Motorcycle Racing and Riding

I am simply copying Suzuki’s words for this post.  Unlike the Honda post where I actually wrote all but the list of bikes. Please see: a note about “press releases, news releases, and public service announcements”. Thank you.

Go here for the more-complete Honda 2009 Motor Show Article

Exhibition Models

Burgman Fuel-Cell Scooter

Having stunned the motorcycling world with the Crosscage fuel-cell bike at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show, Suzuki applied the technologies to a more practical and accessible form of two-wheel transportation: a scooter. The result is the Burgman Fuel-Cell Scooter. The fuel cell is air-cooled and concomitantly light, compact, and structurally simple. A 70MPa hydrogen tank (the highest-pressure tank used on a bike thus far) allows a usable riding range. And the tank is mounted within a robust frame for safety.

Gladius 400 ABS

The Gladius 400 ABS is a stylish naked bike with a 400cm³ V-twin engine. It features a truss frame that combines rigidity with great looks. And its newly designed V-twin engine delivers plenty of power in a rider-friendly way. All told, the Gladius 400 ABS is great way to experience the nimble performance and classic throb of a V-twin machine.

Boulevard 400

Boulevard 400

The Boulevard 400 is a performance cruiser with aggressive bikini-cowled looks and a 400cm³ engine. Low, flowing body lines that give an unmistakable sense of performance are combined with inverted front forks and stylish cast wheels. The engine is a narrow-angle (45°), liquid-cooled V-twin with fuel injection.

Bandit 1250F ABS

The Bandit 1250F ABS is a fully faired tourer. Together with the compact body and torquey performance that make touring so enjoyable on the Bandit series, it has a sharply styled full fairing for heightened comfort.

Other Exhibition Model

Suzuki will also be showing a GSV-R racebike.

Production Models

The Suzuki booth will feature the following production models: Gemma; Skywave 250 Type M; DR-Z50; and Love SNA26.

Links and images used by permission of Sean de Fraine— Sean is the Web master for www.blarneyquick.com and the Kevin Schwantz School – Official Page facebook page.

Do you want to learn Barber Motorsports Park?   How about getting a tow from Kevin Schwantz?  Sean de Fraine and his friend Keiron Mooney attended the Kevin Schwantz School at Barber and Indianapolis Motor Speedway this year.  What next?  How about the 2009 Red Bull Indianapolis GP?  Yeah, they attended that too as spectators.  Sean came over from the UK, and the guys decided to make the most of it.  Sean wrote up the story and the Kevin Schwantz School published it here. Check out Sean’s story.  It’s a good read.

Sean posts photos, videos, and links to the “Kevin Schantz School – Official Page” facebook.com fan page.  To learn more about the Schwantz School go to www.schwantzschool.com.

You can see the guys riding down below.  That’s Kieron Mooney on the Blarney Quick Racing (BlarneyQuick.com) GSXR750, and Sean de Fraine in the Rizla+  leathers.  Rizla+ sponsors the Suzuki MotoGP team. It’s the series, and manufacturer, that Kevin Schwantz won the championship for in 1993.

For more about Kieron and Sean’s Schwantz School Experience see “Kieron Mooney Met Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo, Nicky Hayden, Kenny Roberts, Wayne Rainey, and Kevin Schwantz While Attending The IndyGP version of the Kevin Schwantz School”.

Keiron Mooney, Kevin Schwantz, Sean de Fraine

That's Sean de Fraine (in the Rizla+ Leathers) and Kieron Mooney and on the BlarneyQuick.com GSXR750.

Rossi and Lorenzo’s 2009 Catalan Battle for 1st Place:

Rizla Suzuki Team sent us 2010’s MotoGP Calendar. The Brno race has been moved back to its traditional August 15th date. We hope to see you at Indy.

The latest provisional 2010 MotoGP calendar has been announced by the FIM (Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme).

The newest version of the 2010 Grand Prix schedule includes a number of changes to the calendar to avoid any clashes with other events on the worldwide stage. The season will begin in April when the first event will be a night race at Losail in Qatar.

