2012 Victory Vegas 8 Ball on 2040-motos

Victory Vegas 8 Ball tech info

Type:Cruiser Phone:(888) 551-9166

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!

A postcard from Moto GP Jerez

If the weather over the Jerez Moto GP weekend was dull then the atmosphere in the press room was the complete opposite.  After the carnage and chaos during the Moto 3 race, the amazing Romano Fenati (in only his second GP) had the Italian journalists celebrating as he crossed the line to win. I smiled as they simultaneously began singing ‘Y Viva Espana’ as if to signify the end of Spanish dominance in the junior GP class.

Rookie of the Year: Crutchlow vs. Abraham

The MotoGP championship is all settled with Casey Stoner lifting the title, but there is still an underlining honour yet to be decided at Valencia; the Rookie of the Year between Cal Crutchlow and Karel Abraham (and Moto2 and 125 - but they seem to be safely in the respective hands of Bradl and Terol). Coming into the final race this weekend, Crutchlow leads Abraham by one point in the championship. Both riders have common knowledge of the Circuit Ricardo Tormo, the Briton having raced there in his World Superbike and Supersport years whereas Abraham scored his only Grand Prix victory at Valencia in his final Moto2 race last season.