QUICK LINKS IN THE WIND 16 STUFF 94 FIRST RIDE KTM 250 SX-F FACTORY EDITION. A Real Lightweight. (In a good way)

Transcription

1 QUICK LINKS IN THE WIND 16 STUFF 94 FIRST RIDE KTM 250 SX-F FACTORY EDITION A Real Lightweight (In a good way)

2 VOL. 53 ISSUE 13 APRIL 5, 2016 TRIUMPH THRUXTON/R MODERN CLASSICS ARGENTINA MOTOGP MARQUEZ RESPONDS SANTA CLARA SUPERCROSS DAY OF DEFENDING CHAMPS PLUS Murphy National Hare & Hound Steele Creek GNCC Aragon WorldSBK Ontario Arenacross 29 Palms Big6 Archives: A Gold Mine Of Photos

3 CAPTURED P14

4 VOL. 53 ISSUE 13 APRIL 5, 2016 P15 Bowling Balls The first green light of the European Superstock 1000 season saw almost a third of the grid taken out in a pile up at turn one. The race was stopped, and at the finish it was Ducati rider Leandro Mercado who took the win. PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE

5 IN THE WIND P36 PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEAN TURNER After going without a win in 2015, Eric Yorba got back on top of the podium in Twentynine Palms, taking the WCGP Pro win. YORBA BACK ON TOP WITH WCGP WIN The two keys to winning a race at the Twentynine Palms round of the AMA District 37/ MSR Big 6 Grand Prix Series: get a good start and don t get a flat. That was the recipe for success for RPM KTM Maxxis rider Eric Yorba, who was happy to celebrate his first West Coast Grand Prix (WCGP) win since It also worked out for Pro II winner Mitch Anderson and Women s Pro winner Gina Alvarez who celebrated victories at round four of the Big 6 GP series where the fast, sweeping and inevitably dusty course at the 29 Palms Motorsports Complex presented a stiff challenge. I knew the start would be key in the race with how fast and wide open it was, said Yorba. I was able to grab the holeshot and with the dust being a huge factor I was able to open up a pretty comfortable gap on the first lap. The hour-and-a-half race was a rather short story for Yorba, who was never headed as he steamed toward the checkered flag. A late-race charge by Robby Bell might have made things interesting, as the Rocky Mountain ATV*MC/Precision Concepts Kawasaki rider inherited second place after Jeff Loop pulled out with a flat tire and started to close in on the leader. But Bell ran out of time and had to settle for second place. I know Robby was pushing hard, Yorba continued. It would have been a close one had we gone another lap. I was inching on Eric, Bell said. Getting up to him was one thing but passing him with this dust would have been something completely different. One more lap might have made it interesting but second place is a good ride. After his misfortune at Glen Helen (where he ran out of gas while leading), Blayne Thompson improved his results with a

6 VOL. 53 ISSUE 13 APRIL 5, 2016 P37 podium finish. Thompson piloted his Fasthouse Yamaha to third place, despite having lost his back brake on the third lap. I just rode my race and stayed smooth, Thompson said. I like going fast and this course suited me. We still have the points lead. We ll try to take it out the rest of the year and win this championship. For defending champion Colton Udall, it was a challenge simply lining up for the WCGP race after having broken his leg less than four weeks prior. I broke my leg and sprained my ankle pretty bad at our team photo shoot just doing some stupid jump, Udall explained. I had surgery that Thursday so I was recovering pretty quickly, but when you re injured you don t get to train, so obviously you re struggling. Udall s performance didn t indicate any struggle, as he seemed to gain strength near the end, and make a last-lap The start was everything on the dusty, high-speed course, and Robby Bell got a good one, which resulted in a second-place finish. pass on his Ox Motorsports Honda teammate Mark Samuels for fifth. Bell s Precision Concepts teammate Justin Seeds finished fourth just ahead of Udall in a close finish. The Pro II ranks had a lot more position swapping, with Jeremy McCool leading the early laps. He eventually gave way to both Mitch Anderson and Beau Baron, who led the charge before a flat tire forced him to yield the point to Anderson. McCool also capitalized and got back into second place, but Clay Hengeveld ran him down to take over the runner-up position. Anderson, Hengeveld and McCool made up the Pro II podium while finishing eighth, ninth and tenth overall. In the Women s Pro division, Tatum Sik appeared to be headed toward her second victory of the day, after having dominated the Women s Expert race in the morning. But Sik was yet another victim of a flat tire on the choppy high-speed course, and although she made a repair and jumped back into the race, it was Zip-Ty Racing s Gina Alvarez who captured the win. Beta USA s Morgan Tanke finished second while Sik collected third. Jean Turner Zip-Ty Racing Husqvarna s Gina Alvarez celebrated her first WCGP Pro win in the Women s class.