Date – Grand Prix – Circuit:
11 April – Qatar* – Losail
25 April – Japan – Motegi
2 May – Spain – Jerez
23 May – France – Le Mans
6 June – Italy – Mugello
20 June – Great Britain – Silverstone
26 June – Netherlands** – Assen
4 July – Catalunya – Catalunya
18 July – Germany – Sachsenring
25 July – United States*** – Laguna Seca
15 August – Czech Republic – Brno
29 August – Indianapolis – Indianapolis
5  September – San Marino & Riviera di Rimini – Misano
19 September – Hungary – Balatonring
10 October – Malaysia – Sepang
17 October – Australia – Phillip Island
31 October – Portugal – Estoril
7 November – Valencia – Ricardo Tormo Valencia

* Evening Race
** Saturday Race
*** Only MotoGP class

In the event that one of the circuits is not able to comply with the requirements to hold the scheduled Grand Prix, the Motorland Aragon Circuit in Spain would host a reserve ‘event’ on the same day.

Please go here to read additional Valencia race coverage.

INDIANAPOLIS, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2009 – The 2009 MotoGP season ended with Dani Pedrosa winning the Grand Prix of Valencia and a possible sneak preview at a powerful American trio in the premier class in 2010.

Pedrosa led from start to finish on his Repsol Honda in the 30-lap race Nov. 8 at the Ricardo Tormo circuit after pole sitter Casey Stoner crashed out of the event during the warm-up lap on his Ducati. Spaniard Pedrosa controlled the gap to second place Valentino Rossi in the closing laps despite strong winds, holding off 2008 Red Bull Indianapolis GP winner Rossi by 2.630 seconds for the home victory. Fiat Yamaha claimed two of the three podium spots as 2009 Red Bull Indianapolis GP winner Jorge Lorenzo was third, 2.913 seconds behind Pedrosa.

“It’s really great to finish off the season with a win, especially here in front of my home fans,” Pedrosa said.

American riders claimed three of the top seven finishing positions. Colin Edwards placed fourth on the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 machine, while 2006 World Champion Nicky Hayden finished fifth on the Ducati Team bike. 2009 Superbike World Champion Ben Spies finished seventh in a wild-card ride for the Sterilgarda Yamaha Team.

Spies’ strong ride in his first MotoGP start of the season was vital for fellow Texas Edwards, who will be his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 teammate in 2010 in MotoGP. Spies passed Andrea Dovizioso late in the race for seventh, dropping Dovizioso to eighth at the finish. That was all Edwards needed to clinch fifth place in the season standings.

Edwards edged Honda factory rider Dovizioso by one point, 161-160. Edwards ended the season with his best points position since he was fourth in 2005. He also was the top rider from a satellite (non-factory) team in the standings in 2009.

“Things really fell my way today, but over the course of the season, I feel like I really deserve fifth place in the championship,” Edwards said. “I was doing the best I could but wasn’t sure where Dovizioso was. It turns out Ben got by him, and that point proved crucial. I gave him a big hug after the race and anything he wants me to buy him, he can have it.”

A slipping clutch early in the race hampered Hayden, but he recovered to record his fourth top-five finish of 2009. Hayden finished 13th in points, but just 11 points out of seventh.

“It hasn’t been a great season for me in terms of results, but the improvements we have made since the start are huge, and I’m excited about the future,” Hayden said.

