 years old but someone somewhere must be able to unlock his potential for race-leading consistency and to eek the athlete that blasted the ’17 Motocross of Nations out of his shell on a frequent basis. It’s hard to see him having many more chances with a high degree of backing.

Anstie’s IceOne slot is earmarked for tall Lithuanian Arminas Jasikonis; still raw, undeniably strong and also young at 20 and trying his best on the Redmoto Assomotor Honda after his rough treatment when Suzuki imploded.

Simpson’s two year tenure at Wilvo looks to be slipping away and with Arnaud Tonus expected

to be given another chance after his shoulder surgery then another YZ450F could be in the offing.

Another void – interestingly – is Red Bull KTM. What could happen in terms of MX2? Pauls Jonass is already viewing a 450 SX-F besides Herlings and Cairoli. The Latvian might have to move if he wins a second MX2 title (according to the rules) but if he doesn’t then he would be wise to stay on the 250 for another season, collect more wins, bonuses and give the team another strong shot at ruling the division. If Jorge Prado triumphs then will the urge to depart to the USA and chase his supercross dream be too strong to resist? Regardless, if one of the warring but amicable title candidates transfers away from the current base then KTM are suddenly short on strong and obvious options for the second SX-F. Time on planes and in airports in the last three weeks would have allowed plenty of minutes for talks and thoughts. Loket could already see the ruffling and scribbling of more papers…but most likely behind closed doors.

mxgp asia

Products

protaper ProTaper are making quite a name for themselves with their variety and innovation when it comes grips and the Pillow Tops are a case in point. The company say the Pillow Tops are their best sellers, largely thanks to an exclusive traction pattern and of gel-like, vibration-reducing surface compound that maximises both grip and comfort. The triple density (and anti-rip-tip) gives the product extra longevity and resistance to the elements/demands.

www.protaper.com The design also assists in terms of shedding mud away from the outer surface. There is also a ‘lite’ version (as well priced at 12.95 dollars) with a smaller outside diameter. In addition to the Pillow Top, ProTaper fabricate different densities of grip and have alternative options like their 1/3 Waffle, Race Cut, Neon and Micro Grips. Have a look on the site to find the best fit for your bike.

Feature

How Ben Watson became Grand Prix’s hottest prospect

By Adam Wheeler, Photos by Ray Archer

the

big

stepper

Feature

I

n the summer of 2016 Ben Watson was sat at his home in Lambley, Nottingham with his left foot wrapped in plaster. After smashing and breaking the navicular bone and several metatarsals in Argentina early in the season Watson spent months immobile and on crutches. After a debut term in 2015 rife with hard lessons, mechanical trouble and setbacks it was not the platform the teenager and highly rated junior prospect needed. It was a sour and sobering time.

Watson learned to deal with the harshest element of motocross. He was out of sight but not quite forgotten and 2017 supported by Hitachi KTM and some close personal sponsors – together with fleeing moments of top five speed in MX2 Grand Prix – righted the path. By last summer #919 was in Yamaha’s field of vision. Watson filled a nice hole in the company’s strategy for the class and the Kemea Yamaha crew of having riders on three different tiers: a title fighter, a developing talent, and a promising young rookie.

Seva Brylyakov was the championship or race-winning hope, Watson was the intermediate and Belgian hotshot Jago Geerts was the YZ250F pilot without pressure for 2018.

Signing that factory-backed deal reoriented Watson’s world.

“I don’t know if there has been one big thing that has changed because so much around me has...”

He relocated to Belgium and was surrounded by the assets and means to hike his performance and professionalism up to a higher level. Perhaps most crucially of all he aligned with the team’s coach and trainer and former World Champion Jacky Vimond.

Watson had been hyped from an early age and after exploding into recognition at fifteen years of age with EMX250 racewinning glory and potential had been forced to learn patience. He has only just turned 21.

big stepper: ben watson xxxxxxxx: xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

In MXGP this year arguably no other rider that has shown as much progression.

Although he has posted (too?) many fourth positions and peers like Calvin Vlaanderen have also made hay, Watson has excelled in almost every respect: his consistency, his speed (Saturday practice and qualification has witnessed drastic improvement), his race approach and his single-mindedness: just watch his chase of Thomas Kjer Olsen in Portugal or the charge to second place in Indonesia.

Kemea have had their plans scrambled

somewhat. Watson has turned into the team leader, Brylyakov has sadly succumbed to another injury and Geerts has also picked up a maiden podium trophy as Watson so satisfyingly managed in Russia.

Amidst all the subversion of expectation Watson has devoured opportunities to learn about racing near the front of the pack. The Red Bull KTM duel between Pauls Jonass and Jorge Prado has taken headlines but Watson and co have been trying their hardest to rustle the orange coop.

Feature The Brit has certainly been the most regular rider of Japanese machinery in terms of making himself a nuisance among the Austrian-engineered bikes.

At the heart of Watson’s transformation from a burgeoning star on the edge of the MX2 top ten to a Grand Prix winnerin-waiting has been his union with the quiet, astute and immensely knowledgeable Vimond. The Frenchman has lent his perceptive glance on the complexities of the sport and the individual to riders like Sebastian Tortelli and Josh Coppins and tried to coax the best of Benoit Paturel while in his Kemea tenure.

“It is hard for me to find the right words to explain about Ben…but what comes to mind right now is that he is one of the smartest guys I have been able to work with,” Jacky says.

Watson – one of the taller riders in the division among other ‘giants’ like Vlaanderen and Olsen - is quiet, smiley and timid sometimes, and Vimond was surprised by the ‘growth’ of his new charge towards the end of 2017.

“We were watching him and we could see he was a good rider but we didn’t know much more,” he offers. “Last year he’d have some nice races where he did well at the start of the moto but would then drop away. He’d begin in the top six-eight and finish ten-twelve: I thought I would have a lot of work to do with him but as soon as we started with the physical work his body reacted really well and very quickly. It was unusual. His confidence also grew very fast. We still have to make some progress with intensity.”

“Last year I was hovering around sixteenth-seventeenth in the championship and then finished fifteenth. I was the fifteenth fastest MX2 guy in the world. Now I’m currently fourth and everything has changed...”

