2010 Yamaha Fjr1300a on 2040-motos

Moto blog

Shane Turpin on the 848 at Cadwell

AMA rider and World Superbike wildcard, Shane 'Tornado' Turpin will be riding the 848 Challenge VIP bike this weekend at Cadwell Park. Turpin is an experienced AMA rider and raced as a wildcard at this year’s World Superbike event at Miller Motorsports Park on board a Boulder Motor Sports prepared 1198RS. Asked about the opportunity, Turpin said, “I’m really excited to have this opportunity to race in Europe in the 848 Challenge race and am honored that Ducati UK, JHP Performance, Boulder Motor Sports and my personal sponsors have given me this great opportunity.

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!

Round 1 Of GEICO Superbike Shootout Is This Weekend

Round One of the GEICO Superbike Shootout kicks off with the Yamaha SoCal Nationals this weekend at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. The event is the first of a three-race series that will crown overall champions in two individual race classes: Pro Superbike and Dynojet Pro Sportbike. The Superbike Shootout is a three-race series meant to fill the long void in the AMA Pro Roadracing schedule between round one at Daytona and the second round at Road America.