A major test for 2010 rider lineups will take place Monday, Nov. 9 at Valencia. The 2010 season starts with a night race April 11 in Qatar. The third annual Red Bull Indianapolis GP is Aug. 27-29 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

RESULTS

VALENCIA, Spain – Results of the 30-lap Grand Prix of Valencia MotoGP race, with position, rider, country, motorcycle, time behind winner. All riders on Bridgestone tires:
1. Dani Pedrosa Spain Honda +
2. Valentino Rossi Italy Yamaha +2.630
3. Jorge Lorenzo Spain Yamaha +2.913
4. Colin Edwards United States Yamaha +32.515
5. Nicky Hayden United States Ducati +34.585
6. Toni Elias Spain Honda +34.888
7. Ben Spies United States Yamaha +37.706
8. Andrea Dovizioso Italy Honda +38.364
9. Mika Kallio Finland Ducati +42.491
10. Alex de Angelis San Marino Honda +43.689
11. Randy de Puniet France Honda +46.018
12. James Toseland Great Britain Yamaha +50.226
13. Aleix Espargaro Spain Ducati +57.168
14. Loris Capirossi Italy Suzuki +1:06.877
15. Chris Vermeulen Australia Suzuki +1:11.701
16. Gabor Talmacsi Hungary Honda +1:14.405
17. Marco Melandri Italy Kawasaki +1:33.425
NS Casey Stoner Australia Ducati
NS – Not starting
Fastest lap: Pedrosa, 1:32.778, Lap 10; Pole lap: Stoner, 1:32.256

POINTS

Riders: Rossi 306, Lorenzo 261, Pedrosa 234, Stoner 220, Edwards 161, Dovizioso 160, Elias 115, de Angelis 111, Capirossi 110, Melandri 108, de Puniet 106, Vermeulen 106, Hayden 104, Toseland 92, Kallio 71, Niccolo Canepa 38, Talmacsi 19, Espargaro 16, Sete Gibernau 12, Spies 9, Yuki Takahashi 9.

Manufacturers: Yamaha 386, Honda 297, Ducati 272, Suzuki 133, Kawasaki 108.

PODIUM QUOTES

DANI PEDROSA (Repsol Honda Team Honda/Bridgestone, winner):

It’s really great to finish off the season with a win, especially here in front of my home fans. I was waiting on the grid with my visor up, and I was looking to the side for Casey (Stoner) to arrive, but the marshal in front of me was walking to the side and I was thinking: ‘Where is he going?’ So I assumed something had happened to Casey on the warm-up lap. In the first few laps, I had to be careful because you have to warm up the tires here, especially on the right-hand side. But once that was done, we maintained a good pace and kept focused. In the last laps, the wind was strong and it would have been easy to make a mistake, but I was able to control the gap to Valentino and take this win.

VALENTINO ROSSI (Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha/Bridgestone, second):

I’m really happy about this result because it was fantastic to be able to ride well at Valencia, and it’s my best finish here since 2004. Of course, it would have been better to win, but I lost some time at the start battling with (Toni) Elias and (Jorge) Lorenzo, and by that time (Dani) Pedrosa had gone. And at this track, it’s almost impossible to make up a two-second gap. It’s not one of our best tracks, but after the problems we had all weekend, we can be very pleased. We made a great modification in warm-up, so thanks to all my guys for this. We’ve ended the championship on the podium, and it’s been a great season: another world title and the triple crown for Yamaha. I am very proud. Thank you to Yamaha, all my team, Bridgestone and everyone else, now we will have a little party before we start work on the 2010 bike tomorrow.

JORGE LORENZO (Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha/Bridgestone, third):

I had some good fights at the start, and I was feeling quite strong. But then I made a big mistake in the slow corner, and I was lucky not to crash, so Valentino got by. I was in a bit of pain, and I took some time to recover, and by then the gap was a bit too big to catch him. Anyway, I’m happy to get another podium in Spain, and I am so proud to have finished second in the championship. I want to thank everyone, Yamaha, Bridgestone and all my team, because we have worked so hard, and this is a great achievement in just our second season. Now I can’t wait to start testing the new bike, and I look forward to being even stronger next year.

