Pole Position - Bol d'Or 2013

Découvrez les images de la pole position du Bol d'or décrochée par Kawasaki SRC.

Bol d’Or: Lavillenie aims to have fun / Bol d’Or : Renaud Lavillenie, « me faire plaisir »

Renaud Lavillenie’s first taste of the Bol d’Or as a rider included free practice, the night-time session and Qualifying 1. We caught up with him on Thursday evening…

Renaud Lavillenie a vécu sa première journée de pilote au Bol d’Or en participant aux essais libres, qualificatifs et de nuit. Il dresse le bilan de ses premiers tours de roues officiels.

« “It’s gone very well, thanks,” the Olympic pole-vaulting champion told us after finishing his day on the N°63 Suzuki-Michelin.

“When free practice finished, I thought the worst was over. There was so much traffic. It was quite tough at times and I couldn’t string any decent laps together. A weight came off my shoulders in qualifying, though. There were fewer bikes on the track and the session lasted 20 minutes. I was on the pace at once and I constantly managed to lap in the 2m1s bracket. I feel more and more comfortable. My aim is to lap in less than two minutes but I’ve already met my first objective, which is to have fun.”

“I started out with a tyre that wasn’t as stiff as the one used by my team-mates, but my bike was easy to ride. I feel I’m in control now. I think the second qualifying session will be even better.”

After the first qualifying session, AZ Moto Expert is 29^th, but a good grid position isn’t a priority. “The main thing is to have bike that is agile and easy for a 24-hour race, with a set-up that works for all three riders,” notes fellow AZ rider Stéphane Mezard.

Tout s’est bien passé, je suis super content » commentait Renaud en descendant de la Suzuki-Michelin frappée du numéro 63.

« Après les essais libres, je me suis dit que j’avais passé le plus dur. Ce n’était pas évident, il y avait beaucoup de trafic. C’était un peu la galère, je stagnais au niveau du chrono. Puis la séance qualificative m’a permis de me libérer. On était beaucoup moins nombreux en piste et je disposais de 20 minutes. Dès le premier, j’étais dans le rythme et j’ai réalisé un run constant en tournant en 2.01. Je me sens de mieux en mieux avec la moto.

Mon but est de passer en dessous de la barre des deux minutes mais j’ai d’ores et déjà atteint mon principal objectif, me faire plaisir.

Je suis parti avec un pneu dont la carcasse était moins rigide que celle de mes coéquipiers. La moto était ainsi plus facile et agréable à piloter. Je sentais que je la maitrisais bien. Je ne suis pas loin de toucher à mon but, ça devrait le faire demain lors de la seconde séance. »

A l’issue de la première séance qualificative, AZ Moto Expert pointe la 29^ème place. Les qualifications ne sont pas une priorité pour le team auvergnat. « L’important est d’avoir une moto facile et maniable pour les 24 heures de course et dont les réglages conviennent aux trois pilotes » souligne Stéphane Mezard, pilote et pilier de l’équipe clermontoise.

from motoracinglive

Dirt Rider Magazine’s 2013 Bike Of The Year

Will It Be The KTM 500 EXC or The Beta 300 RR?

The Dirt Rider Bike Of The Year award is one of the most exciting—and difficult—annual decisions that we as a magazine make. Starting with all of the new motocross and off-road machines from the model year, our team of editors and test riders methodically discusses and eliminates machines from the running until we are left with just one bike that stands above the rest in terms of performance, innovation or just simply making a splash in the two-wheeled world. Previous BOTY winners have included everything from a Cannondale to a Honda CRF450R, with the 2012 KTM 500 EXC taking top honors last year for being such a competent street-legal dirt bike.

For 2013, the choices were numerous and, in most cases, strong. We saw air forks and all-new designs in the moto world, while a few new machines and several competitive revisions to older ones bolstered the off-road segment. In the end, our decision came down to two bikes: the defending BOTY title-holding KTM 500 EXC, and the all-new Beta 300 RR two-stroke. Our team testing these motorcycles in a variety of settings and came away with several strong opinions on both bikes and how they work in a variety of conditions. We considered performance in all kinds of categories, but the essence of BOTY is about giving credit to a bike that we feel has and will continue to make an impact among customers.

In this video, we take you behind the scenes and out to the California desert for our final day of testing both of these machines. For the full BOTY feature story, be sure to catch our June 2013 issue of Dirt Rider, which will be on-sale beginning April 23rd. Also, head over to our Facebook page and let us know which bike YOU think deserves the nod as the 2013 Dirt Rider Bike Of The Year!

Marc Marquez leads slow Austin FP1

from Twowheelsblog

The first MotoGP free practice at the Circuit of the Americas at Austin was for the majority of the riders a very important 45 minutes trying to learn all the different type of corners, the braking points, and the different lines with their GP machines before starting the real work of finding a set-up for the race weekend, so lap times were very high and not even close toMarc Marquez’s Austin test third day benchmark of 2.03.28, but the track was much cooler this morning than during the March test, and the riders were having trouble putting heat in their rear tires and the lack of grip could be be the two reasons for the much higher lap times.

For the Yamaha Tech3, Yamaha Factory, LCR Honda and Cardion AB teams it was cautious approach following the fire that broke out the other night in Tech3’s garage and after having had to clean and dry everything out after all the equipment was coated in water and fire retardant powder, with worries that something could happen to the bikes electrics - LCR Honda had to send part of their equipment back to Japan and if they can’t repair it, Cecchinello will have to spend €50,000 to 60,000 to replace it.

While Marquez led the field with a best lap 2.08.756 while Jorge Lorenzo was within 0.253s from the Repsol Honda rookie and the only rider within a second from Marquez, and in the last useful lap of the session the reigning World champion was almost hit by PBM’s Yonny Hernandez who missed his braking mark.

Dani Pedrosa was third fastest and 1.6 seconds from his team mate, while Ducati duo Andrea Dovizioso and Nicky Hayden jumped to fourth and fifth in the dying minutes of the session and they were 1.9 and 2 seconds adrift respectively.

Valentino Rossi was in the top four for the most of the practice, but his last lap was ruined by home boy Colin Edwards and he finished sixth and two seconds adrift, and he was followed by Alvaro Bautista, Cal Crutchlow, Stefan Bradl.

At his home track Ben Spies closed out top ten and he was more than four seconds from Marquez and his Ducati billowed out some white smoke again. Andrea Iannone who went to Laguna Seca for a two day track experience and was black flagged several times due to noise from the exhaust of the Panigale was 18th and more than 6.1 second adrift, while CRT wildcard riders Blake Young for Attack Performance and Mike Barnes for GPTech were 25th and 26th respectively and more than 10 and 12 seconds off pace.

2013 MotoGP Austin FP1 results:

01- Marc Marquez – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – 2’08.756
02- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.253
03- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 1.600
04- Andrea Dovizioso – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 1.909
05- Nicky Hayden – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 2.045
06- Valentino Rossi – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 2.072
07- Alvaro Bautista – GO&FUN Honda Gresini – Honda RC213V – + 2.154
08- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 2.476
09- Stefan Bradl – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC213V – + 3.173
10- Ben Spies – Ignite Pramac Racing – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 4.057