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41 Articles

EDITOR’S BLATHER

“WE’VE GONE BEYOND SUPERFICIAL GLAMOUR TO DISCOVER DARK, BROODING FORCES THAT LIE BENEATH” IT’S EASY TO FORGET that not everyone likes motorcycle racing. I was once at Knockhill circuit standing next to an extraordinarily beautiful and elegantly-dressed lady called Kerry. We were on some sort of team-building weekend which had ended with a minimoto endurance race at Knockhill. It was a gorgeous summer evening, and I’d just passed my main rival to move our team into the lead. But Kerry wasn’t keen on taking over. “I don’t understand. Where would you rather be?” I asked her. “In a piano bar in Manhattan,” she replied. Oh, right then. So I was fascinated to learn that even Sam Sunderland, winner of the 2017 Dakar and clearly the hardest man in the world,…

EDITOR’S BLATHER

“THE BIG CHANGE IS THE CHIP IN THE RIDER’S HEAD.”

BAUTISTA. HE’S GRABBED THE BULL BY THE HORNS SOMETIMES THE GLOSS people put on things makes me smile. My favourite line from pre-season testing is, “We weren’t shooting for lap times. We were just working on stuff.” Which basically means, “Damn, I was slow.” The thing is, on the first day of a test you pretty much know how your season is going to pan out. That can be a great feeling if you are Maverick Vinales. But if you are Scott Redding, or Jack Miller, or Tito Rabat, it can be horrible. Imagine how they feel about a rookie like Johann Zarco coming in and being just 0.4 seconds off the pace. Jack’s in his third year of MotoGP now, and he’s still a second off. Sam Lowes had…

“THE BIG CHANGE IS THE CHIP IN THE RIDER’S HEAD.”

“EXPERIENCE MAKES YOU MORE LIKELY TO HAVE AN ACCIDENT.”

I THINK THE NERVES BEGIN ABOUT THIS TIME OF YEAR CHAT TO ANY BSB rider at this time of year and all they can talk about is doing laps on the new bike at Almeria or Cartagena, being at peak physical fitness and having a six pack. Not so much the Roads lads though. With them the preparation is almost entirely mental. There are three big road races: the North West, TT and Ulster. That’s when they make most of their wages. And they know that however many laps they do this season, they can’t make one mistake. That pressure produces a weird way of looking at things. The short-circuit way says that the more experience you have, the less you’ll fall off. You’ll spot the dangers and feel the…

“EXPERIENCE MAKES YOU MORE LIKELY TO HAVE AN ACCIDENT.”

TEAM MATES & TEAM HATES

IT PROBABLY DOESN’T need saying, but team-mates in motorcycle racing and in football play very different roles. Footballers try to work in harmony with their teammates, whereas every bike racer knows there’s no one more important to beat than his team-mate. There’s a good reason for this. You and your team-mate ride identical motorcycles (in theory, at least), so any difference in results will be attributed to riding ability. If your team-mate kicks your butt every weekend, you’ll soon be out of a job. It has always been thus. In 1991 King Kenny Roberts had two great riders in his Marlboro Yamaha 500 team: reigning 500 champion Wayne Rainey and up-and-coming 250 champ John Kocinski, who was aiming to steal the 500 crown. Rainey knew he had to crush the…

TEAM MATES
& TEAM HATES

#46 THE WORLD’S FASTEST JUNKIE

VALENTINO ROSSI’S achievements are unparalleled: he has won the most premier-class Grand Prix victories, achieved the most podiums across all classes, scored the most world championship points, has contested the most GPs and has the longest winning career, spanning from August 1996 to June 2016. Statistics make some fans keel over with boredom but you cannot deny that racing is all about numbers: lap times, championship points, suspension clicks and the zeroes and ones of digital electronics. So, yes, the numbers are important, and with some riders they are pretty much all that matter. But Rossi is different; with him it’s not only the stats, it’s also the man himself. He isn’t simply the only rider who’s won more than 80 premier-class GPs; he’s charismatic, intelligent, funny and generous with…

