On-Track Off-Road issue 205

#GETD BEAST MODE ENGAGED 2020 KTM 1290 SUPER DUKE R The NAKED rulebook has been re-written. The KTM 1290 SUPER DUKE R is now leaner, meaner and even more menacing than ever before. Sporting an all-new chassis and suspension setup, the flagship LC8 V-Twin 1301 cc boasting brutal forward thrust, blinding acceleration and an advanced electronics package, the NEW BEAST is locked and loaded for battle.

Photo: R. Schedl

DUKED Please make no attempt to imitate the illustrated riding scenes, always wear protective clothing and observe the applicable provisions of the road traffic regulations!

The illustrated vehicles may vary in selected details from the production models and some illustrations feature optional equipment available at additional cost.

MX

STILL HERE 2021 Supercross will be a richer series for the special talent and technique of a fully fit Marvin Musquin. If the soon-to-be 31-year old can keep healthy and competitive then the championship already has one of the favourites for the ’21 crown. The coming season will be the Frenchman’s tenth in the USA and since dominating MX2 Grand Prix at the beginning of the decade. The campaign will also mark 12.5 years Marvin has been a factory Red Bull KTM rider Photo by Simon Cudby

MotoGP

HERE TO STAY #1 Miguel Oliveira’s first home Grand Prix experience at the Algarve International Circuit was unforgettable – Pole Position and a lights-toflag victory. The achievement gave the 25-year old his second triumph of 2020, making him the third most successful rider of the season behind Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli whom both totalled three wins each. Oliveira supplants Pol Espargaro on the factory RC16 for his third term in the premier class in 2021 Photo by Polarity Photo

MotoGP

BYE FOR NOW The rider with the lowest digit in MotoGP bade farewell to a successful and memorable if not ultimately satisfying eight-year association with Ducati last weekend in Portugal. Andrea Dovizioso’s desire to take a sabbatical from MotoGP leaves a large question mark over whether the sport will see the 34-year old with 13 seasons, 229 starts, 62 podiums and 15 wins in the premier class again. The fertile test rider market is an avenue for 2022 – and is a halfway house for the gentle segue out of Grand Prix competition - but Dovi doesn’t sound as if he’s done with racing just yet Photo by CormacGP

WorldSBK

HERE TO STAY #2 WorldSBK tests in Jerez and Aragon represents firm steps towards 2021 when many series are still drying their powder.

The Spanish laps are especially important for the reigning world champions and set-up work for the latest version of the motorcycle that has ruled the championship repeatedly since 2015. Check out Graeme Brown’s Blog further in the magazine for an update on the state of play Photo by Steve English

MotoGP

MotoGP PORTUGAL

GRANDE PREMIO MEO DE PORTUGAL ALGARVE INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT, PORTIMAO

NOVEMBER 22nd WINNERS MotoGP: MIGUEL OLIVEIRA, KTM Moto2: REMY GARDNER, KALEX Moto3: RAUL FERNANDEZ, KTM

Photos by CormacGP/Polarity Photo

NO PLACE LIKE HOME

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MotoGP BLOG

2020’S WILD RIDE...

Looking back at the pieces I wrote at the start of 2020 is a window into a very different world. They seem like very distant history indeed, before the Covid-19 pandemic turned the world and all forms of motorcycle racing on its head.

Back then, the questions seemed simple: would Marc Márquez walk off with the MotoGP title again, or would Ducati and Andrea Dovizioso finally find a way to beat the Repsol Honda rider? Would the 2020 Yamaha M1 be the step forward Maverick Viñales needed to challenge for the championship?

Would Fabio Quartararo be Marc Márquez’ main rival for the title?

Would Valentino Rossi announce his retirement at Mugello, or would he risk the switch to Petronas Yamaha? Would KTM finally score a dry weather podium?

A very, very different world indeed. Instead, 2020 and the global pandemic took us on a wild ride through fear of losing racing altogether for a year, through a compressed and intense season of fourteen races in the space of eighteen weeks. 2020 did not so much confound expectations as rip them up, set fire to them, and then bury them at bottom of the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean. Looking back, these are some of the biggest surprises Marc Márquez goes missing Marc Márquez crashes a lot, that much is established fact. But the one thing that Márquez doesn’t do is crash in races. And when he does crash, he usually walks away almost uninjured. That all changed at the first race in Jerez, where Márquez made a mistake in the opening laps and ran off track, then had to fight his way back through the field in pursuit of Fabio Quartararo and Maverick Viñales. He didn’t quite make it: Turn 4, the corner which ended Mick Doohan’s career, bit Márquez, kicking him off his Repsol Honda, which then smashed

into his upper right arm and shattered it. A hasty return to racing after plating the limb backfired spectacularly, and he was out for the rest of the season. And who knows, maybe for the start of the next one.

Yamaha’s binary bike(s) When Fabio Quartararo and Maverick Viñales finished first and second at the first two Jerez races, we all pencilled in their names as 2020 champions. In the three races that followed, Quartararo could add only 20 points to the 50 he scored in Jerez, Viñales adding just another 8 to his total.

Then came three wins in a row, for Franco Morbidelli, Viñales, and Quartararo. Then more terrible results at Le Mans and Aragon.

The 2020 Yamaha M1 proved to be a Goldilocks machine, cleaning up when everything was just right, but going nowhere if the grip wasn’t there. Meanwhile, Morbidelli, riding the 2019 bike, started a charge that would take him to second in the championship, with three wins to his name.

Yamaha’s 2020 season makes the least sense of all.

KTM’s rise Was the success of the KTM RC16 a complete surprise? Not entirely. The 2020 version of the bike with a radically revised steel chassis was a huge step forward, a testament to the work of test rider Dani Pedrosa and the lessons learned by the team from previous years. But to go from chasing regular top sixes to ending the year with three wins and five more podiums is a massive leap. A lot of ingredients went into this success, including the outstanding work over the years

by Pol Espargaro, Brad Binder making an immediate impact as a rookie, and Miguel Oliveira coming into his own in the Tech3 team. Things are looking very bright indeed for KTM. Consistency is king We avoided a repeat of Emilio Alzamora’s winless 125 title when Joan Mir controlled the race at Valencia, beating his Suzuki Ecstar teammate Alex Rins and KTM’s Pol Espargaro to take the chequered flag. But even before that, nobody was ques-

tioning whether Mir deserved the title or not. Almost every race, the 23-year old was there, while others faltered. Seven podiums, including his win, was enough to secure the title in just his second season in MotoGP. Mir had come into MotoGP as a highly-rated rookie in 2019. But nobody expected him to triumph quite this quickly.

Takaaki Nakagami took his first pole position and threatened to finish on the podium several times. By the end of 2020, even test-cum-replacement-rider Stefan Bradl was starting from the second row. Honda didn’t have the year they hoped for. But neither did they have the year they feared.

Honda surprises Before the season started, Honda was expected to win the rider’s championship, at the very least, and perhaps the manufacturer’s title as well. But with Marc Márquez out through injury, we all but gave up on Honda. Alex Márquez looked out of his depth on the Repsol bike, Takaaki Nakagami looked mediocre, and Cal Crutchlow’s hand injury at Jerez 1 left him with arm pump issues for the rest of the season. But while we were all watching Yamaha, KTM, and Suzuki, the Hondas came sneaking up from behind. Alex Márquez found real speed, scoring podiums in the dry and in the wet.

CREATED THANKS TO Moto3’S NEWEST RACING TEAM

BY DAVID EMMETT

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MotoGP PORTUGAL

FEATURE

PLAY

ROLLING OUT THE GREEN CARPET PETRONAS YAMAHA SRT HAVE BUILT THE SECOND-BEST TEAM IN MotoGP IN JUST TWO YEARS AND NOW HAVE TO ORIENTATE THEIR STRUCTURE FOR THE BIGGEST NAME IN THE SPORT. EASY?

By Adam Wheeler Photos by Polarity Photo

FEATURE

P

etronas Yamaha SRT Team Manager Wilco Zeelenberg is barely trying to hide a grin. His team have all-but signed Valentino Rossi for 2021 but the official announcement is still pending, and he doesn’t want to talk too much about the prospect of the vast #46 presence soon to invade his eclectic and rounded satellite set-up.

association as advisor to Jorge Lorenzo - was a goal quickly realised. Petronas Yamaha SRT’s origins may have felt a little rushed but their work and potential was enough for Rossi to not only consider ‘satellite’ status but also enter a framework without the same technical crew that had been with the Italian since the start of the century.

2019 and 2020 have been dreamlike for the squad, interspersed with periods of head scratching and fist-clenching moments of frustration. While Franco Morbidelli’s surge to 2020 runner-up with the 2019 Yamaha M1 (and a strong recovery from the scary scenes of the Italian’s crash at the Red Bull Ring in Austria) brought new milestones, the puzzling crumble of Fabio Quartararo on the 2020 bike from the Jerez double conqueror to 8th in the championship was a disappointing end to their story with the 21-year old Frenchman.

“When we began there was a clear vision and a plan and, of course, we were quite lucky that the Marc VDS team stopped working in MotoGP because they actually had a good working group,” the Dutchman explains of Petronas Yamaha SRT’s beginnings.

“The bike didn’t work so well because Franco and Tom struggled quite a bit but the working group was there. There were a lot of nationalities, good Crew Chiefs and data guys.

We mixed it up a little. We took some guys from them the whole side for Fabio were basically working for Franco there - and some others from the Moto3. It was important that the data and Crew Chiefs knew the guys who were the first mechanics. We were lucky that people were available with experience and they knew MotoGP. Nationality-wise it was important for us that it was as mixed as possible. That’s not the case so much with Franco because there were quite a few English guys on his side and

Zeelenberg with fellow upper management Johan Stigefelt and Razlan Razali famously gambled on Quartararo’s potential for 2019 and the synergy with Yamaha in their maiden season was effective to the tune of seven podiums.

2020 added five wins to the tally with Morbidelli’s maturation. Outperforming the factory team - Zeelenberg’s old place of employment through a long

we decided to give him a Spanish Crew Chief in the case of Ramon [Forcada]. It was quite quickly figured out.”

“Overall the whole team came from nothing and we appeared with twenty-seven flight cases full of material to the first test and the first GP,” he adds.

“That’s a lot of material but not everybody knows where everything is, and you need to dig into that system where it all works automatically and where you need control but also the confidence that everything is there and when it’s ordered it goes smoothly! The Parts Manager was also new and hadn’t been in this paddock for ten years but he had experience with Red Bull Yamaha so he knew Yamaha’s system. We received many parts from Tech3 and were not always sure about the mileage and the control, so the first couple of races were actually quite hectic and tough.

We went through the eye of the needle a few times because everything was new for us.”

2020 brought different expectations. Many were waiting for Quartararo’s first win after coming so close the previous season. They didn’t have to wait long. Petronas Yamaha SRT were firmly bedded-in.

The possibility of attracting a rider like Rossi was starting to look more realistic.

PETRONAS YAMAHA & ROSSI

‘WE ARE AMBITIOUS, WE HAVE THE PASSION FOR THE SPORT AND THAT’S A GOOD COMBINATION WITH VALE WHO IS THE STILL HAS THE PASSION AND AMBITION TO BE ON THE PODIUM AND PUSHING HIMSELF TO THE LIMIT. THAT’S WHY HE’S STILL HERE .’

FEATURE “The riders had another season at the same tracks with the same bikes and the same mechanics,” Zeelenberg explains. “There is much more data and we were able to avoid some of the problems from the year before, and the tyres were largely the same.

Everyone steps up the game.

Especially Franco, who did so quite a bit. Fabio had another bike that he had to adapt to…”

The team had the large sponsor, the profile and the improving results but were reluctant to rush into more changes. Quartararo was already outgoing for 2021, having signed to the factory team before a wheel had turned,

but management resisted the chance to lengthen the reins with more staff and more ventures.

“Our philosophy is that more is not necessarily better,” Zeelenberg stresses. “To have more people and opinions is not always the right way. The Crew Chiefs feel happy with the responsibilities they have because many times in racing you can go left when you should have gone right…but at the very least you should give people the responsibility they deserve. In a factory team it is a bit different because there are many voices, and Japanese staff also controlling and trying to avoid mistakes.”

“Finally, you need to give the responsibility to the Crew Chief for him to decide the set-up of the bike for Sunday.

It’s not a big science. But if you have five Crew Chiefs or sources of input on one side and for one rider and five opinions then you go somewhere and you go nowhere. In our small team it is clear who is deciding what and our data guys have been learning well and fast, I think that was why we were able to outperform the factory team a couple of times.”

It’s also why the negotiations for Rossi’s signature were so protracted. Rather than the Italian dictating terms, Petronas Yamaha SRT dealt with

On the subject of the ninetimes world champion Zeelenberg is still playing coy at the time of the interview but did admit that the ethos of the team would naturally pivot because of the status, the age and the aspirations surrounding MotoGP’s ageless icon.

“We thought a lot about this because we started as a satellite team with rookie riders, well, Franco was not a total rookie but he is a young guy.

We needed to be realistic, and the fact is that we can-

not keep replacing riders with younger guys, especially from the current crop. The whole grid is young! Vale is the oldest and Dovi is also there but then you’re looking at [Miguel] Oliveira, [Joan] Mir, [Iker] Lecuona and if all goes well for them then they are going to be around for six-seven years. Vale is a big one though and I’m proud to be his team manager.”

From well-supported and high performing underdogs Petronas Yamaha SRT are now targets, with the biggest fan and media draw in their pitbox. Rossi forms a VR46 combo with Morbidelli who has pushed his stock to fantastic levels in 2020.

“I think most of the team don’t know what is coming!” the gregarious Zeelenberg smiles. “It will be busy but on the other side it is a challenge. We are ambitious, we have the passion for the sport and that’s a good combination with Vale who is the eldest rider but still has the passion and ambition to be on the podium and pushing himself to the limit. That’s why he’s still here and he’s now making the change to a satellite team and motorcycle to still make a step-up. Our target, if I had to name one, would be to achieve something with him that he wasn’t able to manage for these last two years. That’s our mission.”

PETRONAS YAMAHA & ROSSI

Yamaha and made their offer.

For a period of months the evergreen Rossi would claim the deal was done, save for “small details”.