“He really shines in the aspect of his mind and learning, and for me it is very interesting to work with guys like that because you can go deeper and look at focus; rather than saying ‘just take this line…’ That’s not the best way to train guys. Ben believes in the process of getting ready for each and every race to take confidence and to get stronger and stronger. It’s nice to work like that and you can see how much he can improve.”

“There are a lot of good technical riders on the Grand Prix track and it’s only when you really start working with a rider that you start to learn about his potential and how high it can go. I don’t feel that Ben is near his limit; and that’s really nice.”

Perhaps one of the most fascinating aspects of Watson’s flowering 2018 has been the way he attacks a track and a Grand Prix moto. It is rare to see him losing positions and more often than not the blue machine is the one on the charge.

big stepper: ben watson

The meek talented kid is now an expressive livewire. His confidence is manifesting itself very visually and Vimond says this is linked to his life in general.

“We need to make him a little but more ‘the leader’,” he opines “and I don’t mean on the track but in the life. Things like not being the last one to arrive at the restaurant but be the first, the one organising the table and the group. I push him to do that. In the beginning it was quite difficult for him. Now he is finding himself more and is then able to show that on the track. I want him to have more of a taste of being at the front and to fight for it. I want to keep to his current rhythm and I have to respect it because he has made a good step. He’s done a good job.”

Vimond is modest about his role. “It has to come from him. All the good qualities as a racer he has inside, and you just have to help them come out. That’s my work. When he’s going upwards then we’re doing a good job.”

“I’ve always known I’ve had the ability but in the last years I’ve always been quite far from being able to show it and achieve something,” Ben admits from the confines of his camper at the Grand Prix of Germany, round eight at Teutschenthal, a small place where we talk as parents finish a BBQ meal outside. “A few times last season I felt I was riding well and close to some of the top guys’ pace but I was very inconsistent.

I had weak times in practice and Saturday’s generally.”

“I don’t know if there has been one big thing that has changed because so much around me has; from moving to Belgium, working with Jacky and having full-time practice and race mechanics and being based with the team,” he muses. “I cannot really pinpoint one thing. It has been quite a surprise though, and for the team also! Obviously nobody is complaining!

My main goal for the year was to reach the podium and I did that six rounds in. …”

There is getting used to be a factory rider but then having the confidence to take full profit of it…

Yeah, but I think if it was the other way around – starting in a factory team and moving private – then that would take a lot more getting used to. I’m used to doing things by myself and my previous team did everything they could for me but some set-ups just have more support. It did take some adjustment but it was not an environment that felt really strange or alien. There were a lot of details that I was really ready to embrace and it was pretty easy.

Was it mainly about freeing your mind to worry only about aspects of riding?

Sure. After riding now I just go home and relax or I train with Jacky and we talk and think about how I can be better and what we should try working on. Like I said a lot of things have changed but I am definitely enjoying it and find I can achieve more this way.

What’s your take on Jacky and how you work together?

He has made a big difference, because we spend a lot of time together. I wake up and we do either recovery work or training and riding in the afternoon. He’ll tell me the programme and I’ll go and do it-

big stepper: ben watson

Feature That’s quite a leap of faith…

I have a lot of trust in him because I have seen how he has worked with other riders previously and obviously he was world champion himself; even if a lot has changed since then. I put all my trust in the team and Jacky and I’m prepared to see where it takes me. Right now it is going good. I felt that positivity from the first weeks in the winter. He’s very good in terms of listening to me. If I say to him I feel I have done too much or maybe not enough then he’ll be cool with that. It is not like we have a strict regime where he says and I do. For sure not. Seva [Brylyakov] is now out but we were working together with him and both really enjoying it. It’s nice to let someone else to plan all the training and all the logistics side!

There have been many times where I’ve thought ‘well, that’s completely different for me’An example?

The amount of riding that I’m doing. Last year it would be once a week during the season and now it can be twice or none at all. It varies all the time. In the winter we did a minimum of four long days of riding a week whereas last year it would have been when the tracks are open in the UK. That’s why moving to Belgium has been so good because the only day the tracks are shut is Monday. Otherwise you can ride until it gets dark. In the UK everything is sessioned. In Belgium we’d ride all day and Jacky was able to section the track and we could pull on and off to work on special places. The winter days were long but I trusted what we were doing.

The move to Belgium was a pretty big deal…

It was a little bit easier than I expected actually because my brother Nathan was living there on his own when he was racing in Grand Prix. He said it was tough. It was hard to relax in the evening because he was on his own and bored. So I expected the worst when I came and obviously had to leave my family and everybody at home; which meant everything that had been done for me before I suddenly had to do by myself. It was a big step in my life and not just my career.

Is there a danger that being in Belgium is too much though? Is it difficult to switch off because you are still in ‘motocross country’?

big stepper: ben watson

Yeah, in that way it is hard. If I had a day off in the UK then I’d always do something with the family, my girlfriend or meet my friends. In Belgium I don’t really know anybody apart from the team and a few British guys living there like Shaun Simpson. To be honest though when I do have a day off then I need one and I don’t mind just vegging out and doing nothing. I’m enjoying my life.

Marnicq [Bervoets, Team Manager] said he wanted to see you showing more aggression in your mentality. Do you feel you’ve done that?

A little bit. I think they believed I was too much of a nice guy with my riding. They wanted me to be ‘more of a man’ I guess!

And become more aggressive, like you said. I don’t know: I guess that is just in me from the way I have been brought up.

I think a few things are changing – and for the better – in that respect.

Is it new ground for you to feel that you should be in the top three and one of the fastest? On Saturdays in 2017 you were a bit of a wimp…!

Saturdays were terrible and I was lucky if I was in the top fifteen and now I’m fighting for the top three all the time.

Now when I come in and see the [time] sheets my first reaction is happiness and that is still a weird feeling for me even if it has happened at most rounds.

I had my best qualification race result with a second and when I came over the line it felt like it was something new.

The team have told me many times “believe in yourself…” and to realise this is where I should be.

Feature

Do you feel that level of belief is now 7030? Is it going up?

I think so. Recently I finished sixth in qualification and I didn’t feel that good about it.

