Table of contents for 27 April 2016 in MCN

The UK price has already been set at £6299, with bikes expected in July Sitting comfortably A stepped twin seat unit offers a more comfortable perch for both rider and pillion (the MT-07’s pillion seat is tiny). The seat unit is also mounted on a new reinforced subframe, built to take extra stresses of regularly carrying luggage and a pillion. Bright ideas The full LED headlights from the Tracer 900 have been swapped for conventional headlights, although LEDs are still used for sidelights. Going the distance The MT-07 has a 14-litre tank which is good for 160 miles between fill-ups if ridden gently. But to give the sport-touring Tracer 700 more range, Yamaha have added three litres more capacity. Great lengths While Yamaha have tried to retain as many parts…

MCN and Black Horse have launched a new and unique online finance tool for anyone looking to buy a used bike on either hire purchase or PCP. Added to dealer bikes across MCN’s Bikes For Sale website, the new tool lets you play with the various options to get the deal that best suits your pocket, rather than looking at pre-prepared finance deals with fixed deposits and repayment lengths. It also includes a ‘soft touch’ credit check tool that won’t affect your credit score. The tool is only available on MCN’s www.mcnbikesforsale.com website, takes just seconds to use and highlights some great financing opportunities such as the ones below. Just look out for the Black Horse logo when you are hunting down your next used motorcycle. Visit www.mcnbikesforsale.com now to…

Jim Moodie was one of the last of the breed of racers who could emerge victorious from the very different demands of the TT and short circuits. He won three British championships and eight TTs between 1993 and 2002. A tough, wiry Scot, Moodie was caught up in the accident that killed TT legend David Jefferies during practice for the 2003 event and was lucky to escape the smash with his own life. He suffered badly in another crash a few months later and drifted into retirement. Moodie is now quite a businessman, with a motorhome dealership in Tampa, Florida. He splits his time between Scotland and the US. Moodie could hack it on short circuits and the roads, so which gave him the biggest buzz? You’d probably expect him…

1930 SS100 sidecar outfit In a nutshell: Original and unrestored example of the best model Special because: This may be the only SS100 to have left the factory with a sidecar fitted, and its entirely unrestored condition has made it extremely valuable in the eyes of collectors. Barring natural ageing this is exactly as it would have looked when it first rolled onto a public road 86 years ago. There were only four previous owners until its recent sale, with its last guardian having used (and apparently loved) it since 1990. Price: did not sell (£350,000 guide) 1936 SS80 project In a nutshell: The most affordable way into Brough Superior ownership. Special because: You won’t find a cheaper way to (technically) own a Brough Superior motorcycle than this. You’ll essentially…

If the Speed Triple 900 marked a high point of the early Hinckley modular bikes, the all-new T595 Daytona marked the end of it. New from the ground up (although some of the previous bikes’ engine architecture was carried over) it had a completely reworked motor, all-new aluminium frame, 916-style single-sided swingarm and fresh styling by John Mockett. The intention was simple. After the early, modular bikes had established Triumph once again as a credible manufacturer, the T595, as owner John Bloor himself told MCN, was to be a ‘no-compromise’ attack on the most competitive class of all. “The biggest growth in recent years has been the serious sports market, so it was a logical move,” he said soon after the new sportsbike’s launch. “But we needed to take away…

Few celebrities have been less in need of a marketing man than Barry Sheene. His natural flair for publicity, his irresistible charm and his canny way of working the media to his own advantage meant there was little need for outside help. But from 1975 right through to the end of his career in 1984, Sheene hired Andrew Marriott to be his marketing and promotions man. It was a PR marriage made in heaven. MCN tracked down the effervescent Marriott to find out what made Sheene every PR mogul’s dream. MCN: When did you first get involved with Barry? Andrew Marriott: Back in 1975 because I was one of the founding directors of a sports marketing company called CSS Promotions Ltd. We managed various people including Stirling Moss, Mike Hailwood…