FEATURE

“People will be more excited to work with Vale, that’s for sure,” states Morbidelli. “I think people inside the team will work with more excitement because that’s what Vale gives to the people around him, just by his presence. He gives extra motivation. That’s what I expect to see next year. This doesn’t mean that people right now in the team are working in a bad mood.

Inside the team there is a great mood, people are happy because we are doing great results and having fun.”

Morbidelli isn’t exaggerating.

The first two years for Petronas Yamaha SRT have been momentous. Perhaps the only blight has been Quartararo’s decline from the position of championship contender in the second half of 2020.

Zeelenberg tries to find a rationale outside of Yamaha’s distracting and alarming tyre struggles, engine issues, rule breaches and even freak brake problems.

“Marc was not there and Fabio was trying last year to beat him and win races. Suddenly he wins the first two which was already phenomenal for us. He had to think about the championship - and that is

part of the deal of being at this level – but last year he didn’t have to think about any of that, just enjoy life and be on the podium. When Marc was out then he – and everyone – knew there was a chance. Knowing when he feels good with the bike then he can push for the win also comes with having to know when he doesn’t feel good then he just has to bring it home and that creates a lot of frustration.”

“After Jerez we struggled a lot in Austria with a track that doesn’t suit our bike and having no speed and no brakes is a worse case scenario. Then in Brno where his rear tyre dropped he was then just looking behind him to see who’d be the next one to pass.

You could tip the chapeau in those races because he could have crashed the bike and taken nothing. Ultimately he didn’t get what he needed this year which was a better or a faster bike but in Misano you can see that these young boys are still able to make mistakes.”

“In some ways it was a great season, but unfortunately, not such a great end. So, a bit sad,” Quartararo was able

to muster after the closer in Portugal. He was already looking ahead to the ‘shorter link’ between the Monster Energy factory squad to the Iwata technicians that will want to forgot 2020 in a hurry. “For sure there is a solution. I don’t have a lot of experience in MotoGP but I think I have quite clear ideas of what to say to Yamaha, [of] what we can improve. I think we also need to believe in them. It’s also good to talk and to say that the bike is not so great, but we also need to believe that they made really great bikes in the past. For me, last year is the best example, because it was my first season, so I think that we should have confidence in them, tell them our ideas and then I think it will be important for us to believe in the project. I think it will be a benefit to be a factory rider and can’t wait to be there and to have kind of a meeting to give my ideas.”

Quartararo’s team-and-saddle swap with Rossi is also an interchange of experience and age. Petronas Yamaha SRT will lose the Frenchman’s scything one-lap speed and energy but gain a veteran’s unparalleled knowledge for handling a championship campaign.

PETRONAS YAMAHA & ROSSI

FEATURE

Petronas Yamaha SRT might be a fledging MotoGP effort that is shooting big but their wizened voices on the pit wall – and now behind it on the track – mean the glory could continue.

PETRONAS YAMAHA & ROSSI

“I think the technical situation doesn’t change a lot,” Rossi said on Sunday after the final Grand Prix of 2020 and having bade farewell to the deeper blue Yamaha garage and turning towards the lighter Petronas shade. “I have to work a lot on myself. We have to improve some areas like the qualifying, which are so important now. And also we will push, as always, on Yamaha to try to make a good job during the winter to try to improve some areas because in the last years and also this year we were strong at the beginning of the season, but afterwards we struggled compared to our competitors in the second half because they are able to fix all the new things. The end of the season was not easy. So next year will be a hard challenge and we need to arrive ready from the first race.”

PRODUCTS

FLY RACING Christmas is fast approaching [don’t roll your eyes] so it would be timely to check out some of the reams of clothes and accessories available through the Fly Racing collection and consider some decent quality gifts – especially with shopping opportunities unlikely to be as plentiful compared to a regular year.

The ‘Action Jersey’ is a fast- drying activewear t-shirt made from Polygiene® Odor Control Technology and with a standard (not too loose, not too tight) fit. It comes in four different colours (black shown here) and is priced at 40 dollars.

www.flyracing.com

The long-sleeved ‘Thermal Shirt’ is 34.95 and also a standard fit. The material is Woven “mini-waffle” fabric made of 60% ringspun cotton and 40% polyester blend. White, grey and black are the options. There is an abundance of choice for more conventional t-shirts (around 21-25 dollars each) some made from 60% Ring-Spun Cotton and 40% Polyester Blend or 100% cotton, including a PulpMX special and a Rockstar Energy edition to celebrate the brand’s association with the title-winning Husqvarna team.

Thinking more of winter? Then the Snow, Pom or fitted Beanies give some variation for hats.

STANDING IN THE TID LCR HONDA CREW CHIEF CHRISTOPHE ‘BEEFY’ BOURGUIGNON ENDS A SIX-YEAR ASSOCIATION WITH THE TEAM’S MOST SUCCESSFUL RIDER – CAL CRUTCHLOW – AND PREPARES FOR A NEW CHALLENGE WITH A RACER ELEVEN YEARS YOUNGER AND JUST ONE SEASON IN MotoGP COMPARED TO THE OUTGOING BRIT’S TEN. WE ASKED HIM ABOUT THAT TRANSITION…

DE

By Adam Wheeler Photos by Polarity Photo/CormacGP

FEATURE

“IT’S NEVER EASY TO HAVE A LONG RELATIONSHIP WITH A RIDER….”

Cal Crutchlow’s intensity and forthrightness could easily give the impression that he might be a difficult rider to work with. As the 35-year old himself points out, he has never left any of the three teams he’d ridden for on bad terms.

The six-season association with LCR and HRC has been the longest and most successful of his career; those three victories ensuring his name will be glued next to the moniker ‘Barry Sheene’ for a good while and until another Briton comes along to make the rare distinction of being a winner in the premier class.

Crutchlow’s blend with the small but tight and effective LCR squad, helmed by Bourguignon, has been one of the most stable and enduring collaborations in MotoGP. It began in 2015 after Crutchlow’s surprise defection from the factory Ducati team after just one campaign. A first trophy came that year, four more followed in 2016, including those drought-busting spoils in the Czech Republic and Australia.

“I think Beefy changed a lot over the years, especially after the first one because he knew the way I worked was different to the guys he’d had before,” Crutchlow explained via a Zoom call in Portugal last week, the scene of his final Grand Prix as a full-time member of the grid.

“A lot of the time Beefy is correct but the rider has to do it his own way as well and put that information to him. Before I think he was able to tell riders what to do and how to do it.”

for six years and we don’t need to talk a lot to understand each other. It’s the same between the mechanics in the garage; those that work together almost don’t need to communicate.

It is like a machine by itself. We achieved this with Cal. We have a very high-level rider and his potential is [still] really high. We have a really good bike from Honda – I really want to say this – it is a great motorcycle from Honda and we’re a crew with a lot of experience.”

“Everyone has their own responsibility and their work and it takes time to gel. It is not easy to build. We have been together with Cal

“Every year we’ve been going for the podium and we were able to take some victories with him. He’s a talented rider with a lot of experience and a lot of determination. You cannot say anything about his discipline or for the way he trains.”

However, LCR are now in transition. In one side of the box the pleasant and overdue upturn in speed and results by Takaaki Nakagami has been a boost but Bourguignon has to reset.

“The teams stay, the riders change,” he reflects. “I think I started in this paddock at the end of 1992, so soon it will be thirty years and of course it’s impossible to stay with the same rider in that time! It is hard to change from the human point of view because we’ve created some relationships.”

Part of the dynamic of the Crutchlow/ Bourguignon/LCR bond was the knowledge that the rider would always race to the maximum, in spite of the difficulties with the usability of the RCV and the quantity of crashes. Beefy has long established a working process to deal with the frequent swings between champagne spray and smashed fairing repainting.

“You could say that many years with the same guy creates a routine where you don’t end up pushing yourself enough to be at the top level,” he muses. “I’ve always tried – with my guys also – to leave the emotion at home: it doesn’t matter if we are 15th or we have won

LCR HONDA, CRUTCHLOW & CHANGE

“It takes time to know each other and then to get some respect or an understanding,” Bourguignon says in an interview well after HRC had decided not to extend their deal with Crutchlow but before #35 had decided to end his MotoGP career and shift to Yamaha as an official test rider. The Belgian previously worked effectively with Stefan Bradl and will now turn his attentions to Alex Marquez’s sophomore MotoGP outing.

“THE RACES ARE FAR FROM BORING, IN FACT THEY ARE VERY INTERESTING. THERE HASN’T BEEN A CLEAR LEADER AND I THINK FANS HAVE BEEN GLAD TO HAVE A RACE EVERY WEEKEND...”

LCR HONDA, CRUTCHLOW & CHANGE

FEATURE the race. Just because you are 15th on the grid doesn’t mean you go back to the hotel early.

Sometimes [that indifference] can be difficult because you miss the adrenaline of winning or the possibility of winning to push the people… but I always remind my guys – regardless of what position we have or how fast we are – we always do the same job.”

“We won’t be a million miles away, but I might be a bit lower or a stiffer front fork spring etc.

He knows all these things after many years and it will be sad not to work with him. Now he has a rider again he can go back to telling what to do! I’m sure he will do a good job and we know Alex is a great rider so they’ll work well together.”

“The decision was made that we wouldn’t have Cal next year and we will work 100% until the last lap,” he adds. “The new – or the next – challenge comes, and we’ll go 100% for that as well and I have the right people for that.

We’ll push until the last minute with Cal and we’ll push from the first minute with Alex.”

The professionalism is evident but so is the emotion. On the severance of the working link with Crutchlow, Bourguignon pauses and says “it was hard to accept that it would be the case for a while…”

“A rider with a lot of experience has habits and the special requests and special needs,” Beefy affirms. “I will not say that Alex is a rookie – OK, he is in MotoGP – but he has been doing the job in Moto3 and Moto2 and has been living with a family that are here every weekend and they live for racing. He is not a guy that you will have to tell him “go running…” because you know he already has some discipline and you can see it clearly from the way he acts during GP sessions. He has some discipline already from that family. We are not worried at all.”

“Essentially, yeah, we don’t need to talk to each other all the time, and we are always looking to improve to go faster but Beefy knows what I need on the bike and often it’s different to how other Honda riders have their bikes set-up,” Crutchlow comments, revealing more on the depth of the understanding.

2020 was a ‘lost’ year for Honda and HRC. The first for almost four decades where the factory did not win a premier class Grand Prix.

Injuries to Marc Marquez and Crutchlow rapidly re-drew the battle lines in what became a topsy-turvy campaign. In a difficult summer of restrictions, closed paddocks and circuits and

“I think we saw with Fabio [Quartararo] last year that the other Yamaha riders couldn’t really complain anymore, and they had to work harder,” he adds. “I really thought this could be our year with Cal. In Sepang he was P2 in the tests and in Valencia he was also up there.

In Jerez he qualified P6 and was around the top guys and even better for race pace. He is always able to pull something out of the hat.

He is a special rider for that. Unfortunately, injury and trying to carry on when injured means it is not easy to come out of this.” hassle with international travel, Bourguignon had to marshal his team like never before and endure a ‘dry’ term without a podium trophy. Outside of the freaky situation at Repsol Honda, he was able to have a slightly detached view on how the Honda-lite season played out.

“Every team and manufacturer need a leader, and when Marc was there the others knew he was achieving very good results with the same motorcycle: he was a benchmark. This year Marc was hurt, Cal was injured and Taka only had data with Alex; and normally it is always good to look at information from a rider that is continually faster to know where and how the

Six years and twelve podiums ended with the shredding of a Michelin rear tyre in the Algarve International Circuit pitlane but the ‘35’s were not yet peeled off for the ‘73’s as the boxes were packed away for the last time in 2020.

The latches were closed on the LCR combo however.

“I always said I would stop and retire when I got up in the morning and never had the motivation,” Crutchlow said in his final digital press conference. “But I still get up in the mornings and still have the motivation to go on my bike and train etc. It’s just I can’t compete at the level I want to compete at anymore. It’s as simple as that. I’m still fast, but week-in, weekout, with regards to this championship this year. it made me realise that I want to be at home, I want to do different things in my life.

But I’ve had a great time, a good career that I’ve enjoyed. I believe I deserved because I put in the work.”

For Bourguignon and the San Marino-based LCR contingent the work and the adventure goes on.

LCR HONDA, CRUTCHLOW & CHANGE

bike can be improved. We missed that with Cal because he was not able to ‘use’ Marc.”

MotoGP BLOG

GOLD, NOT BRONZE After 215 starts, eleven wins, 40 podiums and one championship in twelve years of competing at world level, Cal Crutchlow’s step back from racing feels like the end of an era.

He might be back. A testing role with Yamaha in 2021 could include a handful of wildcard appearances. But listening to the 35-year old reflect on his racing career on Sunday, this sounded pretty final.

Whichever way you view it, those twelve years have packed a punch. Crutchlow not only secured a world championship at World Supersport level before appearing capable of doing the same in World Superbike.

He’s undoubtedly been the UK’s greatest grand prix export in close to four decades. There were a few tough moments dotted across his ten year-stay in

MotoGP. But he was a regular at the front for the best part of seven seasons in the sport’s most competitive era.

“Just another week in the life,” he said of an exhaustive routine between races visiting doctors and specialists.

Not bad for a rider who openly admitted his talent wasn’t in the same league as a number of his contemporaries. “I’ve always been the first guy to say that it was my determination that brought me through most of racing,” Crutchlow said on Sunday.

“And maybe not being the most talented made me continue longer, want it more.”

Cal never left anything out on the track. He was aggressive, tough and surprisingly versatile.

Attempting to adapt from Yamaha’s M1 to Honda’s aggressive RC213V caught many a top-class rider out (hi Jorge). But he managed it, enjoying the best years of his career – 2016 and ’18 – aboard HRC machinery. There was a likeness to Carl Fogarty in that his grit and self-belief carried him further than raw ability. How he bounced back from a rotten opening to 2016 as he grappled with Michelin’s new front tyre to win his first two races was a case in point.

But that desire was put to the test over the past five months.

There can be no dressing it up: 2020 was a slog. Having learned he had lost his ride at LCR Honda in May, injury disrupted Crutchlow’s entire season. There was the broken scaphoid in his left wrist courtesy of a warm-up crash at Jerez. Then there was arm pump in his right forearm and complications to an operation. He tweaked his ankle ahead of the race in Barcelona. And then a ligament snapped in his shoulder during the Teruel Grand Prix.