AMERICAN RIDER QUOTES

COLIN EDWARDS (Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha/Bridgestone, fourth):

Things really fell my way today, but over the course of the season, I feel like I really deserve fifth place in the championship. At best, I was thinking I could finish fifth in the race, but then I saw Casey (Stoner) wasn’t on the grid, and immediately I thought,‘Well, there’s some more points up for grabs.’ I got a great start and the bike was working awesome, but those three out front were untouchable. I don’t know how they do it, what they’ve got or what they eat for breakfast, but I couldn’t run their pace. In the middle of the race, I couldn’t carry the corner speed I wanted to, so I tried to smooth myself out and just rode out of my skin. I was doing the best I could but wasn’t sure where (Andrea) Dovizioso was. It turns out Ben (Spies) got by him, and that point proved crucial. I gave him a big hug after the race and anything he wants me to buy him, he can have it. I’m glad he adapted so quickly to the Yamaha because him riding so well is what got me that fifth overall, and I’m really looking forward to working with him. To finish fifth in the championship is a great feeling when you look at the talent in front of me. I was consistent all season and feel like I rode some of my best races to get this final position. I’m happy for myself and for my guys at Monster Yamaha Tech 3. We are a really close unit, and they always give me 100 percent, so hopefully they can take a lot of satisfaction out of this result, as well. I wish James (Toseland) all the best for the future, too, and am convinced he can carry on Yamaha’s success in World Superbikes.

NICKY HAYDEN (Ducati Team Ducati/Bridgestone, fifth):

I thought it might be possible to do a little better than that today, but I didn’t get the best start. The clutch was slipping a little bit down the first couple of straightaways, and I lost some positions. After that I managed to pull myself up again, and from there it was a case of doing my best to try and bridge the gap to Colin (Edwards). The bike was working quite well, but every time I closed a tenth or two he had an answer and pulled it back out. Toward the end I had some issues in a couple of left-handers, and my pace dropped too much. Anyway, I had an enjoyable race, going back and forth with a few guys at the beginning, especially. It’s not a spectacular result, but we’ve end the season with two top fives, and we know we have a direction to work in over the winter. It hasn’t been a great season for me in terms of results, but the improvements we have made since the start are huge, and I’m excited about the future. We’re 13th overall, which looks awful on paper, but we are only 11 points off seventh, and I had three first-lap incidents that weren’t my fault – just one of those could have made the difference. Next season starts tomorrow, and I can’t wait to get back to work!

BEN SPIES (Sterilgarda Yamaha Team Yamaha/Bridgestone, seventh):

It was pretty good. I actually got a better start than I expected, but in the first few laps I got shuffled around and bullied a little bit. I guessed that would be the case as I haven’t figured out how to get comfortable quickly on the tires. Eventually I slowly picked off some people with some smart passes, as I didn’t want to mess up anyone else’s championship position, and I wanted to be clean but still ride as hard as I could. I saw (Andrea) Dovizioso and then I was thinking about him and Colin (Edwards) and their battle, and I managed to get past him. Then I kept my head down and tried to keep the laps fast, and I recorded my best time on the last lap, so it was good. I didn’t do anything stupid and stack it up. It was a good weekend, and we got a top 10. This result is like winning a World Superbike race for me in terms of the amount of satisfaction it has given me. These are the fastest guys in the world.

MotoGP SUPPORT CLASS WINNERS

250cc: Hector Barbera, Spain, Pepe World Team Aprilia. Hiroshi Aoyama of Japan clinched the World Championship.

125cc: Julian Simon, Spain, Bancaja Aspar Team 125cc Aprilia. American Cameron Beaubier was not classified after crashing with one lap remaining. He finished the season tied for 27th in the World Championship standings.

Tickets can be purchased online at www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com at any time.

Here are the results of the last MotoGP race of 2009 (below): brought to us by indianapolismotorspeedway.com. Ben Spies was in the top-ten! This post will include the final Race Report as soon as it is made available to us.

So what happened? Casey Stoner crashed on the warm-up lap ending his day. Stoner would have been the pole sitter, had it not been for this pre-race high side. We hope for a quick recovery from any injuries sustained in this incident.