Every week, MCN prints the best pictures sent in by readers or website users. You can post your pictures on to our Facebook page or email them to mcn.letters@motorcyclenews.com We want the full array of weird and wonderful images that reflect your biking life. As you can see here, we are happy to celebrate the lighter things from the world of biking.…

‘I’m not going to win the title by dolloping around in fifth’SHANE BYRNE Shane Byrne began his fight for an unprecedented fifth MCE British Superbike Championship title at the Silverstone season opener three weeks ago and he’s ready to take it to the next level at Oulton Park for round two this Bank Holiday weekend. Having swapped from Kawasaki to Ducati, Byrne and his PBM Be Wiser team endured a rollercoaster preseason with both impressive and disappointing tests. But by the time race day came they proved that regardless of manufacturer their determination to fight is unchanged. At Silverstone, despite not standing on the top step of the podium, Shakey took the series lead having secured two second place finishes. “People can’t take anything away from me or my team,”…

John McGuinness and Mugen teammate, Bruce Anstey had their first ride on the ‘Shinden Go’ electric bikes they will race in this year’s Zero TT race during a test in Japan last week. “It will be the nicest bike in the TT paddock, a real prototype machine that looks beautiful,” 23-times TT winner McGuinness beamed after the three-day test at Motegi. “It is a completely new bike with a monocoque carbon chassis and with the new motor positioned down low behind the battery,” he explained. Mugen have dominated the zero emissions TT race over the past two seasons, with McGuinness chasing a third win in a row this year after lapping the Mountain course at almost 120mph on the Shinden in 2015. The millions of yen invested by the Japanese…

‘Marquez debuted a drastic new set of six winglets on his Repsol Honda’ Most of the field spent the day testing new front tyres out for Michelin as they work to round down the current two options of construction to one. The only radical change visible was from Marc Marquez, who debuted a drastic new set of six winglets on his Repsol Honda during the latter stages of the day. No times were released. Monday’s test at the Jerez test reflected the oddities of the Spanish circuit that left so many riders suffering with grip problems during the day before’s race, as they made the best of more grip from cooler track conditions. The unusual nature of the circuit means that when track temperature rises, grip departs, the result was…

‘I want to make a decision fast now that Lorenzo has made his move. I want it done’MAVERICK VIÑALES Suzuki and Maverick Viñales have become the focal point of 2017’s contract negotiations, as the young Spaniard considers offers not only to join Valentino Rossi at the Movistar Yamaha squad but also to remain with Suzuki for a third season. He is finally on a GSX-RR that is starting to come good, as evidenced by another strong run to sixth and fifth for him and team-mate Aleix Espargaro respectively at Jerez (a track they had expected to cause problems). And the youngster has now also put a time frame on when he will make his decision, confirming the rumours that he wants to have his deal sorted for the next round…

‘In the first Michelin era, I was very fast at this track, but I never got a good result with Bridgestone’VALENTINO ROSSI ‘We don’t talk about Ago’s win record. I’m superstitious’VALENTINO ROSSI Just when he looked like he had no realistic answer to the blistering pace of his team-mate Jorge Lorenzo or championship leader Marc Marquez, Valentino Rossi produced a vintage riding display to dominate Sunday’s Jerez MotoGP race. The 37-year-old arrived in Spain as a distinct underdog to Lorenzo but instead of being outgunned Rossi was untouchable, taking his first victory since the British GP last year. His utter control of the race was more akin to a Lorenzo display, where his rivals are forced to watch him disappear and are left fighting for second place. Leading from first…

