’78 HONDA CB750: RUSTY BOLT GARAGE!

What will you do this morning? I have no idea! read some of the emails that have missed more than a month. Almost deserted of writing activities. Now the spirit of it has been returned. Some people ask, why does not assign to it? You’re kidding, this is a personal page that I filled with my own hand works, some of you might be laughed at. So only you are the faithful who dare to wait patiently.

Some of the emails made me get out of bed. There are things that catches my eye, this is a sweet SOCH motorcycle from Honda, dominated by green. CB750 is a machine with the most beautiful sound that much inspired many custom motorcycle builders. One inspired, he is Charles Burkhardt owner of Rusty Bold Garage. A man who came from Santa Fe, NM. Even some of his work was the inspiration, build for “beautiful dreams”.

For you, the custom motorcycle enthusiast, it may already be familiar with his works that have been widely covered in many leading online media for motorcycles, especially Cafe Racer and I think this is one of his best, ’78 Honda CB750 Cafe Racer. From the technical side, what are the highlights of this bike? Let’s begin.

Charles says “Found it in Kansas as an unfinished project, my friend was driving through so I had him pick it up and bring it back to NM for me”. The CB750 was a game changer. The goal for this one were simple: Maintain some of the original look and feel, see how much weight we could take off this baby without loosing any of the nice ‘features’, make it go faster, make it stop quicker, and make it look good doing it!

You know how much weight dropped from this project? official wet weight 422 lbs (551.2 lbs Stock). That’s a 23.4% weight reduction! It’s interesting. You can watch how the initial speed that will be achieved after such weight loss? At least it will make you fly faster for 0-100 miles per hour. From the design this is a very clean bike, some people would glance at the figures at least 7 – 10K USD. Are you sure? I’m sure about that.

Now we start talking about the specifications offered for this bike. For the engine does not do any changes, an offer for those who want to ride a motorcycle with the original quality. still with displacement: 736.00 ccm (44.91 cubic inches). As said before, a reasonable increase that occurs for this bike is the weight has been reduced.

For the final drive have been using O-ring chain 530 Conversion. Some mechanics that had I encountered say “this will increase the horsepower, at least 1.5HP and 1.4 LB-FT at the rear wheel”. The use of tires will also slightly affect your riding style. Not to play, Charles said Pirelli Tyre is the most suitable.

For the front tire, using the Pirelli Diablo Rosso II 120/70 R17. As for the rear tire using Pirelli Diablo Rosso II 160/60 R17. Front master cylinder using Nissin 19mm radial. Front brakes using dual floating disk, 4 piston Nissin calipers. And for rear brakes using single disk, single piston Nissin caliper.

The front suspension using fully adjustable CBR900RR 45mm forks and for the rear suspension using dual gas charged reservoir shocks. Is there any part upgrades? Tank / Fuel capacity: 1973 CB750 hand shaped scallops / 4.25 gallons. For the ignition has been using Hall effect electronic ignition system. Some simple but mandatory equipment for the circulation is already pinned a Motogadget Mini / LED oil pressure warning.

Any interesting challenges or mistakes when building this bike? The oil tank took a little while to get ‘just so’. I also wanted to make sure that it could be reproduced if there is any interest shown in buying one. Same thing with the seat. It needed to match perfectly where it joins with the tank and the line along the frame rails.

Can you tell us about the finish, logos, or design? The bike was finished in ‘speed green’ with swooping lines that are similar to an early 70’s CB350. The frame and wheels are powder coated in gloss black, while the headlight bucket, exhaust, and front fender have the same textured black finish.

My question is: How does the bike ride? Rides great! The new stance, much lighter weight, grippy tires, and quick braking make for a fun ride! And concerning ongoing projects. Just finished a customers 883 Sporster custom, and will start work on a customers Virago restoration. We might be be teaming up with a local sculptor to build some moto art this fall. The next shop build I have planned is a Yamaha XS650.

If you have any questions about this bike. Please like Rusty Bolt Garage fan page and chat with them.

by Imam Sadikin (otomotif.org)

Pedrosa triomphe devant les pilotes Yamaha au Motegi / Peerless Pedrosa takes his 50th GP victory at Motegi

L’Espagnol s’est imposé pour la première fois de la saison 2015 au Grand Prix Motul du Japon, devant Valentino Rossi et Jorge Lorenzo.