In his best moments he was a match for anyone. Brno in 2016 is the standout, Britain’s first premier class win in 35 years.

But Crutchlow’s epic scrap with Marc Marquez at Silverstone next time out might rank as his best ever ride. The man who would be champion that year just could not accept second

best in that all-Honda scrap. But on that occasion he had to. Then there was Phillip Island later that year. Marquez crashed out of the lead, yes. But he did so just as Cal was applying pressure from behind.

It wasn’t just his riding. He had a clinical eye for what other bikes and riders were doing, how they were behaving. “He’s one of the few riders I’ve worked with that notices so much on the bike,” said Peter Bom, Crutchlow’s data technician in his victorious World Supersport campaign. “He didn’t try to be an engineer; he just gave all his impressions and feelings, and there was a lot. It’s like he has a data recorder running at 1,000 revs in his head. He picks up a lot of stuff I had never heard anyone say before.” Don’t listen to Jorge Lorenzo. Yamaha will be getting gold, not bronze.

Sure, there were crashes – 179 of them across ten seasons in MotoGP – which affected championship position. But Crutchlow was a fighter. Even at this level there were few tougher riders around.

When he snuck out of hospital at Brno, 2017 after breaking his T6 vertebra to ride in the following session it beggared belief. Silverstone 2012 was another which bended the realms of what was physically possible. “He had a broken foot so we started basically last,” recalled Daniele Romagnoli, his crew chief at Tech 3 Yamaha and Ducati. “He finished sixth. In the first laps all he could do was feel the pain in his foot, and couldn’t ride as normal. But after a few laps he started lapping with the same speed as the leaders. He’s a ‘Braveheart’ rider.”

Cal wasn’t lying when he said he never left a team on bad terms.

He maintained decent relations with Ducati. Yamaha have always though highly of him, as evidenced by their decision to sign him for next year. And emotions were running high on Sunday after his swan song for LCR. “Cal is a leader,” Christophe Bourguignon, his crew chief, told me some years ago. “Kevin [Schwantz] was like that. Cal is like that. You might think he can be difficult to work with, but it’s

CREATED THANKS TO Moto3’S NEWEST RACING TEAM

BY NEIL MORRISON

MotoGP BLOG

the complete opposite. He’s a nice guy.

He’s a gentleman with everybody.”

As much as his feats on track will be missed, his presence off it will equally be felt. Once you got over that piercing stare, Crutchlow could be a journalist’s dream. Writing a feature on any given topic? He was sure to give you a quote that would breathe fresh life into your piece. Had something controversial happened in the paddock? You always knew Cal would have an opinion (and one that made you view it in a slightly different light). Sure, he could be spiky and liked to throw us off the lead with regards to his future plans. But he was genuinely funny with a wit as quick as they come.

Perhaps that occasionally worked against him. Could he, for example, have landed a seat at Repsol Honda if his public comments weren’t so forthright? Possibly. I can remember more than one occasion a Honda press officer approaching me to ask if the headline featuring some of Crutchlow’s spicy comments he had just read was true. ‘Did Cal really say that?’

But then we can’t be sure. And you’ll never find me complaining when a rider tells us what he really thinks.

He was also capable of genuine kindness.

When Takaaki Nakagami joined LCR, Crutchlow spent a day at their first test showing him the correct lines around Jerez. Bom remembered, “He had Nokia as a personal sponsor (in 2009). Without asking us if we were interested, he came to us in the middle of the year with a little package for everyone. There was a phone and sunglasses in it. And this was just for free.” At the end of 2017 we arrived at his debrief to find he had brought eight replica helmets for us journalist who regularly attended his debriefs. On the few occasions I spoke to him privately I found him to be a contrast to the outspoken figure you’d see on TV. He leaves a big hole to fill for the other British names attempting to get to the top. But Crutchlow left the class on his terms. “I’ve done it all,” he said on Sunday. “I’ve won in every championship I’ve been in, I think! I couldn’t have done more.” And for a rider, who in 2011 was sure his MotoGP career wouldn’t last beyond the season, that isn’t bad going.

MotoGP PORTUGAL

A CONVERSATION E N WITH: R BO S O H C A Z

THE 2020 AMA CHAMPION ON THE IMPORTANCE OF MOTOCROSS COMPARED TO SUPERCROSS, CHAMPIONSHIP PRESSURE, ENDURING THE BAKER’S FACTORY AND GETTING SOME SLEEP…

By Adam Wheeler Photos by Simon Cudby/Husqvarna

N

FEATURE

A

side from being one of the most popular dirtbike racers on American soil, Zach Osborne keeps giving us reasons to bother him for interview requests.

Not content with turning around a career that involved junior and teen mega-hype, a loss of direction that eventually led to a four year decamp to MXGP, an injury-riddled AMA Supercross and Motocross return and finally a trail of glory that has seen four title wins in four years, Osborne pursued and added American motocross’ oldest and most prestigious trophy to the 31year old’s fireplace.

That same mantlepiece is briefly on view via our FaceTime interview. It’s 7.30am in the Osborne household in Florida, early afternoon in Europe. Mug of coffee in hand, Zach has sat down to chat before his two kids are up-and-about and his day begins. He is long entrenched in Aldon Baker’s famed programme located in the same state. “We’ve only just started training again for next season, but there was a big storm here last week and it dumped a load of rain…it’s only just drying up now.”

Osborne has already cleaned up in 2020. By becoming the Lucas Oil AMA Pro National

450 champion he joins a list that includes only Ryan Dungey, Ryan Villopoto, Ken Roczen and Eli Tomac this decade. His 2010 British Championship feels like another age and another rider.

His varied skills and propensity to jump on different bikes for different series’ has given him flexibility, increased stock and endearment from fans and followers of offroad disciplines. Osborne could easily have slipped into the role of likeable and approachable all-rounder but is still fast and competitive enough to ruffle features in the AMA premier class. A catch-up was overdue…

Winning the 450 MX championship: does it hold more value than the supercross ones?

I think it does. 250 championships are great and the 250 Outdoor was pretty big but the 450 title is ‘next level’ to my 250 stuff. I never saw myself being in a situation to win a 450 championship so to make that happen and get the job done was pretty big for me.

Is that because people might see you as a ‘250 rider’?

There was less expectation for you on the bigger bike?

Yeah, there was definitely less expectation for being championship material, you know? It seemed like it was never really on the cards because it took

me fifteen years to get to the 450 class! So, to win in just a couple of years and - before I slipped out of the motocross because of my age – was cool.

I had some pretty big injuries off the bat, so to make it happen I think I exceeded expectations for my career, if you will.

Was there a point this summer where you thought ‘s**t, this is really possible’?

After RedBud 1 I thought ‘this is getting even more serious now…’. I had won the first two rounds and the third wasn’t that great but then I won again at RedBud 1 and did good enough at RedBud 2 to have a big lead. It kinda all started then. Obviously, the flat tyre in Millville brought a new kind of pressure. After Millville I had to flick the switch again and try and extend the lead. So, the bigger race for me was the one in Florida; going 1-1 there was massive.

Talk about pressure. That famous night in Las Vegas 2017 and your first SX 250 title win on the last lap was short, sharp and intense but this was a long summer with the red plate. Maybe you hadn’t had too much experience of that before…

I hadn’t. It was hard, no twoways about that. It ground me down in the end, pretty hard. Toward the last races I really felt it, because there

ZACH OSBORNE

FEATURE

When you said it was ‘grinding you down’ what do you mean by that?

I’d say my fuse was pretty short because towards the end I just wanted to be at the races. I didn’t want to train or to think too much. I just wanted to race, race, race. I wanted to speed up the process of making it happen. I guess I was being more irritable. More impatient.

“I THINK GUYS ARE REALISING THAT IF YOU CAN GET TO 30 BEING RELATIVELY INJURY-FREE YOU CAN CONTINUE RACING. THE TRAINING SIDE OF THINGS IS ACTUALLY EASIER FOR ME THAN IT EVER HAS BEEN...”

Was it one of those situations where you want it to be over… but then it’s also a shame to wish those good days of achievement away…

It’s tough! That’s the nature of the beast, of sport. You don’t want to wish it away too much because those are the moments that you are supposedly working, training and living for.

When you’re in it you are like ‘this is really frickin hard… let’s just get this done!’ In Pala I wanted to stay up all night because those days when you win, you go 1-1 or you take a title you want to remember

every single, solitary possible thing that you can. I was wishing away more the practice and the training days where things can go wrong in a flash.

People might assume that a supercross title is the be-all and end-all, that a motocross title might be slipping down the order in terms of priority or preference. Is this the case? Is there still the same level of prestige? Will people remember you more as the 250 double supercross champion?

I think the 450 championship outweighs the 250. For sure. I mean, at the end of day we get paid mostly for supercross and I think that’s the crown jewel in my opinion [450 SX]. I don’t have it yet and it’s the one I’d really like to win. I have a couple more chances at it I believe. I don’t think I’ll be remembered as a 250 champion. I hope I’ll be remembered as a good dude that raced dirtbikes…but with the way the last series ended I believe I can also push for a 450 Indoor championship if I play my cards right. Hopefully I’ll get a shot at it.

The continual slow shift of importance to supercross doesn’t frustrate you?

No. I think on a ‘show level’ supercross is the ultimate for our sport. That’s nothing against motocross or MXGP; GPs are also massive.

ZACH OSBORNE

were so many variables and it was going to be such a big accomplishment. That flat tyre made such a ‘mess’ for me [mentality]. It totally flipped the script in my mind for what I should be doing. I was thinking ‘get on the podium and this is yours…’ and then I suddenly had to win some motos asap. Initially I started the championship just wanting to win a race… but then I won the first two and had a twenty-something point lead and it rapidly went from ‘I want to win a race’ to ‘hey, let’s win this title’ in the span of seven days. It was a monumental type of pressure I hadn’t felt before. The thing in Vegas was huge but in-themoment – when you’re riding - it’s not that hard to deal with because there is so much going on and you’re not focused on that one thing. But leading a championship from the first race: every time you eat you are thinking about it, every time you are relaxing you are thinking about it, every time you are done riding you are thinking about it. It’s like there is a little guy on your shoulder saying ‘hey! What about the championship?!’ It was a tough ten-week span or whatever it was to get the job done.

I’d had a little taste of it before, I led the 2017 250 championship from wire to wire but it was a different level for the 450s.

FEATURE I think from a show and sponsor standpoint supercross has to be the draw.

There’s a state of flux in MXGP at the moment, a generational movement with some of the older, established riders bowing out of the sport. Is the U.S. scene going through something similar? Do new ‘star names’ have to be made?

Yeah, but I would say we’ve reached a place here in America where 27 is not the ultimate retirement age. Marv is going to be 31, I’m 31; there are quite a few guys who are over 28 or even 30 now. I think we have come to a new place where it’s a sustainable thing. Fitnesswise I would say I am better than ever; in terms of cardio.

29-34 is your cardio prime. I think guys are realising that if you can get to 30 being relatively injury-free you can continue racing. The training side of things is actually easier for me than it ever has been. My natural engine is at its peak.

There is a ‘guard shift’ in a lot of ways though. We are losing some teams this year, which is not good. Big teams like JGR and Geico. It is a strange time and it has been a strange year, but I believe we can come out the other side of it.

honest. It’s harder mentally than it is physically.

So, it was also quite a stress winning a British Championship compared to a 450 crown?!

Ha! You gotta put it into perspective right? At the time it was pretty massive. Brittney and I joke all the time because I had a nice collection of matted jerseys framed-up when I came back from Europe and looking at them now I think ‘hmm, maybe I shouldn’t have framed them…!’ It’s not that

“CHAMPIONSHIP PRESSURE: I THINK THAT CAN REALLY TORCH YOU. I DON’T THINK MANY PEOPLE QUIT BECAUSE THEY ARE PHYSICALLY TIRED BUT BECAUSE THEY ARE MORE MENTALLY FRIED. THAT WILL DO IT...” from 15-16-years old until they retired at 27, and that’s tough.

Hard on you. I’ve been dealing with it for four years now and not even all in the 450 class. I think that’s the biggest thing. There is a lot of success that comes from training with Aldon.

So, there’s no big toll?

Bodily, no. I think the amount of training we do is massively overstated. The biggest thing is that we all ride together, and the riding is really hard but the training is otherwise pretty mellow, if I’m totally

cool…but at the time they were really big accomplishments. Who knew that all this [AMA titles] would happen?

Maybe I should have maybe waited on the jersey framing…

Fitness, confidence, profile, momentum: it must be near a peak but what’s the compromise? How are you ‘paying’ for all the positives benefits of your career?

I wouldn’t say there is any one thing that suffers…the hardest thing for me is sleeping.

It’s always been a big challenge for me and something

ZACH OSBORNE

Aldon and his regime have been harshly labelled as a ‘career-enders’ but can you explain how you have had such longevity with his programme?

The championship pressure we talked about earlier: I think that can really torch you. I don’t think many people quit because they are physically tired but because they are more mentally fried. That will do it. RV [Ryan Villopoto], Dunge [Ryan Dungey], RC [Ricky Carmichael] and a lot of guys had those pressure

FEATURE

ZACH OSBORNE “I’D LOVE TO TRY MXGP AGAIN. I ACTUALLY HAD THE CHANCE TO DO THE LAST SIX GPS THIS YEAR BUT I WAS KINDA SMOKED. I WOULD HAVE HAD TO FLY STRAIGHT FROM PALA TO LOMMEL AND THAT DIDN’T TICKLE MY FANCY!”

FEATURE

ZACHO SPEAKS On racing with no fans…

It makes a difference, perhaps more so in supercross. For me it gave the racing a bit more intensity because the noise from the fans brings a distraction. The idea of the race is different in your mind. When it is dead-silent and all you hear are the bikes and you can even scream at people it makes a race dynamic that much more intense. It is definitely strange being on the podium and not seeing anyone or hearing anything. It’s definitely weird and noticeable. The fans in our sport are ‘part of it’ more than in any other motorsport. Period. We’re more accessible to them than any other sport, I believe, and a large part of what we do involves the fans. So, it is weird and a bummer. I think people can get drawn into the sport because they know there is a good chance to see us or talk to us on a Saturday. It’s a bit disappointing that the whole experience for us and for them was shot this year.

