Table of contents for 8 June 2016 in MCN

Book now for the latest MCN trackday run in association with specialist firm MSVT. After the success of our Brands day back in the spring, this time we are turning our attentions to the brilliant Cadwell Park. The day will take place on Tuesday, June 21 and, once again, there’ll be four groups covering three levels of similar ability: Novice, Intermediate and Advanced. Track time is divided up equally, typically giving each group seven 20-minute sessions on track during the day. MCN Senior Road Testers Michael Neeves and Adam Child will be on hand throughout the trackday to offer some tips and advice or just have a chat about the latest machines. Not only that but every rider booked onto the event will receive a goody bag on the day…

‘Brit naked has full package’ The Suzuki is the cheapest (as a base model, not the accessory-clad model supplied for this test) with a strong motor, great front end, good looks, useful TC and a reasonably roomy riding position, but is let down by poor fuelling, a budget rear shock and brakes that lack bite. The Kawasaki has a lovely, smooth, linear motor and lots of grunt. Good handling and strong brakes make the Zed fun to ride, but it can’t beat the Triumph’s overall package. With its usable power, smoothness, sound, and character, the Speed Triple 1050 has it all. The Triumph has the best brakes of the bunch, too, and comes with easy handling that works on both track and the road. It’s competitively priced, too, at £10,200.…

‘No faults, no niggles’ John McGuinness explains why the Blade is his perfect TT ride ‘I guess it’s the overall package that makes the Blade. It does it all and does it well. It has really good stability, is really good in straightline braking. You need confidence around the TT and as I’ve ridden the bike for so long that’s instant on the Blade. Some bikes may have more power but the way the Honda delivers its power means you can use every last horsepower – nothing has gone to waste. You see some bikes spinning their tyre and the chassis getting in a mess, that’s just wasted power. The Honda doesn’t do that. There are no faults, no niggles, and it makes use of everything it’s got.’ ‘People always…

‘The discs will have blued or gone into a sort of rainbow colour’ They suffer with binding brakes – really bad. It’s an easy fix. They just need to be cleaned and greased-up inside, but it can get to the point where they’ve stuck on so much that they’ve overheated the discs so you might need a new disc and pads as well. It’s easy to spot. Even when you go to push the bike you can see straight away. The discs will have blued or gone into a sort of rainbow colour because they’ve overheated. VFR1200Fs are also prone to blowing the rear exhaust downpipe gasket out. It’s actually quite inherent with V4s and V-twins. The rear exhaust, where it gets a bit of a bend in it, is…

APRILIA DORSODURO 750 Low-mileage 2010 bike (2875 miles) with one owner, a comfort seat, Arrow exhausts and a host of crash protectors. KAWASAKI ZRX1200 This 2004 model ZRX hasn’t even reached 7000 miles and it looks in tip-top cosmetic condition. It’s on new tyres and the private seller is moving it on to make space for a new bike. SUZUKI GSX1300 B-KING This 2009 version has a full book of seven dealer service stamps, a Datatool alarm and is fitted with MTC cans and new levers. YAMAHA FZ8 Practicality is covered on this 2010 model of Yamaha’s middleweight naked, with a topbox and heated grips fitted. It has 14,000 miles on the clock so it’s nicely used and it comes with Yamaha service history, both keys and the owners manuals.…

Racer and custom builder Roland Sands has continued his tie-up with Yamaha by designing a range of clothing to work with their heritage and cruiser models. The famous Yamaha Speedblock design is prominent in Sands’ designs, though there’s a temptation to say the artwork should be renamed to suit the lower speeds associated with the style of riding. Leading the new Faster Sons range, which is linked to the Yard Built scheme where Yamaha encourages and endorses builders who create specials with their bikes, is a new leather jacket called the Ronin. It costs £489.99 and is made from high-quality cowhide with the Speedblocks running across the chest. The jacket sits lower at the rider’s back than the front and it has a low collar for comfort as well as…

