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SuperMoto : ouverture du Championnat du monde en France

Le circuit de Rivesaltes, situé dans le Sud de la France, accueille ce week-end la première épreuve du Championnat du monde FIM SuperMoto 2014.

Le Championnat du monde FIM SuperMoto fait escale pour la première épreuve de la saison sur les bords de la mer Méditerranée, à quelques kilomètres de Perpignan, sur le circuit de Rivesaltes. Après avoir accueilli la finale du Championnat du monde en 2013, Rivesaltes donnera le coup d’envoi de la saison 2014 ce week-end.

Champion en titre et auteur d’une superbe saison couronnée par 10 victoires en 14 courses, Mauno Hermunen (Team TM), désormais chaussé en Michelin, remet son titre en jeu.

Il devra affronter une concurrence plus nombreuse et plus affutée qu’en 2013 avec notamment le retour pour la saison complète de Thierry Van Den Bosch, champion du monde en 2004 (S1), au sein du Team TM Racing Factory (Michelin). Van Den Bosch aura comme coéquipier un autre champion du monde, Thomas Chareyre (2010 et 2012) qui compte bien accrocher un troisième titre à son palmarès. Thomas s’est imposé à Rivesaltes en 2013 en première manche.

Autre prétendant au titre, Adrien Chareyre, quadruple champion du monde de la discipline (2011 (S1) – 2009 (S2) – 2008 (S2) – 2007 (S1)) rempile pour une nouvelle saison avec le team Aprilia Fast Wheels (Michelin). Il avait particulièrement brillé en 2013 sur ce circuit en remportant la seconde course et terminant deuxième de la première.

Coté réglementation, une superpole d’une durée de 10 minutes fait son apparition réunissant les huit meilleurs pilotes à l’issue des essais chronométrés (30 minutes). Les pilotes disposent de deux séances d’essais libres de 30 minutes chacune et d’un warm-up de 20 minutes.

Le calendrier 2014 a été mis à jour :

CHAMPIONNAT DU MONDE FIM SUPERMOTO 2014
DATE	GRAND PRIX	CIRCUIT	COURSES Additionnelles
20 Avril	FRANCE	Rivesaltes	SM2
18 Mai	ROMANIE	Arad	SM2 | SM3 | SM85
15 Juin	REPUBLIQUE TCHEQUE	Sosnova	SM2
6 Juillet	ITALIE	Cremona	SM2
20 Juillet	BELGIQUE	Zolder tbc	SM2
31 Aout	ESTONIE	Tabasalu	SM2
21 Septembre	CROATIE	Rijeka	SM2
12 Octobre	FIM SuperMoto of Nations	(tba)

Programme :

Samedi 19 avril :
11H25 : Essais libres 
14H10 : Essais libres 
16H10 : Essais chronométrés         
16H45 : super chronos (8 premiers)        
Dimanche 20 avril : 
10H55 : warm-up        
14H00 : course 1 
16H30 : Course 2

GUZZI : MOTONERO BRONZE

If you own a Moto Guzzi and live in the UK there’s a good chance that you’ve heard of John, owner of Bristol basedMotonero Motorcycles.  They’ve been working on and customising Guzzis for twenty years and what John doesn’t know about these old V-twins isn’t worth knowing.  Last month one of his builds featured here in The Shed and it went down very well.

This latest offering has been built using the rare, spare hours John finds between working on customer bikes, and we’re glad he found the time, this one’s a beauty.  The 850 T3 rolling chassis was relinquished by two friends who had tried to complete the project, one of them lasted eight years, the other four.  It arrived with badly pitted Suzuki forks and ugly alloy slab yokes but also with the saving grace of a decent alloy fuel tank and seat unit.  A pair of 36mm carbs were also present which went some way to sweeten the deal.

John set to work narrowing the seat unit and trimming a subtle upsweep to the tail section, later this would be painted a wonderful tone of bronze and have the crisp seat pad fitted.  Support is provided by a chopped subframe with a new loop welded in, which looks much tidier from the rear.

The fuel tank had its fair share of McGyvering to alleviate beatings from the Suzuki forks, resulting in a good deal of smoothing out being required to make the front indents pretty again, and now the tank resembles a John Williams off-the-shelf version, very pleasant on the eye.  Especially with another lick of that bronze paint complimented by the raw knee scoops and top panel, handsome.  Black gloss side panels are fibreglass, from Germany and not something John usually fits but these seem necessary and well suited.

All of the black bits have been powder coated matt with dark grey accents on the shock springs, brake disc centres and headlight bracket.  John might be subtle but he sure knows what he’s doing.

The alloy speedo mount is an in-house fabrication, along with the rear light mount.  Levers were drilled to add to that ‘going fast while standing still’ look.  In fact, if you’re into machining check out the Motonero blog.  His mate has done a pretty awesome job of restoring a ’70s manual mill which will no doubt be put to use on the next build.

Whilst the 850 engine was in pieces it seemed only right to hot things up a bit and fit 950 barrels and pistons, matched to ported and flowed heads.  Seals, bearings, gaskets etc were replaced as required in both engine and gearbox, along with clutch friction plates.  The 36mm Dell’Orto carbs work well with the new heads and larger bore, heavy breathing is aided by a new exhaust.  Stainless steel headers into reverse cone mufflers, painted black and heat wrapped, all suspended on custom bracketry sitting neatly behind the tasty Tarozzi rearsets.  A Dyna III ignition and coils provides the bang and is fed by an all-new wiring loom with modern waterproof connectors.

If your Guzzi is feeling a little tired and in need of some TLC or a full custom job, give John a call.  Maybe turn up with a project bike and a fistful of dollars and see if you can pry this one out of his hands…. Head to Motonero for more info and contact details or see more on The Bike Shed.