MotoGP : Alzamora : « Marc a fait preuve de beaucoup d’intelligence »/ Alzamora on champion Marquez’s Motegi ride: 'Marc showed how clever he is'

Emilio Alzamora, manager et mentor de Marc Márquez, revient sur la performance qui a permis à son pilote de s’emparer d’un deuxième titre MotoGP™ dimanche au Twin Ring Motegi.

Ancien Champion du Monde 125cc, Emilio Alzamora dirige depuis le début la carrière de Marc Márquez et s’est dit extrêmement fier de la performance de son protégé après son second sacre en MotoGP™ au Grand Prix Motul du Japon.

Toujours désireux de s’imposer, Márquez a su se concentrer sur le résultat qui allait lui assurer le titre plutôt que de céder à ses pulsions et s’est contenté de finir deuxième devant Valentino Rossi pour devenir le premier pilote Honda titré sur les terres de la marque japonaise, au Twin Ring Motegi.

« C’est un jour important pour toute l’équipe, pour Honda, pour Repsol et pour tous ceux qui soutiennent Marc. Le championnat a été incroyable. Je retiendrai ces deux-là, le titre de l’an dernier et celui-ci. Marc va maintenant pouvoir fêter ça avec son frère et ses proches. »

« Marc est un pilote très expérimenté mais j’essaye toujours de lui donner des conseils. Cette fois-ci, il savait ce qu’il avait à faire. Nous devions nous concentrer sur le warm-up, trouver un bon rythme et rester calmes avant la course. Il devait faire abstraction de Lorenzo et se concentrer sur Valentino et Dani, et c’est ce qu’il a fait. »

« C’était naturel de ressentir de la pression. C’était chez Honda et il y avait les deux erreurs de Misano et d’Aragón. Dans la première partie de la course, il n’a pas pu attaquer comme il le voulait et ça a rendu la course un peu plus compliquée mais Marc a ensuite fait preuve de beaucoup d’intelligence. »

Emilio Alzamora, manager and mentor of newly crowned double MotoGP™ World Champion Marc Marquez, believes the Repsol Honda star used his intelligence to clinch the title on Sunday in Japan.

Former 125cc World Champion Alzamora, who has mentored Marquez from a young age on his journey to the top, was proud of the performance of the young rider from Cervera, Spain, in Sunday’s Motegi race.

Marquez had been hungry for victory at round 15 but he rode calmly to take second place after a fight with Valentino Rossi, to get the points required to become the first ever Honda rider to win the title on their home territory.

“It’s an important day for the whole team, for Honda, for Repsol and for everyone who supports Marc. I think it’s been an incredible championship, I'll take these two, with the title last year and now this. Marc will have a big celebration now with his brother and his friends.”

Always measured in his actions and his comments, Alzamora revealed that he had given Marquez some specific advice before the race.

“Well of course he is already very experienced but I always try to give him some tips and in this instance he could already see it himself. We had to focus well in the Warm Up, he had to find a good rhythm and to be calm in the race. He needed to forget about Lorenzo and focus on Valentino and Dani and that’s what he did,” reflected Alzamora.

“It was natural to feel pressure. This is Honda’s home race and there had been the two mistakes in Misano and Aragon. In the first part of the race he was unable to attack as he wanted and that made it more complicated, but then Marc showed how clever he is.”

La France remporte le SuperMoto des Nations / French triumph at FIM SuperMoto of Nations

Deux semaines après avoir remporté le Motocross des Nations en Lettonie, l’équipe de France récidive en Italie en s’imposant au SuperMoto des Nations devant les tenants du titre, l’Italie, et l’Allemagne.

Malgré un début de week-end difficile, l’équipe de France SuperMoto emmenée par Thomas Chareyre (TM-Michelin), champion du monde en titre de la discipline, Adrien Chareyre (Aprilia – Michelin) et Sylvain Bidart (Honda-Michelin), a remporté la neuvième édition du SuperMoto des Nations.

Thomas Chareyre ouvre la voie dès la première course en s’imposant devant l’Italien Ivan Lazzarini (Honda). La quatrième place de Christian Ravaglia (Honda-Michelin), derrière le Tchèque Keymar Pavel (Husqvarna), permet à l’Italie de prendre la tête devant la République Tchèque et l’Allemagne. La France pointe à la quatrième place avec la 17^ème position d’Adrien Chareyre, heurté par un concurrent dès le premier tour.

Lors de la deuxième course, la France décide d’aligner Sylvain Bidart en première position. Adrien Chareyre s’élance de la 17^ème place. Un choix qui va s’avérer payant. Auteur d’une belle remontée, Adrien Chareyre s’impose devant le Finlandais Mauno Hermunen (TM-Michelin), l’Allemand Marc Schmidt (KTM) et Sylvain Bidard. En terminant cinquième et sixième, l’Italie conserve la tête à l’issue de la deuxième manche mais la France est revenue à la deuxième place.

La troisième et dernière course est donc décisive pour l’attribution du titre entre l’Italie et la France. Thomas Chareyre est le premier à rallier l’arrivée devant Ivan Lazzarini mais les deux pilotes écopent d’une minute de pénalité et sont rétrogradés respectivement aux septième et huitième places. La victoire revient à Mauno Hermunen devant Sylvain Bidart qui permet à la France de décrocher un quatrième titre.

Résultats :

1. France 15 points; 2. Italie 25 pts ; 3. Allemagne 32 pts; 4. Finlande 33 pts; 5. République Tchèque 45 pts; 6. Autriche 58 pts; 7. Suisse 62 pts; 8. Pays-Bas 76 pts; 9. Grande-Bretagne 84 pts; 10. Allemagne Juniors 91 pts.

