1981 Suzuki 400 on 2040-motos

Moto blog

Rainy BSB tests are nothing new

THE combination of bad weather in the UK and a European testing ban means that most BSB teams will now start the season with very little track time. This sounds like a disaster for the top teams but history has proved this isn’t necessarily true and it sometimes doesn’t matter how much pre season preparation has taken place.  Back in 2002 Sean Emmett won on the IFC Ducati at the opening Silverstone round after first riding it in unofficial practice the same weekend. Steve Hislop took the other win on Pauls Bird’s well sorted Ducati. More recently in 2009, Leon Camier took an untested new model R1 Yamaha to victory at the Brands Hatch opener after GSE took delivery of the bike just the week before. Sylvain Guintoli won the other race on a well developed, well tested Crescent Suzuki. You could argue if no one has had testing then it is a level playing field but you have to feel for riders moving up to the superbike class in the world’s toughest national series.  Tyco Suzuki’s PJ Jacobson is one such rider but having spent some time with him over the past few weeks he seems to be taking it all in his stride. It may be the confidence of youth or maybe the fact he has won in every other class he has entered in his short BSB career, but I suspect he fancies at least standing on the Superbike podium at Brands (He also does a bit of ice racing which is not dissimilar to the this year’s UK testing).  The testing ban was implemented with all the best cost cutting intentions and if it had been any other year in the past decade all would be well. The teams may be feeling frustrated but the fans should be excited. With so many unknowns, the 2013 BSB opener at Brands Hatch could be the best ever!

John Hopkins Ready for Comeback

When last we heard from California racer John Hopkins, the former MotoGP racer announced he would return to British Superbike racing after being out of action for nearly two years due to various injuries. With the 2014 BSB season starting in April, Hopkins spoke with Suzuki’s official racing website to provide an update on his impending return with the Tyco Suzuki team. Hopkins says he has been practicing on a motocross track and is close to a deal with the Yoshimura Suzuki AMA team to test on a Gixxer.

Goodbye Hyperbike: Suzuki Ends Hayabusa Production

The legendary beast goes down in history after twenty years of dominating the highways, dragstrips and the earth's surface in general. The hyperbike is being discontinued due to non-compliance with the Euro-4 environmental standard, but its story does not end there. The company is clearly preparing its successor, as indicated by the renewal of the Hayabusa trademarks.