#46 THE WORLD’S FASTEST JUNKIE

ROSSI’S OTHER DAY JOBS

JOB 1: Moto3 World Championship team Rossi launched his Sky VR46 Moto3 team in 2014. He is very hands-on. “During a race weekend I like to go on track to watch the guys in practice. I can help them technically, giving them some advice about lines and so on.” JOB 2: THE VR RIDERS ACADEMY Rossi’s academy mentors up-and-coming Italian riders, taking them from local racing to MotoGP. Current VR riders include Nico Antonelli, Lorenzo Baldassarri, Pecco Bagnaia, Nico Bulega, Luca Marini and Franco Morbidelli. JOB 3: MOTO2 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM Rossi’s new Sky VR46 Moto2 team takes his team-boss duties up a gear. The squad features Italians Pecco Bagnaia and Stefano Manzi who will use the ubiquitous Kalex chassis in the CBR600-powered championship. JOB 4: VR46 APPAREL Rossi’s VR46…

ROSSI’S OTHER DAY JOBS

MOTOGP’S NEW DUEL

“IF I TOUCH THE OTHER RIDER A BIT, IT’S RACING” VINALES SOMETIMES A DUEL becomes inevitable: two fighters arrive at the top of a sport at the same time, and one of them must lose and one of them must win. This is where MotoGP stands with Honda’s reigning champion Marc Marquez and Yamaha’s new hope Maverick Vinales. There are others standing on the side lines of this showdown – Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Iannone, who may turn this duel into an all-out brawl – but most likely the two strongest riders on the two strongest bikes will be at the centre of the contest for the 2017 crown. The Marquez versus Vinales struggle is interesting because it’s been a long time since two MotoGP riders of similar…

MOTOGP’S NEW DUEL

GENIUS v PRODIGY

1995 Born in Figueres, Spain 1998 First minimoto race 1999-01 Minimoto and motocross 2003-07 Metrakit 70cc championships 2007 Catalonian 125 champion 2008 Catalonian 125 champ, Mediterranean Trophy winner, selected German 125 races 2009 2nd, Spanish 125 championship. Rookie of the year 2010 Spanish and European 125 champion 2011 3rd, 125 world championship 2012 3rd, Moto3 world championship 2013 Moto3 world champion 2014 3rd, Moto2. Rookie of the year 2015 12th, MotoGP with Suzuki. Rookie of the year 2016 4th, MotoGP with Suzuki. First win (Silverstone) 1993 Born in Cervera, Spain 1997 First ride on a bike 1998 Enduro for Kids 1999 50cc enduro/ motocross 2000 2nd, Catalonian MX ch’ship. Enduro races 2001 Catalonian motocross champion (initiation category) 2002 3rd, Conti Cup. Motocross races. First road race 2003 Catalonian Open RACC…

GENIUS v PRODIGY

WORLD SPEEDWAY CHAMPION 1997, 2011, 2014, 2016 I LOVE RACING BECAUSE IT BRINGS ME A LOT MORE THAN JUST HAPPINESS AND SUCCESS. IT INSPIRES ME IN LIFE Age 46 GREG HANCOCK What did you do on a night off when you were 21? Wow, that’s a long time ago! :) I did all the usual things that most did at 21 – out with friends on the odd occasion, watching another sport somewhere, or just getting some extra exercise somewhere. What do you do on a night off now? I try to spend every extra minute with my wife and kids. I miss a lot of this due to Speedway’s long, hard-paced racing schedule. I only do 75 events a year. :() If you met yourself aged 25,…

