"Jerry" by Sbay Motor Company

Foto: sbaymotorco.com
via Racing Café

Moto GP : Dani Pedrosa second place still important, Marquez happy with Catalunya result

with Twowheelsblog

Dani Pedrosa may not have won his 200th Grand Prix in Catalunya, but the Repsol Honda veteran was only mildly disappointed with his second place.

The track conditions were extreme and considering that the front of his Honda continued to close on him when he was hitting the corner apex whenever he pushed, he was content to finish second and keep his lead in the standings.

“Today was a bit of a strange race. We could not get maximum performance and physically it was very hard, because of the heat of the bike and the tyres. When I tried to open the throttle the bike wobbled in the front and I had to be very careful. We three front-runners were battling the track conditions today.It was a bit disappointing not to be able to push more, since the differences between us all was minimal. We rode practically the entire race without any overtaking. It was very easy to make a mistake and in fact, on the closing laps, Marc made one and I had a slide, but in the end we were able to take a very important second place,” said Pedrosa.

Marquez was relieved to avoid contact with his teammate in a Turn 4 lunge on the penultimate tour, but would finish on the podium from sixth on the grid.

Repsol Honda may not have brought home a victory, but they still had two riders on the podium, and no one was more surprised than Marc Marquez who took a third place podium.

The MotoGP rookie is a race animal, and was the only rider who actually livened up a dull race in the finale, when he attempted to get past his team mate in the penultimate lap and to avoid hitting him braked so hard that his bike shuddered.

A candid Marquez admitted that he tried the pass in the wrong place, “I thought I was stronger there, but on that lap Dani also braked quite hard. I nearly crashed and lost too much time. We didn’t touch but it was very, very close. I already said to him, ‘when you see the video - sorry!’

Talking about the race he said, “It was a difficult race. We expected it to be tough, but we never imagined that we would be fighting for the podium with Jorge (Lorenzo) and Dani and I’m very happy with this result! It gives us confidence after a slightly tricky weekend, as in the end we found the ideal setup. During the race I learned a lot from riding behind Dani, trying to figure out how to ride a MotoGP bike at this track, and in the end we did quite well. We knew it would be difficult to finish in the top five, but we managed to get on the podium. I can only say I’m thrilled with the result. Now we look to Assen and we’ll see if we can improve anything for that race during the test at Aragon.”

Moto GP: Jorge Lorenzo takes dominating victory at Catalunya

from Twowheelsblog

Reigning World champion Jorge Lorenzo took another stunning victory - his second in a row - and his third of the season with a dominating lights-to-flag win over Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez.

Despite his stunning and record breaking qualifying lap (the race was much slower than expected due to the heat), Dani Pedrosa lost the pole position just a few yards before the end of the straight to Lorenzo who would lead the entire 25 lapper despite being pressured by the Repsol Honda riders for two third of the race.

Marc Marquez stuck to the tail of Pedrosa and in the penultimate lap tried to overtake his team mate to take second, but Pedrosa chopped back across the nose of Marquez, forcing the rookie to hit the brakes and giving his Honda a big front end shake. The slight scare didn’t stop Marquez who tried to latch onto his team mate’s rear again, but couldn’t get close enought to line up another pass and would finish just 0.090s from Pedrosa.

Valentino Rossi finished a lucky and also a very lonely fourth. Rossi was graced with spot when Cal Crutchlow crashed out losing the front of his M1 during the fifth lap, and he was lucky because Alvaro Bautista almost repeated the same pass that took himself and Rossi out of the Mugello race. Rossi resisted Bautista’s inside pass at the Caixa and the Spaniard was forced to grab his brakes sliding out and barely missing the Yamaha rider’s rear tire.

Stefan Bradl finished fifth after battling with Nicky Hayden who without any warning lost the front of his Ducati, sending the American angrily tumbling into the gravel pit. Hayden, Crutchlow and Bautista weren’t the only riders to crash as only 16 riders finished the physically punishing and incident packed race.

Bradley Smith despite his injuries took an excellent 6th which is his best result of the season and beating Andrea Dovizioso, while Aleix Espargaro and Colin Edwards and Ducati’s Michele Pirro closed out the top ten.