‘All the new motorcycle tech is coming from Europe’ ‘We believe that we can match the Japanese when it comes to quality’ Benelli is about to blast back into the big time with an impressive range of bikes from 125cc to 750cc. Eleven years ago, Italian manufacturer Benelli was bought by the Chinese Qianjiang group after suffering financial issues. Since that point the firm has remained relatively quiet as behind the scenes Qianjiang worked on stabilising the company and building smaller-capacity bikes under the Benelli brand. Now, with things back on an even keel, Qianjiang are ready to launch a flurry of bigger bikes. “We have really big plans for Benelli in 2017 to expand our range to appeal to European tastes,” confirmed Haimei Yan, Benelli’s General Manager. “We currently…

‘This year we’re lining up the biggest ever range of bikes for you to get on’ The MCN Festival of Motorcycling is once again shaping up to be the event of the year. Not only does the Peterborough extravaganza offer a huge retail zone, thrilling live action (featuring MotoGP star Colin Edwards), a classic bike parade and a huge autojumble but it also gives you the opportunity to ride a shed load of new bikes. This year we’re lining up the biggest ever range of bikes for you to get on. Alongside huge fleets from CCM, Indian, KTM, Triumph, Yamaha and Victory two more fleets from Ducati and Suzuki have just been confirmed. Advance ticket holders get first dibs on the test bikes so buy your tickets now so you…

‘With 12.3bhp, it’s one of the more powerful 125s, which shows up in perky acceleration through busy urban traffic’ Check out the streets of any Italian city and you’ll see hordes of big-wheeled scooters. With 16-inch wheels instead of tiddlywink 12-inch items, they make a lot of sense – they’re more stable and less nervous than small-wheeled scoots. The Medley, the latest 125cc scooter to join Piaggio’s already comprehensive line up, is one such – actually, it’s a halfway house, with a 16-inch front wheel and 14-inch rear. Either way, the Italian giant is billing it as a sophisticated midrange 125, with a new liquid-cooled four-valve engine, two-channel ABS, stop-start tech so the engine doesn’t pump out fumes in the unlikely event you can’t squeeze through the traffic, and the…

‘I watch the ballet of valve pushrods and springs dancing up and down’ ‘We’ve insured it for £250,000. I hope fire cover is part of the policy’ 1924 Brough Superior SS100 £250,000 Only 384 of these 998cc air-cooled V-twins were ever made, and each promised an amazing 100mph top speed 2014 Brough Superior SS100 £47,500 Reborn under the direction of owner Mark Upham, this 997cc V-twin is the perfect modern homage to the original ‘‘If it catches fire when you start it just lay the bike down on the right-hand side and let the petrol in the carbs burn off. It should be fine, but that’s why we turn the petrol back off once the carbs are primed.” These words are spoken calmly by Mark Upham, CEO of the Brough…

Astonishing as it seems, it was a full 25 years ago this month when the first of the all-new, John Bloor/ Hinckley Triumphs hit the road – I should know, I was there. There was no fanfare, no great unveiling, no glitzy press launch. Instead, scruffy, in a knackered bike jacket I’d had 10 years, along with photographer Jim Forrest in an equally scruffy Citroen BX GTi, I turned up unheralded at a slightly damp Hinckley car park to put the new machine, the first Triumph Trophy 1200, through its paces. What followed, though we didn’t remotely realise it at the time, turned out to be one of the most significant events of modern British motorcycling. MCN decided to revisit some of those original Hinckley machines and reevaluate what it…

Hot on the heels of the Trophy 1200, the Daytonas, sports versions of the modular machines, were the next of Triumph’s new models to hit British streets in June and July of 1991. Although at a cursory glance little different to the Trophys, there was actually more to the two Daytonas than initially met the eye. First, although the basic engine architecture was the same, the two Daytonas, being sportsbikes, were given the short-stroke, higher revving versions of the motor, which resulted in a 749cc triple and 998cc four. Both also got racier, sports-style silencers. Second, and continuing the sports theme, the Daytona also had uprated suspension and brakes. Most significantly, the 43mm front telescopics were now fully adjustable for preload along with compression and rebound damping (something not to…