           

Contraint à renoncer à trois Grands Prix en début d’année suite à une lourde opération de l’avant-bras droit, Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) aura mis longtemps à renouer avec la compétitivité mais s’est assuré de prolonger son record d’avoir remporté au moins une course à chacune de ses saisons en catégorie reine en s’imposant au Grand Prix Motul du Japon. 

Deux semaines après avoir remporté un superbe duel pour la seconde place face à Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) au MotorLand Aragón, le pilote catalan a été le plus fort sur la dernière partie d’une course disputée sur piste mouillée et que Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) menaçait de mener du départ à l’arrivée. 

                     

Devancé par Rossi au départ, Lorenzo, qui partait en pole, est vite repassé en tête de la course et a pris trois secondes d’avance pour ensuite gérer son avantage sur Rossi tandis que Pedrosa s’efforçait de doubler Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) pour ensuite se lancer à la poursuite des pilotes Yamaha. 

Alors que ces deux derniers commençaient à souffrir de l’usure de leur pneu avant, Pedrosa a pu imprimer un rythme beaucoup plus élevé sur la seconde partie de la course et rattraper ses quatre secondes de retard sur Rossi pour ne faire qu’une bouchée de l’Italien et faire de même avec Lorenzo deux tours plus tard, dans le 18e des 25 tours de l’épreuve. 

Plus rapide que Lorenzo en fin de course, Rossi est parvenu à remonter à la seconde place en doublant son coéquipier à cinq tours du drapeau à damier et s’assurait ainsi de repartir du Motegi avec 18 points d’avance sur le Majorquin avant les trois derniers courses de la saison. 

De retour sur la plus haute marche du podium pour la première fois depuis le GP de République Tchèque de 2014, Pedrosa décrochait la cinquantième victoire de sa carrière, sur les terres de Honda. 

Arrivé au Japon quelques jours après avoir été opéré d’une fracture de la main gauche, Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda) a pu finir la course mais était à une quinzaine de secondes du podium. 

           

L’Espagnol a fini avec une confortable avance sur Dovizioso, qui s’est retrouvé en difficulté en fin d’épreuve. 

           

Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) et Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech3) ont pris les sixième et septième places devant le wildcard japonais Katsuyuki Nakasuga (Yamaha Factory Racing Team) et Héctor Barberá (Avintia Racing), qui décrochait son meilleur résultat de l’année et reprenait la tête du classement Open avec deux points d’avance sur Loris Baz (Forward Racing), qui a eu beaucoup de problèmes avec son pneu avant et a dû s’arrêter plusieurs fois.

            

Mike Di Meglio (Avintia Racing) a pris le point de la quinzième place derrière Scott Redding (EG 0,0 Marc VDS), Aleix Espargaró (Team Suzuki Ecstar), Takumi Takahashi (Team HRC with Nissin), Nicky Hayden (Aspar MotoGP Team) et Yonny Hernández (Octo Pramac Racing).

Après avoir brillé sur piste mouillée cette année, Danilo Petrucci (Octo Pramac Racing) a cette fois-ci chuté alors qu’il luttait pour la huitième place. Sont aussi tombés Maverick Viñales (Team Suzuki Ecstar) et Pol Espargaró (Monster Yamaha Tech3), qui a chuté dans l’avant-dernier tour. 

La saison 2015 continue la semaine prochaine en Australie, à Phillip Island, où aura lieu la première des trois dernières courses de l’année.

Cliquez ici pour accéder aux résultats.

                   

Dani Pedrosa rides a superb race to take victory at the Motul Grand Prix of Japan while Rossi extends lead over Lorenzo to 18 points.

The Repsol Honda rider came from sixth on the grid to take his 27th MotoGP™ win and first since Brno in 2014 on a drying track at the Twin Ring Motegi. Movistar Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi (+8.573s) crossed the line in second to record his 14th podium of the season as he extended his lead over his teammate Jorge Lorenzo to 18 points in the World Championship standings. Lorenzo (+12.127s) completed the podium after struggling with front-tyre wear late on in the race to record his 94th premier class rostrum.