On more podcasts…

It was really good for me in the year that I did it, and I really enjoyed it. But my next project is to write a book, so I’m shifting my focus to that.

On Bobby Hewitt departing the Husqvarna team/set-up…

The thing with Bob was a bummer. I don’t really know all the ins-and-outs of it…but Bobby was an intricate part of our team and someone I liked working with, so to see him go was sad. We all relied on Bob. He was our leader, so to lose him was tough. I think a lot of what we did this year was done in recognition of Bob. It was a big loss to our team.

On Tony Cairoli still racing at 35…

It’s impressive. He’s not only racing but he’s still winning GPs and even had a chance at the world

championship this year. I know his body is starting to fight back a little bit. He seems to have a few more niggly problems more often but that’s what you’d expect. Even at 31 I find I don’t quite wake up the same way as I did when I was 21! I have a lot of respect for him. He’s still a beast.

On how to create new stars in the sport…

Social media is the easiest platform. There are many different ways, ideas and algorithms that you can find people and people can find you quite easily. It’s the biggest tool. I still don’t utilise it very well!

that I have to focus on! With Brittney I’ve developed a pretty good routine, a pre-bedtime routine which really helps me to sleep. Other than that it just been about learning to manage a championship again. I did it for two years and then had a year ‘away’ and then had the stress again. Hopefully in 2021 I can move forward with what I’ve learned and do it better.

450 Supercross is the final hurdle…but what else do you want to do? GNCC, ISDE, keen Motocross of Nations participation, an MXGP win?

What’s the next goal?

I’d love to try MXGP again. I actually had the chance to do the last six GPs this year but I was kinda smoked. I would have had to fly straight from Pala to Lommel and that didn’t tickle my fancy!

Especially Lommel…

Right! If it had been, say, three GPs in one week at Teutschenthal then we would

ZACH OSBORNE

have had a deal! Otherwise there are a lot of possibilities.

Dakar used to be the dream but I’m getting too old to learn something completely new. I still love to ride and different stuff does interest me. I did a GNCC this year and want to do another one. The ISDE is supposedly coming to America soon and I hope I am still racing when that happens.

Maybe in Italy next year…it would be cool to make one of those happen. From a social standpoint I got more views on my page from the GNCC outing than I did for winning my national title. It’s pretty crazy that those opportunities are available. If the right people in the corporate world get a hold of it then I’ll be doing a lot more!

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TROY LEE DESIGNS Here’s a range of Troy Lee Designs gloves that have undergone careful R&D and subsequent design. Take the top-of-the-line SE Ultra (green here). The ultra light stretch micromesh is one thing and the silicone finger prints is a given (as is the single layer perforated palm) but the slip-on fit and the compression cuff are two different approaches.

The slim construction might raise questions over durability but riders won’t have to worry about degrading velcro or other ineffective closure systems. There are five different colourways and a 38 dollar price.

The SE Pro costs 36 dollars and is a more ‘conventional’ model. The velcro closure is small and the compression molded cuff is still in place. The unit is more robust with top of the hand ventilation and more protection material. There are seven other choices depending on the requirements of the wearer.

The Radius, for example (above), is an Adventuring glove while the Air is probably recognised from MXGP and Supercross use by teams such as Monster Energy Yamaha and the Troy Lee Red Bull GasGas.

www.troyleedesigns.com

MX BLOG

LEAVING A HOLE The industry over here was kind of rocked with the news that Factory Connection Honda, AKA GEICO Honda, was folding up its doors after the last national after a very successful 22-year run with success in both classes.

The title company GEICO, decided to not renew the teams deal and that was it, with the late notice not allowing them to find a suitable new title, they packed it in.

And now, a new shockwave the other week with the news that JGR Suzuki was also done racing. The North Carolina-based team has been around for 14 years and had been the official Suzuki factory effort the last few. A passion project of Coy Gibbs, his father runs a massively successful NASCAR team and was a two-time Super Bowl winning coach (NASCAR and NFL football success basically means Coy’s dad Joe, is an American icon, trust me on that), the team hadn’t been able to have a title sponsor the last few years but with

Suzuki’s support, they were out there with good riders with some good results.

They had spent the big money over the years, first on James Stewart when they were on Yamaha and then Justin Barcia, but because of budgets, they had stepped back from getting an elite rider. Everything seemed to be ok however. There was complete faith by many in the pits that a huge title sponsor would step up to ease the burden on Gibbs or another OEM would want to be associated with them. They’re JGR, they’ll be fine!

Until they weren’t, I suppose.

Suzuki’s efforts over here in off-road racing isn’t anywhere near what they used to be and when the Japanese

company came in with a very low offer to run the team (sources say it was a 60% pay cut from what they were paid in 2020), Gibbs decided that it was over. “I can only be stupid for so many years” he said about spending his money on the team the last few years. Suzuki’s been a bit of a mess for a while over here and despite the success in MotoGP, they’ve been behind the curve over here in the USA when it comes to SX/MX. Of course, they don’t even field a team in the MXGP series.

So more riders out of work, more mechanics and team personal out of a job and it’s a blow to the scene here.

If JGR MX, with all its ties to Fortune 500 companies, can’t get a title sponsor for

CREATED THANKS TO

BY ADAM WHEELER

BY STEVE MATTHES its team, what hope do the other teams have right?

I wish I could turn this most recent team closing its doors into something positive or look on the bright side somehow but I can’t, the team was a very big part of the pits over the years and simply put, this sucks. I feel for the guys there, I feel for the sport over here and also I can’t help but feel this is just the first step for Suzuki pulling completely out of SX/ MX (they still support the HEP Suzuki team) over here.

Gibbs didn’t say that this was definitely the end of the road so there’s some hope there but with him taking a massive step into running the JGR NASCAR team after his brother passed away, he’s been more removed from the SX/MX team more than ever the last few years. Without a sweetheart offer from an OEM, why would he ever come back?

It’s a sad time in our sport over here, we’ll recover for sure but there’s definitely been a bit of our soul lost with the departure of these two teams. With everything going on in the world and in this country, I’m afraid it might just be the beginning of a down turn for the sport we all love.

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FEATURE

Photo by JP Acevedo

THE FLOWING WATERS OF TIME: DIPPING A TOE INTO THE EVOLUTION OF MODERN MOTOCROSS WE ASKED A GATHERING OF FORMER GRAND PRIX WINNERS – ALL OF WHOM NOW WORKING IN MXGP – FOR THEIR OBSERVATIONS ON THE CHANGING SHAPE OF THE SPORT

By Adam Wheeler Photos by Ray Archer

There is a vast range of expressions from our interviewees when discussing the passing of time in MXGP. From smirks to shakes of the head, passionate pleas, knowing looks, incredulity, dismissiveness and admiration. The subjects range from physicality, mentality, the changing nature of Grand Prix tracks, the machinery, the structure of racing and the internet.

Rather than aiming to round-up a bunch of grumbling opinions from the past two generations we instead decided to pick the minds of people who are nuanced enough to be transferring their experience and wisdom onto their Grand Prix successors.

In their own way these former riders are continuing to show adaptation and are not dwelling on past days or old glories.

It makes their views more valid…but still pretty fun…

FEATURE

WHO WE SPOKE TO: MARNICQ BERVOERTS, MONSTER ENERGY YAMAHA TEAM MANAGER Belgian Grand Prix winner, factory rider and now leading Yamaha’s MX2 GP team with Jago Geerts and Ben Watson the star performers in 2020.

MARC DE REUVER, F&H KAWASAKI TRAINER 125, MX2 and MXGP GP winner who helped Pauls Jonass to the 2007 MX2 world championship and now overseas the threeman F&H Kawasaki MX2 crew of Roan van de Moosdijk, Mathys Boisrame and Mikkel Haarup.

JOEL SMETS, RED BULL KTM SPORTS MANAGER Five times world champion and one of the most successful riders in the history of the sport. Former Team Suzuki Rider Coach and now guiding rider prep at Red Bull KTM. He was instrumental in the 2018 selection of Tom Vialle and moulding the Frenchman to 2020 MX2 title success.Haarup.

STEPHEN SWORD, HITACHI KTM FUELLED

BY MILWAUKEE Ex-MX2 Grand Prix winner and multi British Champion. Works for the biggest British team in MXGP and steers Conrad Mewse, Bas Vaessen and Adam Sterry at the KTM outfit.

MX2 title success.

JACKY VIMOND, KRT & ROMAIN FEBVRE TRAINER France’s first FIM World Champion and a legend in the sport helping a myriad of riders to success such as Seb Tortelli, Josh Coppins, Romain Febvre and Ben Watson to name a few.

DIFFERENCES Stephen Sword: I was a few years away and when I came back to the paddock full-time I could see that the sport has changed in many ways but in some ways it hasn’t. A lot of the same people are there. The profile of the teams and the workshops is at a good standard. The TV coverage is better. Social media has had an impact, and that wasn’t really around when I was at the peak of my GP career. There is a lot ‘more’ around the rider, but I still see that how they approach the races, the winter training and the hard work then this will always show through, as it did before. The level might have gone up but it’s still the same work and doing things the right way.

Marc De Reuver: The whole system changed.

You had a lot of track time, a different way of getting race-fit. Now everything is so fast, so quick. In the last years I raced I had some of that, so I’ve had the old way and the new.

Marnicq Bervoets: For sure there has been change. Also, with the age of the riders and the possibilities to race. We obviously had 125, 250 and 500 classes and now it is mostly all pushed towards the MXGP class. The age limit meant everybody had to funnel to one category and you needed to be top three-four in MX2 to get the right opportunity on a 450. All the best riders are in the same place and the first five-six laps now are really aggressive. There are MX2 GP winners in there that are riding hard and very well but just for tenth position.

The level is really high.

Jacky Vimond: Riders are working hard now even before they have the results. They don’t get a result and think ‘ah! Now I need to train more to get better’. They are training from the outset. They need to do that to find a team and get the bike. Without a team today it’s impossible to have a career. You can only go

CHANGE IN MOTOCROSS

so far with your parents, even in EMX125 I think you need a real team. The EMX teams are almost like the ones in MX2. You even see some big trucks. Money is coming into that level to allow more organisation and again the level goes up.

Marnicq Bervoets: For the spectators it works, for sure. It makes it a bit dangerous as well with more injuries because riders are under even more pressure to keep a spot on a team for the following season.

Guys who are sixth-seventh in MXGP have to give everything because there are not many places and that makes everything even more intense.

Marc De Reuver: The 450 is a rocketship.

The speed of these bikes: it’s not normal.

Suspension gets better. The technical side of racing is much better. The physique of the guys, the training: it’s all much more professional. In 2004, on a Sunday night, I’d go with [Tony] Cairoli to the beer tent!

We’d have two beers. I’m sure those two beers did not make any difference the next Sunday. Now the nutrition is better. I had a trainer and I had my bike, now there are different people for different roles: mental coaches, you name it.

Jacky Vimond: There is a big difference.

There are way-more people behind the riders. Some riders then raise the level of performance and preparation. There are always different levels because not everybody can be world champion…but they are all working to be world champion!

Stephen Sword: Sport science and testing was around in my day but it’s just developed so much. It’s like the first iPhones! Look where they are now. It is the same with the fitness tests, coaching tools, analysis and Apps. There is a lot to look

at but also a lot of distractions. Riders can get sucked into social media and when it’s all good then it’s good but when they are looking at others then everything is more exposed. It’s a bit of a tool to psyche people out or do the opposite. You can read too much into things but you cannot deny that smartphones have a big influence across everyone and everything.

Marc De Reuver: I would like to see the guys now back in 2006 at Lierop with me. I didn’t have all the extra resources. I’d eat spaghetti… but now it is all weighed and the fat is measured, the body index is counted every month.

It is much more professional, so the athletes get better. Look at 100m runners. Maybe the shoes get a bit better but that’s it.

FEATURE The times keep dropping though because the athletes evolve with their preparation.

Stephen Sword: Some sports even have ‘sleep guys’.

Jacky Vimond: Tom Vialle - KTM made him a champion. Of course, he rides really well but he had everything he needs to achieve that goal. I don’t think anybody would have seen him two years ago and thought ‘he’s a world champion’.

He was a good youngster but to win the title so fast…

Joel Smets: The sport has become a bit more professional and the riders have a bit better guidance now but to say the riders now are more technical? I’m not sure. Well, for sure they are more technical than me but that’s not difficult! I don’t think you can say they are more technical than a rider like Jean Michel-Bayle.

He was the best rider I ever saw. Also, Roger [De Coster] and Stefan [Everts]: really technical riders. Christophe Pourcel as one that came along a bit later.

Marnicq Bervoets: The bikes are better, faster and easier to ride. Every generation looks for a way to go faster, scrubbing is an example. It seems that every five years or-so somebody brings a new type of technique and then everybody tries to do the same to be faster. The bikes are lighter and handle better so that means the guys can do more special things than we did.

We had to really hold them and be very strong.

You still need to be very physical now, don’t misunderstand me, but it is easier to ride hard and when that happens you go faster again.

Stephen Sword: The way they are riding the bikes these days…they are clearly faster, even more than ten years ago. Everyone scrubs these days. If you don’t scrub then you are not going fast. It was around in my day…but it’s developed and so has technique.

SMETS: “THERE USED TO BE LAZY B*****DS BACK IN THE DAY AND THEY ARE STILL THERE. JUST AS THERE WERE HARD WORKERS THEN AND THERE ARE HARD WORKERS NOW. THE SPORT, LUCKILY, STILL HASN’T LOST IT ROOTS WHEN IT COMES TO THE RIDERS...”

Stephen Sword: There is still an element that the 450s are still way-too fast but the boys just seem to get stronger.

Marc De Reuver: There was a different kind of physical shape for the older races. Now it is all interval training, quick-quick-quick. If you put these guys now into an older GP weekend with the longer motos it will not work. Two different types of racing.

Jacky Vimond: I think there are less lazy guys these days. In previous eras if there were ten guys working hard physically then I reckon today it is twenty, the double. It is getting more and more difficult to make it. If you also see how fast the European Championship is now.

