2013 Sachsenring: Marc Marquez didn't expect to lead the championship

Even if Marc Marquez is a still a rookie, his victory at Sachsenring was that of an accomplished veteran MotoGP rider as he said, ‘that winning is important but without them [Pedrosa and Lorenzo] the triumph isn’t quite the same.’

The German GP was Marquez’ second win of this season and also his seventh podium out of eight races that has now earned him the lead in the standings.

Even if he dropped to fourth at the start of the race - his clutch slipped - he passed the riders in front of him with ease and on the sixth lap took the lead from Stefan Brad, and the raced away, unchallenged, even if Cal Crutchlow tried a charge in the final laps of the race.

“If I’m honest I didn’t expect to lead the championship after eight races. The circumstances are a little bit special so it was important to take points for the championship and it is my second victory in MotoGP,” said Marquez, who actually lead the championship after the first three rounds.

“In Austin I felt a little bit different, because here without Dani and Jorge on the track. We hope for a great recovery for them. Even so I did a completely different race until now, because this time I led the race and tried to manage the gap to Rossi and then Cal.”

“Even so, it is a good result, since we have taken the maximum points available and ridden a completely different race to those that we’ve had before. We led the race and maintained the gap to second place. It was good experience, although I perhaps prefer races that are a little more of a battle! We should be happy and we have also held up well, physically, at a circuit where there is no time to rest on the bike.

Asked about the upcoming Laguna Seca GP - on a track where he has never raced because the lower classes do not race there, and how he’ll prepare for it he said, “We’ll see how it goes at Laguna Seca, which will be a hard Grand Prix for me because I’ve never ridden there. We’ll take it step-by-step and remain calm while we get up to speed.”

“I’ll watch the videos of the previous races and on Thursday I’ll ride around the track with my scooter and maybe I’ll ask Valentino if I can follow him during the first free practice (laughing).”

Rossi has no doubts that Marquez will have no problems coming to grips with the unknown track, “At Laguna… I expect that this f**king bastard is fast from the beginning! I’m sure Marc will be fast. For him one weekend is enough to be competitive.”

from TWOWHEELSBLOG

24H SPA : LE TRAILER DU BELGIAN AUDI CLUB TEAM WRT.

En 2011, le Belgian Audi Club Team WRT était la première équipe à donner une victoire à Audi aux 24 Heures de Spa. L'an passée, le team de Vincent Vosse, Yves Weerts et René Verbist a bien failli récidiver mais les Allemands du Phoenix Racing ont raflé la mise. Pour cette campagne 2013, le Belgian Audi Club Team WRT a bien l'intention de reprendre le trophée. Pour cela, pas moins de quatre Audi R8 LMS ultra seront de la partie dans les Ardennes belges. La #0 sera confiée à Rahel Frey, Matt Halliday et Niki Mayr-Melnhof. La #1 verra en découdre un certain Stéphane Ortelli, vainqueur en 2003. Le Monégasque sera associé à son compère Laurens Vanthoor et René Rast. Il faudra se méfier de la #2 partagée par Frank Stippler, Christopher Mies et André Lotterer. Quant à la #13, elle sera pour Mattias Ekström, Marcel Fässler et Edward Sandström. Le trailer du Belgian Audi Club Team WRT est disponible.

Laurent Mercier(Endurance-Info)

YAMAHA XT600Z BY PLAN B

By Wes Garcia | Megadeluxe

Lying forgotten in the corner of a garage in Italy, this 1988 Yamaha XT600Z was on life support before Christian Moretti of Plan B Motorcycles decided to apply the defibrillators. Not that he wasn’t up for the challenge. According to Christian, Plan B was born from a philosophy of Nothing To Lose. “Everything can be shaped, improved upon and expanded,” he says.

The first step in the resurrection was his favorite part: dismantling. “Everything away, one piece at a time until you leave the bare chassis.” Once that task was done, there was no turning back.

He started off with a pair of Showa 43mm upside-down forks taken from a Ducati 916, disassembled, overhauled and anodized black. The original hubs were laced to new San Remo aluminum rims with a 18″ front and a fat 17″ at the rear. The new road-oriented wheels and tires required a reinforcement to the XT600Z rear end to eliminate possible twisting. So a handmade truss runs across the top of the swingarm, surrounding a Ducati 1098 adjustable mono-shock.

The clip-ons, bicycle leather grips, and clutch and brake levers were borrowed from an old BSA. Christian then modified them to work with the radial master cylinder that controls a Brembo 4-pot caliper—required for the new 320mm floating discs.

The electrical system was revised and streamlined. Almost all the controls were moved to the top yoke, with three small levers to control the lights. The rev counter was pulled out of the dashboard and slipped into a jug (repurposed from an IKEA tea set!) and securely mounted to the top plate.

