the first 78 km track of Breslau Poland 2014.
dimanche 13 juillet 2014
MOTOGP : Márquez prolonge sa série de victoires dans des conditions inédites / Marquez makes it nine wins from nine after hectic race start
Suite à un départ chaotique provoqué par des conditions météo mitigées, Marc Márquez a remporté une neuvième victoire consécutive au Grand Prix eni Motorrad d’Allemagne, en partant de la pit-lane, à l’instar de Dani Pedrosa et Jorge Lorenzo, qui étaient à ses côtés sur le podium.
Un départ chaotique
Suite à une averse qui précède la procédure de départ, seuls Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda), Hiroshi Aoyama (Drive M7 Aspar) et Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing) font le pari de partir sur pneus slick pour le tour de formation. Une décision risquée mais compréhensible puisque la piste est majoritairement sèche, si bien que plus de la moitié des pilotes rentrent aux stands pour changer de machines et prendre le départ de la course en formation serrée depuis la pit-lane. Le groupe comprend une quinzaine de pilotes parmi lesquels se retrouvent le poleman, Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda), son coéquipier Dani Pedrosa, Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP), Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) et Aleix Espargaró (NGM Forward Racing).
Seuls neuf pilotes sont présents sur la grille de départ. Bradl est isolé sur la troisième position, loin devant Aoyama, seizième, tandis que les autres prétendants au podium sont entassés au bout de la pit-lane.
Cinq tours pour remettre les choses en ordre
L’Allemand profite donc d’une situation jamais vue pour mener dans les premiers tours mais est rattrapé par Márquez et Pedrosa dès le cinquième, puis battu par le Champion du Monde en titre et son coéquipier le tour suivant. Le classement de la course reprend petit à petit l’ordre de la hiérarchie habituelle et les pilotes de Yamaha, Rossi et Lorenzo, remontent rapidement aux quatrième et cinquième positions en passant Aoyama, Danilo Petrucci (Octo IodaRacing) puis Bradl juste avant d’attaquer le dixième des trente tours de l'épreuve.
9/9 pour Marc Márquez
Une fois passé en première position, Márquez mène jusqu’à l’arrivée mais doit longtemps rester sur ses gardes puisque Pedrosa parvient à se maintenir à une demi-seconde. Ce dernier finit cependant par lâcher prise en fin d’épreuve et Márquez remporte confortablement sa neuvième victoire en autant de courses cette année. Le Champion du Monde en titre est le premier pilote à aligner neuf victoires consécutives depuis Mike Hailwood en 1964 et aborde la trêve estivale avec 77 points d’avance sur Pedrosa.
Après une course très décevante à Assen, Lorenzo retrouve le podium en prenant la troisième place, à huit secondes de Pedrosa et avec huit secondes d’avance sur Rossi. Andrea Iannone (Pramac Racing) décroche quant à lui son meilleur résultat en MotoGP™ en finissant cinquième, devant Aleix Espargaró (NGM Forward Racing), Pol Espargaró (Monster Yamaha Tech3), Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati), Álvaro Bautista (GO&FUN Honda Gresini) et Cal Crutchlow (Ducati), qui avait momentanément réussi à passer devant Dovizioso mais s’est incliné en fin de course.
Mal à l’aise sur une moto initialement réglée pour la pluie puis montée en slicks au dernier moment, Bradl termine sa course nationale, pour laquelle il s’était qualifié en première ligne, hors des points, avec une bien triste seizième place, derrière Scott Redding (Drive M7 Aspar), Aoyama, Abraham, Nicky Hayden (Drive M7 Aspar) et Petrucci.
Mike di Meglio (Avintia Blusens) termine sa neuvième course en catégorie reine en 22e position et va maintenant se préparer pour la seconde moitié de la saison, qui commencera le 10 août aux Etats-Unis, à l’Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
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The start of the eni Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland MotoGP™ contest was disrupted by pre-race rain, with race winner Marc Marquez and podium finishers Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo all getting away from pit lane.
From third on the grid Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda MotoGP) started alone towards the front on slick tyres and led the early laps after rain in the race build up caused confusion as to which tyres would work best. With the track drying quickly much of the rest of the field changed from wet set-up to dry after the final Warm Up lap, meaning they had to start from pit lane.
Bradl’s bike set-up appeared to let him down with slicks hurriedly fitted to a previously wet set-up bike on the grid. He eventually dropped to 16th place in his home race.
Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) was in imperious form once again to make it nine wins from nine, cutting through the pack in a chaotic first few laps and eventually pulling clear at the front with teammate Pedrosa, who would ultimately cross the line 1.5s behind him. A further nine seconds back Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) made a welcome return to the podium before the summer break.
Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) rode a lonely race to fourth place, a further nine seconds behind Lorenzo, with the top five completed by the impressive Andrea Iannone (Pramac Racing) as the top Ducati-equipped rider.
Brothers Aleix Espargaro (NGM Forward Racing) and Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech3) were sixth and seventh respectively, as they both continued their good 2014 form.
The top ten was completed by Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team), Alvaro Bautista (GO&FUN Honda Gresini) and Cal Crutchlow (Ducati Team).
A difficult weekend for Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech3) ended with a 19th place finish after an early crash – his fifth of the visit to Germany. Meanwhile on lap 19 Michael Laverty (Paul Bird Motorsport) crashed out, fortunately avoiding any serious injury.