But if I go back to the start of the year then I would have been thrilled with that in Argentina. Each weekend I keep producing good form and it’s making me believe more, and now I have a different level of expectation. I know I am better than sixth.

Does success sometimes also mean more frustration then?

Not really, or perhaps it does at the time, but if you stand back and look at progress or how you were performing the previous year then the bigger picture makes you happier.

And that means also looking at darker days like in 2016 where you spent the season on the sofa with a badly broken foot…?

Yeah. Thinking of qualifying sixth and not being that happy is nothing compared to something like 2016. Sometimes I look back at 2017 results compared to what I am doing now, like Arco di Trento I was 15-17 and then this time I was third in practice, fourth in qualification…[trails off]. You stop sometimes to think. The step I’ve made in such a short period of time is satisfying.

Is it also risky having achieved a goal so early in the season? Thomas Kjer Olsen won in Latvia last year and then missed the podium for the rest of the campaign…

Not really, I was quick to set new goals. I have a wider picture to be looking at and working towards every day. The feeling I had when I was on the podium and during the long journey home from Russia was amazing and gives you more drive each weekend to get it again… maybe with your family there.

Talk more about that feeling…

It was such a big goal as a kid. I just wanted to be on the podium – I don’t know why and I didn’t obsess over a win. I always had it in my mind. When I rode over the line in Russia I thought ‘argh, fourth overall again’ but then rode up to the pit wall and the team were

going mad, so I just dropped the bike and was dancing around like crazy. It was a lot to take-in and it felt like a lot to do – interviews, podium, press conference – in a short amount of time. It was all a new feeling that I hadn’t had before.

But you’ve won races, beach races and stood in front of people with cups…

Yeah, but I’d rather have one GP podium than having won any other race. It is a world championship and not many people have done it. It means so much more.

Is it too much to think about a final top three position in the world championship?

Last year I was hovering around sixteenthseventeenth in the championship and then finished fifteenth. I was quite happy with that. I was the fifteenth fastest MX2 guy in the world let’s say. Now I’m currently fourth and everything has changed; all the goals and expectations went away after that first race in Argentina. I surprised myself a lot. So I had to reset and go again.

Do you have bragging rights at the Watson dinner table now?

Yeah! And no…it is really nice to have that sort of thing. I remember travelling with [former teammate] Jake Nicholls last year and I’d had a good race and he’d had a bad one.

The team were joking with him and he kinda snapped back saying “how many podiums have you had then Ben?” obviously I was like [sheepishly] “yeah…none”. Getting up there is something you can remember forever. Even this week I was texting Shaun about going to play golf and I went out riding and completely missed his message and didn’t reply until the next day. I apologised but he joked that I thought I was the king now that I was hitting GP podiums! [instantly] I’d never be like that or be big-headed or think I am better than anyone else just because it’s happened now.

I’ll just keep it inside and quietly keep working to get a few more for myself.

Feature

juicing the orange

By Adam Wheeler, Photos by KTM/Romero/Campelli

KTM make 2019 motocross statement

Feature

L

ucky, lucky KTM. There are not many motorcycle brands that can organise a high-quality launch event with the likes of Ryan Dungey, Tony Cairoli and Jorge Prado for company. One that takes place at Cairoli’s local track in Rome, Malagrotta where the seeds were sown for so many victories and his nine FIM World Championship titles to-date.

Even more impressive is the manufacturer’s 2019 SX range with a line-up of six exquisite two-stroke (125, 150 and 250) and four-stroke models (250, 350 and 450) that the brand hope will maintain their hefty market share and industry status as pacesetters in the field.

Beyond the row of shiny machinery for journalists and testers to sample lies rolling, shallow hills of the countryside west of Rome. Malagrotta is perched atop a similar incline. An orange-painted restaurant/bar close to the circuit entrance is a clue to the importance of this venue in KTM’s recent MXGP spoils and success. Open and hard-pack, the track then suddenly drops down a steep slope and disappears out of view. “This place hasn’t changed too much over the years to be honest and a special part is that sandy section at the bottom which means the ground varies and you get different kinds of bumps,” Cairoli explains. “I have done too many laps of this track to ever remember…but it’s really nice for testing.”

Cairoli, Dungey and co are here as a reward for their contribution to the new bikes as for their ‘window-dressing’ impact at the launch. KTM Product Manager Offroad Joachim Sauer stresses that the factory motocross riders and their opinions and feedback were key in development of the 2019 range (even down to current EMX125 European Championship

leader Rene Hofer giving his verdict on work done with the 85 SX). While Head of Engine Offroad & Motocross R&D Michael Viertlmayr says: “without the approval of our racing athletes we do not make any major changes to our bikes.

That is a clear statement from KTM and that is ‘READYTORACE’.”

The influence of the race team on a blossoming R&D department in Mattighofen (Sauer even credits the data collection and acquisition of MotoGP in bringing

ktm 2019 sx range xxxxxxxx: xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

benefits to the motocross portfolio of technology) has led to development of the 2019 two-strokes and four-strokes with the emphasis on three core areas: rideability, power delivery and ergonomics.

From the initial unveiling of the SX motorcycles, through the course of technical explanations and the first laps of four-stroke growl and two-stroke zing, a recurring message is clear and perhaps best summarised by Head of Motocross Platform R&D Manfred Edlinger: “The aim is to always get riding more simple, more easy and with usable power.�

The joy and the jump: Rideability

This is quite some objective. Especially considering a bike like the 2018 450 SX-F was already capable enough to capture AMA 450SX and MXGP World Championship titles in the summer of 2017.

Feature In fact Sauer even comments at one stage that “we did not want to make something completely new because the previous bike was already pretty close to optimum.”

So how did KTM find this upgrade? “The frame has been drastically improved to get agility on one side…but still keep straight line stability, and the combination of the longer swingarm means the riders can now shorten or lengthen the wheelbase to make the bike turn easier,” says Sauer. The new lightweight hightech frame made of chromium molybdenum steel sections also have aluminium swingarm and longer subframe elements. The tweaks do not stop there.