IT IS NOT LIKE AN ORDINARY SLOPE. IT IS AN UNIMAGINABLY STEEP HILL IMAGINE the health and safety assessment meeting prior to this jape. “So,” says Red Bull’s risk assessor, his facial twitch appearing worse than normal, “in summary, the three-times MotoGP world champion and Honda’s most valuable motorcycling asset will attempt to ride up part of a world championship downhill ski course on a 240bhp RCV213V with hundreds of 2in steel spikes sticking out of the tyres and the course will be lined with members of the public.” No wonder Red Bull’s publicity machine played down the stunt. They said Marquez was going to ride up a ‘ski slope’ and didn’t mention it was the Kitzbühel world cup downhill course in Austria. As anyone who has tried skiing this…

MORE OFF-SEASON frolics

‘I MIGHT DO THE DAKAR’ VALENTINO ROSSI Rossi’s traditional end-of-year blowout is the Monza rally, which he’s just won for the fifth time – much to the annoyance of the professional rally drivers he beat. “Maybe in the future I’ll do the Dakar Rally when I’ve stopped with motorbikes,” he said afterwards. “It’s a great challenge. It’s very hard and very tough – maybe it’s better if I do the 24 Hours of Le Mans instead...” BRADLEY SMITH While his rivals are titting about in cars and warm seas, poor old Bradders spent winter trying to fix his knee ligaments which he injured during a World Endurance round last year. It seems to have worked: he’s not far off his team-mate in testing. ALVARO BAUTISTA Wrestling with a large breasted…

MORE OFF-SEASON frolics

‘THIS AIN’T PING PONG’

AFTER A MOTOGP season spiked by the lowest lows and highest highs, Cal Crutchlow has retreated to California with his wife Lucy and their baby Willow. 2016 was a whirlwind for Cal – he crashed his brains out at the start of the season, then got a morale-boosting podium at the Sachsenring followed by a brilliant victory at Brno and a flurry of podium placings after that. Then there was another win at Phillip Island. Now, with batteries charged, it’s time to get back to work. So Cal, how is fatherhood treating you? It’s fantastic. Best thing that ever happened to me. It puts things into perspective and I had the best four weeks of my life in the middle of last year – Willow was born, there was the…

‘THIS AIN’T PING PONG’

LORENZO V THE BEAST

AFTER WHAT happened to Rossi on the Ducati, you can understand Jorge Lorenzo’s reluctance to wheel out the superlatives and claim he’ll win this year’s world championship. But even taking this into account, he’s playing his cards close to his chest about the Desmosedici’s chances. “No one knows the future, but I don’t think I’m going to fail with Ducati,” he said after the Sepang tests where he finished ninth overall – not a bad result considering he was 17th after the first day. “I don’t know the level that I’m going to achieve soon, but I’m sure that sooner or later I will be competitive and I will be winning races. It would be a big mistake if we just concentrated on becoming world champions because that’s the best…

LORENZO V THE BEAST

THE WORLD’S FASTEST TESTER

Having Casey Stoner as your test rider must be a double-edged sword for Jorge Lorenzo. On the one hand he gets the bike development skills of a two-times world champion. On the other he risks being made to look slow by a retired bloke who hasn’t ridden a Grand Prix machine for six months – Stoner topped the opening day of the season’s first MotoGP test at Malaysia’s Sepang circuit, shattering the lap record. Lorenzo must hope the benefits of Stoner developing the wingless Ducati will outweigh any potential embarrassment. Ducati Corse boss Gigi Dall’Igna was an adventurous leader in aero development and it was feared that the winglet ban could have a negative impact on handling and performance. “The new bike feels very good without winglets,” reported Stoner. “I…

THE WORLD’S FASTEST TESTER

THEY WON’T BE WINNING RACES THIS YEAR BRADLEY SMITH #38 Team: Red Bull KTM On paper so far, it looks like the debut of KTM has been a disaster in MotoGP – and that Bradley Smith would have been better staying put at the Tech 3 Yamaha squad. Finishing most of the season’s tests so far towards the back of the field, the new KTM RC16 would appear to be uncompetitive. But testing hides a lot of things, and it’s quite telling how upbeat both Smith and teammate (both last year and this) Pol Espargaro are at the end of every day on the steel-framed machine (p64). Still developing data against rivals who in some cases have decades of the stuff, and still developing a bike that’s only six months…