There were only really three riders in with a chance to win the race in tricky conditions at Motegi that saw 50,000 fans packed into the grandstands despite the rain. The race started on time despite a two-hour delay to the morning’s Warm Up Session, but the track remained damp meaning all riders went for wets. At the start of the race the outcome looked very different, as Rossi got the holeshot into turn 1 only for Lorenzo to take him through turns 3 & 4 for the lead. At this point things looked ominous for Rossi as Lorenzo broke away at the front in his usual fashion and opened up a 2 second lead by the end of lap 3.

Rossi appeared to have no answer to his teammates pace and had to fight off the advances of the Ducati Team GP15 of Andrea Dovizioso during the early stages of the race. In a sign of things to come though, Dovizioso started to experience front tyre issues as a dry line appeared on track and began to drop back rapidly by lap ten. At this point Pedrosa had made his way up into fourth and was by far the fastest man on the track. On lap 11 the Spaniard passed Dovizioso as the Italian ran wide and started to chase down Rossi in second, who had a 2.7s advantage.

Lapping 1.5s faster that the two Yamaha’s in front of him, Pedrosa caught Rossi with 9 laps to go and suddenly Lorenzo was struggling as his front tyre started to rip itself to pieces. Rossi went with Pedrosa and they both began to hunt down Lorenzo, who had a 2.7s advantage with the two-time MotoGP™ world champion appearing to be going backwards at this point. Pedrosa blasted past him on the straight as they completed lap 17 to take the lead, and never looked back as he went on to take a commanding victory and continue his record of winning at least one race in every season he has competed in MotoGP™.

                  

It then became a game of risk versus reward between the two Yamaha teammates as Rossi closed in on his title rival, but both were tiptoeing around on their shredded front tyres. Rossi appeared to have looked after his slightly better though and Lorenzo ran wide at turn 3 with 5 laps to go to gift the ‘Doctor’ second. Pedrosa rode superbly in the final laps to take the race win by over 8.5s from Rossi, with Lorenzo completing the podium a further 3 seconds back.

Although it was clearly Pedrosa’s day after a sensational ride in the wet, Rossi was delighted with extending his lead in the standings as he hopes to secure his tenth World Championship title in 2015.

Pedrosa’s teammate Marc Marquez (+27.841s) crossed the line in a lonely 4th nursing the broken bone in his left hand ahead of the Dovizioso, who despite his tyre issues, held on for fifth.

                   

LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow came out on top by just 0.404s in an excellent battle for sixth against his compatriot Bradley Smith on the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 to finish as the leading Satellite rider. Crutchlow passed Smith on the last lap to secure sixth, his best result since he also finished sixth at Assen. Smith crossed the line in seventh to make it 21 point scoring finishes in a row, but dropped down to sixth in the standings, 2 points behind Dovizioso.

                

Wildcard Katsuyuki Nakasuga (Yamaha Factory Team) rode brilliantly to finish in eighth ahead of Hector Barbera on the Avintia Racing Ducati. Barbera took the Open class win and also recorded his first top ten finish of the season to re-take the lead in the Open standings by two points from Loris Baz (Forward Racing), who was forced to retire from the race.

Scott Redding (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) completed the top ten ahead of Aleix Espargaro (Team Suzuki Ecstar) in 11th, with the second wildcard Takumi Takahashi (Team HRC with Nissin) 12th.

Nicky Hayden was the leading Open Class Honda in 13th, with his Irish teammate Eugene Laverty crossing the line in 17th.

Jack Miller (LCR Honda) crashed twice during the race, after at one point leading the Open class battle, and was forced to retire. There were also DNF’s for Danilo Petrucci (Octo Pramac Racing), Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech 3), Maverick Viñales (Team Suzuki Ecstar) and Andrea Iannone (Ducati Team).

Rossi (283pts) now has an 18-point lead over Lorenzo (265pts) with just three races remaining, while Marc Marquez remains in third with 197 points.

Check out the full MotoGP™ race results and the latest championship standings.