The mission Suzuki have redeveloped their once best-selling SV650 in the hope of reclaiming the all-important middleweight top spot. To see if it has what it takes, we put it up against the chart-topping Yamaha MT-07 and well-established Kawasaki ER-6n. The riders Andy Davidson  Age28 Height 5ft 7in MCN Staff Writer CVAll-year commuter with nine years of riding experience Tony Hoare  Age42 Height 5ft 10in MCN Consumer Editor CVRiding for 15 years and has a penchant for middleweights Liam Marsden  Age26 Height 6ft 1in MCN Web Producer CVLiam’s first big bike was a 33bhp-restricted SV650 in 2009 ‘The MT-07 is a different animal, its suspension is stiffer and its ride sportier’ ‘Suzuki have thrown the SV back into the market to do battle with the ER-6n and MT-07’ BUYING NEW…

The mission 2013 was a buzz year for middleweights with three all-new bikes released. With so many now sold on PCP plans, which usually mature after three years, how do they stack up as used buys? The bikes Yamaha MT-09, New £7349 Used from £5000 The MT-09 introduced the world to a new keenly priced range from Yamaha. It has gone on to be one of Europe’s best selling bikes. Triumph Street Triple, New £7499 Used from £4700 The Street Triple’s balance of power, light weight and torque made it a huge hit. 2013 saw a sharper styled new generation launched. Kawasaki Z800, New £7899 Used from £5000 The best middleweight inline four to come out of Japan blends smooth power with effortless handling, and great looks. The riders Jon…

TANK PAD MAP MELTON MOWBRAY – Unless you’re a veggie you can’t visit Melton and not sample a pie. Loads of places sell ‘authentic’ pork pies, but Ye Olde Pork Pie Shoppe on the High Street is the most famous. THE CHOLMELEY ARMS, Burton-le-Coggles – This pub/farm shop won royal approval due to its use of local ingredients when Prince Charles visited. This is a lovely run for a sunny evening with interesting locations and wonderful eateries along the way. BSB legend Chris Walker’s Kawasaki dealership in Grantham is a place to start the ride as there are a wide selection of bikes as well as a café that serves a mean bacon buttie. Once you have had your fill, head down the A607 towards Melton Mowbray. This road is…

AGV K3-SV £189.99 Decent sporty budget helmet from the company who protect Valentino Rossi and Guy Martin’s bonces. This is one of the few lids here available in race rep designs (including this Andrea Iannone replica) and the sharp lines give it an aggressive look. The spec isn’t the highest here, with a regular Pinlock insert interfering with outlook more than a MaxVision type, and the chin vent is fiddly to operate as the tab is on the inside of the chinbar, but it’s a decent helmet with the right look and a smooth sun visor mechanism operation, all for less than £200. Sizes: XS-XXL Colours: Matt black or 16 different graphics and replicas Weight: 1500g (M) Starting price (plain colours): £159.99 More info: www.agv.co.uk Paint All these helmets are…

OWNING & RIDING Q Is running the wrong tyres really a disaster ? I bought a Tiger 800 last August and the tyres were switched for a matched pair of OE-size tyres as the current front had a puncture. At first the new front tyre lost pressure, then it settled down. Over the next 2000 miles it passed an MoT and had a puncture repaired. Then I picked up a further puncture in the front and on closer inspection it turns out I have been running around on a tubed Bridgestone BW-501! I’ve now got it replaced with the correct tyre, but I am left wondering how lucky I was. George Jenkins, email Answered by Bryn Phillips, Cambrian Tyres The Bridgestone BW-501 was never approved for fitment on the Triumph…