JUST A RED HONDA? With its 90-degree motor and beam frame the D17 uses the same basic layout (and suspension and brakes) as the Honda. But the bikes seem to work in a completely different way. The Honda flies into corners; the Ducati needs to be wrestled LEARNER BIKE WEIGHT At 157kg dry the D17 weighs the same as a fully-fuelled KTM390 Duke, but goes more than 100mph faster (top speed at Mugello is 218mph). Ride-by-wire throttle bodies have two injectors each, either side of the butterfly OXYGEN GULPER With a claimed 250bhp, the D17 needs to swallow very large volumes of air every second. The intake leads either side of the steering stem directly to the airbox We got a rare insight into the Ducati last year when our…

MICHELIN FRONT It’s only round and black, but this tyre shaped the whole of the 2016 season. The riders who could get the most from its rapid development flourished. Those who couldn’t crashed. Note the huge full-lean footprint – bigger than the straight-line one THEY’LL BE BACK The anti-wheelie wings that adorned most factory bikes last year have been banned on safety grounds. Yamaha are the first to try a legal return to aero assistance, with wings hidden in a fairing bulge CROSSPLANE CRANK This mystical object first appeared on the M1 in 2004, and on the R1 roadbike in 2009. Its crankpins are in the shape of a cross, one every 90 degrees, so the crank does very little speeding up and slowing down as it rotates. This is…

RIDER PROTECTION Honda have used up valuable grammes of carbon fibre bodywork to protect the rider from the bike (or should that be the other way round?). The two right silencers and the dry clutch all have guards ONE HEART SATU HATI A mystery to western fans, these are the slogans (in English and Indonesian) of Astra Honda Motor in Indonesia WINGLET Last year’s wings are banned on safety grounds, but this little one survived. It probably just helps the radiator exhaust air flow You would expect one of the world’s best engine makers to bring along a T-rex of a motor every season. In fact, a late start with the control electronics made the Honda difficult to drive out of corners last year, and it was so down on…

BASICALLY RIGHT With rules unchanged this year, Suzuki know they have a good bike. “What we have done so far is quite surprising,” admits boss Davide Brivio. “Everything was new two years ago, and managing to win a race last year was amazing. But this has to be just the starting point.” UNDERSEAT FUEL MotoGP bikes look fat under the seat because that’s where the fuel is. That location frees up space for the airbox ( for big power) and optimises the weight distribution change as the fuel is burned in a race CONSTANT EVOLUTION That slim Akrapovic silencer might look like the last word in style but the entire exhaust system will change throughout the season as different tracks demand different power characteristics. INLINE ENGINE Like the Yamaha, the…

POWER As you’d expect from a Moto3 engine builder, the engine is already powerful. The next job is to make it easier to use WP SUSPENSION As if entering MotoGP isn’t hard enough, KTM are using their own suspension, WP, rather than Öhlins like everyone else STEEL FRAME Ducati tried it in MotoGP for the same reason – they understand steel – but gave up. For now it allows fast alterations For now, KTM have landed two riders who are a lot faster than their new motorbike. Which is how it should be at the beginning of a development cycle. Two years from now, the Austrian factory hope it will be the other way round. And if their record in other branches of bikesport is any guide, the RC16 will…

MAVERICK Vinales

‘ I DON’T THINK GIRLS FIND US SEXY. IT’S THE DANGER AND PASSION.” What is your earliest memory? I don’t know exactly, but for sure it’s on a bike. The first memories I properly have are when I was four years old, riding a 65cc two stroke. I still have the video of it – standing up and sitting down at the same time. I was so small! Why do you race? I love competition. I’m a very competitive person, and the feeling I have when I cross the line in first position is something special – I can’t have that feeling with anything else. I like individual sports too. Even if behind me there is a lot of work and teamwork, on the bike it’s all yourself. You have…