I remember being the national trainer for the French Federation and how much I had to push

CHANGE IN MOTOCROSS

Jacky Vimond: Before only a few guys could scrub. Now it is almost everybody. Some do it better than others. Many guys can make it through the waves pretty good, even in the 125s and I’m always interested to watch that class because the kids often try to do some crazy – and good things! - on the bike. At sixteen years old they already have a high level of ability on the bike.

FEATURE the young kids to race EMX: it was the first step and I believe it can be dangerous to ‘jump too fast’, too quickly in motocross. I had to really push them to consider that championship before looking at the GPs. Now it is widely accepted that you have to be there. It’s the first ‘take-off’ for any career and I see young guys working at their racing like those that are already in MX2. The level is going up. Maybe the first six-ten riders in the 125s are almost training at GP-spec; for sure it was not like this in my time! Only the very top guys were doing that.

FAMILIARITY Joel Smets: There are still similarities compared to my day, luckily, because that is the backbone of the sport: it is a motorbike with an engine, two wheels, a handlebar, a track and dirt.

Marnicq Bervoets: We trained and tried to go as fast as possible on the first laps to get our positions or to control the gaps. I don’t see much difference in that approach. The big difference is that there were main five-six really good riders and then a big gap. But now – in the MXGP class especially – there are 10-11 really fast riders.

Jacky Vimond: Some people might not have the talent to be world champion but they are working hard to be so and they ride a lot: these guys are pushing up the level as well. The best example for me is Benoit Paturel. When we started working together I never imagined we could make it to the top three of the world championship because he didn’t have the talent but he was such a hard worker and was so determined. Riders like Benoit can end up competing with the riders that you would normally think ‘they are world champions’. It was really nice to see Benoit’s progression because if he was racing my era then he would never have made it that far. No chance.

Joel Smets: There used to be lazy b*****ds back in the day and they are still there. Just as there were hard workers then and there are hard workers now.

The sport, luckily, still hasn’t lost it roots when it comes to the riders.

Marnicq Bervoets: There were really young riders in the past as well, like myself! I was sixteen years old when I took 3rd place in the Belgian GP in the 125s. There were other riders that would come from nowhere to do well in a GP, especially in sand, and I think we can still see some of that now, if you look at a rider like [Thibault] Benistant.

TRACKS Joel Smets: I have not always agreed with Giuseppe [Luongo, Infront Motor Racing President] and everything he has done with Grand Prix but track-wise I don’t think they have done a bad job. I have a lot of trust in the track guys and they have a lot of experience. They are also only human and can make misjudgements but then they will admit it and adapt. I think back in the day there were sometimes more dangerous obstacles than now. We used to come out of the forest and drop down onto the cobble stones and asphalt at Namur; that was way-more difficult!

We also used to jump flat-out from the road. That was more dangerous than any track we have now.

Marnicq Bervoets: For sure it is not more dangerous now than our times. In fact, I would say the doubles and triple of our times were even more dangerous.

Now you can miss it but still survive! Plus, the bikes are much better now: if you make a mistake because you can still deal with the jump. You can still hold it.

That’s why they keep going faster.

Joel Smets: In ‘95 when I won my first championship at Reutlingen at one stage you had to jump off a

CHANGE IN MOTOCROSS

Marnicq Bervoets: There were riders that went allout and were thirsty for wins in my day and also one who were not quite as mentally strong and it took a bit longer for them: this is still the same.

FEATURE lip that was like an overhang. Even on the first lap you had to drop your bike there because you couldn’t jump it. They’d say: ‘that’s been here for fifty years, what are you complaining about?!’ I kinda liked that. We’d also go to tracks in France or Germany where you’d have to do jump a ditch which wasn’t nicely shaped and profiled. That was motocross! It was Hare Scrambles. You have a valley or a hillside and you race it as it is but sometimes the jumps would be nice and smooth and others would be all over the place because the cows had been eating there. That’s how it was.

space for passing. You need to take a big risk.

We had some ‘freeway’ races back in the day… but we also had Lierop, Lommel, Agueda, all sorts.

Stephen Sword: Just to get the jumps dialledin on a track nowadays would be enough to keep me occupied for a while! Everything is groomed, even the practice tracks are quite fancy. Riders will know that the Grand Prix track will be quite flat in the morning and I’ve always said to my guys ‘we need to practice for the second race…’ and think how the conditions will be: gnarly, bumpy and with a fresh Stephen Sword: I do sprinkling of water like the tracks with a so everybody will be BERVOETS: “IT IS DIFFICULT touch of the old-school. tip-toeing around for St Jean d’Angely or two. There SOMETIMES TO WRITE WORDS aarelaptimes [France] is still like when you ON THE PITBOARD LIKE ‘PASS that, even if they have have to practice at modernised it a bit. some horrible, little, HIM TO WIN THE GP’ BECAUSE There are so many nasty places that you YOU KNOW YOU ARE PUTTING good tracks that MXGP wouldn’t want to ride doesn’t visit but half of PRESSURE ON THE RIDER. THEY every week but you any venue now needs need to put some HAVE TO BE ABLE TO DEAL WITH infrastructure and betime in just to have a ing able to handle all feeling for how they THE PRESSURE. SOMETIMES the trucks. The money will be, so it won’t RIDERS WANT IT TOO MUCH AND makes it a world chambe a shock if you get pionship and the show something odd at the TIGHTEN-UP...” comes with that. races. You’ve just got to deal with it. Like always you have to be an Marnicq Bervoets: San Marino! Or Gaildorf in all-rounder and these days everyone is good Germany when it was rock-hard and no ruts; in the sand. Ten-fifteen-twenty years ago ridyou could race there with a Supermoto tyre! ers from Spain and Italy would have to accept You don’t see that anymore. I suffered a lot at that the Benelux riders and Dutchies would all those tracks. We didn’t have them in Belgium disappear in the sand and wait for the hardand you almost needed to be born on them to pack. Now, they all get to Holland and Belgium have the right feel. Now you don’t see them in in the winter.

GPs. Jacky Vimond: All the tracks look almost the Marc De Reuver: It is less technical now: same now because they are ripped, prepared everybody can jump! There are way-too many and watered so the guys want to train on jumps. There is one on every straight. That’s something similar. They might want to ride why we see a lot of big crashes. There is less hardpack and a small track during midweek

for training won’t be the same. They’ll complain, but I point out that they need to adapt.

If they can adapt to a scratchy practice track then they can adapt anywhere. During my time all the training tracks were like that. You might get nice conditions once or twice during the summer because it had rained the day before! We had to work with the GP tracks at the weekends because we’d look at grassy points, check for stones. Now the tracks are like a video game. They are perfect, no bumps. So even the track walks are different. Riders now are training for the tracks they race and that’s OK but if you start to question why you are riding different conditions then the point of training dies off.

Joel Smets: Riders now would be lost at a track like San Marino but, then, they would adapt because they have the skills. When we look for practice tracks these days we are thinking about which place has a watering system and a bulldozer to rip it! They need ruts to practice. I regret that a little bit. But in Faenza recently I was scared the bike was going to disappear! Only the handlebar came above the ruts. It was good racing but some of the old-school tracks would have taught the boys now some throttle control. I think some of the accidents now are caused because the kids are brought up like this [mimes pinning a throttle]. Ricky Carmichael-style: he invented it! They have been doing that quite a long time in the U.S. because they have been ripping tracks much longer before we were doing it.

You could pin the gas because the bike wasn’t going to go ‘anywhere’. If you are on an offcamber in San Marino and you clutch-it once then you’d be in the fence! A completely different way of riding. If you didn’t rip tracks then I think you’d bring the speed down in a lot of corners. It might make tracks safer because there is less traction and they’d have to brake earlier. Now they just rail-it into the rut. Almost like a train on rails.

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MXGP NETHERLANDS

FEATURE Marnicq Bervoets: There are more jumps maybe but the jumps are not dangerous. The riders now are faster on and over the jumps whereas we had to think about them more. It’s a different style. Scrubbing saves time but also makes it a little more dangerous; just drag a footpeg and they crash.

Marc De Reuver: I remember when we went to Turkey for the first time [2009] and I thought ‘what the f**k am I doing here?!’ I hated it. But they are used to those kinds of tracks.

Joel Smets: Bring them all to Namur. They’d kill themselves or s**t their pants: one of the two. There were a few others. Off-cambers they cannot do. That’s not being negative towards the riders now but they never learned it. They only learned to turn in a rut. If we bring them to Namur now then I would beat them!

MENTALLY & CULTURALLY Marnicq Bervoets: We needed to qualify and race to get the start money to get to the next GP. It changed completely because now it is the sponsors who do that. Riders bring sponsors with them that help with the expenses.

Everybody adapted to the system. For some riders it is good and for some it’s more pressure. It depends on the personality.

Marc De Reuver: The kids now? Much less determined. You need to explain everything to them five million times why something is better, remind them. It’s different.

Marnicq Bervoets: It is difficult sometimes to write words on the pitboard like ‘pass him to win the GP’ because you know you are putting pressure on the rider. They have to be able to deal with the pressure. Sometimes riders want it too much and tighten-up.

Marc De Reuver: The riders are now are waysofter. They are carried to the top. But we keep them dumb because we do it all. Why? I only want the best for my guys. I’ll prepare their goggles for them because I know if they do it then they’ll just put tear-offs and it’ll be a mess. Or they will have lost part of the kit. I don’t talk like I am some ‘tough guy’ from back in the day but I’m sure from what I have seen of a lot of riders now they are not really tough.

The age doesn’t help. I was racing against people like [Alessio] Chiodi and [Andrea] Bartolini in the old 125 class. They were men.

Marnicq Bervoets: Riders do have to be a bit more careful with their words because they’ll be up on social media. They can be misunderstood and quoted in an instant and because of that I think they are more careful about

Jacky Vimond: We didn’t have the internet!

We had to learn by ourselves. We had to find out the long way for more strength, endurance, nutrition. We had the older riders and the magazines and the books, and much more

trial-and-error. It was more limited. Not everybody could have the good analysis. It took me a long time to be world champion! I was second twice before I made it. I’m sure if I had someone behind me - especially for the years as runner-up – then I would have won it. In my first year in the 250s my nickname from the journalists was ‘Mr 50%’. Why? Because I’d have one good race and then I’d crash in the other. I didn’t have the idea or thought for strategy for points and for the championship for twelve races. I learned from the big mistakes and missing out. I made a mistake, had a small lead in the points, got stressed, trained like a crazy man for the last race but lost the title by two points. Another lesson! After that I won by 87 points! For some it goes very quickly, like Jean-Michel Bayle: he didn’t have to go through all these f**king experiences to be world champion. Maybe the mind was working better and really quick to know exactly what he needed. He then went over and won right away in the United States, almost alone. He had help from Roger de Coster but the road was more clear for him.

Stephen Sword: Camera-phones were only just coming in when I was racing, nothing like they are now. Someone might film you now and again, otherwise you had to record the race on TV and hope you were part of the production at some point. We had internet but we didn’t have any Apps.

Jacky Vimond: You see the people that want to use the internet to learn, and the others that see it as a way to play and show-off. Technology numbs the mind. You can see it with something general like GPS and how you just need to follow a screen instead of thinking about your direction. Education comes into it.

Twelve-year olds already have an iPhone in the pocket. It’s just different today and you can see that on the track also.

CHANGE IN MOTOCROSS

what they say. We had cigarette sponsors and thanks to them I learned how to speak and deal with the journalists. Social media is important for a rider to make a public name and a profile and get support. Some riders can be popular before they’ve had results and I don’t like that so much. It depends how strong you are in the head but some riders think ‘I’m popular, I don’t always need the results’ and they are not 100% focused on racing.

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R OA N VA N D E MO O S D I J K

PRODUCTS

THE INSIDE LINE Former 500cc Grand Prix rider Rob Andrews’ definitive tome of life as a world championship racer in the 1980s around the supposed golden era of the premier class has entered a second print run after popular demand. We gave a glowing review of ‘The Inside Line’ upon publication earlier this year because the degree of effort and thought that went into presenting the Brit’s recollections,

the design and the fantastic gallery of photographs is first class. The quality of the paper and binding also befits the high standard of the book. The elevated price tag of 40 pounds was evidently not too much of a deterrent. There are few books about motocross and even fewer this good. Read more and purchase with worldwide distribution at www.theinsidelinebook.com

www.theinsidelinebook.com

PRODUCTS

www.ride100percent.com

100% After the fanfare of the Armega, 100% have upgraded their other goggles in the line. The Racecraft, Accuri, Strata benefit from 17.5% increased vision and improved fitment and seal. There are other benefits and, as usual, the same lenses and tear-offs can be swapped out and used across the three models. The Racecraft 2 alone has ten designs and colours to choose from. Elsewhere eagle-eyed

MotoGP fans might have spotted Red Bull KTM duo Brad Binder and Moto3 star Raul Fernandez perched on the grid with 100% sunglasses (Binder has the distinctive logo attached to his visor).

The casual collection that sits side-byside with their sports performance has expanded significantly in recent years.

Check out some of the models on this page.

PRODUCTS

KTM At the end of 2020 KTM can look back on a frantic racing year with a degree of pride. MX2 World Championship success continued with Tom Vialle (the fourth year in a row the KTM 250 SX-F has prevailed with three different riders), all three of their athletes won MXGPs with the 450 SX-F and Cooper Webb pushed hard to defend his SX crown. They were denied the Dakar Rally but put up a decent fight and MotoGP was a breakthrough; with three wins and eight podiums.

www.ktm.com

The official Red Bull KTM replica range (beanies, tees, sweats, jackets and more) is still available through the ‘Powerwear’ catalogue for fans who were captivated by the orange bikes on the dirt and the asphalt but also take time to browse the full collection for some decent lifestyle apparel. Having owned and worn a few of the garments we can vouch for the quality and the (EU) sizing.

Click on a link to find out more. Full women and kids lines are available as well as some ‘performance’ gear made from fitness fabrics.

FEATURE

IN MI A TIM AN LWAU E OF DI S S KEE H UNCE ET R FO AS B TAIN R F LOS TY UR SO AR TH ME OU ER N PR D TO D GR OG BE RE CO AND SS ME PR ION BR IX IN ITAI RAC 20 N’ IN 21 S B G, H : H IGG IT OW E AC IS ST A HI K TH ND TM AT PO BEST FUEL SS IBL MXG LED B E? P T Y EA M

PO GR ISE EA D F TN O R ES S?