‘We have definitely taken the positives from the first round’LEON HASLAM Leon Haslam has put the disappointment of Silverstone firmly behind him by topping the time sheets in a test day at Oulton Park in preparation of the race at the Cheshire track this weekend. The 32-year-old set a best time of 1’35.025 ahead of on-form Christian Iddon and Honda rider Dan Linfoot. Last time out at Silverstone Haslam and JG Speedfit Kawasaki team-mate James Ellison were struck down with bad luck that saw Haslam achieve a single fifth place in race two after a technical problem in the first race while Ellison claimed a 13th and an eighth after starting from the back of the grid in race one. “We have definitely taken the positives from the first round…

Dan Kneen steered the Mar-Train Yamaha R1 to victory in the feature race at the Tandragee 100 last Saturday. The 28-year-old led Burrows Engineering Suzuki duo, Derek Sheils and Malachi Mitchell-Thomas, home in what was the Manx man’s first road race of the season. “I really enjoyed the racing today and it was great to get my first wins for Mar-Train, the boys have done a great job with the bikes so it’s nice to repay them so early in the season,” he said. Ryan Farquhar (IEG BMW) was declared the winner of the opening superbike encounter after Kneen and Sheils were disqualified for jumping the start. Farquhar also won the Supertwins race with William Dunlop taking victory in the Supersport race on the CD/IC Racing Yamaha.…

‘I didn’t come here to finish 11th... we had a problem with the rear tyre’ Cal Crutchlow was once again left disappointed despite finally managing to get points on the board after finishing his first race of the 2016 season in 11th. Claiming afterwards that a dud tyre from Michelin had left him fighting vibrations, he was left unhappy at going backwards in the 27-lap race. “I didn’t come here to finish 11th, and before the race I felt I could have battled with Pedrosa but we had something wrong with the rear tyre. That’s no excuse, but at the end of the day we needed to finish. Honda are working hard to give us a better bike though, and at least we can give them some information from a…

They may have been hogging the headlines following the confirmation that they have signed Jorge Lorenzo for 2017, but Ducati had nothing to write home about at Jerez. Unable to extract the most from the Michelins after finishing seventh and top Ducati, Andrea Iannone admitted that it was much more a case of damage limitation at the slippery track. “When you have less grip, it makes everything difficult. We use the rear tyre of the bike a lot, to turn in the corners, and with no grip it was difficult to do that. We tried to improve it, and to change our style a little, but hopefully we don’t have the issue at Le Mans!” And while it was a bad weekend for Iannone, it was even worse for teammate…

Harley-Davidson have unveiled first details of their new Roadster, the latest model to join the Sportster range. Stripped down for a pared-back feel, H-D say it has only the “essential elements of a pure riding machine”. The Roadster model joins the Dark Custom line-up with a more minimalist design inspired by classic racers and trends in naked custom builds. The model gets new wheels and tyres (Front 120/70 R19, Rear 150/70 R18) mated to new rear suspension and front fork – which is set at a steeper angle. The 19in front and 18in rear Offset-Split five-Spoke cast aluminium wheels were designed specifically for the Roadster. Harley claim the wheels are lightweight, and the new size and revised suspension will deliver better ground clearance – although the angles of dangle available…

Can you recall a time before bikes? No, I can’t remember anything other than being around racing! I was six weeks old when I was taken to my first Grand Prix. I got my first bike when I was four – a little Honda QR50 that I rode round the paddock on. When did you first start competing? When my dad came back to race in the UK in 1990 I started doing schoolboy motocross on a Kawasaki KX60. I lost two British championships because of broken legs but I finally became British Youth Motocross Champion in 1996 before moving to tarmac and winning the Gilera Scooter National Championship the following year. I still hold the scooter lap record at Mallory with an average speed of over 90mph! Did your…

I’m 5ft 6in, 172cm to be precise, and although I enjoy being on the short side I do struggle with larger bikes, especially big top-heavy adventure bikes with a full tank of fuel. Triumph have acknowledged the problem shorter riders have and developed a low version of their new 1215cc Explorer. Triumph haven’t simply cut a few mil from the seat and made it slightly lower, they’ve created a separate model (in both XC and XR specs) that sits 52mm lower than the standard bike. The new lower model has a seat height of just 785mm-805mm compared to the standard model at 837-857mm. To put that into context, the new lower Explorer has the same seat height as the Kawasaki Z300 (785mm) and Ducati Scrambler (790mm). The Low’s semi-active electronic…