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Local hero leads ERC field after dramatic Acropolis opening day

On his first gravel rally for four years, Lambros Athanassoulas leads the SEAJETS Acropolis Rally overnight in his ŠKODA Fabia R5.

Co-driven by Nikolaos Zakcheos, the Greek driver was fourth after the extremely wet, muddy and slippery opening stage, and took the lead after setting the fast time when the stage was repeated in darkness.

“We pushed a lot in the night stage, I actually like driving in the dark and local knowledge for sure helped me a lot,” said Athanassoulas. “The battle is on for tomorrow. The ERC drivers will be very fast again in the day, but we need to try our best and have fun. Imagine after four years, I return with a new rally car and just do a small test and the shakedown and everyone is expecting me to win – and that is really a big weight on my shoulders. I am trying hard, and I want to try to finish on the podium.”

Following a spectacular ceremonial start at the Acropolis in Athens, conditions in the mountains near the rally’s host town of Loutraki were deteriorating quickly, following hours of heavy rain. The bad weather saw the opening SEAJETS Kineta-Loutraki stage reduced from 43.19 to 24.33kms, yet despite this the slippery surface saw a dramatic start to the event, with several of the top drivers hitting major problems.

FIA European Rally Championship leader Kajetan Kajetanowicz wasn’t one of them, however, as another stylish performance sees the Polish star second tonight, 9.6 seconds behind Athanassoulas, after an impressive day in his Pirelli-shod LOTOS Rally Team Ford Fiesta R5. ‘Kajto’ led by 12.2s after the opening stage, but took no chances in the dark on SS2 and goes into tomorrow looking to secure the title.

Craig Breen is the only other driver who can become European champion this year, and he was a very strong second after the opening stage. However, a problem on the road section to SS2 saw Breen and co-driver Scott Martin get their Peugeot Rally Academy 208 T16 emergency repair kit out. Despite their muddy overalls highlighting the huge efforts they went to, they couldn’t fix the problem and lost almost 30s driving with it on SS2. Despite this, the Irish driver is third, just 14.7s behind the leader.

Alexey Lukyanuk picked up a 10 second penalty for starting the opening stage late, with the knock-on effect that the Russian Performance Motorsport Ford Fiesta R5 driver had to start the stage behind the unregistered Jourdan Serderides (Citroën DS3 R5), who he then had to overtake. Lukyanuk completed SS1 in fifth position, and moved up to fourth after SS2 – 32.3s behind the leader.

Jaromír Tarabus felt he’d been driving too cautiously, but he’d survived the incredibly tricky day unscathed and in fifth in his ŠKODA Fabia S2000, albeit 1m16.0s in arrears. Raul Jeets is just 4.3s further behind after a good day in his MM-Motorsport Fiesta R5, while Antonín Tlusťák completes the top 10, behind the leading ERC2 crews, in his Fabia S2000.

Robert Consani put his Citroën DS3 R5 off the road on the opening stage rather than collide with the stranded car of Lambros Kirkos. He was stuck there for over half an hour, and many of the following drivers would have also come to grief on that particularly slippery section, had he and co-driver Maxime Vilmot not sportingly alerted them to the hazard with lots of arm waving.

Consani’s Delta Racing stable-mate Bruno Magalhães had a pop-off problem in his Peugeot 208 T16 during Qualifying, which saw him set eighth fastest time. Having finished fifth on the Acropolis Rally last year in a Peugeot 207 S2000, Magalhães was looking forward to continuing his good 2015 ERC form in his 208 T16, but was forced out with broken suspension on SS1.

Having been eighth fastest on SS1, France’s Charles Martin retired his Peugeot Rally Academy 208 T16 on the road section to SS2.

Buhk and Abril take the win and the series' lead

 
With a faultless drive, Maxi Buhk and Vincent Abril took their #84 Team HTP Bentley to the win in the Qualifying Race for the Blancpain Sprint Series season finale in Zandvoort. With Robin Frijns and Christopher Mies finishing in 15th after a spin in the opening corner, Buhk and Abril go into the final race of the season with a one-point lead. Norbert Siedler, finishing in fourth with the #333 Rinaldi Racing Ferrari he is sharing with Jeroen Bleekemolen this weekend, still has a shot at the title as well. In Silver Cup the win went to Szymkowiak and Van Splunteren, while Karachev and Dontje took the spoils in the Pro-Am Cup.

