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Stoner Pulls Back, Skips Day 1 of Honda MotoGP Testing at Sepang

Reigning MotoGP Champion Casey Stoner pulled his back during his morning stretches leaving teammate Dani Pedrosa to fly the Repsol Honda colors on the first day of the MotoGP pre-season test at Mayalsia’s Sepang circuit. As Stoner received treatment for his back, Pedrosa put in 48 laps to lead all riders. Riding the Honda RC213V, Pedrosa’s best lap time was 2:02.003, making him second fastest on the day behind only Yamaha‘s Jorge Lorenzo and his 2:01.657 time.

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!       

Ronax 500 – the Street Legal Two-Stroke GP Replica

After teasing us for nearly two months, German brand Ronax has revealed its 500cc two-stroke sportbike. Ronax isn’t saying it’s a street-legal replica of the Honda NSR500 that Valentino Rossi rode to win the 2001 Grand Prix world championship – probably because they legally can’t – but that’s essentially what the 500 is. Get the Flash Player to see this player.