2005 Yamaha V Star Classic on 2040-motos

Moto blog

Colin Edwards’ Gear Being Auctioned For Feed The Children

While Colin Edwards may no longer be a factory Yamaha racer these days, he still enjoys a close bond with the tuning fork brand. So much so that Yamaha has announced a unique opportunity to bid on a historic set of road racing leathers, boots, gloves, and helmet as worn by Edwards during this, his final season in MotoGP. Proceeds from the auction will benefit the Feed the Children, which is Yamaha Motor Corporation’s official corporate charity.

I can die happy!

As an eighteen year old Kenny Roberts was my bike racing God.  I loved Barry Sheene but as a Yamaha FS1E rider I always wanted the little American to win simply because his bike resembled mine.  The coverage of Grand Prix in the late seventies was sketchy but I clearly remember watching the epic Sheene/Roberts battle unfold at the Silverstone GP on my council estate telly.  The Dutchman, Wil Hartog was hanging in there for a while but as the laps unfolded it became a two way battle with Sheene looking favourite to win.  Sheene lost the most time as the pair lapped a certain George Fogarty so my hero Roberts eventually won by just three hundredths of a second.  I’m not sure what happened next but being a Sunday we would no doubt be skidding around later in the day at the Pines chippie pretending to be Roberts and Sheene.  Fast forward thirty four years and a boyhood fantasy came true as I headed out on Chris Wilson’s 1980 Roberts machine for the Barry Sheene tribute laps at last weekend’s Moto GP.  It crackled into life instantly and felt as sharp as any of the more modern 500s I used to race.  The temperature gauge had a maximum marker on 60 degrees so to begin with I was nervous as it didn’t move but being a hot day (although still keeping my hand on the clutch) I convinced myself it wasn’t working.    The bike felt tiny, not helped by the fact I only just squeezed into my 1989 Marlboro Yamaha leathers.  It still felt rapid though as I played out the 1979 classic in my head while getting tucked in down the Hanger straight.  Steve Parrish was also out there on one of Barry’s 500cc Heron Suzukis so we did our best to copy the famous last lap at Woodcote Corner where Sheene came so close to winning his home GP. As a lad I would have said the chances of me riding round Silverstone on a GP winning Kenny Roberts machine were zero, but in the words of Gabrielle, dreams can come true!

2014 AMA Supercross – Indianapolis Results

Ryan Dungey captured his first win of the 2014 AMA Supercross season in a wild main event that saw two of the top title contenders crashing on the starting straight at Indianapolis‘ Lucas Oil Stadium. Smartop MotoConcepts Suzuki rider Mike Alessi took the holeshot for the second race in a row, but the big news was incoming points leader Ryan Villopoto and Ken Roczen going down before the first turn. Roczen trailed Villopoto by nine points going into the Indianapolis round, but the KTM rookie’s hopes of overtaking the reigning champion took a blow when he went down on the straight, knocking Villopoto off in the process.