Cal Crutchlow topped the leaderboard after a one-day test on Monday that followed the weekend’s race at Catalunya where he made the most of cooler track conditions combined with improvements to the bike and its new unified electronics system. There were a number of crashes during the day, however, with Marquez, Iannone, Smith and Pedrosa among the fallers. Valentino Rossi was a late starter after last night’s celebrations, but stayed on with Jorge Lorenzo for an extra day of private testing on Tuesday to try a new chassis and swingarm.…

“It goes without saying that was quite an upsetting way to finish the Grand Prix. As soon as we began, I noticed something wasn’t right with the bike, even though I didn’t know what it was, and we will obviously investigate what happened.” BRADLEY SMITH STARTED 14TH FINISHED DNF “It is really difficult to explain what happened with such high rubber consumption. We did well throughout the weekend but in the race, after a few laps, it was so difficult to ride.” SCOTT REDDING STARTED 11TH FINISHED 16TH “Thirteenth place isn’t where I wanted to be; I wanted to be 10 seconds ahead, in the top 10. I thought we could be there, but we had more tyre problems than we had anticipated.” EUGENE LAVERTY STARTED 17TH FINISHED 13TH “We…

Andrea Iannone was unapologetic after the crash that brought both his and Lorenzo’s race to an unexpected end in Barcelona, insisting that he had done nothing wrong. Going into the corner and braking at his usual point, he instead claimed that the unusually slow pace of Lorenzo, his replacement next year at Ducati caught him out, leaving him with nowhere to go. “It was very difficult to avoid him, even though I tried my best, because at this point he was very slow. I braked in the same point for the entire race, but I know for sure he had a problem, because he was very slow. I asked him right away ‘you have a problem with the bike?’ because his speed was very strange. “He insisted he didn’t have…

While Valentino Rossi and Marc Marquez have mended some of the bridges in Barcelona that were burned last year at Sepang, Rossi admitted after Sunday’s race that his relationship with Jorge Lorenzo is still far from happy. “The situation with Lorenzo is a little bit different to that with Marc. From when I came back to Yamaha, it was always me who went to him to say ‘ciao Jorge, how do you feel?’ This year I decided to wait for him to come to me instead, and he never did.”…

Ian Hutchinson’s Superstock victory brought eight years of TT torment to an end for Philip Neill’s TAS Racing team who are now sponsored by Tyco. The Northern Ireland-based team haven’t won a TT race since Cameron Donald’s stock race victory in 2008 on the Relentless Suzuki. Neill said: “This is TT win number 16 for our team and we have waited a few years for it. “Obviously it’s not been for the want of trying and this is probably the most satisfying victory as we are in a new relationship with BMW and it’s our first win for Tyco as a sponsor. “It is really, really important for us but I have to say it’s not for me, it’s not for my father, it’s for the boys in the team.…

 The old saying ‘the first thing you have to do to win a TT is finish a TT’ was never more apt than on Saturday when John Holden and Andrew Winkle won a battle of attrition to bring their Silicone Engineering Honda outfit home first in the opening sidecar TT, as all of their principal rivals fell by the wayside. ‘We have won two TT races now and it feels really good’JOHN HOLDEN TT sidecar legend Dave Molyneux didn’t even make the start line because of machine problems, and former winner Conrad Harrison didn’t start either after his passenger Dean Kilkenny pulled out. Last year’s double winners, Ben and Tom Birchall, dominated the early part of the race, establishing a new lap record of 116.798mph on the second lap. But…

Well-known solo competitor and Ice Valley team manager, Paul Shoe-smith lost his life in a crash during Saturday evening’s practice session. The 50-year-old Cheshire rider had set his fastest ever lap of 125.896mph on his BMW in the Superbike race earlier in the day. Shoesmith was a close friend of former racer Jamie Whitham, who said: “Racing on the roads was Shoey’s life. He ran a team, brought young riders through and that defined him. He was the nicest, funniest man who always put more in than he got back.” • Twenty seven-year-old sidecar driver Dwight Beare was killed and his passenger, Benjamin Binns injured in a crash near Rhencullen on the opening lap of Saturday’s race. Beare, originally from Australia, lived in Onchan on the Isle of Man.…