Kawasaki KZ1000 Drag Bike – Valtoron
You’ve got to hand it to the Spanish. They are nothing if not risk takers. While America, Australia and England get their jollies from innocuous bat and ball sports, the Spanish get theirs taunting angry bulls. Now, I think it’s fair to say that the number of combined casualties for soccer, cricket and baseball players over the past few hundred years or so would be pretty much zero. Sure, there’s the cricket players that died of boredom and the soccer players that were just pretending to be dead, but overall they’re negligible. But compare that to bullfighting’s 533 deaths in the last 300 years. Serious stuff, but probably what you should expect if you jump into a ring with a beast like that. Or like this. Waive your red capes in honour of the nastiest, most powerful bull that’s ever lived, ‘La Bestia’ from Madrid’s Valtoron.
The Valtoron boys set out with the notion of building something that paid homage to the both classic drag bikes and those you’d see tearing across the salt flats at Bonneville while hunting for a land speed record to two. The name, as you can imagine, was pretty much the only choice for a 230hp, big bore, turbo drag bike. Except maybe ‘Diablo’.
The engine is about as subtle and a flaming sledgehammer to the teeth; there’s a Kawasaki Kz1000 with a Rajay F40 turbo force feeding it, a Kwaka big block 1327cc cylinder head and various MTC engineering components including their big bore piston kit, crank, cams and clutch. This was topped off with a special transmission, replete with an air shifter system. Something tells us these boys weren’t doing thing by halves.
On top of the fully modified frame sits a bespoke monocoque body, made in a single part from the tip of the fairing to the final, duck-tailed cowl piece. As the boys put it in their own, Madridian way, “Is the most time-spending part of the bike and obviously the most difficult part of the bike too.” We hear you.
The obvious, nay vicious rake on the forks was included as a means of increasing the beast’s wheelbase. Not only did this provide Valtoron with the stance they were after, but it also dramatically decreased the likelihood of wheelies, which is something that’s more than a little likely when you have 230 ponies on tap through your right wrist. The forks came off of a Yamaha FZR 600 and were shortened to suite. While a much more sophisticated front end could have been sourced, these ones were fitted because they filled the brief of being light, simple and reliable while being about to handle a lick of speed, too.
Not a weld or join in sight
The final touches on the bike were added using some rather elegant sand-cast pieces, including the turbo’s exhaust gate cover and the bike’s Mallory ignition belt guard. The parts were first fashioned in clay, and then used to make sand moulds into which the molten aluminium was gravity fed. We not only applaud the lads for trying such a different approach to their parts fabrication, but we also think that they are the beautiful focal points that really take the bike from good to great visually. And we love the typography, too.
Hand-cast parts, apparently made in 1327
If you, like us, are finding yourselves suddenly interested in bullfighting (especially the internal combustion variety), the you’ll be pleased to learn that Valtoron were kind enough to send us a muy español video featuring the bike which you can see here. Ole!
It’s a beast of a bike. No bull
via PIPEBURN
HONDA GB250 BY ELLASPEDE
The Honda GB250 is one of those small bikes with a big heart—in this case, an air-cooled single that pumps out a healthy 30 bhp in stock form. The GB250 tips the scales at less than 130 kg (280 lbs), and thanks to low gearing, is capable of out-dragging much more powerful machines at the traffic lights.
The downside is somewhat anonymous looks. But with this new build, the Australian shop Ellaspede has revealed the potential of the humble GB250—and boosted the performance even further.
“Our client Brendan was just getting into bikes, and chose a GB250,” says Ellaspede’s Steve Barry. “He didn’t know a lot about bikes, but the semi-cafe look appealed. And he figured that a Honda should be a decent bike—which it is.”
Ellaspede focused on the cosmetics at first, tidying up the headlight and front end before moving on to the seat unit. But then they discovered an oil leak that needed addressing, which led to further mechanical work. Before long, Brendan was halfway through a complete custom and mechanical rebuild.
“It’s not uncommon,” says Steve. “You start doing one thing, which leads to another, which then makes the bits surrounding look shabby, so you decide to do a bit more, and so on…”
The engine was given a complete overhaul. Not that it really needed one, but it was already out for painting, and no engine lasts forever. After struggling to find a rebuild kit for a GB250, a friend of Ellaspede rescued the situation with his fluent Japanese and contacts in the East.
Ellaspede’s mechanic Phil put the little mill back together, along with a port-and-polish, a cleaned flat-slide carb and a K&N air filter—making for a very handsome powerplant indeed.
A stainless steel reverse-cone muffler on polished standard header pipes added the the finishing touch. The forks and front caliper were rebuilt, along with new bearings everywhere.
After trying a Nitrohead cafe seat, Ellaspede swapped it out for a shorter solo Nitrohead seat. It’s tidied up the rear end very well, helped by a custom fender and a strip-LED taillight. The frame, swing arm and wheels were powder-coated in satin black, with the surrounding hardware prepped and painted to match.
The tank and fenders were finished in gloss black with a solid ivory central stripe. Firestone Deluxe was the client’s choice of rubber, “with the extra profile requiring a little adjustment here and there for good fitment,” says Steve.
A lowered 6” headlight, Posh indicators and aftermarket gauges round out the electrics; the battery tray was repositioned to make room for the K&N filter. Other goodies include Biltwell grips, bar end mirrors, and refinished switch blocks and levers.
It’s one of the tidiest 250s we’ve seen, and according to Steve it rides as well as it looks. “It feels new, and you don’t always get that with a bike of this era.”
It’s certainly better looking than most new 250s currently on sale—and I know what I’d rather have in my garage.
Images by AJ Moller Photography. Check out Ellaspede’s earlier builds on their websiteand Facebook page.
via BIKEexif
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