“Mass centralisation is a big priority and we lowered the cylinder head again, especially on the 450, by 12mm and the camshaft also and this had a bigger influence than many of us expected on the handling,” Edlinger reveals. “The overall effect was a lighter feeling and made planting the bike into the corner easier as well as moving the bike in the air.”

Add a revised (stiffer) triple clamp, WP

Suspension AER 48 valve forks and a WP DCC shock and the effects of the new frame are accentuated. “Across the four-stroke range the way the frame and the stock suspension and the engine delivery all compliment each other is a big thing in the way these bikes feel,” says test rider and former British Championship racer Dave Willet, one of the first to feel his way around the Malagrotta curves. “KTM talked about stiffening the frame so that it doesn’t twist and that’s the key. Perhaps the flex in the last frame just took away some of that capability for the rider to be pinpoint accurate in manoeuvring the bike.

Where they have made that strengthening - and eradicated that twist - means that it glides across the track. And this is something that can be said for all the four-strokes but even more so on the 450.”

“The 450 SX-F was the one that impressed me the most,” Willet continues.

“As soon as you got on the bike then you felt comfortable and that came through the balance.

ktm 2019 sx range xxxxxxxx: xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It felt like there was a closer connection with the bike. In the past riders have made a big deal about the ‘European’ feel of non-Japanese motorcycles and nobody really mentions that anymore, especially over the last five years. The bike still feels like a KTM and has its own identity.”

“In the past if you watched riders move from a Japanese bike to a KTM then their craft change. People would be less inclined to cut their way across the track and will be more inclined to get set-up early for lines or the sections they want.

It would have been easier for you to make the track shorter on a Japanese bike…but this has been totally wiped out by the new SX frame. You can move this 450 where and when you want: inside or outside, the bike allows you to do that. With the 450 SX-F being one of the fastest bikes on the market it was hard to move it in the past… but not any more: the frame, swingarm, linkage, suspension all compliments the engine force. Through the balance the 450 was just ‘easy’; that’s the best word to describe it.”

Of course ‘rideability’ is essentially a combination of facets of the motorcycle.

This is where the character of the production engine and the other details and upgrades have some bearing. “KTM have always made fast bikes but now it seems that they are moving away from that as a priority; they are concentrating their efforts into making bikes that people can easily ride,” Willet adds. “That was one of the biggest things I took from the launch.”

Deliver those horses “I would say the 450 SX-F is the sharpest weapon in the new KTM arsenal and the biggest gain has been with the new cylinder head,” offers Viertlmayr. “We managed to move the camshaft down 13mm in comparison to the predecessor, which centralises the rotating masses even further towards the centre of gravity of the bike and has led to a massive handling improvement. In addition we managed to make the packaging a lot smaller.

Feature We are about 50mm lower compared to the previous bike and about 550g less weight. We have new rocker arms and rocker shafts, new camshafts and we managed to improve performance at the bottom end without any downsides. We were even able to reduce the amount of moving parts inside the cylinder head and increase the quality and that includes details such as lower risk of misassemble.”

At 63hp KTM claim the 450 SX-F is the fastest and lightest on the market. It is little surprise that harnessing that potential was high on the design brief and the savings made in overall weight has allowed even more performance. Power delivery has been a distinction across the SXs, not only with the 450. “We worked on every single model in terms of improving this in combination with cylinders and cylinder heads on the fourstrokes and exhaust systems, airbox and EMS and electronics,” explains Sauer.

“It doesn’t make sense to improve the peak performance of a 450; we have 63

Firmaxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

horses, so the secret is about bringing the power down to the ground and there we made a major step forward.”

KTM have again forced their motocross catalogue into a diet. “Overall 550g was lost on the 350 SX-F and 300g on the 250 SX-F,” Viertlmayr says of the powerplants. “Weight dropped by 200g on the 450 SX-F cylinder head alone.” KTM are using a Pankl gearbox (the firm has F1 and MotoGP pedigree with high-quality parts and castings), DS clutches on all models and with steel elements. “The components are made of steel and we have a weight drop; this is the old story of smart engineering and it the same with the steel chassis because steel can be lighter than aluminium if you do it right,” advocates Viertlmayr.

“You can always feel how light the bikes are compared to other manufacturers, and how fast they are too,” Willet contests. “Second gear on the 450 SX-F engine is longer now because they have improved mid-range torque.

ktm 2019 sx range

Feature

Even though it was one of the fastest bikes out there it always tended to have a bit of a dip in the power delivery but that has been cleaned out and it really helps for driving out of the turns. Second gear is so usable everywhere. Before you felt like it would come in with a ‘hit’ and encourage you to change up a bit more.

Now it’s more manageable; it just hooks up, drives and lets you rev out. It is like every aspect of the bike is maximised and you are getting benefit from everything.”

“KTM have concentrated on letting the 450 move around the track with ease and it takes less physical strength to do that; you don’t have to manhandle it as much. It means the market for this motorcycle has now increased massively,” he adds.

The virtues of KTM’s ‘flagship’ has allowed them to maintain their dominance in racing circles. “As proof of concept we are first and second in MXGP so we are pretty happy with this model,” Viertlmayr says.

Willet also felt increased power in the other four-strokes. The 350 (“brilliant and in it’s own class. Definitely a Clubman bike and has more power than in previous years”) and the 250 SX-F (“there are only slight changes but you can feel the improvement. There were a couple of different set-ups on the bikes we tried and I felt they made a difference, such as whether the bike was running the Akrapovic or FMF pipe) are very capable options for riders searching for a different dynamic away from the grunt of the 450.

ktm 2019 sx range

For the ‘smokers’ the new clutch and exhaust pipe (more on that later) were standouts. “The 125 SX and 250 SX both have a new pipe and I felt the benefits of that with the throttle connection: really good,” says Willet, who is a big twostroke fan. “The 250 was very easy and manageable, especially with that counter-balance shaft. It probably lacks a little bit of top-end and that’s a result of it being manageable. There was also less vibration, which is something KTM have been working on. I can remember riding one in 2010 and the power was strong but it was shaking my hands. That’s not the case any more and it is a very rideable two-stroke.”

ergo: let’s go The shape and usable function of the SXs is an aspect where KTM listened carefully to racers and customers. “We got a lot of feedback from our factory riders about the edges where we could get better,” Sauer claims. Slimmer profiling, altered plastics and more ‘connection’ was the result and thus another attribute toward better ‘rideability’.