‘These new models will be based on bikes like the GS or RS from our history’ BMW will reveal three new R nineT spin-off models using the air/oil-cooled engine and chassis as it surges ahead with the development of a separate ‘Heritage’ department to run alongside the existing modern motorcycle business. All three bikes will be revealed at the Milan motorcycle show in November this year and the news was exclusively confirmed to MCN by the boss of BMW Motorrad, Stephan Schaller. While BMW will not be drawn on the model names and exact specifications so far in advance of their launch, MCN understands that they will complement the R nineT and Scrambler with three distinct variations on the theme, which we believe will look very similar to our computer-generated…

Kawasaki W800 Special Edition This bike is probably the most authentic new old bike you can buy. Just £79.97 per month after £1600 up front. Triumph Thruxton R One of the most desirable bikes of 2016, the Thruxton blends classic styling with modern technology – seamlessly. And it’s only £119 per month after a £2042.89 deposit. BMW R nineT BMW’s fourth biggest selling bike, it’s close to perfection, and affordable, too at only £119 per month after a £2691.46 deposit. Ducati Scrambler Icon One of the UK’s most popular retros, it’s Italian cool at an alluring price of £89 per month after a £1779.89 deposit. Fancy something used instead? MCN Garage p41…

Help needed with electricity bill The wait for long-promised grants for electric bikes is getting frustrating. I’ve recently placed a deposit on a 2015 ZERO DS. I’ve ridden ZERO bikes on several occasions over the past five years but have always been put off by the cost and limited range. The 2014 models just about hit the sweet spot for performance and range but were still too expensive. The 2015/16 models are even better. Unlike cars, bikes didn’t attract a grant first time around. A purchase of a Toyota Prius gave you £5000 and it was not even a pure electric vehicle (and they are dull to drive). In March 2015 the government said grants would be given for electric motorcycles; probably £1500. It’s now June 2016 and there are…

Motorcycling is inherently dangerous and yet over a million people in the UK choose to ride on the road. The risks of riding are weighed up and for many of us, are deemed acceptable. I guess what life on two wheels gives us outweighs the perceived chances of an accident. Motorcycle racing is dangerous, too. Anything that involves travelling at high speed with minimal protection on a mechanical device has the potential to go wrong. Modern-day racing is safer than it has ever been, with huge improvements made to race track safety and also to protective equipment. The machines themselves have also been developed to provide greater reliability and also bristle with high-tech gadgetry to improve braking, grip and stability. But accidents do still, of course, happen. We had three…

Walker’s first sidecar race “It was in the New Year’s Day Scramble in 1986 at Ripley. My dad, a friend and I built a sidecar for my motocross bike, for a bit of fun, with my mate passengering for me. He did one lap in it, absolutely bricked it and refused to get back into it, so my dad, who was still pissed from New Year’s Eve, said ‘f*** it, I’ll do it!’ My dad isn’t with us anymore so he won’t be sat on the side of it. But I’m sure he’s looking down laughing at me!” Roads racing The first Sidecar TT was staged in 1923 and was won by Freddie Dixon. But with only 14 outfits entered, the concept was abandoned until 1954 when there was far…

The world’s best known sidecar marque is Watsonian. As the longest continuous maker of sidecars, Watsonian has been current since 1912. In 1911 Fred Watson was pondering how to get a machine and sidecar down the narrow 2ft 8in passageway of his Victorian terraced home without the need to remove the sidecar. Experimenting with a shoebox he designed a folding sidecar and hinged rectangular frame. It worked and friends were soon asking him to make sidecars for them. In 1926, the year of the General Strike, many businesses would go to the wall, but Watsonian weathered this storm, mainly because of the introduction of the Kwickfit chassis that year. The Kwickfit allowed owners to switch from solo to sidecar use in a matter of minutes. Post-WWII era Watsonian took advantage…