MAVERICK
Vinales

“OUR BIKES ARE GOOD ENOUGH TO BE IN FRONT”

TENTH DOESN’T LOOK VERY AMBITIOUS, BUT IT IS! HERVE, how is the testing season going? Ha! We are so busy. This is maybe the worst time of the year to prepare everything for Qatar, for the test in Australia, for Moto2. It’s a lot of work and the time difference is not helping us. Is the thrill of going racing still there? Honestly, sometimes you can think it’s too much – and I’ve been doing it for a long time. I’m going to be 60 next April, so I’m not a kid any more. But I’m as excited as I’ve ever been, maybe even more excited because we’ve got two rookies from Moto2: Johann Zarco, the double world champion, and Jonas Folger, the very promising young German guy. This is…

“OUR BIKES ARE GOOD ENOUGH TO BE IN FRONT”

Christian IDDON

‘I’D OUT-BEAR THE BEAR. SO I’D BE THE BIGGER BEAR…’ What are you doing right now? Can you provide a selfie? Before I picked the phone up to you I was messaging chicks. I can’t take a selfie as I kinda need both hands… What is your earliest memory? Probably when I made porridge for breakfast this morning. I hate questions like this as when I think of something and say it, I always think of something earlier afterwards. I don’t remember being born, so that’s out. Let’s say this one: I was about three or four and my Dad used to go trials riding at a place and I was riding my little PeeWee. We’d parked up on the road and there was a road that veered off down…

Christian IDDON

“IT WAS HORRIBLE. REALLY HORRIBLE.”

HE’S GOT the thousand-yard stare, bloodshot eyes, wind-battered skin and he’s sweating like a pig. But 27 year-old Brit Sam Sunderland has a wry smile. It is only day five of the 13-day Dakar, the most gruelling race on the planet. And he’s just taken the lead. It turned out to be a lead he refused to relinquish and the resulting victory saw him become the first ever Brit to win Dakar, 38 years after the event began. Now the dust has settled and the flood waters have subsided on a race that pushed the world’s best rally riders to breaking point, Sunderland is coming to terms with his accomplishment. Dakar is a race like no other. Contested over large swathes of South America, it features 600-plus mile days, extreme…

“IT WAS HORRIBLE. REALLY HORRIBLE.”

“WHY FIGHT FOR 20TH, WHEN YOU CAN ENTER MALLE AND FIGHT FOR VICTORY?” THE HEAT IS STIFLING. Indescribable. My hands are wrinkled from the sheer quantity of sweat they are wiping from my body. It’s only 9am and I’m sat down doing nothing. Thank god I’m not on a bike. “I raced in 50 degrees once,” says Kurt. “It was like riding towards a wall of hair dryers. You can feel the wind but it doesn’t cool you down – it just dries you out.” “Why are we even here, Kurt?” “Well… It’s the Dakar isn’t it? It’s the hardest challenge on earth.” JANUARY 31 , DAKAR -2 Today is scrutineering and tomorrow is the podium parade. There are five British riders, three of them rookies. There’s factory KTM rider…

IF THE DAKAR AIN’T TOUGH ENOUGH

The Malle Moto is an extra class for 20 riders who are demonstrably insane. They forgo all support, their spares are limited and their possessions must fit in a steel box transported by the organisation. Former MotoGP rider Jurgen van den Goorbergh has done the Dakar every year since 2009 and raced Malle Moto for the last two years, winning the class in 2016. “I just don’t think it’s interesting to do it with a team any more. Why fight for 20th, when you can enter Malle and fight for victory? And you know what? We still help each other. On the day itself, you go for it, but back in the bivouac I will help Robert or I will help Lyndon. It’s a family.” Jurgen added an extra challenge…

IF THE DAKAR AIN’T TOUGH ENOUGH

11 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT SAM’S DAKARWINNING KTM450