There was immediate drama at the start of the qualifying race in Zandvoort. While polesitter Maxi Buhk took advantage of the straight line speed of his Bentley, behind him the other contenders for the top positions were heading into Tarzan corner two abreast. When the rear of his #1 Audi stepped out, series leader Robin Frijns failed to keep his car under control and slipped backwards into the gravel trap. Since the #74 ISR Audi went off as well, a safety car intervention was unavoidable. Frijns was pulled out of the gravel trap and was able to rejoin, albeit a lap down and in last position.

After the restart Maxi Buhk quickly opened up a gap again, with Nicki Thiim (#2 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT) battling with Norbert Siedler (#333 Rinaldi Racing Ferrari) for second. Meanwhile, Frijns' position marginally improved when the #4 Audi of Frank Stippler retired and the Dutchman climbed up to 15th. However, he would not get any higher, and team-mate Mies will have to start the final race of 2015 from the last row.

At the front, the driver changes had no immediate influence on the positions of the top three cars, but at Rinaldi Racing the pitstop of the #333 Ferrari did not completely go according to the rules. A drive-through penalty was given, but considering he had quite an advantage over the following drivers, Jeroen Bleekemolen only dropped one position, finishing the race in fourth. That means that Rinaldi driver Norbert Siedler still has a chance of claiming the drivers' title, but he will need at least a podium finish to do so.

By winning the qualifying race, Maxi Buhk and Vincent Abril now lead the driver standings going into the last main race. They have a one-point advantage over Robin Frijns, whose year-long team-mate Laurens Vanthoor now has lost his last theoretical chance of taking the title. Norbert Siedler has to make up a 14-point deficit.

In the Silver Cup the Bentley of Max Van Splunteren and Jules Szymkowiak had to start from the back of the field, but the dynamic Dutch duo used the top speed of their #83 Team HTP Bentley to climb all the way up to seventh overall. In Pro-Am Cup the #70 GT Russian SLS of Indy Dontje and Alexei Karachev looked set for a top-10 finish as well, but a considerable time loss at the pitstop made the yellow car drop back and finish in 13th overall.
 

Maxi Buhk (#84 Bentley Team HTP): "My main focus was to have a good start and to stay out of trouble. Afterwards I tried to drive as consistently as I could, trying not to push too hard from the beginning, to avoid having a mid-stint slump. It was a perfect day, but we still have one day to go tomorrow. It is not done yet."

Frederic Vervisch (#2 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT): "I cannot remember the last time I stood on a podium at this level. We fought really hard, but it was difficult to be quicker than the Bentley. I am very happy with this result of course, but our aim is to help the #1 car. For sure, it was not ideal today, but tomorrow we will push hard to get the best result possible."

Niki Mayr-Melnhof (#6 Phoenix Racing Audi): "I think I have improved a lot since last year, we were just a bit unlucky not to put it on the podium all the time. It's a tough championship, but I am happy to be part of it. Maybe tomorrow we can take advantage of the other cars fighting for the title to gain some more positions."

Jules Szymkowiak (#83 Bentley Team HTP): "I felt quite confident in the car, and I could push from the start. I felt I closed the gap to the others and had the confidence to try and gain some places on the starting grid for tomorrow's race. In the main race we will again give it our all to finish as high as possible."

Indy Dontje (#70 GT Russian Mercedes): "The level of the Blancpain Sprint Series is high, but it's tough racing. All the drivers are quick, which makes it very interesting. It's a cool competition."

_____

Result list

PORSCHE SECURE ANOTHER 1-2 IN QUALIFYING AT FUJI

            Photo : Nick Dungan - AdrenalMedia.com

Mark Webber and Timo Bernhard, driving the No.17 Porsche 919 Hybrid, took an excellent pole position for the sixth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship at Fuji Speedway.

Securing their third pole start of the 2015 season, after another thrilling qualifying session was held in cloudy but dry conditions this afternoon, Bernhard and Webber set a combined average of 1m22.763s to head their pursuers. Webber’s best was the fastest LMP1 lap ever recorded at Fuji – 1m22.639s.