“Rider friction sounds like another sales pitch but you really can feel it,” Willet opines. “There is less contact in certain areas and the way you now have to grip the bike and with the sub-frame being slimmer allows you to transfer your body weight more easily. When you come into a turn standing up then you can easily shift your weight forwards or backwards.

It is key across the range but it is more apparent on the 450 SX-F because of the size of the bike and how fast it is. It made Malagrotta easy to ride around.”

A curious example of how KTM looked at the two-strokes and forced through noticeable gains can be seen with the 250 SX exhaust and head-pipe. The story also highlights how the company can use 3D printing (greatly reducing production and testing windows) and design thinking from other racing disciplines to benefit the consumer.

“We made the pipe smaller by increasing clearance on the left side by 25mm which is quite a lot,” says engine specialist Viertlmayr. “We got rid of the old nasty ‘snow plough’ design on the predecessor – that our test riders were saying they had to change five times a year - and we could bend the pipe better around the frame. If you did this in an ‘old-school’ way then you would immediately lose performance but we learnt a trick from MotoGP by using oval cross sections in the first two bends and we could reduce the flow co-efficient in the pipe to have the same or even better performance. The truth is that if you have tighter bends then you clip the power. We managed to have better power and better packaging.”

Elsewhere Willet felt the 125 SX had been galvanised by the 2019 chassis.

“This bike has been the fastest and the lightest 125 for over a decade now and it’s just getting better thanks to the frame and suspension,” he says. “A key thing also is the stiffer triple clamp. You could quite easily bang the forks through in previous years and I didn’t get that impression on the new bike. Mass centralisation is a concept that gets thrown around a lot now but the KTM range is really moving forward in that direction and they are progressing. The 125 is lighter and much faster in stock form.

Feature

One of the advantages the competition such as Yamaha - had over the KTM was in the stock carb settings but this is dwindling away to almost nothing.”

The 150 SX still has its place in the pecking order. “There are many amateurs that like to have the extra bottom-end power compared to a 125,” says Sauer. “A two-stroke customer is still looking for a low-cost motorcycle and the sales figures of this particular model means there is still good demand for it.”

KTM are also looking out for rider’s more sensitive ‘regions’. “A massive influence in the new ergonomics was the seat: it seems a small thing but it is the main contact point for the user,” Sauer adds.

They explained that a ‘shootout’ of competitors’ efforts when it came to saddles led to the contours and construction of the 2019 SX platform. More comfort, easier removal (just one screw) and silicon strips for grip was the goal. “It’s noticeable for being more comfortable and the shape,” Willet says. “I didn’t really feel if it was more grippy. A lot of people are looking at seats at the moment and it is an area where manufacturers are concentrating on getting it right. In the past they were more flat and the foam did not last as much as it should do. The KTM seat was firm but not uncomfortable on track.”

ktm 2019 sxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx range xxxxxxxx:

The presence of KTM’s PowerParts and PowerWear revealed a few interesting titbits of information. For example exhausts can be boosted thanks to official collaborations with both Akrapovic and FMF (the latter providing header and silencer combos) and apparently even the factory race team will be using the D.I.D Dirtstar wheel rims next year. The PowerWear department have created a new alliance with Scott Sports to brand a range of their market-leading Prospect goggle and unions with Alpinestars and Troy Lee Designs means that the riding gear in the catalogue stays fresh and performs to a decent level. WP Suspension PRO COMPONENTS allows the rider to sculpt the handling and feeling to their particular needs. The WP AER 48 Cone Valve Forks and WP TRAX shock are the ideal tools and WP also have 74 Authorised Centres in 26 countries – with expansion happening all the time according to the Munderfing-based firm - to get the equipment fully dialled-in.

Riders and racers circulated Malagrotta with abandon. Even a heavy rainstorm did not overly dampen enthusiasm. Back at the lavish hospitality set-up the engineers and technicians prepped to receive yet more comments on their work were free to give personal judgement on where the SX range could move next. Sauer shed some light on the process. “If you ask the MXGP guys ‘what do we change?’ they normally cannot give you an answer. Instead you need to go to them with a suggestion. If you go with a longer, shorter or lighter frame then it is hard to predict whether they will like it. I think today there is no real direction in which way we can go because I believe we are really close to perfect.”

Only seven days earlier at the Grand Prix of Germany MXGP Championship leader Jeffrey Herlings had used the same ‘P’ word to describe his 450 SX-F; a race bike wholly based on the production version that was cutting berms at Malagrotta. “We will stick to our concept,” confirms Sauer. “We won’t turn the cylinder around. There are a lot of ideas coming in and we have a lot of ideas thanks to a close co-operation with the MotoGP department and their influence is coming into motocross. There is some space to improve, but today I don’t see much need to improve.”

The 2019 KTM SX range has been cast from experience, knowledge, expertise and delicate craft and it would appear to be a no-brainer for riders to take their pick when it comes to a new dirtbike.

Products

6D helmets 6D’s premium ATR-2 helmet is the product that has advanced head protection another level since its launch this year. The ‘2’ is a progression over the ATR-1 thanks to a wealth of additions and features; this is no mere upgrade. Further protection of the brow area (‘rib’) and Cervical Protection Zone are just two elements of an far-reaching shell design with low friction disc and isolation dampers playing a key role if you take a tumble.

www.6dhelmets.com The same ground-breaking ODS technology is prevalent and refined and the ideal concussion combatant. Five designs involve Strike, Metric, Aero, Circuit and Sector and four of the five come in different colour options. Expect a fee of around 695 dollars (699 euros) for the best in helmet safety you can buy.

Click on THIS LINK to read more and have your eyes opened.

SBK

pirelli riviera di rimini round

misano ¡ july 7-8 ¡ Rnd 6 of 13

Race one winner: Jonathan Rea, Kawasaki Race two winner: Jonathan Rea, Kawasaki

putting air...