2013 MotoGP Catalunya race results:

01- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – 25 laps in 43’06.479
02- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 1.763
03- Marc Marquez – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 1.826
04- Valentino Rossi – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 5.874
05- Stefan Bradl – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC213V – + 26.756
06- Bradley Smith – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 32.228
07- Andrea Dovizioso – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 32.692
08- Aleix Espargaro – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP13 – + 58.615
09- Colin Edwards – NGM Mobile Forward Racing – FTR Kawasaki – + 1’03.142
10- Michele Pirro – Ignite Pramac Racing – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 1’09.774

Kawasaki Z 1100 ST "Big Z" by Maccomotors

Foto: maccomotors.com
via Racing Café

BMW R51/3: A motorcycle for Olympians

At launch, one journalist described the R51/3 as “a motorcycle which only the gods could afford”. Ironic, then, that this example has been kept in a Greek collection for some years – but even more interesting is that it’s now within the reach of mere mortals.

Depending on your knowledge of classic motorcycles, you might conclude from the captivating model name that a) it has a DIN standard as a namesake, or b) it’s little more than an upgraded R51/2 (essentially a pre-War bike sold post-War).
We know the latter isn’t true, at least. While it looked similar to the /2, it had an all-new, single-cam 494cc engine which resolved some of the mechanical issues experienced by its predecessor. Topping out at 87mph, it was considered a luxury motorcycle thanks in part to the ‘plunger’ rear suspension – duly reflected in the significant list price of around 2,750 German DM.
Representing much better value these days, this fetching burgundy example will cross the block at Coys’ June 15 sale in Athens with an estimate of EUR 8,000 – 12,000.

Related Links You can view this R51/3 auction listing in the Classic Driver Marketplace, ahead of its sale on June 15. All other lots can be found in the Classic Driver Marketplace

Text: J. Philip Rathgen (Classic Driver)
Photos: Coys

Royal Enfield Bullet 500 - Hazan Motorworks

Craftsmanship is a word that gets thrown around a lot in relation to custom bikes. And fair enough, really. Unless you can create something purely by removing parts from a factory bike, you'll probably get to the point where you have to fashion, fold, or file something sooner or later. But as any of us who have actually worked with metal in anger will know, there's a world of difference between one man's ‘that'll do’ an another's. Meet Max Hazan and the latest build out of his Hazan Motorworks shop in Brooklyn, New York. It's pretty obvious to us that Max's ‘that'll do’ is, well... let's just say that Max doesn't do ‘that'll do’. Not at all.

Max started his bike building journey after an enforced 3 month motorcross accident sabbatical. Too many hours spent staring at a beach cruiser in his living room, led him to strap a motor to it to see what it could do. The answer was 90. Miles an hour, that is.

Seeing that motorbikes were probably a logical, and less suicidal, conclusion to his cabin fever. A trip by his sister to India had left him with a niggling attraction to the Royal's motor, and all that was needed then was a good dose of inspiration from Max's past as a boat builder. ‘I guess that has something to do with the seat,’ he notes.

Max's approach to building is to try and never do the same thing twice. ‘I try to step out of my comfort zone with each build... it can be frustrating doing everything for the first time, every time.’

The bike spent about two months of hands-on time in the Hazan Motorworks shop for the build. And when Max says ‘build’ he really does mean it. ‘This was the first time that I built everything from scratch. Every lever, linkage, cable... each part was made to been seen.’ Just think about that next time you resort to a quick eBay purchase to tock something off your bike build's to-do list.

When asked about what skills he'd like to develop next, Max's insightful response contains a valuable lesson for any young soul considering dirtying their hands on a custom bike project. ‘I find that I develop the skills as I need them for each project. I am lucky to have the skills that I do already, and to be a fast learner.  For me the ability to stay in the moment and be creative is the most valuable skill to making beautiful pieces. No amount of time on the English Wheel can create a good idea. The mind has to be right before the hands get moving.’

For more on Max and his shop, you may want to check out his website and Facebook page. And by the looks of them and some of the builds Hazan has coming up, New York's set to finally make a splash on the East Coast bike scene.

(Spotted on Moto-Mucci.com. Photography by David Hans Cooke and David Browning of E3MC.)

from PIPEBURN