There has to be an overall winner, and that has to be the Honda Fireblade. The GSX-R1000 is a great road bike, more comfortable over a distance with similar power and engine characteristics, but the Blade is more refined and always edged in front during our test. With a new GSX-R just months away and a new Blade not far behind it, it looks like this will be your last chance to own a new superbike without electronics. If money is tight, both bikes have remained virtually unchanged for four years, and a 2015 GSX-R with under 1000 miles could be yours for under £9000. Grab one while you can. HONDA CBR1000RR FIREBLADE £13,299 Engine999.8cc inline four cylinder Power178bhp @ 12,250rpm Torque84ftlb @10,500rpm Weight211kg (kerb) SuspensionFront: 43 mm inverted fork…

KTM 1290 SUPER DUKE GT £15,999 FUEL 23 litres @ 40mpg = 202 miles WEIGHT 205kg (dry) SEAT 835mm POWER 173bhp TORQUE 106ftlb RICHARD NEWLAND Sportsbike addict with a love of road riding, in all weathers. HEIGHT 5ft 11in WEIGHT 117kg richard.newland@motorcyclenews.com 1290 SUPER DUKE R SE £15,999 This is the hotter of the two Super Duke Rs you can buy, sporting a raft of official accessories to give it a bit of extra bling and boost the soundtrack. It’s a tech-laden naked nutter, and delivers rampant fun with rude manners and fourth-gear wheelies. It’s superb, but very single-minded. If you never stray more than 100 miles from home and love back roads, it’s sublime. 1290 SUPER DUKE GT £15,999 The obvious truth is that the GT is the perfect…

‘First service done, I was free. And I remembered that I hadn’t chosen the SV for a chilled summer’ SUZUKI SV650 £5495 FUEL 13.8 litres @ 55mpg = 167 miles WEIGHT 197kg SEAT 785mm POWER 75bhp TORQUE47ftlb TONY HOARE Experienced rider and former racer who seems to be losing his appetite for going fast HEIGHT 5ft 10in WEIGHT 95kg tony.hoare@motorcyclenews.com Ididn’t choose the SV650 as my bike for the year because I wanted to go slowly, but I ended up enjoying the 600-mile running-in period more than I’d expected. The 5000rpm ceiling, which translated to around 75mph in top, forced me to ride differently with a greater concentration on maintaining momentum. Overtakes had to be planned far in advance without the ability to delve deeper into the pool of revs.…

IF YOU LIKE THIS… Premier Trophy £179 This helmet has a similar 1970s retro vibe but with fewer frills, and it’s a lot cheaper than the Bell. www.premier.it Keeping tabs Nicely done but ultimately pointless leather visor tab contains a magnetic catch Removable lining Lining features nice materials but construction falls short Bell Bullitt Carbon RSD Mojo £399.99 Time tested Three months/500 miles What’s good? With styling based on the Bell Star 120 from the 1970s (as worn by Evel Knievel) the RSD Mojo Bullitt is a close reproduction of that model but features a modern carbon-fibre shell, removable and washable micro-suede lining, leather trim and six-vent shell. The shell comes in three sizes so it retains the classic appearance of the early lids regardless of head size. The clear…

‘They have reserved the right to claim the money back from you’ Q Should I cash the cheque? I had an accident when a car pulled out of a junction. I couldn’t swerve as there was an oncoming car in the other direction, so I hit the wheel arch and landed on his bonnet. I’ve had a low offer from the third party’s insurer, which I refused straight away. I’ve sent off all the evidence for the refusal and the individual prices of all the modifications to my bike to back this up. My claims company has sent me the first cheque from the third party’s insurer and said I should pay it in. But they have told the third party that it is an interim payment and that I’m…