Blog by Graeme Brown, Photos by GeeBee Images

worldsbk misano

worldsbk misano

SBK BLOG

trials and tribulations...

Where to start on the events of the last few weeks?

As many people will know I had all of my main working lenses stolen on Thursday afternoon at Misano, whilst I was doing a portrait shoot with Ana Carrasco for Kawasaki. Sadly I wasn’t the only victim and Gold ‘n’ Goose photographer Chippy Wood also had a big lens stolen at the same time.

There isn’t much more to say really. The press room at Misano is controlled by security staff checking passes on entry so there can only be one of two possibilities: someone with a media credential has stolen the kit or someone has got past security both on the way in and the way out. Either way there is nothing I can do about it. I have a fairly strong view that a large percentage of the people in media centres at races have no right to be there. We are in a time when the media interest in WorldSBK is dwindling and yet there was easily in excess of 100 people in the media centre, the vast majority of them with cameras.

I am honestly tired talking about this issue. The prospect of it changing is minimal and I therefore can’t be bothered wasting my time and energy on the subject anymore. The matter is now with the Keystone Cops that are the Carabinieri Misano Adriatico – one officer actually referred to his colleague as Mr Bean, oh how we laughed – and my insurance company. I will wait and see what comes of it all.

The one group of people, however, that I must offer my heartfelt thanks to are Nikon Italia and Nikon UK/Europe. It was a godsend that the NPS (Nikon Professional Service) were at Misano and were able to give me some loan equipment for the weekend.

However, I was travelling directly from Misano to Milan to catch a 6am flight from Malpensa to Barcelona on Monday morning for another shoot. Gilles from Nikon Italia pulled a few strings and between him and Rob MacNeice from Nikon UK, they organized for some additional loan equipment to get me through that job.

I am also heading to Japan for the Suzuka 8Hr next week and they have agreed that if the insurance issue is not resolved I will have some further lenses for that.

To have the support and professional back up from them has been great. So I won’t be calling around other camera manufacturers with my begging bowl to find replacements. Nikon have served me well and I will be happy to buy more kit from them if needs be.

Hmmmm. I thought there wasn’t much more to say. Ooops. Sorry.

On the race track it is a very familiar story. No one has an answer for Jonathan Rea and his Ninja ZX-10RR. There is a lot of discussion in general life at the moment about artificial intelligence. What will companies like Microsoft and Google come up with, how will the likes of Elon Musk revolutionize our lives with machines that will learn and adapt, become stronger, faster, more efficient

By Graeme Brown

through experience, despite any obstacle put in there way.

Jonathan Rea sat on a Kawasaki for the first time at the end of 2014 at Motorland Aragon. By the time we had arrived at Phillip Island for the start of the 2015 season the package looked strong. Strong enough to win, strong enough to dominate the season and clinch the title with a few races still to go.

Every year since the FIM and Dorna between them have changed the technical regulations in an attempt to balance the performance of all machines and facilitate a way to have closer racing and more varied results. In 2016, Rea and Kawasaki dominated again. Last year the reverse grid system was introduced; if you win race one you start from ninth in race two. Rea won more than he had previously and broke the all-time points scoring record for a single season in WorldSBK. This year the upper limit on engine revs have been capped. The Ninja ZX-10RR has less to play with than everyone else so things will be more equal now.

Surely. Please.

In spite of all these changes and restrictions Team65 are dominating again. It is almost as though they are adapting, learning, becoming stronger, faster, better all the time.

Truly, the bike racing equivalent of AI. I think, however, there are signs that a light breeze of change is beginning to blow. I have been impressed this year with the progress made at Yamaha. Both Alex Lowes and Michael van der Mark seem to be more at ease with the R1 and Yamaha themselves have made the step onto the podium and taken victories. Should both riders decide to stay, and not be tempted by a seat on a MotoGP Petronas machine, the progress curve should keep rising next year.

Ducati will have the new V4 in race trim and from those that have ridden the street machine, it is a bit of a missile. Again the rider line up has still to be confirmed and the final pieces of that merry-go-round – or not so much go-round – should be decided over the summer break.

I am still hoping that fortunes will turn around at Honda. Leon Camier is making good progress on the Fireblade with the Magneti Marelli electronics but there is just a final piece of the jigsaw missing. Honda are apparently now looking to work on engine tuning for next year and hopefully that will bring them into the top six mix.

One unknown is where BMW will fit in. There is a real ‘will they, won’t they’ discussion at the moment over the possibility of a fully supported team on a new race honed S1000RR. As a manufacturer they certainly have the resources to come with a full tilt at the championship. It’s another road machine that journalists have raved about but the question is whether or not there is the will at boardroom level to try and usurp the green machine.

It’s a bit depressing in many ways to be entering the summer break in the championship and already discussing how things will be for next year. I have referred to the ‘fat lady’ in the past and she is certainly rehearsing at the moment but she is not ready quite yet for her opening

SBK BLOG

aria. Portimao is the key for me. If we come out of there with JR in a lead of over 100 points he is more than capable of managing the last three rounds to see him over the line.

be commended for holding steadfast and getting the race on. It was the same when the political crisis arose in Qatar last year. There was never a question that the race wouldn’t happen.

The potential to win the championship in Magny Cours then becomes a reality. Unfortunately that would take the shine off the next round in Argentina. It has been on-and-off and back on again over the last few weeks. However, in Misano everyone in the paddock was confident that is was going ahead. Most of the teams had their back room staff booking flights and Dorna have chartered a plane to fly from Buenos Aires to San Jaun, so we will definitely be there. Whether the race will have any real meaning is another thing.

I am also looking forward to the Suzuka 8Hr. I haven’t been for a while and I will be working mainly for Kawasaki. It’s a hard event to work at given the summer heat and humidity in Japan but one that I really enjoy. An interesting little coincidence is that the last time I was there I was working for Castrol Honda with Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards riding the No11 bike. This year I will be shooting the Rea, Haslam, Watanabe trio on, yes, the No11 bike.