                                

Porsche Team ensured they sealed another 1-2 formation start for the race tomorrow, but it was only confirmed in the final seconds as Marc Lieb took the No.18 Porsche 919 Hybrid ahead of the No.7 Audi R18 e-tron quattro after a last gasp effort by the German.

Andre Lotterer and then Benoit Treluyer ensured that Audi got close to the Porsches’ times in the 20-minute session, but Lieb’s last minute flyer bettered their average by just 0.011s.

The No.8 Audi Sport Team Joest entry, which was driven by Lucas Di Grassi and Loic Duval will line-up alongside the No.7 car in fourth place with an average time of 1m23.245s. This was despite having to make an early pit stop for some adjustments before a flying lap was posted.

Toyota Racing starts from the third row of the grid with the No.1 Toyota TS 010 HYBRID just shading the No.2 sister car by 0.255s. Sebastien Buemi and local hero Kazuki Nakajima combined to register an average lap time of 1m25.072s.

Daniel Abt and Alexander Imperatori won the in-house Rebellion Racing battle this time, as they claimed the LMP1 privateer pole in the No.13 Rebellion R-One AER.

                             

G-Drive Racing was celebrating a fine 1-2 qualifying effort with the No.26 Ligier-Nissan driven by Sam Bird and Julien Canal sealing a second consecutive pole and a third in total so far in 2015.

After Canal started the session, Bird set some blistering laps to beat the No.28 G-Drive car of Ricardo Rodriguez and Gustavo Yacaman by just over 0.2s. It was the end of a successful day for Bird, who was earlier announced as one of the specially chosen young drivers to take part in the ‘rookie test’ next month. The British racer will drive for Toyota Racing in Bahrain.

A notable third in qualifying was the Team SARD Morand Morgan Evo. Pierre Ragues and Oliver Webb combined to score a best qualifying effort of the season for the Swiss team.

Title leaders KCMG start fourth after Matt Howson and Nick Tandy completed qualifying duties today. A potential attack on the G-Drive Ligier-Nissan cars was curtailed after Tandy spun and brushed the wall after spinning at Turn 6.

                            

A dramatic 20 minute qualifying session for LMGTE ended with a jump for joy by Davide Rigon and James Calado in the AF Corse garage as the Anglo-Italian pairing claimed their debut WEC Pole Position.  There were also lots of smiles in the Larbre Competition garage as Gianluca Roda and Paolo Ruberti took their first LMGTE Am pole in 2015 and the first for the team since 2012.

In LMGTE Pro the No.71 AF Corse Ferrari lead the way for most of the session with first Rigon and then Calado at the wheel of the Ferrari 458.  The biggest challenge came from the No.51 AF Corse of Toni Vilander and Gianmaria Bruni with Bruni pitting late in the session to take on fresh tyres.  However the Italian was still 0.108s behind his British teammate at the chequered flag.

The No.99 Aston Martin Vantage of Fernando Rees and Alex MacDowell was third fastest with a 1m38.540s average time, 0.245 behind the lead Ferrari.

                        

In LMGTE Am it was the No.72 SMP Racing Ferrari 458 of Victor Shaytar that was the leading entry early in the session, with the No.98 Aston Martin Vantage of Pedro Lamy in second.  Shaytar handed over to Alexsey Basov and Lamy gave the driving duties to Paul Dalla Lana.  The No.50 Larbre Competition Corvette was fifth fastest as Roda handed over to his fellow Italian Paolo Ruberti.

However, Ruberti soon punched in a few fast laps to bring the average lap time down to 1m39.901 to move into pole position, with Basov unable to challenge the swift Corvette.** The Russian Ferrari posted an average time of 1m40.128, 0.227 behind the all-Italian pairing.

                        

** Following post-qualifying scrutineering, the lap times of the No.50 Larbre Competition Corvette were cancelled due to non-conformity of the car's fuel cell ventilation valve (Stewards' Decision No.12).  The car must now re-pass through scrutineering and, if it is found to conform, it will be able to start the race from the back of the grid. 

The sixth round of the 2015 WEC is scheduled to take place at 11.00 local time.

