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Moto blog

In loving memory of the Suzuki Katana

The Japanese are celebrating the 35th anniversary of the legendary Suzuki Katana motorcycle, whose appearance on the road still stuns the layman. Back in the day, the Japanese manufacturer relied on the European design studio Target Design to get an innovative motorcycle. Hans Muth, the ex-BMW designer at the time, presented two concepts: a 650cc prototype and a 1100cc version that ended up on the assembly line.

1974: Onboard an MV racer with Phil Read

ANOTHER CRACKING BIT of vintage racing footage, this time featuring multiple motorcycle world champion Phil Read on the awesome-sounding MV Agusta 500-4.The footage is from the 1974 movie 'The Iron Horse' made by Frenchman Pierre-William Glenn.Read’s 1974 500cc World Championship victory was the last year a four-stroke won the world title before the advent of the MotoGP class in 2002. Giacomo Agostini won the crown from Yamaha in 1975, followed by Suzuki-mounted Barry Sheene in '76 and '77. The footage is bloody good, considering the camera technology of the day.

Rainy BSB tests are nothing new

THE combination of bad weather in the UK and a European testing ban means that most BSB teams will now start the season with very little track time. This sounds like a disaster for the top teams but history has proved this isn’t necessarily true and it sometimes doesn’t matter how much pre season preparation has taken place.  Back in 2002 Sean Emmett won on the IFC Ducati at the opening Silverstone round after first riding it in unofficial practice the same weekend. Steve Hislop took the other win on Pauls Bird’s well sorted Ducati. More recently in 2009, Leon Camier took an untested new model R1 Yamaha to victory at the Brands Hatch opener after GSE took delivery of the bike just the week before. Sylvain Guintoli won the other race on a well developed, well tested Crescent Suzuki. You could argue if no one has had testing then it is a level playing field but you have to feel for riders moving up to the superbike class in the world’s toughest national series.  Tyco Suzuki’s PJ Jacobson is one such rider but having spent some time with him over the past few weeks he seems to be taking it all in his stride. It may be the confidence of youth or maybe the fact he has won in every other class he has entered in his short BSB career, but I suspect he fancies at least standing on the Superbike podium at Brands (He also does a bit of ice racing which is not dissimilar to the this year’s UK testing).  The testing ban was implemented with all the best cost cutting intentions and if it had been any other year in the past decade all would be well. The teams may be feeling frustrated but the fans should be excited. With so many unknowns, the 2013 BSB opener at Brands Hatch could be the best ever!