By Adam Wheeler Photos by Ray Archer

FEATURE

In

2005 the Hitachi KTM fuelled by Milwaukee team was a small, modest set-up created by Irish businessman and motocross fan Roger Magee. It was a structure largely forged to give some support to former Grand Prix racer Willie Simpson’s son – Shaun – to try and make it on the world stage.

In the next fifteen years the crew changed from Honda to Kawasaki and finally rested on an association with KTM in

2008 that would survive until this day. The team fluctuated between an effort run by the Simpsons to a bigger entity that would offer riders a route to Grand Prix and British Championship racing, often helping promising riders on the way. Names like Ben Watson, Jake Nicholls and Conrad Mewse. The team would mix gambling on youth with occasional punts on older, more established riders that helped bring in more success, people such as Kevin Strijbos

(first podiums in MXGP), Elliott Banks-Browne and Stephen Sword.

The spoils started to mount through the last decade and with eleven British Championship titles between seven riders the team’s profile really started to shift. “It was a family-based team. Shaun needed a ride at the last minute and Roger helped him out and year-on-year the budget got a bit better, the results came in, the profile

In 2020 Hitachi KTM fuelled

by Milwaukee were able to run Conrad Mewse and Bas Vaessen in MX2, Adam Sterry in MXGP and Ethan Lane in the EMX125 European Championship utilising three of KTM’s SX models. They will attack 2021 with the same line-up except for Lane progressing to EMX250 and lessening the technical diversity. Maintaining a healthy roster and cross class participation both on domestic and international stages has been possible thank to the outside-industry title sponsors; the presence “THE BEST WE CAN DO IS GIVE THEM THE TOOLS TO GET THE JOB DONE, AND THAT’S NOT ONLY MACHINERY BUT THE RIGHT BACK-UP. WE HAVE BEEN ABLE TO GET TO THAT LEVEL, ALMOST FACTORY LEVEL...” of Hitachi (now on the KTMs in some form since 2006) and Milwaukee – as well as Magee’s other list of stable partners - mostly account for the two-truck appearance of the team and the level of aesthetic that matches other factory-backed outfits.

“We always believed in having the right amount of presence,” explains Magee. “In 2005 we brought a former GP truck and it was small compared to what you see today but it was

reasonable for the size of the team at that time. Whenever you look at different motorsports – and I know there are very different levels in terms of finance – everyone is looking to make improvements, and then sponsors want to get involved with teams that look the part and bring the results.

Presentation goes a long way and we were able to confirm a five-year deal with a new sponsor in 2021 who actually approached us, so, to some degree it works. It shows we a professional outfit that people might want to get involved with.”

Sponsorship acquisition is something of a dark art.

Grand Prix teams have spent vast sums with PR and commercial agencies with limited success. Most people raid their contact books and try to widen the web of possibilities.

Frustratingly - more frequently than not – what ends up being a worthwhile partnership appears out of the blue.

“We’ve used whatever contacts we’ve had over the years but it’s true that sometimes it happens by chance,” Magee admits. “Hitachi’s initial involvement came along at the Grand Prix in Namur in 2005 and through a chance meeting in one of the bars one evening! Andy Baker [former operations director at Hitachi] was able to do something for us in the next few races and

HITACHI KTM FUELLED BY MILWAUKEE

improved. It grew with Shaun and then Swordy came in and a few British Championships. Todate I think it is the most successful team ever in the British Championship. We’ve had some good outside sponsors lately and now some top British riders to get the job done,” offers Team Manager Bryan Connolly; the Scotsman coming into the framework in 2018 and now running the show from the Belgian workshop and HQ.

FEATURE that grew and grew and we become good friends. Sometimes it is a bit of luck, or it’s through contacts, and once you prove that you can do the job and get the sponsor in at a low level initially then they can see the benefit for their company and hopefully it can prosper.”

As a private team there were phases when Magee and his group were able to offer top riders (who were missing a factory saddle due to injury or loss of form) respectable contracts. The cases of Strijbos in 2013, Simpson again in 2014 and 2015 and Nicholls hold as examples. But there was also a lot of making ends-meet to ensure the operation wasn’t permanently haemorrhaging cash. In recent years Magee has actually been able to make sizeable investments. Another example being the re-employment of 40-year old Sword as Rider Coach.

“Roger has done well to pull-in some good funding for the team,” the Scotsman says.

“I talked to him about coming back two years ago and like any other member of staff and that’s a hefty cost. It is a healthy team and a young one both in terms of riders and mechanics. They are striving to be as close to the factory teams as possible, which is difficult because they have more budget again, better resources and material. I think there is a good two-three years ahead in terms of stability now and something to build on with results and development. Everyone is working hard all the time and you just get the feeling that there is a lot of potential. It’s a high-profile team and is knocking on the door of being even better. We all want the results…but you also need good people in place and try to lead by example. Roger has done his bit along with running his own businesses at home.”

“He works hard, no question and nobody needs to be told how fast he is,” Sword assesses. “I very rarely have to tell him how to change his style.

He’s pretty switched-on and that’s where he finds things easier than other riders because it comes naturally. He’s very talented. So, we work on the bits that don’t come so naturally and which he finds hard and that’s the mentality. 2020 was a solid year but it didn’t bring the podium that he wanted. He was close many times. Week-in, weekout he has been top six and

was just caught out in Lommel with a bout of tonsillitis.

It took a while for him to get over that. He’s getting older and realises what he has to do to be where he wants to be.

He is someone that can challenge for a title if it all comes right. The only thing that will stop him is his mind and he’s worked on that and overcome some of his ‘gremlins’. He’s pulled himself out of some situations that he might have found hard a year or two ago.

That’s a good sign to me because we know the work is having an impact. He’s had races where he’s had to learn while at the front, coming from the back, having to push through the lead group.”

“Confidence is a big part of it,” says ‘BC’. “On his given day Conrad is the fastest guy on an MX2 bike. We’ve not seen that day at a Grand Prix but I’ve seen it in practice and we’ve made giant steps towards that happening in the world championship this year. The starts have been better and the consistent top ten results have arrived, when that had not really happened before in his career. We’re almost there and we’re constantly learning about him.

We have a good family atmosphere and he has gelled well with it. I think it will come. He cannot be that good and it not come to light.”

HITACHI KTM FUELLED BY MILWAUKEE

Vaessen struggled with injury problems in 2020 but Mewse was able to bring overdue consistency to accompany his Grand Prix speed. The team’s latest British title winner would finish 8th in MX2 with several overall podium results tantalisingly close.

Sword has been credited with helping Mewse get his head in the game and making good on some of his fierce natural riding ability. Going into the winter he is arguably the team’s brightest prospect on the 250.

FEATURE

Hitachi KTM fuelled by Milwaukee does have a young and keen set of staff. The addition of Sword, a respected and experienced ex-rider – one of Britain’s best in the last twenty years - brings extra credence.

“There is a place for a role like mine as the level has gone up in the sport; for some sort of coach to help make the difference,” he believes. “Like physios, trainers, doctors, masseuses; athletes will have three-four different people involved with

them. That resource-side of being a motocross racer has gone up as well. I did have other people helping me but it’s not like it is now where the team can provide some of that support. If another team does it then everyone wants to keep up. It’s just guidance and it’s about building a relationship.

I don’t need to tell them how to go around a corner, it’s not that kind of training, it’s more the small details and percentages that will get them to top

of the class. They are all great riders…but the next bit is the hard bit, it’s the discipline and the emphasis on the hard work and the right hard work that’s best for them.”

“The profile and the budget is probably the best it has ever been and we couldn’t go racing like this and with these people without the sponsors,” adds BC.

In MXGP, KTM orange has become diluted by Husqvarna white and even GasGas red. Hitachi KTM fuelled by Milwaukee’s longevity is increasingly placing them in a position of being a potential

satellite team to the works Red Bull KTM structure. “If we had that opportunity then we’d probably take it,” Magee says. “It would be good from a technical point of view…but we’ve effectively been a satellite team for KTM because not only have we lost riders to the factory team but also mechanics, so we must have been doing something right and selecting the right personnel. It’s usually written into contracts that they [factory teams] have first refusal and that’s fair enough, we wouldn’t want to stand in the way of any rider with a factory offer. It doesn’t come along too often and, as we’ve seen, with Ben Watson and Yamaha this where he’s benefitted from it. Ben has been riding in 2020 liked we

hoped he would, forceful, aggressive when he needs to be and he has that will to win.”

It does feel like Magee and his team are nearing a crossroads.

Their resources are unquestionable, and MXGP is very much a teams market in the premier class where incoming over-23 year olds are looking for the best technical package to be able to compete in a category where the top nineteen riders in Timed Practice at Latvia and round three of 2020 all had GP-winning pedigree. In short fast riders are readily available and – sadly for the athletes – at a cheaper price than ever. As much as it is tempting to throw contracts at ‘names’ and push for MXGP recognition, Magee is resisting the urge and is happy to follow KTM UK’s wish for progression. His signature of Adam Sterry to be the 450 SX-F rider for 2021 is a case in point as he stares at just his second term in MXGP and after a troubled 2020 that saw him split with another KTM team and suffer a lung injury.

“KTM UK really want us to focus on British riders if they are available,” Magee says. “In the last few years they have been in short supply, let’s say.

Sometimes I think you are better sticking with the younger riders and helping them develop, which has been the ethos of the team, rather than trying to buy results. We like to work with what we have and sometimes it comes-off, sometimes it doesn’t. It is certainly working at the moment.”

HITACHI KTM FUELLED BY MILWAUKEE

“You need a bit of luck with any championship,” says Magee, “but we know we have the riders to fight for that in the next couple of years. The best we can do is give them the tools to get the job done, and that’s not only machinery but the right back-up with doctors, physios, trainers, rider coaches. We have been able to get to that level, almost a factory level, and the finance has allowed us to do that.”

FEATURE The flexibility of working with KTM means that Magee and Connolly have not had to worry about any brand pressure to steer into one category. Even if that diversity does make for a busy schedule. The team do all their technical prep and tuning inhouse. “KTM have never dictated to us,” Magee affirms “but we like to have representation in a number of classes so that also gives coverage to sponsors throughout the events. In 2021 we’ll be effectively running three 250 riders so from a support point of view it will be slightly easier for resources and the way to prep the engines. With the 450 SX-F there is less need for tuning because it is already so good out of the box.

Over the years we liked to spread our wings, although it didn’t work with EMX125 this year because of injuries.”

“It’s hectic,” says Connolly, rarely seen without a pair of radio headphones and trying to keep tabs on two GP divisions. “You focus and plan for one class and then rush to another. You are always juggling, and then we also have an EMX rider as well. From a sponsors’ point of view it’s good for us to have both bikes, be in both classes and have presence in both championships. It’s a big plus.”

Invitingly 2021 brings more questions than answers. Can Vaessen stay on the 250 SX-F and avoid injury? Can Mewse made the step to race winner and podium man? Can Sterry vie for British honours and make the top ten regularly in MXGP? Also, can the team continue its steady upward trajectory? The flagstones are in place. “95% of the team will be the same,” says BC. “Not much will change for 2021. We have built a base this year and we can keep the ball rolling. We have a solid plan with Swordy where the guys will ride in November, take December off and start again in January. We hope to have more shakedown races and internationals so we can be as ready as we can for MXGP.”

HITACHI KTM FUELLED BY MILWAUKEE

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FEATURE

blue blur HOW YAMAHA CREATED ONE OF THE FASTEST BIKES IN MX2

By Adam Wheeler Photos by Ray Archer

FEATURE

F

or half a decade the FIM MX2 Motocross World Championship has had an orange and white ‘tip’. Austrian engineering has laid waste to Japanese opposition in terms of holeshots and effective race starts. In a division where brands and teams are pushing the technical limits for horsepower, speed and reliability, the sight of KTMs and Husqvarnas at the head of the pack around first corners has become all-too frequent for other manufacturers. However, in 2020 Yamaha mixed some blue into the palette as the Monster Energy Yamaha YZ250Fs of Ben Watson and Jago Geerts became mainstays at the front. KTM still had the holeshots (Tom Vialle taking 21 from 36 starts, Yamaha owning 11) but the closer proximity was a noticeable improvement and added to the fabric of the racing as the team bagged more moto wins and more podiums than their competitors, and finished 2nd and 5th in the championship.

The Iwata firm was the first company to push their YZ250F four-stroke into FIM World Championship action and Stefan Everts memorably used the machine to win every round in the second half of the 2003 125 series and one-third of his unforgettable triple class dominance at the 2003 French Grand Prix at Ernee.

Yamaha claimed the second MX2 world championship in 2005. Behind KTM – who dwarf the category with thirteen titles thanks to nine different riders on their KTM 250 SX-F (that arrived to win the inaugural MX2 contest in 2004) – Yamaha are the next closest with two crowns. They have pioneered their reverse cylinder technology as well as forging a prototype YZ250FM in 2010 to develop fuel injection.

In 2020 they were able to see three of their riders celebrate Grand Prix wins.

Maxime Renaux also joined the Watson/ Geerts party. This surge in results was largely thanks to their prolificacy with race starts. The importance of getting out of the gate has reached new heights in recent years thanks to the rising level of fitness, technique, preparation and generally similar levels of technical per-

“Back in the day if I started in 10th place then – with a good race - I could easily finish 3rd. Now, if you start outside the top five then you are f**ked!

Completely!” says F&H Kawasaki Rider Coach Marc De Reuver, himself looking for more competitiveness from the green KX250Fs. “Day after day I’m asking myself: how is this possible? Somewhere like Lommel you can make five seconds

YAMAHA’S MX2 SPEED

formance among the motorcycles. KTM, Husqvarna, GasGas, Yamaha, Honda and Kawasaki all have bikes in the MX2 field.

With a large amount of parity, the crucial process of starting has become the separator. Finding the elixir between rider reaction, RPM, clutch release, power transfer from metal start grill to terrain and top speed to the first corner has determined results.

FEATURE

on somebody in one lap but, generally, if you miss the start then it’s over. I’m still trying to figure it out.”