N o 01 SO THIS BIKE IS THE BENCHMARK? Oh yes. Besides KTM, only Honda build a Dakar-specific bike. The others are essentially adapted enduros or motocrossers. Every aspect of the KTM is designed, tested and developed to suit the task of winning the Dakar. Which they’ve done every year since 2001. N o 02 I could ride it: yes or no? Without doubt, yes. Its balance, capability and spread of power are superb. It can do slow-speed trials-like riding, technical enduro, motocross and tarmac road. With tarmac-specific tyres it would make a brilliant courier bike hacking round London. N o 03 So how do I actually use it? In unreal sand, 30-metre dunes, rocky hard-pack desert, washed-out river beds and a hell of a lot of…

11 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT SAM’S DAKARWINNING KTM450

CRAZY NEW WSB RULES

IF YOU’RE FINDING WSB ever so slightly hard to get excited about, you aren’t the only one. Twenty years ago the series was bigger than GPs, which people saw as a Honda-dominated irrelevance. Today the superbikes are the minority interest. WSB has 1.5 million likes on Facebook. MotoGP? Almost 12 million. The organisers - the same people who run MotoGP - aren’t stupid, but many factors in WSB’s demise are outside their control. And efforts to limit electronics (like they have in MotoGP) are opposed by the factories, who need somewhere to develop their software. So for 2017 they’ve made some dramatic new rules to reduce the gap between Kawasaki/Ducati and the rest, and fizz up the excitement. OUT: SPLIT THROTTLES Last year’s WSB-spec machines were nothing like their road-going…

CRAZY NEW WSB RULES

“I DON’T AGREE WITH THE CHANGES” JONATHAN REA “From a sporting point of view, I don’t agree with the changes, but I understand we have to sell WSB to the outside world. It might change the action in the race but I’m not sure it will change the final result.” “I HAVE NO ISSUES WITH IT AT ALL.” CHAZ DAVIES I have no issues with it at all. It takes away some of the purity of what we’re doing but only for one race. If you flick on the TV and see the guys who started 7th, 8th or 9th coming through to fight to win, it could be pretty spectacular!” “I DISAGREE WITH IT BUT I’LL GO WITH IT.” TOM SYKES “It’s not great for safety as you have…

INTRODUCING... SUPERSPORT 300 SERIES

THE SERIES WILL RUN AT WSB EUROPEAN ROUNDS FOR RIDERS AGED 15 AND ABOVE Another change for 2017 sees the introduction of a new 300cc World Supersport Championship. It might sound like this series is a replacement for the traditional 600cc Supersport series. It actually replaces the European Junior Cup (which ran CB650F Hondas). The idea is to nurture young talent on the production scene, using the latest stable of [more or less] 300cc sports bikes. The series will run at WSB European rounds for riders aged 15 and above. Any A2 bike is allowed. The main entries are Yamaha’s YZF-R3, Kawasaki’s Ninja 300, KTM’s RC390 (above, in RC Cup race trim) and Honda’s CBR500R. The latter two get rev limits to offset their extra cc.…

INTRODUCING... SUPERSPORT 300 SERIES

WSB THE ONES TO WATCH

“I CAN RIDE AT 95 PER CENT NOW, NOT ON THE LIMIT” CHAZ DAVIES #7 Team: Aruba.it Ducati After winning seven of the last eight races in 2016, Davies heads into the 2017 season as favourite to challenge back-to-back champion Jonathan Rea. Over the past two seasons, the Welshman has shown he’s more than capable of beating the Rea/ Kawasaki combination. The only missing link is consistency. Then again, he may already have sorted that: his late season saw him win more races (11) than Jonathan Rea (9) in 2016. If he can keep that up all season long, he’s without doubt a title threat. Davies himself is well aware of how close he is, pointing out that he didn’t fall once after last year’s summer break. He…