MotoGP was left grief stricken on Friday afternoon by the tragic death of Luis Salom with the response to his death from the entire paddock testament to just how popular a figure he was. Former Moto3 rival Maverick Viñales summed it up best when he was asked on Saturday for his thoughts on Luis, simply replying, “he started out as a rival but became a friend.” However, while many in the paddock were grieving, their pain was made all the worse by the decision taken by MotoGP organisers Dorna in the immediate aftermath of the accident. Seemingly showing little regard for the family and friends of Salom, the video of his crash, captured not by the TV cameras but by the circuit CCTV system, was not only handed out to…

‘Honda have made a massive improvement and that will filter down to us at some point’CAL CRUTCHLOW Cal Crutchlow battled to his strongest finish of the year after suffering a disastrous start to the 2016 MotoGP season. And, while his sixth place in Catalunya is far from his best performance in MotoGP, Crutchlow says he can finally see light at the end of the tunnel after a difficult start on the 2016 LCR Honda. “Considering the circumstances of the weekend, it’s nice to have a half-decent result. It’s been a difficult weekend for everyone, and I think we did a good job to be able to race safely this weekend, and we came out of it with some points. “The bike is still quite difficult to ride, but Honda are…

 Defending MotoGP champion Jorge Lorenzo slammed Andrea Iannone after the Ducati rider torpedoed him out of Sunday’s MotoGP race – and out of the championship lead. ‘The worst thing was that he didn’t say sorry or see it was a mistake’JORGE LORENZO ‘I felt a big impact and the next thing I knew I was flying through the air’JORGE LORENZO Once again struggling with the tyre issues that plagued him in the similarly hot conditions at Jerez, early race leader Lorenzo quickly dropped out of contention and down through the field. Encountering Iannone as he dropped back, he was brutally hit from behind in turn 10 on lap 17, resulting in his second DNF of the season. And, with Iannone insisting that he had done nothing wrong, Lorenzo was left…

With Rossi, Lorenzo, Viñales, Pedrosa, Iannone, Dovizioso and Smith already in possession of a signed MotoGP contract for 2017 there was a rush of additional signings at the Spanish race. Marc Marquez Will remain with the Repsol Honda squad for two more years. Delivered on Thursday ahead of the race, the news comes as no surprise and means he will continue alongside Dani Pedrosa for his fifth and sixth season in MotoGP. Pol Espargaró Will join current team-mate Bradley Smith in the KTM factory team for their first foray into MotoGP. The Spaniard’s deal was announced ahead of his home race, and will see him ride the Austrian machine for the first time at the end of season Valencia test. Alex Rins Looks set to get his wishes of a…

 Dani Pedrosa was able to make solid progress on the Repsol Honda at his home race in Barcelona, capitalising on new parts to convert a strong pace into his second podium position of the year. ‘For me, testing in a race weekend is more useful than testing afterwards’DANI PEDROSA Starting the year off slowly on the hard-to-ride Honda RCV213, the Spaniard credited an influx of new parts originally destined for Monday’s post-race test with helping him finally return to his form of old on Sunday. “Really, I advanced my testing and did some work over the weekend out of the parts we brought for the test. For me, testing in a race weekend is more useful than testing after a race. On a Monday test, you have race pace, there’s…

 Mar-Train Yamaha, who sold the engine to the MD Racing team, subsequently issued a statement in relation to Michael Dunlop’s exclusion from the results. ‘We are devastated Michael has been disqualified over an issue we overlooked’WOGAN PERFORMANCE “Mar-Train Racing can confirm that they supplied Michael Dunlop and MD Racing with a Yamaha R6 engine for today’s Monster Energy Supersport TT. “The illegal element within this engine was a set of coated cam buckets which had been legal two years ago when the engine was originally built. “An oversight, due in part to personnel changes in the team as well as a change in engine builder, has meant that this irregularity was missed. “We replaced all known components associated with wear and tear, known as an engine refresh, however regretfully overlooked…