“We knew we had a problem compared to the Husqvarnas and the KTMs,” says Monster Energy Yamaha MX2’s Technical Co-Ordinator Jeremy Fontaine. “The riders had to be at the front because an overall win comes from a top-three start.

This was our minimum goal. We have worked so much for this and we continue to do so.”

Fontaine has been part of Hans Corvers’ Yamaha team (formerly called Kemea) since 2013 after previously clocking up a number of years with Kawasaki; helping Christophe Pourcel to his 2006 MX2 championship (Kawasaki’s sole title) and the likes of Dylan Ferrandis to Grand Prix wins. “Each year I said to Hans ‘if you want better results then you have to make a step with the team’ and each time he made it. The rider is vital but so is the set-up. It all goes together.” With Kemea, managed by ex-racer Marnicq Bervoets, growing to become the satellite MX2 Yamaha team and then the official works squad their technical resources also grew accordingly. Kemea began to

receive factory-spec motors from Michele Rinaldi’s YRRD– the same group that crafted the machinery for the works MXGP YZ450FMs – and then came under the Yamaha Motor Europe and Yamaha Motor Corps (Japan) umbrella. The evolution led to the GYTR tuning association and Fontaine had a multitude of avenues and other collaborators to help the YZs chase the KTMs. “Since 2013 we’ve had almost daily contact with Michele and his crew for engine development,” the Frenchman explains. “It took some time and experience to know the full extent of the difference between the engine behaviour in training and at a Grand Prix. The rider is acting differently at a GP under the stress of racing conditions. He pushes a lot. Michele’s development was 100% but at the GP we somehow did more because we saw things that were not obvious in the workshop or with the test riders.

Sometimes we had good numbers on the dyno but then saw it wasn’t transferring to what we wanted on the track. This combination worked really well and we made a lot of progress.”

Yamaha have counted on the styles and demands of Watson and Geerts for the last three seasons while the YZ250F has not changed radically in that period. It begs the question: why did it take so long to finally get up to speed and give the Brit and Belgian an effective tool?

“It was very complicated!” reveals Yamaha Motor Europe’s Technical Supervisor Jeffrey de Vries. “Power was never a big issue. We had enough but the starts were always a problem. In the past everything had to be perfect for the rider to make just an ‘OK’ start. Sometimes they messed up and were almost last, even with a rider like Jago who is super-light.”

“We tried so many things,” he adds. “The guys are using 11% throttle in the gate and then in a split second that butterfly is completely open. This is the difficult part and porting has a big influence; it goes from partially closed to maximum open. It’s also tricky to use the maximum grip we have from the metal mesh. There are a lot of factors.”

“There wasn’t one thing that came overnight and I thought ‘that’s amazing’,” says Watson. “It was a process of steps and testing and testing at the races.

There are other things that came into it; like the temperature at the races, the ground after the gate – sticky mud, sand, dry stones – it all affects the way the

YAMAHA’S MX2 SPEED

DE VRIES: “WE WERE SO FOCUSSED ON THE START, FILMING EVERYTHING, ANALYSING EVERYTHING AND TELLING THE RIDERS WHICH EXACT RPM RANGE THEY NEEDED TO BE. WE TRIED SO MANY THINGS AND NOW THE RIDERS ARE FAR MORE RELAXED ABOUT THE WHOLE PROCESS BECAUSE THEY KNOW IF THEY DO EVERYTHING RIGHT THEN THEY CAN MAKE A HOLESHOT...”

FEATURE engine works and we needed to find the best package for all of these conditions.”

Yamaha were forced to augment a number of elements in the YZ250F engine and drive train. “If you find a little bit more power then it isn’t easy to put that through the wheels and get the traction,” says Fontaine. “We needed: the best power, the right clutch and the feeling for the rider. The combination was tricky…and then there are other factors at the race such as the conditions and the noise, the stress and the rider’s mindset.”

“In Latvia this year, in between races 2 and 3, Ben was saying to us ‘I cannot control the clutch’,” De Vries recalls. “So, we went testing there to work on that feeling and look at all the details, like the oil and the whole engine package. In the end the improvements we made touched

literally everything: electronics to cam timing, porting, oil, clutch. There was not a single area. It took a long time to fix.”

Then there were the specific requests of the riders and the refinements they needed. “Ben drops his clutch really fast, like a gun, and Jago is different,” says Fontaine “so you have to adjust it for both. The compromise was finding the setting for the start but also to finish the race, and the combination was not easy to find.”

Watson, who was one of the taller riders in MX2 before his departure to the MXGP class for 2021, also hastens to outline that Yamaha and the team enhanced the motor in many respects. “You cannot just say it’s the power or it’s the clutch. We were changing things like the oil…and you’d never imagine how much differ-

“I couldn’t tell you the exact final technical variation compared to previous years…but I do know about all the work that has gone into finding that solution,” he concluded.

YZ250F race engines are solid and carefully crafted lumps of fabrication. “We change the engine in the race bike every GP,” says Fontaine. “Before, we did it in the workshop but the set-up through 2020 and this ‘Covid championship’ hasn’t been easy. Three GPs in one week means six engines and you normally need one day per engine!”

“In the past you might do five-six GPs in two months, now it is the same in two weeks,” he adds. “We have a special van for the engines, and we try to be as advanced and ready as possible. The van means we cannot put the rebuild on the dyno and this is a risk but if you have a little bit of experience then you know what you are doing.”

Ideas, hours on the work bench, laps on practice tracks and the rate of cooperation has clearly had an effect.

YAMAHA’S MX2 SPEED

ence oil and its temperature can make!

Then different clutch plates, a different clutch system. The guys came up with new things to try. Even things like the sprocket. We changed that in Latvia and went one tooth bigger and it can make so much difference. But if you don’t offset that with other changes then it gets thrown out. In Lommel the clutch preload had to be quite tight; if the clutch was too light on that track then you’d easily burn it out. That was a problem in Belgium this year. I couldn’t get the set-up I wanted for the starts because we wanted reliability and didn’t want to risk a DNF just to get a better start.”

FEATURE Since Yamaha closed ranks and worked also with their teams in the US – that have tasted plenty of Supercross and Motocross success in the last five years thanks to Jeremy Martin, Cooper Webb, Ferrandis and Justin Cooper – competitiveness have increased since the likes of Gautier Paulin, Christophe Charlier, Zach Osborne, Nico Aubin, Davide Guarneri and more were only able to snatch moto and GP wins here and there during the decade.

WATSON: “IN THE END IT COMES DOWN TO ME BECAUSE I KNOW THE BIKE CAN DO IT.”

“I work very close with YMC in Japan and Yamaha U.S. and with Michele. We share information,” reveals De Vries.

“After every GP all our information goes to those guys. It wasn’t always like that in the past. We have weekly meetings with Japan and monthly with the U.S. and this is how it should be. Before it was like everybody had their own shop.

Why spend money developing the same stuff?’

The bike might be the same, but the tracks, climates and even the rules are different. “We have a good relationship with the U.S. but there are varying factors involved; like we use different fuel,”

says Fontaine. Regardless of the diversity Yamaha still had to condense their processes to even contemplate matching their No.1 rivals.

“We increased engine power…but we had to because we are battling KTM and they have everything in-house,” explains De Vries. “They can change things really fast. If they have an issue they can fix it really quickly. If we need special parts from Japan then that means more time.

It is nice that we are catching up…but we should not think we can stop now.”

Monster Energy Yamaha MX2 grows to three riders for 2021 with Geerts joined

by Renaux and EMX250 World Champion Thibault Benistant. It’s a line-up bursting with potential and – thanks to 2020 and the strong title challenge by Geerts – an ominous prospect for the rest of the MX2 field.

Now that Yamaha have sharpened the YZ250F the rest of the operation is down to the talent and their personal war against their orange foes. “We were so focussed on the start, filming everything, analysing everything and telling the riders which exact RPM range they needed to be. We tried so many things and now the riders are far more relaxed about the whole process because they know if they do everything right then they can make a holeshot,” summarises De Vries. “is a completely new situation for us.”

YAMAHA’S MX2 SPEED

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TEST

CATCHING UP IS THE FIREBLADE SHARP AGAIN?

By Roland Brown Photos by Honda

TEST

T

hat the CBR1000RR-R Fireblade is hardcore should really come as no surprise. There’s a clue in its suffix, after all. Three Rs might seem excessive but the ’Blade has had two in its name ever since 1992, when the original CBR900RR FireBlade ripped up the super-sports script with its focus on lightness and agility.

This year’s extra R confirms that Honda has stepped up a level in its attempt to make the Fireblade competitive – and about time, too. It’s now 13 years since James Toseland scored the Fireblade’s one and only World Superbike championship, in 2007. Subsequent seasons saw Honda’s four fall further behind in performance, if not popularity. Even the much sportier ’Blade introduced in 2017 for the model’s 25th anniversary wasn’t sufficiently fast or focused to be a serious contender.

This latest attempt sees Honda get properly serious at last. The Fireblade’s 999cc, dohc 16-valve engine follows the mighty RC213V with more over-square dimensions and many other changes including revised valve actuation. The result is a hefty 25bhp increase to a maximum output of 214bhp, produced 1500rpm later at 14,500rpm.

A redesigned aluminium frame holds new suspension and brakes, controlled by a significantly updated electronic system.

As before there’s an upmarket Fireblade SP variant, as tested. This features Öhlins semiactive suspension instead of the standard RR-R’s Showa units, and Brembo Stylema calipers instead of Nissins to bite the bigger, 330mm front discs that are shared with the standard model. The SP also comes with a lithium-ion battery and a gearbox quickshifter to help justify its higher price (£22,399 against the standard bike’s £19,999 in the UK).

Styling is familiar but both RR-R models’ fairings gain a trio of aerodynamic wings on each side. These are faired-in rather than jutting out ostentatiously as on some rivals, but Honda insists they provide as much downforce as those of the RC213V.

The SP’s racy intent is clear when you throw a leg over the thinly padded seat. The clipon bars are slightly lower than the old model’s; the footrests higher and more rearset.

Behind the Öhlins fork-tops’ protruding wires is the instrument panel, a colourful 5in TFT screen neatly laid out with info including the choice of riding modes, selectable via a button on the left bar.

That button toggles between the three main riding modes, each of which has a default setting for power delivery, traction control, anti-wheelie, engine braking and suspension. As with Öhlins’ Smart EC suspension on rival bikes, you can also opt for either semiactive damping or conventional damping with electronic adjustment. Selecting mode two gave a blend of full engine power, unobtrusive electronics and firm yet supple suspension.

I’d expected the Fireblade to be peaky, and a pain at most road speeds, but the reality was very different.

CBR1000RR-R FIREBLADE

“THE FIREBLADE IS EXCESSIVE FOR ROAD USE, OF COURSE, BUT IT WAS ALSO VERY EASY TO RIDE, HELPED BY ITS OUTSTANDING AGILITY... ”

Overall wind resistance is reduced, partly by a lower fuel tank that allows the rider to get better tucked in. Air is now ducted directly from fairing nose to airbox, facilitated by the change to a keyless ignition, operated via a button inside the fairing.

TEST

CBR1000RR-R FIREBLADE

“AS WITH ANY 200BHP-PLUS BIKE, ACCELERATION AT HIGHER REVS WAS SO VICIOUS THAT IT WAS ALL I COULD DO TO HOLD ON TIGHT, TUCK IN FOR A FEW SECONDS AND THEN NORMALLY BACK OFF GUILTILY WITH HEART PUMPING HARDER...”

TEST Sure, its delivery at low revs was unspectacular by bigbike standards, but throttle response was instant and the Honda accelerated sharply despite its ultra-tall gearing. First is good for about 115mph, and I’d been riding on main roads for several miles, fast enough to have my licence quivering already, before realising that I hadn’t even got into fourth!

Probably just as well, given that the redline in third is at over 170mph...

Performance above 6000rpm was seriously eye-opening, and enhanced by the tuneful howl of the titanium Akrapovic silencer. As with any 200bhpplus bike, acceleration at higher revs was so vicious that it was all I could do to hold on tight, tuck in for a few seconds and then normally back off guiltily with heart pumping harder.

The Fireblade is excessive for road use, of course, but it was also very easy to ride, helped by its outstanding agility. Despite being 6kg heavier than its predecessor, at 201kg wet, the SP handled superbly while delivering a blend of suspension control and ride quality that I’ve only experienced from other bikes with similar semi-active set-ups.

It steered beautifully and remained utterly composed under both hard acceleration

and braking, imparting a glorious feeling of control through those low-set clip-ons. The blend of Brembo Stylema calipers and updated ABS system, backed by an uprated, six-axis Bosch IMU, was flawless however hard I tried to bury the sticky front Pirelli Supercorsa SP into the road.

What came as a pleasant surprise was the Honda’s respectable rider-friendliness.

Although I’m tall and the bike is small, its low screen diverted a useful amount of wind, with minimal turbulence. The roomy seat allowed me to shift backwards to help, and the fairing provided welcome hand protection.

Ultimately the CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP will be judged not on its roadgoinfg ability, but on whether it converts last season’s promising World Superbike podium and British Superbike race wins into championship victories. Meanwhile, as as a pin-sharp device that delivers speed and generates adrenaline on either road or track, this sharpest, most frantic Fireblade yet is a genuine contender at last.

CBR1000RR-R FIREBLADE

MAKE YOUR DREAM COME TRUE RANGE 2020

WorldSBK BLOG

TIME FOR THE CHANGE? The recent WorldSBK test in Jerez was interesting for a number of reasons.

The first notable thing was the absence of Ducati and BMW. With the 2021season not expected to start until late April both manufacturers felt there was little point testing at the end of 2020 when the pressure to have parts prepared, tested and shipped out to Australia by early February the following year had gone. There are many teams in the past that have tested parts in November and January but, due to manufacturing schedules, had to wait till the first European race in April before they could use them in a race environment.

So, it was Kawasaki, Yamaha and Honda that lined up in Jerez, with most eyes trained on the closed doors of the Kawasaki pit box. Images had leaked from Australia of a 2021 Ninja ZX-10RR and there was keen anticipation to see the race bike in the

flesh. The small, hardy, band of assembled media were left disappointed when the shutter doors finally rolled up to reveal two 2020 bikes lined up, albeit in matt black winter test colours. Given that I work for Kawasaki I had been briefed on the testing plan and the likelihood of the 2021 machine being rolled out, it would be at least another day before the ‘new’ bike would be revealed.

