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Schwantz and Mackenzie on the Nurburgring box

A 500GP bike never fails to stop me in my tracks and that’s exactly what happened when I spotted this Schwantz example from the early nineties, proudly displayed on the Arai stand at the recent Motorcyclelive show.  On loan from Crescent Suzuki and accompanied by a rostrum publicity shot from the 1990 German GP at the Nurburgring, I felt the urge to write a few words on that special weekend. I started the year running my own 250 GP team with fairly standard TZ Yamahas but was drafted in as Kevin Schwantz’s team mate after Kevin Magee suffered a serious head injury at the second Grand Prix in Laguna Seca.  With no testing and some major Spanish food poisoning I finished 8th at the next round in Jerez then followed that up with a 5th place in Misano. Next up was the Nurburgring and after qualifying on the second row of the grid, my crew chief Geoff Crust informed me he had a premonition of a race day rostrum finish. He also told me I better make it come true as he was already looking forward to a few post race celebratory refreshments. While I hoped Crusty was the new mystic meg, the truth was I would have been more than happy to buy the beers if I made it to the flag inside the top five. I had an outside chance of catching one major scalp as Wayne Rainey was riding with a nasty hand injury but I suspected adrenalin would see him through the day. I also followed Mick Doohan a fair bit in practice but he was beginning to find his feet on the Rothmans Honda so was going to be another problem.  When the lights went out Schwantz and Rainey went straight to the front I while I hung in behind Doohan and Pier Francesco Chilli, and then it happened. Coming out of the bottom right hand hairpin, Doohan and Chilli simultaneously high sided in one of the most spectacular crashes of the season. I never liked seeing any fellow riders crash but I made the most of this early race gift and rode my 160bhp/115kg RGV hard to the flag, claiming my first podium of the season.  We partied hard (win or lose we always did) that night and I went on to have my best ever season finishing fourth overall in the championship. After the last round in Australia, I finished second to Kevin at Sugo in Japan then won in Malaysia at another international race that KS didn’t attend. I also tested at Eastern Creek for the following season but then was flicked from the team for reasons that still remain a mystery. Hey Ho!       

Honda Reports Q1 2013-2014 Results

Honda reported sales of 4.05 million motorcycles over its first quarter ended June 30, 2013, a 3.7% increase from the 3.91 million motorcycles sold in the same period last year. The increase in motorcycle sales resulted in 396.8 billion yen (US$4.04 billion) in sales revenue, a 14.4% increase on 346.6 billion yen in revenue reported in the same quarter the previous fiscal year. Overall, Honda‘s reported a combined revenue of 2.83 trillion yen from all its operations, a 398.1 billion yen improvement from last year.

2013 Repsol Honda Team Livery Revealed

Repsol Honda revealed the livery off its RC213V racebikes and leathers of riders Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez for the 2013 MotoGP season. The livery is again dominated by the colors of the team’s top sponsor, Spanish oil giant Repsol, but with more white and less black, particularly along the bottom of the fairing. The Repsol logos on the sides now slope downward toward the swingarm whereas the previous design had them rising up toward the seat.