 Ian Hutchinson was bitterly disappointed after failing to turn an explosive week of practice times on his Tyco BMW into a race win in Saturday’s Superbike race where he finished second to a rampant Michael Dunlop. ‘Michael has done 133mph already so we have got a bit more to find’IAN HUTCHINSON “It was my first time ever round the TT in a race on a BMW and I was expecting to be five or six seconds down at Glen Helen on the first lap but I was only two,” he explained. Hutchy’s opening lap of 132.892mph was his first ever 132mph-plus lap on a superbike spec machine and left him just 3.5 seconds behind Dunlop. With remarkable consistency he posted 132.884mph on lap two but Dunlop was equally consistent in…

Dean Harrison’s fifth place finish on his Kawasaki ZX-10R crowned a good day for the Silicone Engineering squad that also took victory in the Sidecar race with John Holden and Andrew Winkle in their Honda outfit. Two 130mph-plus laps at the start of the race saw the Bradford rider holding third place going into the first pit stop. “My race was mint from start to finish,” the 29-year-old said. “I was able to sit at a comfortable pace. I am starting 12 so I didn’t have anybody to drag me along and I had to pass quite a few people but I just chipped away.”…

Peter Hickman’s phenomenal TT progress continued with a fourth place and a 132.465mph lap in his first outing on a full-blown superbike. “We had to make some massive changes on Friday night,” the JG Speedfit Kawasaki rider explained. “We changed from Motec to kit Kawasaki electronics and the boys were working until nearly 2am.” After making a cautious start with a 129mph lap the BSB star got steadily faster, posting a 130, then a 131 before breaking into the 132mph bracket on his last lap that saw him progress from seventh on lap one to fourth at the line.…

Although Dunlop was at pains to stress he rode his own race on Saturday, there is little doubt that a part of his motivation came from the intense rivalry that exists between the Ballymoney man and Hutchinson and their Hawk Racing and Tyco BMW teams. The scene for the race battle had been set in a fierce duel fought out in the blazing sunshine during practice week. The rest of the paddock watched in stunned amazement as the two men tried to better each other’s fastest times night after night. Hutchy posted the first 130mph lap on the second evening before Dunlop went over 131mph on Wednesday. On Thursday Dunlop raised the bar again to 132mph on the Superbike and surpassed his own Superstock lap record at 131.34mph. The intense…

 When world champion Tim Reeves convinced me to jump on the back of his championship-winning Formula One outfit for a few laps of Mallory Park, I knew it wouldn’t be as easy as it looked. But I didn’t realise just how hard it would be either. ‘I knew it wouldn’t be easy, but I didn’t realise how hard it would be either!’ I received a crash course from Tim’s passenger, Greg Cluze where he helped me find the most comfortable position to wedge myself into on the tiny passenger tray. It was pretty obvious I wouldn’t be doing much moving around. And that became my downfall. Despite strict instructions from Tim to reach over and tap him on the back if I needed to stop, I very quickly discovered that…

2010 Honda VFR1200F  Colours Red, silver or white Dealer £6200 Private good £5700 Private average £5400 This one 2010 model with Givi rack and topbox. 24,000 miles, £4900 2012 HondaVFR1200F ColoursBlack, red, silver or white Dealer £7600 Private good £7200 Private average£7000 This one 2012 DCT version with panniers and topbox. £7399 2013 Honda VFR1200F Colours: Black, red, silver or white Dealer £8000 Private good £7400 Private average £7200 This one 2013 DCT model with hugger, GPR can, tint screen and heated grips. 14k miles, £7000 2015 Honda VFR1200F  Colours Black, red or white/black Dealer £10,500 Private good £9900 Private average £9200 This one 2015 ‘GT’ model with full luggage pack and touring screen. 4000 miles, £10,499…