In a stage managed ‘reveal’ the KRT mechanics opened the garage doors on the morning of the second day of the test and wheeled out a 2020 and as close to a 2021 version of the ZX-10RR to be warmed up. There was the usual frenzy of activity amongst journalists, photographers and video crews to get a close look at the new machine before Jonathan Rea went out on track to complete four or five laps for

the photographers, reverting back to what appeared to be the 2020 bike soon after to carry on the testing and development schedule.

Now that the road going version of the bike has been revealed, much has been mentioned about how little difference there is between this and next year’s bikes.

All the changes seem to be in the aero package of the body-work, but without following Ducati or BMW’s path of having wings sprouting from the fairing. Kawasaki have followed the same design strategy of Yamaha and Honda by developing a more subtle way of directing airflow through and around the fairing and seat unit to give the same aerodynamic effects of a rudimentary wing stick to the side of the bodywork.

BY ADAM WHEELER

BY GRAEME BROWN I have read some criticism in the last days about the fact that there was no revolution when it came to the new ZX10 range, unlike the Panigale V4R, the Honda Fireblade or the BMW M1000RR. I discussed that point with some engineers last week and when you consider that in terms of chassis design and configuration and the engine layout, this newest bike can be traced back to 2011 and possibly 2008 when Kawasaki gave the model it’s last, clean sheet of paper re-design.

Whilst other manufacturers such as Ducati, Honda and BMW elected to bring all new bikes to the party in the last couple of years, Kawasaki, and Yamaha to some degree, have chosen to take what is a very good race bike and refine it year on year. The Ducati Panigale V4R is a huge step change from the 1098 that Ducati had previously raced and the BMW M1000RR is the culmination of a refinement of

the new S1000RR, which itself was a ground-up redesign.

The same can be said for the current Honda Fireblade. For me the difference with Kawasaki is that every year since 2011 they have taken what was good from the previous year’s model and improved it. Year after year. It is a strategy that has worked very well for them, delivering seven WorldSBK riders titles and six manufacturers titles on the bounce. If you compared a 2011 ZX-10R with a 2020 ZX-10RR, whilst they look almost identical, I am sure riding them would highlight a world of difference.

So, for 2021 Kawasaki have clearly looked at their own bike, improved what is good, looked at the aero advantages their competitors have and come up with a solution that they think will keep them at the head of the pack.

For anyone seeking a bit of optimism against another year of domination from Rea and

Kawasaki, this new bike may actually be the chink in their armour that can be exploited.

If you ask Jonathan Rea he will tell you that 2016 was probably his most difficult championship win. It was a year that Kawasaki made some fundamental changes to the engine configuration of the ZX-10R with a lighter flywheel, crankshaft and pistons. This resulted in a change in the overall characteristics of the race bike and JR admits that he felt he was fighting with the bike all season to get results.

It was also the year that Tom Sykes started to become more vocal that Kawasaki had changed the bike so much that it didn’t suit his natural riding style so was at less of an advantage. The title fight between Rea and Chaz Davies went down to the final round in Qatar and Davies won two more races than Rea that year, including a run of seven in a row at the end of the season.

WorldSBK BLOG

If Ducati and Yamaha can raise their game, just a notch, in 2021 they may be able to work together to create problems for a Kawasaki team that are getting to grips with the biggest change to their race bike in five years.

At Yamaha I continue to be impressed with Garrett Gerloff.

He ended the first day of testing in Jerez at the top of the timesheets. That only underlined the quality of his podium performances at the end of the season and his impressive MotoGP debut, deputising for Valentino Rossi in Friday Practice at Valencia. I was surprised that he remains in the GRT team, effectively a junior team in Yamaha’s WorldSBK structure, and named so, as I thought his 2020 season results merited a seat in the factory team. However, he and his crew chief Lez Pearson have a really good relationship, on and off the bike, and Yamaha were reluctant to upset that balance. WorldSSP champion Andrea Locatelli has skipped the ‘junior’ team route and moved straight into the factory Yamaha WorldSBK team. The logic behind that move is that he will be

under the tutelage of Andrew Pitt. The Australian, a former WorldSSP champion himself, lives in Italy and Italian is his second language, so it was deemed a logical fit to pair them together.

I have been equally impressed with Locatelli, not least for his utter domination of the WorldSSP class in 2020, but also his manner and approach in the WorldSBK team. I was commissioned to shoot the test day in Estoril, after the last race, and to follow Andrea on the day and he seemed very calm and focused there and in Jerez, in what must be a very pressured position. It is a view shared by Pitt who told me he has been very measured in his approach since arriving in the pit box, asking many questions and listening intently to the technical discussions about the bike and his lap times. He is clearly a WorldSBK rookie that has big ambitions and undaunted by the task at hand.

One thing that was noticeable at Yamaha, that confused some journalists, was a bike appearing on the timesheets with no rider and listed as

YMRE Test. In reality Yamaha had brought a completely new 2021 spec bike and it was passing between the factory Pata team box and the GRT squad. As far as I know Gerloff and Toprak Razgatlioglu undertook the most amount of the testing duties on it with Locatelli and Yamaha’s other WorldSBK rookie Kohta Nozane concentrating on getting up to speed on the WorldSBK spec YZF-R1M. That would suggest that whilst Gerloff has stayed in the GRT squad he will be given the same machinery and support afforded to the factory riders for 2021.

It gives Yamaha a really strong squad for 2021 and it may mean the championship battle next year will be more open again.

I also feel that Nozane will be a joy to photograph next season. He has a really animated riding style, hanging off in all the corners and wrestling the bike, letting it move around underneath him, as he cracks open the throttle. It’s really entertaining to watch and hints at why he dominated the All Japan Superbike championship in 2020.

There is still no official news on a calendar for 2021 but some things are emerging on the timing and circuits that will form the schedule for next year. It seems that Assen will host the opening round on the last weekend of April, with a similar European schedule to 2020 taking us through to September. Thereafter the long haul races in Australia, Argentina and the Middle East will take place. Series director Gregorio Lavilla has stated that there will be three circuits on the calendar that have never hosted a WorldSBK race in the past. My understanding is that these are most likely to be the Igora Drive Circuit near St Petersburg in Russia, the Mandalika Circuit in Indonesia and the Bahrain International Circuit.

circuits, there is no greater time, in my mind, for Ducati and Yamaha to grasp the nettle and have one of their riders take JR’s crown.

For me, the season is officially over. I was due to be in Motorland Aragon this week for the last test of the year with KRT but a change in circumstance meant I couldn’t take my flight and have had to get Vaclav Duska to deputise on his way home from the MotoGP race in Portimao. So, the cameras are back on the shelf in the office and it is now a time to reflect on what was a crazy 2020 and contemplate what 2021 might hold.

With three new circuits on the calendar and a new bike to develop over the season this maybe the best chance to usurp Kawasaki that the other manufacturers have. In 2020 Rea struggled for his top form in Australia, at Jerez, somewhat in Aragon and also in Catalunya and Estoril. With these races still on the schedule along with new, unknown Photo by Steve English

FEATURE

HOW YAMAHA AND THE RACING WORLD STARTED TO TAKE NOTICE OF GARRETT GERLOFF

WALKING TO HIS OWN TUNE Words & photos by Steve English

FEATURE

12

months ago, Garrett Gerloff was the American curiosity in the WorldSBK paddock. He arrived at the Aragon winter test for his first outing on the GRT Yamaha with journalists frantically searching Wikipedia for information and burning a hole in the MotoAmerica stat book. Who was he? What had he done?

What could he do?

Fast forward to late November 2020 and he’s enjoyed one of the most whirlwind years imaginable. Finally boarding a flight that will finally take him back to the United States he will have time to reflect on a remarkable campaign that seen him stand on a WorldSBK podium and act as a stand in for Valentino Rossi at Valencia.

“I’d been to a couple MotoGP races,” said Gerloff. “At the time I was in the garage and looking at the rider sitting in the rider’s chair with all the people around him and thinking, ‘man, what would it be like to be that guy?’ It was cool to be the one in the chair. It was just an amazing experience.

The nerves when you’re sitting there and the big Number 46 is on the wall make you almost shake.”

“Having the team keep reminding me how expensive everything was which probably didn’t help the nerves either! I’m on Valentino Rossi’s bike and those are some big shoes to fill. But, once you leave the pits everything goes out of your mind and you’re in the moment trying to figure out how to get around the track. It was my first time at Valencia, first time on Michelin tyres, carbon brakes and it was wet. There was a lot going on.”

There’s been a lot going on for Gerloff since coming to Europe. A year ago he was an unknown.

Now he’s part of the Andorra clique that includes MotoGP riders, MXGP stars and a host of world class cyclists.

“I train with a lot of fast riders and when I ride supermoto or motocross with other guys it shows me that I’m fast. That gives me a lot of confidence. When you ride with Fabio Quartararo and other MotoGP riders you can compare yourself to them. That training has been great because racing is sometimes funny and results don’t tell you the whole picture. This year at the second Aragon round was probably my worst

“It gave us a good indication that we were making progressing. It’s not ideal because I don’t want to finish outside the top ten but there has to be some silver lining. It gave me some confidence for the next weekend and then we went to Catalunya I felt good from the beginning and to finish third it gives you even more confidence. Since then things have been rolling.”

Momentum certainly built from that point onward for the Texan. The podium in Catalunya proved a catalyst for a weekend at the front in France and two rostrum finishes at the season closing round in Estoril.

“Honestly, it was such a strange year. To have four months off your bike made it very difficult and it’s the first time that I’ve ever had so long between riding my race bike. It took time for me to understand the Pirelli tyres in WorldSBK

GARRETT GERLOFF

race but it was also the closest I had been to the leading Yamaha until then.”

FEATURE

GARRETT GERLOFF

“ALL I EVER WANTED WAS AN OPPORTUNITY. SO, I HOPE THAT MY RESULTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES...”

FEATURE because they’re very different to the Dunlop tyre in MotoAmerica. The Dunlop doesn’t have as much initial grip, but it is more stable in the race and doesn’t drop off as much. The Pirelli has a lot more initial grip, but the drop off is more significant. The Pirelli has bigger extremes, with more grip at the start and less at the end. In the first couple of laps I was losing too much time in the early rounds.”

The steps that Gerloff made throughout 2020 echoed his initial steps into the Supersport and Superbike classes in the US. He would make progress throughout rookie campaigns in big chunks rather than progressing inch by inch. In MotoAmerica we saw this sensationally at the WorldSBK supporting round at Laguna Seca.

Yet to win a race he sensed his opportunity and made a daring move over the blind crest at Turn 1 on Cameron Beaubier. The move did a lot to make people aware of Gerloff including Lez Pearson.

“AT THE FRENCH ROUND LAST YEAR GERLOFF ARRIVED IN MAGNY-COURS WITH HIS CAP IN HAND LOOKING FOR A CHANCE. SITTING INSIDE YAMAHA HOSPITALITY ONE RIDER SAID, ‘HE’LL LEAVE HERE WITH A RIDE.’ HE DID..”

“Last year at Laguna I won my first race on a Superbike and Lez, who’s now my crew chief, was watching that race. It’s weird how things come together. It can blow your mind. Lez was one of the only guys watching the race from the Yamaha side and he said something like, ‘That kid’s not too bad,’ he took the chance to come to GRT to help me this year.

That was really cool. We get along so well and he’s really been a big part of helping me improve.”

“He has so much experience. He has so many years working with different guys, so he has that knowledge to pull info from. It’s been nice to have that, because I came in without a lot of experience. When that happens, you need people around you that have experience to kind of help guide you. That ended up being really key.”

“I didn’t know what to expect when I came because even though I watch WorldSBK I didn’t know the people in the teams. I had people warning me that Italians are the worst and they won’t help you because they’ve got their own opinions on everything. It couldn’t have been further from the truth. This is the best team I’ve ever been with. All of the guys are supportive and positive. That support sounds small but for me it was a really big deal to have it. You can definitely get down on yourself if things aren’t going your way. To have a group of people around you that believe in you, it changes everything.”

For Yamaha to have faith in Gerloff was crucial.

He had won two MotoAmerica Supersport titles for the manufacturer but to move to a Superbike - and finally WorldSBK - showed commitment. At the French Round last year Gerloff arrived in Magny-Cours with his cap in hand looking for a chance. Sitting inside Yamaha hospitality one rider said, ‘he’ll leave here with a ride.’ He did.

At the time Gerloff didn’t have a manager so he had to try and open doors for himself. After a year in Europe that’s changed, and his MotoGP outing did a lot to make people stand up and take notice. Until Gerloff came to Europe there was a question mark over the talent level in the United States because serial MotoAmerica

“Honestly, it’s been amazing. It was crazy but I was asked on the Monday before Valencia and I was on the bike on Friday, so it was a quick turnaround! I showed up, and it was so cool to get the call. Just to have Yamaha want to see what I could do was great. There were some other riders that weren’t available. All I ever wanted was an opportunity. So, I hope that my results speak for themselves. That’s what I want in the end. I’ve always wanted to ride a MotoGP bike.”

“When I was a kid I tried to play other sports like baseball but I was horrible. I just always loved bikes. My dad was a motocross guy, he raced Supercross at Houston, and I wanted to do that. I always wanted to be on a dirt bike, like my dad. He started road racing when he had some injuries but I still thought Motocross was a man’s sport and that’s what I wanted to do...”

“We were living in Alabama, 20 minutes from Barber Motorsports Park and we went to a race. He bought everything for Road Racing but I was still against it until my brother got a small bike and I tried it, I just loved it. We sold all our dirt bikes, and I became a road racer. My dream since then was get to MotoGP.” “It’s been nonstop over the last few months but I’m happy because for a long time I was thinking that we wouldn’t be racing this year. It was a strange year and I was expecting more of myself in the beginning but you have to work up to things.”

After a campaign where he began as an unknown newcomer to WorldSBK and finished with a MotoGP outing it’s fair to say that Gerloff was a fast learner. How far into the sky will he go?

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champion Beaubier constantly turned down offers. Suddenly with Gerloff, Beaubier and Joe Roberts all racing on the world stage a new wave of American potential is on the horizon. MotoGP is taking note.

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Valentino Rossi by Polarity Photo

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