Dani Pedrosa got the holeshot, led the entire race, and won, thus changing the final standings for 2009 so that they are now: Rossi, Lorenzo, Pedrosa, Stoner, etc. Pedrosa said the following during the post-race interview:

It’s fantastic to win here and I really wasn’t expecting it. We had some problems with the setup but in the end we proved we were competitive.

Valentino Rossi image linked-to-from motograndprix.motorionline.com. Click to follow.

This was Ben Spies’ first weekend ever on a Yamaha YZR-M1, and he finished seventh. He’s only raced on a grand prix bike three other times, and each of those times was on a Suzuki (not the strongest bike). This weekend He had this to say before the race:

Here at Valencia I’m not the person to win the race, or with the target on their back like Jorge Lorenzo, Valentino Rossi or Casey Stoner. Those are the top guys and I have nothing to prove right now. There’s no way I can do anything that they’re doing right now, it’s almost impossible. So I’m going out to learn the bike and have fun and enjoy it. My season’s pretty much over so this is more a fun race for me.

I’ll know more on Saturday afternoon what is possible. I’d be very happy with a top-ten result for the first weekend on the bike; that would be very difficult too. I don’t know yet, after qualifying on Saturday I think I’ll know a little bit more what my chances are for the race.

You can’t compare a GP bike and a Superbike, they’re completely different so this is still a Yamaha, but it’s a new bike for me. With only about three hours of track time and then a race it’s going to be pretty hard to learn quickly so we’ll just take our time.

Ben said the following after qualifying in the top ten (9th):

It’s better than I expected this early on, with just three hours on the bike, but the package is great. The bike is great, the tires are great, it’s just me now. I am slowly building up my faith in everything. It is not going to happen overnight, but I am quite pleased to be not so far off the other guys on the Yamaha.

We’re competitive, so we have to try and get a good start in the race tomorrow, get in position to follow a few people and learn what we can. But it is a case of so far, so good. Every time we get on the bike we have to look at the lap time and make sure the gap to the front guys gets smaller and smaller. That’s what his weekend is for.

I know who I am riding against and they are the world’s best riders, who have been on these bikes for a long time. So I can understand not being higher up the grid, and the riders around me on are fast guys!

Ben was the greatest World Superbike rookie in history. We fully believe that he is one of the top five racers in the world. Here is Ben’s after-race quote. To get all of the race details, please see go here to see indianapolismotorspeedway.com’s Race Report.

It was pretty good. I actually got a better start than I expected, but in the first few laps I got shuffled around and bullied a little bit. I guessed that would be the case as I haven’t figured out how to get comfortable quickly on the tires. Eventually I slowly picked off some people with some smart passes, as I didn’t want to mess up anyone else’s championship position, and I wanted to be clean but still ride as hard as I could. I saw (Andrea) Dovizioso and then I was thinking about him and Colin (Edwards) and their battle, and I managed to get past him. Then I kept my head down and tried to keep the laps fast, and I recorded my best time on the last lap, so it was good. I didn’t do anything stupid and stack it up. It was a good weekend, and we got a top 10. This result is like winning a World Superbike race for me in terms of the amount of satisfaction it has given me. These are the fastest guys in the world.

Go here for FREE live timing of the MotoGP races a throughout the weekend this-weekend.  This benefit was provided by the Red Bull Indianapolis GP.  Thank you, Indianapolis Motor Speedway! You can see how each rider is doing throughout each race.

MotoGP.com has a Fantasy MotoGP 2009 prediction game here. 2008’s winner, Willem from noord-Brabant in the Netherlands won a Shinya Nakano replica helmet. 2009’s winner will get a JogRR MotoGP official paddock scooter. This game has you picking the top 15 finishing positions each race.

Dainese shares a lot of fun stuff on their Web sites: and English is an option.  Dainese’ fantasy MotoGP game is called: D|CHALLENGE.  Each player chooses the top-5 for each MotoGP race, and is awarded points based on the results.  Winners may be given coupons to redeem at Dainese’s DStoreOnline.  The images of the coupons look like racer-denomination Euros; the Rossi coupon is worth “46″ euros, and has his face on it, for instance.