7 ROUND 2 / APRIL 3, 2016 TERMAS DE RÍO HONDO / SANTIAGO DEL ESTERO, ARGENTINA MOTOGP MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP P68 Rossi (46) was close for 50 percent of the race, then faded to take a lucky second. and Marquez; an inspired Maverick Vinales (Ecstar Suzuki) was in close pursuit ahead of Iannone with defending champion Lorenzo s Movistar Yamaha struggling somewhat ahead of Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) and Aleix Espargaro (Ecstar Suzuki). This last pair promptly fell off independently but in formation at turn one, both remounting for an afternoon of catch-up. On the fourth lap Rossi got past Dovi, and soon he was pressing Marquez hard while the Ducati fell back a couple of seconds, into the hands of Iannone and Vinales. The last laps of the first half were something of a replay of last year: Rossi and Marquez trading places back and forth several times. This time, however, nobody collided and nobody fell off. The battle was to be first into the pits at the end of lap 10, and Marquez won it with some assurance under severe pressure. MOTO3 PAWI POWERS THROUGH The first race of the day was fraught after wet warm-up. The rain had stopped and the track was drying, but there were still swirls of moisture, and the threat of more. Almost all came out on wet tires; all but one had changed to slicks for the start. The exception was Livio Loi, big winner of such a gamble at Indy in 2015; and sure enough his RW Honda did surge away from his usual slick-shod rivals to lead into the first corner. Amazingly, indeed historically, he wasn t there for long, thanks to a 17-year-old Malaysian in only his third GP. Asia Cup and CEV graduate Khairul Idham Pawi cared nothing for his slick tires, seized the lead on the first lap, and by the end had stretched it to 25 yawning seconds. Conditions had varied through the race; Pawi just got faster and faster in spite of signals from his Honda Team Asia crew to slow down. It was easy for me, he said. I just focused on my lap time. Ever further behind the teenager, Loi held second for six laps while first-time pole qualifier Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM) was playing it cool in a pursuit pack that was soon seven-strong. The first to emerge was another 17-year-old Malaysian rookie, Adam Norrodin (Drive M7 Honda); and by the time he d passed the fading Loi he d been joined by EG Honda rider Jorge Navarro, who nipped ahead after a couple of laps. Norrodin shadowed the more experienced Spaniard and pounced on the

8 VOL. 53 ISSUE 13 APRIL 5, 2016 P69 Briefly... The remotest race of the year picked a high-profile victim to highlight the travel difficulties that face those making the journey Marc Marquez arrived in the wee hours of Thursday after a nightmare 60-hour trip, which included an engine failure. Before then, one connecting flight had been cancelled, and he d missed another one. The engine failure was the icing on the cake. Asked before the race if he was nervous of venturing into the Argentine streets among possibly hostile fans, he laughed and said, I am not afraid I was afraid yesterday on the plane when the engine stopped. For the first race, Suzuki s new bothways seamless shift gearbox was adjudged ready to race, and both Aleix Espargaro and his superfast teammate Maverick Vinales were enjoying the benefit of smoother progress. At the same time, both took a step backwards. Espargaro had switched to the 2015 chassis after warm-up at the opening round at Qatar. Now Vinales had joined him. All four bikes are the same: basically the 2015 chassis, said team chief Davide Brivio. There are some positive points to the 2016, but it has final lap. Navarro got him back, saying, I knew he would come again so I made it difficult for him. Heartbreakingly, Norrodin s final attack on the penultimate corner found a damp patch and he fell. Picking the bike up he pushed over the line to finish eleventh. The group behind had been to and fro, but Binder played it best to lead Andrea Locatelli (Leopard KTM) by a couple of tenths, with Joan Mir (Leopard Honda), Hiroko Ono (Team Asia Honda) and John McPhee (Saxoprint Peugeot) behind. Jorge Martin (Aspar Mahindra) had dropped off the back to eighth with gearbox trouble, the battling duo of Jakub Kornfeil (M7 Honda) and Niccolo Antonelli (Ongetta Honda) completing the top 10, with the unlucky Norrodin less than three-tenths behind over the line. Binder leads on points, 36 to Qatar winner Antonelli s 31, then Navarro (29), Pawi (25) and Bagnaia 23rd today on 16. Pawi was the surprise of the weekend. Three GP races in and already a winner!

9 ROUND 2 / APRIL 3, 2016 TERMAS DE RÍO HONDO / SANTIAGO DEL ESTERO, ARGENTINA MOTOGP MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP P76 of rookie Rabat (EG Honda) and survived being passed by compatriot and rival Crutchlow when the latter fell for a second time on the last lap. Bautista (Aprilia) was a lone 10th, then Aleix Espargaro and Pramac Ducati substitute Michele Pirro, who had also slipped off and restarted. Dovizioso pushed over the line another 15 seconds down, 13th and final finisher. Two races in and Marquez takes over the title lead: 41 points from Rossi s 33. Then Pedrosa (27), Lorenzo (25) and Dovizioso (23). CN Laverty (50) had one of the rides of the weekend to take his finest MotoGP finish. MOTOGP 1. Marc Marquez (Hon) 2. Valentino Rossi (Yam) 3. Dani Pedrosa (Hon) 4. Eugene Laverty (Duc) 5. Hector Barbera (Duc) 6. Pol Espargaro (Yam) 7. Stefan Bradl (Apr) 8. Bradley Smith (Yam) 9. Tito Rabat (Hon) 10. Alvaro Bautista (Apr) MOTO2 1. Johann Zarco (Kal) 2. Sam Lowes (Kal) 3. Jonas Folger (Kal) 4. Alex Rins (Kal) 5. Dominique Aegerter (Kal) 6. Hafizh Syahrin (Kal) 7. Thomas Luthi (Kal) 8. Axel Pons (Kal) 9. Takaaki Nakagami (Kal) 10. Mattia Pasini (Kal) MOTO3 1. Khairul Idham Pawi (Hon) 2. Jorge Navarro (Hon) 3. Brad Binder (KTM) 4. Andrea Locatelli (KTM) 5. Joan Mir (KTM) 6. Hiroki Ono (Hon) 7. John McPhee (Peu) 8. Jorge Martin (Mah) 9. Jakub Kornfeil (Hon) 10. Niccolo Antonielli (Hon)