I for one am really pleased and excited to go there. Credit where credit is due and Dorna have pushed hard along with the local government and the promoter to make it happen. When other race series, notably World Touring Cars and the Dakar race have shunned Argentina in fear of the countries current fiscal woes, Dorna should

After that I will have a little break from work before the WorldSBK summer test in Portimao. By then we may know more about bike and rider line-ups for 2019. The light breeze may gather a bit of strength but the AI will be working overtime for sure to stay ahead of the game.

To me the future look more than interesting either way.

worldsbk misano

worldsbk misano

Products

fly racing Fine summer temperatures means riding has become an extra drain and a damn sweaty business. For those considering an investment in some ventilate, light and resistant gear set then the Kinectic Mesh from Fly Racing has to be one of the best options on the shelf.

The pants have a thin comfort mesh liner and multi-directional stretch rib panels to ensure flexibility. We’re talking 900 denier construction but a particular emphasis on mesh-tech to ensure it doesn’t feel too hot and heavy. The knee heat shield are leather with Kevlar stitching. The shirt uses the same material principals and is a ‘standard’ fit, meaning it’s shaped to not be too tight or too loose.

The design is pretty trick also, with the loop on the thigh and torso and chequered flag pattern on the pant inner leg. Expect to pay 115 dollars for the pants and 39 for the shirt. Fly also has other products to allow you to consider the full head-to-toe look.

www.flyracing.com

WESTO NPE IC K

AUTOTRADER/ YOSHIMURASUZUKI

NO GLUE, NO WIRE, NO PROBLEM.

@PROTAPER

PROTAPER.COM

AMA BLOG

rumblings for redbud...

Off weekend here in the USA, one of the very few the racers and teams have so with that in mind, let’s take a wheelbarrow and off-load some random thoughts about random things over here yeah?

-I’ve been told by a few people I trust that Team USA for the upcoming MXDN has been picked and it’s going to be Eli Tomac of the Monster Kawasaki team riding MXGP, Justin Barcia of the Monster Yamaha team in MX Open and Monster Star Yamaha’s Aaron Plessinger in the MX2 class. I haven’t been able to absolutely confirm this by deadline time but I feel comfortable enough to put this out there. After all, it’s not rocket science right? Plessinger has more than a moto lead in 250MX class here and went 1-1 at Redbud which is where the race will be held in case you just emerged from the rock you’ve been living under.

Tomac is of course the fastest rider the USA has right now so of course he’s going and Barcia has rebuilt himself this year and is the only question mark for the red, white and blue.

Team manager Roger DeCoster could’ve waited for Rockstar Husqvarna’s Jason Anderson to come back but that’s a little late for team selection time. Blake Baggett of the RM ATV/MC KTM team would be worthy but hasn’t been as good as Barcia so step right up Justin!

It’s a good team and for the first time in a while, USA has riders not turning down invites and will be, barring injury, sending its best team to the Olympics of Motocross for the first time in a number of years. That’s a good place to start for USA to break this winless record they’ve had lately.

-Generally by this time of year, the next year’s silly season is in full bloom and riders and agents are plotting where they’ll be riding the next year. But this year it’s rather quiet with all the heavy hitters here (Tomac, Ken Roczen, Marvin Musquin,

Jason Anderson) all under multi-year deals and will be staying put. Honda’s Cole Seely is up but it seems like he’s going to stay red. Zach Osborne is going to move up alongside Anderson, Monster Kawasaki is going to move up Joey Savatgy to replace Josh Grant, JGR Suzuki’s going with Weston Peick and Justin Hill, Red Bull KTM’s got a spot alongside Musquin and it looks more and more like Cooper Webb will move from Yamaha over there while Barcia will re-up with Yamaha and need a teammate, which seems like it will be Dean Wilson. Or perhaps Dean Ferris if my people down under are correct. Baggett’s got a spot open alongside him but I’d think Benny Bloss’s recent rides and low salary demands put him returning there.

And in the 250 class it’s going to pretty much the same thing. Hunter Lawrence was at Redbud and getting ready

By Steve Matthes

to join GEICO Honda who will exchange Cameron Macadoo for Lawrence. Mitch Payton’s Pro Circuit squad will most likely re-sign Martin Davalos and come back with the same team, minus Savatgy. TLD KTM will add Mitchell Faulk and lose Alex Martin to JGR Suzuki (who have one, maybe two spots open). Rockstar Husky keeps Mitchell Bailey, adds Thomas Covington and has one spot open and Star Yamaha has its same roster of riders. So all the main factory teams seem to be about set in both classes.

The only thing that could change, if one agent I spoke to is correct, is that Barcia is unable to come to terms with Yamaha on the right amount of money and jumps back to Honda. All the previous issues with the bike and management for Barcia are gone and in fact, he gets along with Erik Kehoe, who’s back with Honda now, very well. So that would leave Yamaha with two spots. Maybe Seely jumps there with Wilson and/or Ferris.

Stay tuned for updates, once Webb declares his interest and where he’s going things should be a bit clearer but for now, all the above are my best, educated guesses from what I hear.

This leaves riders like Justin Bogle, Malcolm Stewart, Josh Grant all on the outside looking in.

-I don’t know, maybe it’s all just a coincidence but the 2019 Monster Energy Supercross schedule that’s traditionally been released by the final race has been pushed back, by my count, two different times now.

Not sure what the deal is on that, maybe it’s something as simple as not all the T’s being crossed with the venues but my spidey senses are tingling.

The sport of supercross has reached a point where they’re actually getting paid to put it on TV now so that’s a good thing. And word is the TV deal with Fox/Fox Sports 1 is up and the folks at Feld Entertainment are shopping the sport to some different networks.

The fact there’s interest from others is also a good thing.

I had heard that NBC/NBC Sports was interested as well as the Fox folks. Maybe the schedule delay is based on Feld wanting to go into markets that the new/old TV people are interested in? Not sure how much that matters, maybe not at all, but the talent for the TV show seems to be in a bit of a holding pattern right now as whomever wins the right to broadcast supercross gets some say in the talent. So one might think the schedule is also being held up a tad?

Fox Sports lost Mixed Martial Arts programming to ESPN so they certainly have some budget and time on their network freed up. NBC is shut out of most sports the time the races are happening so it makes sense as well. Either way, the sports come a long way from having to pay to be on TV and being tape delayed so this is a good thing for sure. Now give us the damn schedule!

