Back to the racing. British Superbikes - Brands Hatch Indy - 16/17 April 2017 Race 1 5. Dan Linfoot +7.352 sec 7. Jason O'Halloran +8.588 Race 2 5. Jason O'Halloran +4.188 6. Dan Linfoot +8.205 Luke Mossey won the first race by 3.5 seconds ahead of the second place Leon Haslam. So there was quite a big time gap between the winner and the rest of the field. We saw a bit more of the Hondas on the TV coverage as well. In Race 2 Luke Mossey won again, but with a smaller time gap. Much more coverage of the Hondas as they were involved in close racing with Josh Brookes on the Yamaha R1, and Shane Byrne on the Ducati - sadly Shaky Byrne crashed out, but he walked away from it okay. The Hondas looked good in action - a good bank holiday weekend for them.
Wow - that is a great picture. I think Dan Linfoot, Honda - and all the sponsors would like that one as well !
Tandragee 100 - Northern Ireland - 21/22 April 2017 Guy Martin and the new Fireblade returned to road racing, at this road race in North Armagh in Northern Ireland. Qualifying was on the Friday, with race day on the Saturday. Guy Martin qualified in sixteenth place on the new Fireblade SP2. On race day he crashed not long after the start, as he made contact with another rider - they were both out of the race but not injured. Write up here: http://www.bikesportnews.com/news/news-detail/tandragee-100-martins-return-a-damp-squib-as-rain-interferes And a video of the incident here:
Another excellent picture - the new Fireblades seem to be getting better according to the news. I probably won't get to see them racing until the TT in a few weeks time. Thanks again for posting these pictures.
FIRST PODIUM FOR THE NEW FIREBLADE !! Jason O'Halloran - BSB at Oulton Park - 01 May 2017 - Race 2 Race 1 4. Jason O'Halloran +9.271 16. Dan Linfoot Race 2 3. Jason O'Halloran +5.309 16. Dan Linfoot +41.674 Jason O'Halloran got the second fastest lap time in Race 1, so he was second on the grid for Race 2. He lost a few places as he was passed by Leon Haslam, James Elison and Shane Byrne - Ellison and Haslam crashed spectacularly as Ellison's Yamaha R1 lost power and Leon Haslam went up the back of him sending wreckage cartwheeling down the side of the track. They both walked away from it. Anyway the crash took two of the frontrunners out, and so the fight was on for second and third place. Very exciting racing, with O'Halloran giving as good as he got to make it to the podium. WSBK - Assen - 29/30 April 2017 Race 1 6. Stefan Bradl +33.530 14. Nicky Hayden +50.016 Race 2 9. Nicky Hayden +21.475 10. Stefan Bradl +24.693 There was a short TV feature on the new Fireblade, with Nicky Hayden and Stefan Bradl being interviewed about what was going on - with the new Fireblade actually going backwards. Nicky said it was below his expectations. The team Operations Manager said that the bike had arrived late and that they had not had enough time to test and develop the bike. This was caused by disruption to production as a result of the earthquake in Japan. Stefan Bradl said expectations were high, but they needed more time to develop the package. They have solved the engine brake problems but just have to work through the other issues, which will take time.
Another excellent picture. Just noticed the different colour schemes in the picture above it is the Silver/Red combination of Dan Linfoot's bike. But the picture above that his bike is Red/Black. Wonder what that is all about.
the big teams didnt get bikes till very late so no one would have one for stock. plus without anyone knowing what it was going to be like no one would have made the gamble. personally think that there wont be many next year as the BM's and ZX10's will continue to dominate with a few gsxr's cropping up.
It will do well, as expected. which means they sell bikes because it's clearly a good bike and prob the best all round bike and ideal road bike. but i dont think the roads will affect the super stock crowd (or even club racers) as that's proper cut throat and limited what you can do to the bike. zx10 and bm are proven and along with the gsxr (imho) offer more bang for your buck than the blade.
North West 200, Northern Ireland - Race week 07-13 May 2017 12 May - Honda Racing announce their withdrawal from the 2017 North West 200, following John McGuinness's crash during the Superbike qualifying session. John McGuinness was taken to hospital with a compound fracture to his leg, fractured vertebrae and ribs. Honda announced their withdrawal in order to give them time to analyse the data from John's bike, which was taken back to their headquarters at Louth. John will be in plaster for a number of weeks, and will certainly not be racing in the TT this year. http://www.bikesportnews.com/news/news-detail/broken-vertebrae-put-mcguinness-out-of-tt-2017 WSBK, Imola circuit, Italy - 13-14 May 2017 Race 1 10. Stefan Bradl +34.585 DNF Nicky Hayden Race 2 12. Nicky Hayden +43.738 14. Stefan Bradl +54.649 Stefan made it through into Superpole 2, but that only resulted in him qualifying one place ahead on Nicky Hayden on the grid. Again Nicky and Stefan were asked about the problems that they were having, with Nicky being noticeably despondent about the lack of form. Comment was made that they are to receive some upgrades that should see their results improve, for the Misano round on 26/18 June. http://www.crash.net/wsbk/news/245446/1/davies-stays-clear-of-rea-both-red-bull-hondas-fall.html Lets hope they can see some improvements at Misano. edit typo
WSBK - Donington Park - 28/29 May 2017 Race 1 DNF - Stefan Bradl Race 2 11. Stefan Bradl +59.459 Lots of tributes paid to Nicky Hayden, from everyone - his race number *69 everywhere. A really sad loss. http://www.crash.net/wsbk/news/2509...bull-honda-fighting-in-difficult-weekend.html
it looks the part shame about the results....the Ducati in is 4th year with ££££££ spent on it to get it to the level it is now and the kwak near the same ....so let's hope they get it right would love to see some Suzuki on the grid next year ....it's even behind the MV about 6 yr old design...
http://www.motorcyclenews.com/sport/tt-road-races/2017/may/tt-honda-confirm-electronics-switch/ So a switch from honda's own electronics to motec! Strange no mention of Bosch being the cause of there dilemmas
