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Metzeler Z8 wins Motorrad award

METZELER'S Z8 Interact sports-touring tyre has been classed as the best wet weather sports-touring tyre by the German Motorrad TestCenter. Metzeler decided to develop new compounds for the Roadtec Z8 Interact precisely to meet these needs, tyres with the specific goal of providing riders not only the most recent technological solutions available in the area of wet performance, but also the possibility of having a tyre with a wide range of use that represents the new standard in terms of performance in any weather conditions, from wet and cold to hot and dry. The criteria considered in the wet test by Motorrad TestCenter have been: steering precision and characteristics, line holding during acceleration, ease of handling, grip at lean angle for front and rear tyres, grip during acceleration, limit range characteristics, feedback at lean angle, braking stability during full braking with ABS.

Team Hammer Releases Martin Cardenas

AMA Pro Racing’s Team Hammer has released Martin Cardenas from his contract to allow the reigning AMA Daytona Sportbike Champion “to better pursue his goal of returning to World Championship competition as soon as possible.” Though the eventual goal appears to be for Cardenas to move up to the World Superbike Championship, rumors have Cardenas landing with the Yoshimura Suzuki factory team to race in the AMA Superbike Championship in 2013 as an eventual stepping stone towards international racing. Cardenas won the 2010 and 2012 AMA Daytona Sportbike championships with Team Hammer riding a Suzuki GSX-R600. Team Hammer held a contract option for Cardenas for the 2013 season but decided to release the Colombian racer, allowing him to take a different route towards a WSBK career.

Schwantz and Mackenzie on the Nurburgring box

A 500GP bike never fails to stop me in my tracks and that’s exactly what happened when I spotted this Schwantz example from the early nineties, proudly displayed on the Arai stand at the recent Motorcyclelive show.  On loan from Crescent Suzuki and accompanied by a rostrum publicity shot from the 1990 German GP at the Nurburgring, I felt the urge to write a few words on that special weekend. I started the year running my own 250 GP team with fairly standard TZ Yamahas but was drafted in as Kevin Schwantz’s team mate after Kevin Magee suffered a serious head injury at the second Grand Prix in Laguna Seca.  With no testing and some major Spanish food poisoning I finished 8th at the next round in Jerez then followed that up with a 5th place in Misano. Next up was the Nurburgring and after qualifying on the second row of the grid, my crew chief Geoff Crust informed me he had a premonition of a race day rostrum finish. He also told me I better make it come true as he was already looking forward to a few post race celebratory refreshments. While I hoped Crusty was the new mystic meg, the truth was I would have been more than happy to buy the beers if I made it to the flag inside the top five. I had an outside chance of catching one major scalp as Wayne Rainey was riding with a nasty hand injury but I suspected adrenalin would see him through the day. I also followed Mick Doohan a fair bit in practice but he was beginning to find his feet on the Rothmans Honda so was going to be another problem.  When the lights went out Schwantz and Rainey went straight to the front I while I hung in behind Doohan and Pier Francesco Chilli, and then it happened. Coming out of the bottom right hand hairpin, Doohan and Chilli simultaneously high sided in one of the most spectacular crashes of the season. I never liked seeing any fellow riders crash but I made the most of this early race gift and rode my 160bhp/115kg RGV hard to the flag, claiming my first podium of the season.  We partied hard (win or lose we always did) that night and I went on to have my best ever season finishing fourth overall in the championship. After the last round in Australia, I finished second to Kevin at Sugo in Japan then won in Malaysia at another international race that KS didn’t attend. I also tested at Eastern Creek for the following season but then was flicked from the team for reasons that still remain a mystery. Hey Ho!