Dainese has an online Flash application called “My Valentino’s Face“.  Remember Valentino Rossi’s 2008 Mugello helmet?  It was the one with his face on it.  “My Valentino’s Face” is where you go to design an AGV-brand helmet just like that, but with your own face.  There is a “Buy your helmet” link there.  You can actually purchase the helmet with your face on it.

These links are US, and English Language specific, but other countries, and languages can be chosen from each Web page:

• DStoreOnline Catalog for Motorcycle Riders (Dainese sells non-Motorcyclist sports equipment also)
• D-Club: this page links to D|CHALLENGE and “My Valentino’s Face”.  It also has five other “Coming Soon” links. The D-Club link for “My Valentino’s Race” actually goes to “My Valentino’s Face”.

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To come soon: more details on the dual-clutch transmission.

Honda made-available images and videos to-all interested in the VFR1200F. What’s the story that they really want us to tell? I think they were saying, yes, the new VFR is a large sport-touring bike: like the Yamaha FJR1300A, the Kawasaki Concourse 14, and numerous BMWs before it, but Honda also has a long legacy of:

1. Racing V-engined motorcycles
2. Building high-tech hot-rod motorcycles

…and they deserve to write their own history: one that doesn’t begin with the words: “Following in the footsteps of the Yamaha FJR1300A, the Kawasaki Concourse 14, and numerous BMWs, before it…”.

Honda has built other VFR (a/k/a Interceptor) models for a number of years, but over time, as other sport bikes became more knife-edged the VFRs became more touring focussed: some of this was due to design decisions, and some of it was due to the fact that every other sport bike was getting sportier. That said: this new VFR is so new, that we believe should be considered a completely new motorcycle, and not an updated VFR.

Here is how Honda’s New VFR story broke:

1) A couple of years ago Honda released a sculpture that I believed could-not possibly be a real motorcycle, but the motorcycle magazines believed that the sculpture was newsworthy. They were correct. I was not. My other thoughts about it were:

• Why is Honda so proud of this?
• I like art just as much as the next Justice Potter Stewart, but really: riders won’t appreciate a motorcycle that doesn’t work!
• Ooh! The fairing-sides look like the Honda Red Wing logo!

2) Then Honda told us all about their new dual clutch transmission, without reminding us that Honda has built motorcycles with special transmissions in the past: only to not have them sell (see: Hondamatic).  What’s a dual clutch transmission?  It uses one clutch for the odd numbered gears, and another clutch for the even numbered gears. The clutches are activated mechanically, so that the gears can be changed without the rider needing to use a clutch control. This allows a single transmission to be used as both an automatic transmission (without the wasteful torque converter), and a manual transmission (without the clutch control, but with the rider’s ability to choose a gear). It reminds me of Tiptronic transmissions, and similar, but is actually different in design, and implementation.

3) motoblog.it released spy shots of the VFR1200F.

4) Honda makes these photos, and videos available to us, and they look really familiar. That’s what was going on during the spy shots.

The Conceptual Model

The VFR1200F

Is a picture worth a thousand words? These images say so much about planned options, how to adjust the suspension, features, who provides the GPS (Garmin of Olathe Kansas), etc. Interestingly, I didn’t include every image here.

Honda’s V-Engined Racing History

Honda’s V-engined racing history includes all of their MotoGP bikes. Here are some images of historic Honda’s that Honda chose to share. Click on each image to see a larger version.

These 1979 Honda NR500 (OX) videos and text were shared on YouTube by litaisan.

A factory road racer fitted with revolutionary oval piston engine (containing 8 valves per cylinder.) 1979 British Grand Prix entry. Rider: No.5 Takazumi Katayama.

1979 Honda NR500 Part 1, 1979 Honda NR500 Part 2, 1979 Honda NR500 Part 3, 1979 Honda NR500 Part 4