WSB THE ONES TO WATCH

BSB THE ONES TO WATCH

BYRNE IS AFLOAT ON A SEA OF CONSISTENCY SHANE BYRNE #67 Team: Be Wiser Ducati Heading into the 2016 season with five titles, Byrne is the most successful BSB rider ever, and undoubtedly the favourite. However, the one thing he’s not managed yet is a successful title defence. That said, he’s in a strong position ahead of the season’s start. Unlike most of his rivals, who have at least changed teams for 2017, Byrne is afloat on a sea of consistency. He’s riding the Panigale R he took to title success at Brands Hatch last autumn. With rivals of the calibre of Guintoli, Haslam and Brookes, Byrne’s early season strategy will be to grab the upper hand, and then stretch a lead. The team aren’t leaving anything to chance. Byrne…

BSB THE ONES TO WATCH

EARLIEST MEMORY? POURING SPAGHETTI BOLOGNAISE OVER MY HEAD HE’S ONLY 24 , but he’s been racing since he was six. Now Luke Mossey is entering his third season in BSB – and hoping this is the year when he becomes a serious nuisance to the older and more established riders. As a nipper from Royston in 2015 he won the BSB Riders’ Cup in his rookie year. He followed that up in 2016 by breaking into the Showdown, and collecting four podiums during the season, including a career best second at Oulton Park. Away from racing Luke is an ambassador for the Cool Fab Racing Minibike Championship. He also advises for Mission Motorsport – a charity which helps injured servicemen and women to recover through racing. It offers them respite,…

Dean Harrison ‘NOBODY HAS A GUN TO MY HEAD SAYING I MUST RACE THE TT’

HE’S YORKSHIRE’S best road racing export: a Lightweight TT winner, and near 130mph lapper. No one can touch Dean Harrison at his home track, Oliver’s Mount in Scarborough, where he started racing alongside MCN Sport’s Adam Child back in 2008. We asked Adam to grill him about Hutchy and Dunlop, walking under ladders and that 190mph jump by the pub at Crosby. IT’S A MASSIVE BOOST TO SEE THE CROWDS Road racing is really dangerous. Does that ever give you pause for thought? To be honest it doesn’t even enter my mind. What will be, will be. I strongly believe that when your time is up, your time is up. Sometimes it’s your day, sometimes it isn’t. We all know it’s dangerous; it says so in the small print. But…

Dean Harrison ‘NOBODY HAS A GUN TO MY HEAD SAYING I MUST RACE THE TT’

‘ER, I THINK I’VE DONE A 132…’

THERE WAS A hilarious and fascinating exchange between Guy Martin and John McGuinness during the announcement that Guy would ride the new Honda Fireblade alongside the 23-times TT winner this season. The new Honda Racing team-mates were chatting when McGuinness asked why Guy had led and lost a nine-second lead on his Relentless Suzuki to the Honda rider in the 2011 Senior race. “What were you doing, thinking about working on a truck or something?” McGuinness asked. “Yeah, I was thinking about work,” Guy said sheepishly. “I always wondered that,” McGuinness said before they discussed lap times. “I think I’ve done a 132,” Guy said, vaguely. “You did a 132.398mph on the second lap of the 2015 Senior,” McGuinness admonished his new colleague. “You should know that Guy. You’ve got…

‘ER, I THINK I’VE DONE A 132…’

TT RACERS’ REACTION

‘HONDA HAVE ALWAYS HAD A GREAT RECORD OVER THERE’ IAN HUTCHINSON 14-time TT winner riding for Tyco BMW. Won three last year ‘He’s had bikes capable of winning before’ “You never have a clue what Guy will do so I wasn’t surprised to hear the news he was coming back. I’m not even that surprised it’s with Honda because he’s local to them and there has always been a connection. “TAS had a bike built for Guy and they took it everywhere last year in case he wanted to ride it. It shows the loyalty they had but I never really thought about him being my team-mate. “All of the main teams have put a bike together that can win races and plenty of us have won with different…