Two weeks after clinching the Motocross of Nations prize in Latvia, Team France topped last weekend’s SuperMoto of Nations in Italy ahead of the host country (winner of last year’s competition) and Germany.

Team France bounced back from a poor start to the tournament to claim the ninth annual SuperMoto of Nations with Thomas Chareyre (TM-Michelin), the 2014 champion’s brother Adrien (Aprilia-Michelin) and Sylvain Bidart (Honda-Michelin).

Thomas Chareyre paved the way for the success by winning Race 1 ahead of Italian Ivan Lazzarini (Honda). The latter’s compatriot Christian Ravaglia (Honda-Michelin) was fourth behind the Czech Republic’s Keymar Pavel (Husqvarna) to give Italy the provisional lead, followed in order by the Czech Republic and Germany. France was fourth, handicapped by the 17^th place of Adrien Chareyre who collided with another rider on Lap 1.

For Race 2, France decided to start Bidart in first place, while Adrien Chareyre lined up 17^th. The tactic paid handsomely, since the latter fought back to steal victory ahead of Finn Mauno Hermunen (TM-Michelin), Germany’s Marc Schmidt (KTM) and Bidart. Fifth and sixth spots allowed Italy to maintain its advantage, but with second-placed France now its closest chaser.

The third and final contest settled the issue. Thomas Chareyre beat Lazzarini to first place but both riders took a one-minute penalty which relegated them to seventh and eighth. That handed the win to Hermunen, but Bidart’s second place was enough to clinch a fourth title for France.

Final positions:

1, France (15 points). 2, Italy (25). 3, Germany (32). 4, Finland (33). 5, Czech Republic (45). 6, Austria (58). 7, Switzerland (62). 8, Netherlands (76). 9, Great Britain (84). 10, Germany Juniors (91).

MAHMUT’S RS200

Pencils are pretty impressive tools and being able to master using them is one of life’s greatest gifts. It enables you to quickly and simply convey your ideas without the interference of bumbling diction. Mahmut is a car designer with a penchant for motorcycles and the associated handcrafted paraphernalia. Accompanied by his design capability he has set up Life in Paradigm in the hope of earning a living through expressing his passion and creating rolling artwork.

This first build is dedicated to a dear friend and artist Ayesha Bhangra Mendi who sadly passed away.

As prices for the typical custom donors rise out of reach, less obvious bikes are coming to the fore as canvases for folk to get creative. This 1981 Yamaha RS200 twin cylinder two stroke was bought for £360 a couple of years ago and awaited Mahmut’s design time.

The front end has been lowered with shorter springs and the rear is now supported by upgraded shocks.

Ayesha left her mark with floral drawings on the Yamaha’s engine cases which Mahmut followed, engraving the lines adding permanence and a fitting reminder to a much missed friend. A brass plaque replaces the need to ask questions about the artwork.

The drop bars are custom made using newly learnt welding skills, with vintage grips to match the handmade leather seat. A new speedo offers a new lease of life to the little old stroker. The coffee coloured paint is subtle and blends with the raw metal components, black painted wheels and brown accents, all Mahmut’s handiwork.

Out of sight is a 1950s Castrol oil can converted to supply the lubricant to the pump; no premix in 1981, how very advanced!

Underneath the exhaust wrap is a pair of handmade, stainless steel headers leading to a single sided muffler.

Next on the bench is customer’s Honda CB550 and a WW2 inspired Brit build, incorporating Spitfire aero parts; looking forward to seeing that one. Keep an eye on progress over on the Facebook page.

In the meantime if you have some surplus pocket money, head to www.lifeinparadigm.com for leather goods and accessories for dappering-up your riding attire.

via PIPEBURN

Ducati 250 Mark III 1971 by Simone Ceccarelli

TICKLE MANX T3

The Tickle Manx is a bit of a historical curiosity, it’s a result of the sale of the AMC race shop to the famous Colin Seeley in 1966 – As part of the deal Seeley acquired the rights to the Norton Manx as well as the Matchless G50 and AJS 7R, by 1969 he had seen the writing on the wall and decided to sell the rights to the Manx onto his friend and sidecar racing competitor John Tickle.

Tickle set to work making the now somewhat antiquated Manx competitive against more modern multi-cylinder motorcycles, the base technology used in the Manx engine was first introduced in 1947 so by 1969 they were already 22 years old and despite the long history of race wins enjoyed by the model – its glory days were long past.

As the new owner of the iconic single cylinder bike John Tickle did a remarkable job of bringing it back from obscurity and making it competitive – he managed to strip the weight of the Manx down to just 284lbs, (46lbs less than the original) and he designed an entirely new frame for the bike to improve rigidity and shave off pounds.

Sadly, this wasn’t enough to compete with the new 2-stroke racing motorcycles pouring out of Japan by their thousands and John eventually sold the rights to the now antique Manx to a large European parts supplier. Interestingly, the story doesn’t quite end there.

In 1994 Andy Molnar, an engineer based in England, bought the rights and began manufacturing parts for the Manx. As time progressed and demand increased he began building full engines and eventually he started producing full motorcycles that he dubbed the Molnar Manx. 20 years after he acquired the rights, Molnar has now produced dozens of motorcycles and hundreds of engines for vintage racing enthusiasts from all over the globe, and continues to painstakingly build them to order – keeping the Max alive for another generation.

The Tickle Manx you see here was rebuilt/restored recently using a frame from one original bike and an engine from another, true Tickle’s are exceedingly rare and we almost never see them come up for sale, so the fact that this one isdue to be auctioned by Bonhams on the 19th of October is welcome news to collectors of vintage British motorcycles.

The estimated value is £18,000 to £25,000 – which is actually pretty reasonable by my reckoning. Now I just need to find a way of telling my kids that their college fund was plundered because I needed to buy myself a Tickle.

via Silodrome

alors !!