CLICK HERE for the result from Qualifying

CLICK HERE to see the video of the qualifying press conference

                        

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Lorenzo souffle la pole à Rossi au Japon / Lorenzo on pole after dramatic shootout with Rossi

Les deux candidats au titre MotoGP™ 2015 partiront côte à côte dimanche au Twin Ring Motegi, sur une première ligne que complète Márquez.

            

Séparés de quatorze points au classement général et voués à se livrer un duel qui pourrait durer jusqu’à la dernière manche de la saison 2015, les pilotes du team Movistar Yamaha MotoGP, Jorge Lorenzo et Valentino Rossi, ont assuré le spectacle en qualifications au Grand Prix Motul du Japon, dont la pole position est revenue à l’Espagnol, auteur d’un nouveau record du circuit en ayant été 0.081s plus rapide que Rossi. 

                

Premier pilote à s’attaquer au chrono, Lorenzo avait prévu trois runs et a réussi à reprendre l’avantage devant Rossi, brièvement passé en première position, en fin de séance. Le nonuple Champion du Monde manquait de peu ce qui aurait été sa 52e pole en catégorie reine et n’a été en tête de la grille que trois fois depuis début 2010. 

Lorenzo s’assurait quant à lui sa quatrième pole de l’année et une position idéale pour tenter de reprendre le plus de points possible à son rival lors de la course de dimanche, la première des quatre dernières épreuves de l’année. 

Affaibli suite à une récente opération de la main gauche, Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda) n’a pas pu rejoindre les pilotes Yamaha sous la barre des 1’44 mais sera lui aussi présent en première ligne après avoir fini à 0.426s de Lorenzo.

               

Un peu moins rapides que le Champion du Monde en titre, Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati), qui avait eu la pole au Motegi en 2014, son coéquipier Andrea Iannone et Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) se retrouveront en deuxième ligne tandis que la troisième réunira Aleix Espargaró (Team Suzuki Ecstar), Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) et Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech3), qui était tombé le matin et a chuté deux fois en qualifications.

              

Les deux pilotes issus de la Q1, Maverick Viñales (Team Suzuki Ecstar) et Scott Redding (EG 0,0 Marc VDS), seront respectivement onzième et treizième sur la grille, de chaque côté de Pol Espargaró (Monster Yamaha Tech3). 

             

Les Français Loris Baz (Forward Racing) et Mike Di Meglio (Avintia Racing), qui a détruit l’une de ses motos dans une lourde chute le matin, partiront quant à eux 23e et 24e.

Cliquez ici pour accéder aux résultats.

               

Jorge Lorenzo came out on top in an epic duel with his teammate and title rival Valentino Rossi to take his 4th pole of the season.

Movistar Yamaha’s Lorenzo enjoyed an incredible duel with Rossi during the 15-minute Q2 session, eventually coming out on top by just 0.081s. The Spaniard, who has topped every session so far at the Motul Grand Prix of Japan, ended up setting the fastest ever lap by a MotoGP™ bike around the 4.8km Twin Ring Motegi despite the cloudy and cool conditions (Track temp. 25˚C). Lorenzo set a 1’43.790 on his final flying lap, knocking over seven-tenths off Andrea Dovizioso’s 2014 Pole Record (1’44.502). The man who trails Rossi by just 14 points in the standings utilised a two-stop strategy after experiencing some front-end issues on his first run.

Rossi knew he had to put in a good qualifying performance to not let Lorenzo get away at the front during Sunday’s race, after Lorenzo has led from flag to flag during his 6 wins this season. The Italian managed to take over a second off his best time in practice to start from second on the grid in only his fourth front row start of the season and best Qualifying performance since Assen. It was also the first time the Movistar Yamaha team have managed a 1-2 in Qualifying this season and the two teammates were the only ones to break the 1'44 barrier.

               

Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez (+0.426s) impressed despite riding with a broken bone in his left hand to finish third fastest. It is the 13th time this season the reigning MotoGP™ champion has been on the front row.

