2013 Victory Cross Country Tour Gloss Black (livonia, Mi) on 2040-motos

Moto blog

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!

Awesome Anaheim Supercross

The highlight of this winter has to be my visit to last week’s Anaheim Californian Supercross.  I’ve followed this spectacular series on Motors TV but the atmosphere while watching the action live is something else. Forty five Yankee dollars gets you a good seat high in the stadium, with practice starting at 12.30pm and the main event kicking off at 7.30pm. If you are making a day of it however, I’d recommend buying a pit pass then you can get in full anorak mode to hassle the teams and riders for autographs and photos.  We conveniently made some new friends allowing us to do some pre event ‘tail gating’, a great concept which is basically barbecuing and downing beer around your vehicle in the surrounding car parks.  The evening race schedule is four hours of nonstop action starting with the capacity crowd standing for the American national anthem sung by a stunning blonde with a huge voice.

2014 AMA Superbike – Barber Results

Josh Hayes captured his third and fourth wins of the 2014 AMA Superbike season to take the double at Barber Motorsports Park. The two wins moved Hayes to the top of the championship standings from third as the three-time champion put himself in good position to win a fourth. Race One The Monster Energy Graves Yamaha rider had a relatively easy Race One as several top rivals crashed on the hot Alabama track.