Meanwhile, the motor received major first aid. The crankcase and valve cover were completely disassembled and polished. The piston was replaced with a forged high-compression item that increases the displacement to 630cc. With the help of a new camshaft, a machined head, a new exhaust system and a pair of 35mm Keihin FCR flat slide carbs, the old single-cylinder can now handle 9,000rpm.

The headlight came from a Citroën 2CV “found at a local flea market,” with enough room left over to house part of the electrical system. On the top are pilot lights for neutral gear, the turn signals and high beam. The taillight also came from the automotive world, this time from a 1930s Ford Model A. It’s recessed into the Ducati Imola tail.

The tail was modified to adapt to the new frame, and also to make room for the rear indicators. Hidden under the tail is a new gel battery and the other half of the electrical wiring.

The tank comes from a Yamaha XS750, and required hardly any modifications to slip onto the single-beam XT frame. But the new riding position meant the footpegs (now from a Yamaha R1) had to be moved further back, using aluminum supports where the passenger footrests used to be.

The side panels, as well as the front fender, were taken from a Triumph Bonneville, while the belly pan came from a Thruxton. The paint job was done by Barbara of Rumi Custom Paint; she also airbrushed the small logo onto the tank and made a slender thread of gold leaf to separate the burgundy and cream used throughout the bike.

The XT600Z is now christened “Proto-Moto,” and Christian is pleased. “The bike feels light, pushes strong, and descends into corners very well. It seems to have completely forgotten about its off-road past, and likes to consume every inch of tire tread around corners!”

It’s quite a transformation for a bike that was gathering rust and dust in a corner, all but forgotten.

I guess it’s always good to have a Plan B. Head over to Google+ for more images in high resolution.

Wes Garcia is the chief editor of Megadeluxe, an online magazine covering the world of speed, sport and design. Images by Daniele Fontanin.

from BIKEEXIF

Marc Marquez runs away with Sachsenring victory

Without Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa in the 8th round of the MotoGP championship at Sachsenring and as highly expected - Marc Marquez took his second victory of the season - his fourth successive win on the German circuit - and moved to the head of the standings, with a hard-as-nails Cal Crutchlow taking second, and Valentino Rossi, third.

Marquez was the polesitter, but it was Rossi who got the holeshot with Stefan Bradl and and amazing Aleix Espargaro following in third ahead of Marquez, but after just a few turns on the first lap the LCR Honda rider grabbed the lead, to the joy and roar of the 85,000 plus spectators who came to see the event.

The first lap was highly exciting with the riders tightly packed, nosing around the tails of the bikes in front of them and during the second lap the Repsol Honda rider jumped Espargaro and began chasing Rossi and Bradl. as Cal Crutchlow and Alvaro Bautista passed the CRT rider.

Lap 5 saw Marquez overtake Rossi with paint stripping pass and set his sights on Bradl, and on the sixth lap saw the Italian have a huge moment which allowed Crutchlow - who had a few himself - to catch him and almost simultaneously Marquez took the lead from his satellite counterpart..

Rossi began chasing after the two Honda riders, dragging with him Crutchlow and he passed Bradl during the 9th lap and soon after the British rider did the same when the German who also had a moment, as Marquez began to speed away putting more than half a second between himself and the two Yamaha riders, which became more than 1.5 seconds on lap 13.

Lap 15 saw Crutchlow overtake a struggling Rossi, and immediately begin to distance the factory rider, whose tires began slipping - exactly as he predicted on the eve of the race.

For a few laps the positions remained frozen but with five laps left in the race, Crutchlow turned on the speed and began to try to chase down Marquez but the Spaniard controlled the lap times and would cross over the finish line with a 1.559 margin on the bruised, battered and cut Tech 3 rider, while Rossi was more seven seconds from Crutchlow and more than 9 from Marquez.

After a stunning first part of the race Bradl faded to fourth, followed by Alvaro Bautista and an impressive Bradley Smith who took a safe sixth.

Andrea Dovizioso was seventh and just managed to keep Aleix Espargaro at bay, while Nicky Hayden was 9th and a massive 45 seconds from the top of the timesheets, while Michele Pirro in his last race as a substitute rider for Pramac - at Laguna Seca Alex de Angelis will be riding in place of Ben Spies, was 10th.

2013 MotoGP Sachsenring race results:

01- Marc Marquez – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – 30 laps in 41′14.653
02- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 1.559
03- Valentino Rossi – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 9.620
04- Stefan Bradl – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC213V – + 13.992
05- Alvaro Bautista – GO&FUN Honda Gresini – Honda RC213V – + 21.775
06- Bradley Smith – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 25.080
07- Andrea Dovizioso – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 30.027
08- Aleix Espargaro – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP13 – + 30.324
09- Nicky Hayden – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 45.355
10- Michele Pirro – Ignite Pramac Racing – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 47.142
11- Hector Barbera – Avintia Blusens – BQR FTR – + 47.824
12- Randy De Puniet – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP13 – + 48.523