The Ducati Team duo of Andrea Dovizioso (+0.532s) and Andrea Iannone (+0.646s) were next up in fourth and fifth respectively as they made use of an extra set of aerodynamic winglets on their GP15’s and the extra soft tyre. It was Dovizioso’s best qualifying performance since the Catalan GP, while Iannone showed no ill effects of his re-dislocated shoulder to start from the second row for the sixth time this season.

                

Marquez’s teammate Dani Pedrosa (+0.792s) will start from the back of the second row after improving his time best time from practice by over 1.3 seconds in Q2. It is the third consecutive time that the Spaniard has lined up on the second row of the grid this year.

Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Aleix Espargaro was seventh as he also benefitted from the extra soft tyre, ahead of Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) on the leading Satellite bike in eighth. Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Bradley Smith will start from 9th, despite crashing twice during the session. The Brit went down at turn 5 and the turn 12 after also crashing in FP3, but still managed to complete 5 laps in the session.

            

Maverick Viñales (Team Suzuki Ecstar) completed the top ten after making it through from Q1 along side EG 0,0 Marc VDS’s Scott Redding, who will start from 12th.

Wildcard Katsuyuki Nagasuka (Yamaha Factory Racing Team) will start from 15th, with Hector Barbera on the Avintia Racing Ducati the leading open class rider in 18th. Aspar MotoGP Team’s Eugene Laverty and Nicky Hayden will start from 20th and 21st respectively as just 0.092s separated the teammates.

E-Motion IodaRacing Team’s Alex De Angelis had earlier brought out the red flag in FP4 as he crashed heavily between turns 9 & 10 and was airlifted to Dokkyo Hospital for treatment.

              

Check out the full MotoGP™ Qualifying results; the 24-lap race kicks off 14:00 local time in Motegi on Sunday.

ASIAN LE MANS SERIES Fuji : Nakano/Leutwiler (Race Performance) s’imposent !

                              

Le premier round de l’Asian Le Mans Series 2015/2016 a vu la victoire de la ORECA 03R/Race Performance partagée par Shinji Nakano et Niki Leutwiler à l’issue des 70 tours de course.

L’écurie suisse a vite pris l’avantage face à la concurrence pour l’emporter devant la McLaren 650S GT3/Clearwater Racing de Rob Bell, Mok Weng Sun et Keita Sawa qui rafle par la même occasion la classe GT sur une McLaren dont le remontage s’est terminé jeudi suite à une sortie de piste en GT Asia Series.

La Ligier JS P3 n’a pas manqué son entrée en compétition avec un premier succès, qui plus est avec le David Cheng Racing, créé tout récemment. Le tandem David Cheng et Ho-Pin Tung ont terminé à la troisième place à un tour de la LM P2 victorieuse. “La Ligier JS P3 a montré de bien belles choses pour sa première course” a indiqué Ho-Pin Tung à l’arrivée. “Nous n’avons pas rencontré le moindre problème avec une auto toute neuve et un team qui disputait sa toute première course. La stratégie de ne disputer la course qu’avec un seul train de pneus était la bonne. On espère maintenant que les ADESS-03 seront au rendez-vous sur les prochaines courses pour plus de compétition dans la catégorie LM P3.” 

Sans roulage durant les essais, la ORECA 03/Eurasia Motorsport pilotée par Tristan Gommendy, William Lok et Tack Sung Kim n’a pu faire mieux que 10ème malgré un bel envol de Gommendy qui a pris les commandes dès le départ. Un problème de batterie n’a pas permis de concrétiser.

Les débuts de l’ADESS-03/Team AAI se sont soldés par un beau début de course où Masataka Yanagida a pointé un bon moment à la 4ème place avant d’être retardé. La voiture soeur a connu plus de soucis durant la première partie de course. Le Team AAI va maintenant poursuivre les essais avec ses LM P3 qui manquent encore de roulage.

En GT, Spirit of Race est monté sur la deuxième marche du podium avec sa Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 devant la BMW Z4 GT3/Team AAI #92 et les Audi R8 LMS ultra ARC Bratislava et Absolute Racing. Sans concurrence, la Porsche 911 GT3 Cup/KCMG de Ip/Ried/Munro s’est imposée en GTAm.

Le prochain rendez-vous se tiendra le mois prochain à Sepang.

Le classement de la course est ici

Wunderlich - open road 2015