TEST

triple th Words by Roland Brown, Photos by Triumph/ Grant Evans

he goods

If there’s one bike that has characterised Triumph since the marque’s dramatic rebirth in Hinckley almost three decades ago, it’s surely the Speed Triple. Bold, distinctive and bursting with three-cylinder charm, it inspired a new streetfighter class following its launch in the Nineties, and has since received numerous updates to remain among the firm’s most popular models.

Visually, the Triple is little changed, featuring a flyscreen above its twin headlights, and a stubby rear end with high-level exhaust. But the RS has lightweight titanium Arrow silencers, plus carbon front mudguard and radiator cowls. And both the RS and standard S models incorporate more than 100 new components in their shared 1050cc, 12-valve engine, helping it to rev 1000rpm higher, and increasing maximum power by 10bhp to 148bhp.

But while the Speed Triple has evolved in everything from the shape of its signature twin headlights to its use of high-end chassis components, it hasn’t joined the recent hyper-naked class of stripped-down superbikes with eye-watering power outputs and cutting edge electronics. That’s until this year, and the launch of the Speed Triple RS.

That’s still not quite up to the output of some hyper-nakeds but it’s serious power for a bike with no fairing. Equally importantly, the increase is accompanied by an electronics upgrade that brings the RS, in particular, bang up to date. Both models get cruise control and illuminated switchgear, plus a large and colourful TFT display.

triumph speed triple rs

The RS also features keyless ignition plus an Inertial Measurement Unit – the tiny electronic brain that allows high-level traction control and cornering ABS systems.

Chassis layout is basically unchanged, including the tubular aluminium frame and the suspension, which in the RS’s case features Öhlins suspension instead of the S-model’s Showa units. Most braking hardware is also unchanged, with Brembo’s radial Monobloc calipers up front. The RS’s front brake lever is adjustable for span and lever ratio; both models get new five-spoke wheels wearing Pirelli’s Diablo Supercorsa rubber.

With the RS’s remote key in my pocket, a long press of the starter button brings to life the TFT display, which offers several choices of view, and an intuitive method of toggling between the riding modes: four for the S and an extra Track setting for the RS. On Midlands roads near Donington Park, the Triple’s addictive blend of easy power, involving character and sweet handling highlight why it has long been so popular.

At 189kg dry the Triumph is not outstandingly light, but it flicks into turns with a gentle nudge of its wide bars, and rides bumps nonchalantly thanks to its well-controlled Öhlins units. It also fires out again with the benefit of a superbly direct and accurate throttle response, with either Road or the slightly more direct Sport selected – and with the experience heightened by an intoxicating burble, hardening to a full-blown howl, from the airbox and Arrows cans.

The Triple is seriously quick too, those additional ten horses giving it some useful extra straight-line urge, and raising its top speed well above 150mph. Acceleration is boosted both by the engine’s mile-wide power band as well as the slick gearbox and quick-shifter, which has a deliciously smooth action.

triumph speed triple rs

“Super-naked, hyper-naked; call this latest Speed Triple what you like. The RS is right up there scrapping with the world’s top unfaired streetbikes...”

triumph speed triple rs

On a rain-hit ride I’m glad of the Triple’s traction control, which automatically adjusts to suit the selected engine mode. The slippery roads also highlight the benefit of the powerful brake system’s cornering ABS system which, in theory, would let me grab a handful of front Brembo even in the middle of a wet bend.

I decline to test that, but can confirm that the RS is respectably practical. It’s socalled comfort seat works as advertised; the 15.5-litre fuel capacity gives a typical range of over 130 miles; the new back-lit switchgear and TFT screen add to the air of quality. The lengthy accessory list includes heated grips as well as the shifter, which should arguably be standard fitment.

If those features make the Speed Triple RS a better road bike than its predecessors, a thrash around a wet Donington confirms that it’s also very handy on track.

The extra top-end power combines with sweet fuelling to make it fast, the chassis backs it up superbly, and the advanced ABS and traction control help keep it upright on the notoriously slippery-when-wet circuit.

Inevitably, this additional pace and refinement comes at a cost. The RS is roughly 15 per cent more expensive than the standard Speed Triple S (at £13,250 in the UK), and only slightly cheaper than classy rivals including Aprilia’s Tuono V4 1100 and KTM’s 1290 Super Duke R. But that’s fair enough, given its comparable specification.

Super-naked, hyper-naked; call this latest Speed Triple what you like. The RS is right up there scrapping with the world’s top unfaired streetbikes, and looks set to remain among Triumph’s most popular models for a good few more years yet.

triumph speed triple rs

back page Monster Energy Girls

By CormacGP

on track off road

‘On-track Off-road’ is a free, bi-weekly publication for the screen focussed on bringing the latest perspectives on events, blogs and some of the very finest photography from the three worlds of the FIM Motocross World Championship, the AMA Motocross and Supercross series’ and MotoGP. ‘On-track Off-road’ will be published online at www.ontrackoffroad.com every other Tuesday. To receive an email notification that a new issue available with a brief description of each edition’s contents simply enter an address in the box provided on the homepage. All email addresses will be kept strictly confidential and only used for purposes connected with OTOR. Adam Wheeler Editor and MXGP/MotoGP correspondent Ray Archer Photographer Steve Matthes AMA MX and SX correspondent Cormac Ryan-Meenan MotoGP Photographer www.cormacgp.com David Emmett MotoGP Blogger Neil Morrison MotoGP Blogger & Feature writer Sienna Wedes MotoGP Blogger Graeme Brown WSB Blogger and Photographer Roland Brown Tester Núria Garcia Cover Design Gabi Álvarez Web developer Hosting FireThumb7 - www.firethumb7.co.uk Thanks to www.mototribu.com PHOTO CREDITS Ray Archer, CormacGP, GeeBee Images, KTM/Romero/Campelli, Triumph.

Cover shot: Marc Marquez by CormacGP

This publication took a lot of time and effort to put together so please respect it! Nothing in this publication can be reproduced in whole or part without the written permission of the editorial team. For more information please visit www.ontrackoffroad.com and click ‘Contact us’.