What goes up must also come down, and sometimes it comes off, too. The little arm that sticks out from the sidestand to facilitate flicking it up and down decided it’d had enough, and flicked off completely after just four days of use. It didn’t detach under foot, but had vanished at some point on the road between the office and home. Hopefully it’s not embedded in anyone’s tyre – I’m certainly grateful it didn’t ping into the GT’s. It’s not an isolated incident, this appears to be happening with most of the GTs that have been released into the wild. KTM will replace it, but HQ didn’t have one available when my bike was serviced. The other irritation was with the lock in the offside pannier, which decided to…

iPhone 6S handset along with a full TwistyRide iPhone mounting kit for your motorcycle, £640 MCN has teamed up with TwistyRide.com , the leading provider of waterproof iPhone and Samsung cases for motorcycles, to give away an iPhone 6S and TwistyRide mount. Waterproof to IP55 standard, the TwistyRide iPhone holder is the best way to bring satnav, data recording, video and other apps into your ride. Enter until: September 30 Sportsbikeshop gift voucher, £50 We’ve teamed up with the guys at Sportsbikeshop to offer a £50 gift voucher to be spent with them. They’ve got a massive range of products up for sale and will deliver direct to your door. Enter until: June 30 GBRacing engine case covers We’ve got a pair of these great engine case…

The weekend’s action in Barcelona was tragically marred by the death of Spanish Moto2 rider Luis Salom following an incident during Friday’s Moto2 free practice two session. The Palma de Mallorca rider crashed at turn 12 during the session and was taken to hospital, but died despite the best efforts of the medical staff. The cause of his crash is yet to be determined. Luis made his World Championship debut at Jerez in 2009 in the 125cc category. He went on to finish on the podium in 25 Grand Prix races. He finished the 2012 Moto3 World Championship in second position in the standings, and a year later was third overall after battling with Maverick Viñales and Alex Rins down to the final round in Valencia, taking nine Moto3 victories…

With both riders standing their ground, MCN sat down with race director Mike Webb, to get his view of the situation. “When I first spoke with Iannone the first thing he said was that his data showed that he braked at the normal place and that Jorge was very slow and he couldn’t avoid him – so I looked at data from both bikes. “What it showed was that they both braked at their normal points. Iannone is telling the truth, but Jorge also did nothing unusual. “Iannone made a mistake in that he arrived faster than he thought he would – but it’s his responsibility to avoid the guy in front, hence the penalty. “Jorge put his point to me and I understand what he said, but the Stewards…

‘It’s the best way to remember Salom, a small gift, a small homage’VALENTINO ROSSI Valentino Rossi took one of the most astonishing race victories of his career on Sunday to launch himself back into contention for the 2016 MotoGP championship and make up for the heartbreak of his Mugello DNF. Looking almost out of the championship battle after two DNFs in the opening six races of the year, Rossi’s emphatic win in Spain has seen him rally back into title contention with the 37-year-old now just 12 points behind Jorge Lorenzo in second, with Marc Marquez a further 10 ahead. The difference between Rossi’s assault on the series and his 2015 title campaign is marked. Last year he relied on his consistency to take the title race down to the…

With the MotoGP, WSB and BSB seasons now in full swing its time to announce the second winner in the MCN Fantasy Road Race competition run in association with Bennetts. Top honours go to a team with the unusual name of Hmm who’s team bagged a massive 761 points thanks to a stellar line-up of Jorge Lorenzo and Eugene Laverty in MotoGP, Tom Sykes and Jonathan Rea in WSB and Leon Haslam and Vitorio Iannuzzo in BSB. Hmm wins a set of Michelin Power SuperSport Evo Tyres for their efforts. The leader in the overall MCN Fantasy Road Race competition run in association with Bennetts is the DayBan team who are clearly focusing on scoring big points in MotoGP and WSB with a team including Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo…

Bradford’s Dean Harrison was thrilled to return to the TT podium for the first time in two years with second place in the week’s first Supersport race. Beaten by only Ian Hutchinson (once Michael Dunlop had been disqualified), he rode a sensible race to gap James Hillier in the early stages before controlling his lead over his fellow Kawasaki rival to comfortably cross the line. Hiller completed the podium. Harrison said: “I felt really comfortable and I could have pushed on quicker but once they get the gap on you with this level of racing you just can’t do anything about it. I got in to a rhythm, sat in third and had a bit of a gap so we just went from there.”…