Imagine you’re holding £8000 in your hands, and you’re going to buy a bike with it. What would you go for? How about the rusty remains of a 1938 Brough Superior SS100, one that looks like it’s spent the past 80 years on the seabed? Tempted? Plenty of people will be. The most expensive model before last week’s Stafford Sale, which, incidentally, was gleamingly clean and fully functioning – sold in November 2014 for an astonishing £315,100. So what is it that makes founder George Brough’s remaining machines so spectacularly desirable and expensive in 2016? We reckon there are four factors, the first of which is the most obvious: they are of great historical value. Every one of them was built in a 21-year span from 1919 to 1940, and…

1990-1991 • Hinckley Triumph’s all-new range is unveiled at the Cologne Show in November and goes on sale in early 1991. It comprises six models, all based on a ‘modular’ approach. These are: Trophy 1200, Trophy 900, Daytona 1000, Daytona 750, Trident 900 and Trident 750 1993 • Tiger 900 introduced • Trident Sprint introduced • Daytona 900 Super III introduced • Daytona 900 & 1200 introduced (and 750 and 1000 deleted) new rear bodywork etc 1994 • Speed Triple 900 introduced 1995 • Thunderbird 900 introduced • Trident Sprint updated (new rear bodywork, etc) 1996 • Trophy 900 & 1200 updated with all new bodywork • Adventurer introduced • Daytona 900 Super III deleted • Speed Triple 900 deleted although, briefly, a 750 version using surplus Daytona 750 engines,…

For most, the original Speed Triple is the motorcycle that best represents the moment Hinckley found its mojo. Despite being effectively an unfaired Daytona 900 with a few styling tweaks, here was a Triumph that for the first time pursued character and charisma more than conventional performance and practicality. In short, all the best bits about revived Triumph were mixed together to create a new machine – then a whole dollop of style was ladled on for good measure. By being powered by the 900 triple, the ‘Speedie’ had what was already considered the best of Hinckley’s modular motors. By using the Daytona chassis, complete with adjustable fork and floating, four-pot brakes, it had the best cycle parts available. Add to that stylish, twin white-faced clocks, racy clip-on handlebars, a…

‘25 years later the big Triumph is impressively clean tight and responsive’ It was an ignominious beginning: a grey, damp spring day; an equally grey, bland-looking and surely simply-not-good-enough sport-tourer to assess plus a somehow unquantifiable weight of expectation hanging in the murky skies… How little I knew then. It was early 1991. I was 26 and Triumph didn’t mean much back then. Certainly not to me. To my generation motorcycles were Japanese (apart from the few rich fools who bought Italian). ‘British’ meant old, rubbish, leaky, unreliable dinosaurs. And my dad. That all changed that day in 1991. Don’t get me wrong, the Trophy 1200 wasn’t amazing or ballistic or sophisticated or gorgeous or any of the usual things that get road testers excited. It was merely decent, adequate…

So that's the end of the road for our annual Skegvegas pilgrimage – and that odd time MCN took us to Pontins over in Wales. Some brilliant memories, most of them a bit hazy, and we've made great mates along the way. Who can forget the early years when the sound of bikes being bounced off their rev limiters used to echo off the chalet walls into the small hours – bit like going to the Mugello MotoGP but without the ferries and foreign food. And as for some of the fancy dress… least said, soonest mended. Shame that all good things must come to an end, but cheers MCNLive! it's been a blast. Jason Taylor, Kent Ed: Big thanks to everyone who made MCNLive! so spectacular over the years…

