Asphalt & Rubber » Asphalt & Rubber

Can the KTM 200 Duke Ride Thru Knee-High Water?

Jensen Beeler — Thu, 17 May 2012 03:32:10 +0000

For some, the KTM 125 Duke is just not quite enough machine to get their two-wheeled juices flowing, and thus the KTM 200 Duke & soon-to-be-expected KTM 350 Duke were born. With the Austrian motorcycle maker KTM partnering with India’s largest motorcycle brand Bajaj to make the baby Duke, it should come as no surprise then that many of these models are ending up outside of Europe, and in Asian markets…namely India itself. While us ...

WSBK: John Hopkins Will Return at Miller Motorsports Park

Jensen Beeler — Wed, 16 May 2012 22:16:26 +0000

After breaking his right foot at the Monza World Superbike round, Fixi Crescent Suzuki rider John Hopkins will make his return to WSBK racing at his home round of Miller Motorsports Park. Hopper broke his right foot and damaged his left hip in a highside crash at Monza, and had to miss the last WSBK round at Donington Park because of the injury, though there was initially hope that Hopkins would be fit in time ...

30% of Honda’s Business to Come from India by 2020

Jensen Beeler — Wed, 16 May 2012 19:56:22 +0000

As several of our readers pointed out in the latest financial report from Honda, The United States, and North America as a whole, represent just a very small portion of Big Red’s total volume of motorcycle sales. For Honda’s 2011 fiscal year, North America sold a whopping 1.6% of the company’s total motorcycle inventory, while Asia accounted for nearly 79% of Honda’s total sales. While Honda and other motorcycle manufacturers certainly makes better margins on ...

From Kimi Raikkonen to Casey Stoner – An Interview with HRC’s Rhys Edwards

Scott Jones — Wed, 16 May 2012 18:17:42 +0000

The longer I get to work in the MotoGP paddock, the more it strikes me how many talented people contribute to the show by working behind the curtain while a small percentage of personalities get most of the media attention. Rhys Edwards, whom you may recognize from his frequent position in Casey Stoner’s seat during shots of the Respol garage, is one of many people I’ve met who manage to perform roles of great responsibility ...

More Photos of the Confederate X132 Hellcat

Jensen Beeler — Tue, 15 May 2012 21:25:25 +0000

The Confederate X132 Hellcat is the latest creation from the boutique southern motorcycle brand, and continues the Hellcat lineage’s custom-roadster aesthetic. Like any machine produced by Confederate, the real beauty of the new Hellcat comes down to the bike’s detail finishes, which for the X132 includes a motor casing that was built out of two pieces of billet 6061 aircraft grade aluminum. Officially spec’d with “sufficient” power and torque figures, the 2,163cc v-twin motor on the X132 is more ...

MotoGP: GP Tech Racing a Suzuki CRT Wild Card at Indy GP

Jensen Beeler — Tue, 15 May 2012 19:32:13 +0000

The folks at GP Tech are no strangers to running wild card entries at Indy, as the American motorcycle parts seller fielded one-off wild card rides in the Moto2 Championship at both the 2010 and 2011 Indianapolis GP’s. Using FTR-built bikes, GP Tech raced with Jason DiSalvo in 2010, were the American rider finished a very respectable 9th place, while in 2011 Jake Gagne rode to a forgettable 31st spot. Stepping up to the big-boy ...

Video: The Best Highside Save Ever?

Jensen Beeler — Tue, 15 May 2012 01:36:32 +0000

During the second AMA Pro Supersport qualifying session at Sears Point, #422 Genki Hagata had a moment that every motorcycle racer knows all too well: a highside. Still completing his out-lap, Hagata’s Yamaha YZF-R6 lost traction at the rear wheel, and then abruptly regained it, which for most riders would usually mean an ejection seat straight into the kitty litter, but not for Genki. Holding onto the bars throughout the incident, Hagata avoided crashing (again, ...

Yamaha’s Sales Up in North America, But Down Worldwide

Jensen Beeler — Tue, 15 May 2012 00:38:30 +0000

Honda appears to be the only Japanese OEM making headway in 2012, as Yamaha has reported its sales figures for Q1 2012, and the tuning fork brand is down slightly worldwide, despite being up significantly in North America. Selling 1.599 million units worldwide in the first three months of the year, Yamaha is down 5.3% when compared to the 1.689 million units it sold last year during the same time period. With most of the ...

Interview: Is There Cheating in Moto2?

David Emmett — Mon, 14 May 2012 22:30:11 +0000

Cheating in motorsports is as old as the sport itself. Whenever powered vehicles gather together to race each other, then someone, somewhere, will try to gain an advantage, either within the rules or, if that is not successful, outside of the rules. In all classes, and at all times, teams, engineers and riders have all tried to cheat in one way or another. Even the imposition of a spec engine in the Moto2 class hasn’t ...

Photo of the Week: Here’s to the Unsung Heroes of MotoGP

Scott Jones — Mon, 14 May 2012 20:15:11 +0000

This, race fans, is Danilo Petrucci, one of the brave souls trying his luck on the future of MotoGP hardware, in his case the doggedly underpowered Came IodaRacing Project machine. Not on a (relatively) zippy Aprilia ART, or a Honda-powered FTR, Petrucci qualifies on the same grid as Casey Stoner and Jorge Lorenzo, and brings to this gunfight a knife that packs a whopping 185 bhp, compared to the factory prototype engines that are rumored ...