TT RACERS’ REACTION

GUY MARTIN V THE TT

The Isle of Man TT’s Mountain course has been the scene of an 11-year battle by Guy Martin to get his hands on one of the famous Winged Mercury trophies. With 15 runner-up or third place finishes the 35-year-old has now acquired the dubious accolade of being the most podiumed non-winner in the event’s history. Guy made his TT debut in 2004 and his lap of 122.10mph was then the fastest ever by a newcomer. A year later he got his first podium. A cracking but frustrating year, with a second place in both the Senior and Superbike plus a third place in the Supersport. Another podium-packed year, with a third in the Superbike and two seconds in the Supersport 1 race and Superstock. Now riding a Suzuki, Guy comes…

GUY MARTIN V THE TT

BIKES, BEER & SUN

JUN 30-JUL 2 1 SPA FRANCORCHAMPS, BELGIUM BIKERS CLASSIC The biggest, coolest classic event in mainland Europe, with 500 competitors, an early WSB-era superbike race (851s, RC30s and the like), a four-hour endurance race for old 1100s, loads of old GP two strokes, and AMA-style superbikes. Plus a village, stands, shows and the chance to ride this incredible track. bikersclassics.be JUL 14-16 2 CHIMAY, BELGIUM CLASSIC BIKES Another great Belgian race meeting, with two strokes, big twins, sidecars and singles. Stroll between the paddock and ‘Armco Alley’ on the east side, where there’s a steak and frites restaurant on the track. circuit.be MAY 6-7 3 DONINGTON PARK, ENGLAND ENDURANCE LEGENDS/ICGP If you go to one classic race in the UK, this is it. Apart from droves of Manx Nortons and…

BIKES, BEER & SUN

THE MAN WHO BROUGHT AGOSTINI DOWN TO EARTH

‘HONDA GAVE ME TWO OPTIONS: A WORLD TOUR OR GO HOME’ ‘GARY WENT AND SAW OLD MAN MV, AND SAID: ‘FINISH’’ In a career spanning 25 years, Nobby Clark tuned and maintained some of the most enthralling motorcycles the world has ever seen. His time in the GP paddock started with fellow Rhodesian Gary Hocking on a four-stroke MV twin in 1960 and finished with Randy Mamola’s two-stroke Honda triple in 1985. Nobby spoke eight languages (including Japanese) and was famed for working 48 hours straight when the need arose without losing any of his remarkable attention to detail. And he took no nonsense from riders. Here are just a few of the highlights from an amazing motorcycle life. GARY HOCKING: THE REAL STORY “Gary and I served our apprenticeship…

THE MAN WHO BROUGHT AGOSTINI DOWN TO EARTH

FEEL LIKE THIS FOR ONLY £760

WE SLITHER BACK DOWN. FRED GATHERS HIS WITS, BREATHES DEEPLY AND GUNS IT STRANGE HOW an hour of riding flat out tunes your mind into every detail of your surroundings. A fist-sized rock, kicked up by the rider in front, is hanging in space, spinning in slow motion. There’s so much time I can make out a cluster of small stones around it, like asteroids orbiting a planet. Then it smashes into my chinbar, and the shower of stones hits my goggles and neck. Note to self: on these rough shale tracks, either pass a rider or hang back. I haven’t passed this guy for two reasons. First, he’s not hanging about. Second, he’s my son. We’ve been together for most of the race, and although it’s obvious I’ve got…

FEEL LIKE THIS FOR ONLY £760

MY ENDURO DEBUT

THAT LAP WAS THE FUNNIEST 50 MILES I’VE RIDDEN The cold was the prominent theme once we arrived at the Sweet Lamb rally centre. I had to spill tea on my hand to keep it warm. Gearing up in the back of the van took a while too – I put on eight layers. This turned out to be a good idea. I can confidently say that all the other riders were more experienced and well prepared than me. I forgot my Moto GP-style engine warm-up and I did not have my own branded gazebo. I did, however, have a 180kg Yamaha XT660R with road suspension and ten year-old ‘knobbly’ tyres. I had never ridden it off road before, so I used the 50 metres of muddy car park as…

MY ENDURO DEBUT

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