1 Check the pads Brake pads are easy to inspect. On calipers with pistons either side of the disc, pins hold the pads in. They’re either threaded in, or retained with R-pins – anti-rattle plates usually need removing too. Some can be removed with calipers in situ, some will need the whole assembly removing for access. Replace if they’re less than 2mm thick, or show any sort of damage to the friction material. Some swear by greasing the back of pads to prevent squealing – but well-maintained calipers with all anti-rattle plates shouldn’t need it. It only serves to contaminate, and attract dirt. 2 Avoid disc dramas Brake discs have a minimum thickness stamped on them. It’s an easy measurement with a set of vernier gauges. If they’re too thin,…

Thunderbird 650 (1949-1966) Big-bore, semi-cruiser version of the 500cc Speed Twin was originally launched in 1949 and aimed at the US market. It was the Meriden firm’s most powerful (until the 1959 Bonneville) and flagship machine throughout the 1950s and gained fame by being the bike ridden by Marlon Brando in the 1953 movie The Wild One. What you’ll pay today £5500-£8000 But should you? Less celebrated than the later Bonneville but just as classy and arguably better value. X75 Hurricane (1973) The striking X75 is an aside to the whole BSA Rocket 3/Triumph Trident story. More BSA than Triumph, it was the result of BSA USA commissioning customiser Craig Vetter to restyle the Rocket 3 to put one over Triumph. Its unique swooping bodywork, extended forks and triple pipes…

Battery Rechargable via included magnetic lead, and features captive screws GPS Samples at 10hz for accurate data, logs on to satellites quickly and stays locked on Screen Offers a choice of backlight colours, and reacts to ambient light levels AIM Mychron 5 GPS dash, £354 Tester Emma Franklin Time tested Two months What’s good? This Mychron 5 dash has all the looks and functionality of something that should cost much more. Fitted to my 2004 Honda RS125 race bike, it shows water temperature and rpm, but also packs a powerful GPS-based datalogger and lap-timing function, and sends all the data to a laptop via its own wifi bubble so I can analyse my performance at the end of the session. There’s no complicated set-up process – simply pre-load the Mychron…

The winner of the first game round is Dave Bell with his Bell Racing 19 team with an impressive points tally of 807. His squad selection saw him sign up MotoGP series leader and double race winner Marc Marquez alongside the ever improving factory Suzuki rider Aleix Espargaro. In WSB, Bell enrolled the talents of another serial winner in the guise of series leader Jonathan Rea, who is backed up by another race winner and the man that currently holds second in the standings: Chaz Davies. In MCE British Superbikes, round one sensation Christian Iddon secured good points after his double podium, all of which was enough for Bell to take the early lead. Bell wins a set of Michelin Power SuperSport Evo Tyres and the overall winner at the…

‘I like where I’m at right now, but I’d still like to be on a factory contract’ Eugene Laverty made the MotoGP paddock sit up and take notice once again with the 29-year-old Irishman securing an impressive ninth place finish at Jerez. Starting from 14th on the grid Laverty finished comfortably ahead of Brits Crutchlow, Smith and Redding, but despite many of his peers already being in line for a deal to race in 2017, he remains without a contract for next season. However, with the paddock now waking up to his speed on the two-year-old Ducati GP14 machine, he admitted to MCN that he is now in a far better position to start negotiating. “It seems in MotoGP that April is the new July! There’s never been a year…

It was another tough weekend in Jerez for Bradley Smith as he once again struggled to find a comfortable base setting on the Monster Tech 3 Yamaha machine to work with the new Michelin tyres. Working on wholly new settings after admitting he had abandoned two years of development on Bridgestones in an effort to get his bike working on the new tyres, the Brit remained upbeat despite currently being outgunned by his Tech3 team-mate Pol Espargaro. “The nice thing about the weekend is that at least we’re starting to feel better with the front. It’s in a better place now, somewhere that makes me feel more confident with it. Now we need to continue to work on the rear, and try and find some sort of balance from it…