Lorenzo quickest on busy first day at Phillip Island / Lorenzo survole la première journée à Phillip Island

Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo was Monday’s fastest rider at Phillip Island as the three-day tyre safety test got underway.

The former MotoGP™ World Champion’s best time of 1’29.213 put him top of the pile though lap times and bike development are not the focus this week. The riders and teams are working on tyre durability and have a specific schedule to follow over the 72 hours at the Australian venue.

Monday’s workload included set-up on control tyres and short runs on a selection of six different new tyres, some with new compounds, and others with new construction. Bridgestone aim to narrow down the selection of tyres on Tuesday and Wednesday, with longer runs then being undertaken on the best performing options.

Lorenzo was struggling with the generic 2014 tyre specification at Sepang last week and though the Phillip Island times are distinct due to the nature of this test he will nonetheless be pleased to be leading the way.

In second place on the timesheet was Cal Crutchlow, notching up 67 laps for Ducati in the wake of their decision on Friday to go ‘Open’ for 2014. Crutchlow was 0.363s off Lorenzo, but was tellingly four tenths faster than his fifth placed colleague Andrea Dovizioso - who missed the first hours of the test due to an overnight illness.

Valentino Rossi ended the day third, around half a second down on Lorenzo, with Dani Pedrosa in fourth at a 0.75s gap to the top time.

With injured World Champion Marc Marquez missing this test, those five aforementioned riders clocked up a total of 369 between them – providing plenty of data for Bridgestone.

Meanwhile for the Moto2 riders there is a slightly different approach being taken at the Island, with nine new Dunlop tyre options to test and 10 laps required on each one over the course of Monday and Tuesday. The final day will then be about race distance on the narrowed down selection of rubber.

Despite also feeling under the weather title candidate Tito Rabat topped the Moto2 timesheet, just over 2.3s behind the MotoGP times and putting in 100 laps in total. Rabat’s compatriot Nico Terol (Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2) was second and almost a second down on the Marc VDS Racing man.

With Terol’s teammate Jordi Torres a further seven tenths down in fourth place on the Moto2 timesheet, Rabat’s colleague Mika Kallio was third.

Finnish rider Kallio suffered a Siberia highside and went for scans on his wrist, but was given the all clear to continue testing tomorrow.

Le pilote du team Yamaha Factory Racing a été le plus rapide lundi en Australie lors de la première des trois journées d’essais avec Bridgestone.

Le double Champion du Monde MotoGP™ a réalisé le meilleur temps en 1’29.213 pour commencer la semaine au sommet du classement. Les chronos ne sont néanmoins pas la priorité de ces essais, dont l’objectif est de tester de nouveaux pneus préparés par Bridgestone pour le tracé australien suite aux problèmes rencontrés lors du Grand Prix de l’an dernier.

Les pilotes ont ainsi un programme spécifique à suivre et la première journée comprenait plusieurs runs courts avec six pneus différents, certains utilisant de nouvelles gommes et d’autres une nouvelle construction. Bridgestone espère ainsi affiner sa sélection puis faire tester le ou les pneus choisis sur des runs plus longs mardi et mercredi.

En difficulté la semaine dernière à Sepang avec les pneus que Bridgestone proposera pour les autres circuits en 2014, Lorenzo n’a cette fois-ci pas eu trop de problèmes pour trouver son rythme et a fini la journée avec 0.363s d’avance sur Cal Crutchlow.

Ce dernier a bouclé un total de 67 tours avec Ducati, qui a annoncé vendredi dernier l’abandon du statut Factory pour ses machines, qui tourneront désormais sous la nouvelle règlementation Open. Le Britannique a été quatre dixièmes de seconde plus rapide que son coéquipier Andrea Dovizioso, cinquième et absent des premières heures d’essais après avoir été malade la nuit dernière.

A une demi-seconde de Lorenzo, Valentino Rossi (Yamaha Factory Racing) complète le Top 3 de la journée tandis que Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) est quatrième, à 0.75s du leader.

En l’absence de Marc Márquez, le Champion du Monde MotoGP™ 2013, qui récupère de sa fracture du péroné, les cinq représentants de la catégorie reine ont bouclé un total de 369 tours et ainsi collecté de précieuses données pour Bridgestone.

Du côté de la catégorie Moto2™, Dunlop a choisi une approche différente en fournissant aux quatre pilotes présents pas moins de neuf nouveaux pneus à essayer, avec un minimum de dix tours à réaliser avec chaque pneu entre lundi et mardi. La dernière journée sera quant à elle consacrée aux simulations de course, une fois que la marque britannique aura déterminé les meilleures options pour la piste de Phillip Island.

Esteve Rabat (Marc VDS Racing) a été le plus rapide et a fini à 2.3s des chronos MotoGP™ après avoir fait une centaine de tours. Nico Terol (Mapfre Aspar) s’est classé deuxième, à près d’une seconde de son compatriote et avec sept dixièmes de seconde d’avance sur son coéquipier Jordi Torres (Mapfre Aspar).

Troisième, Mika Kallio (Marc VDS Racing) a subi un highside dans la courbe de Siberia et a dû passer des radios pour son poignet afin de confirmer qu’il n’avait rien de cassé et pourrait poursuivre les essais demain.

Cliquez ici pour accéder au classement.

STORMING START TO DEFENDER CHALLENGE BY BOWLER

BY: Mike Goodbun from LRO

Five Defender Challenge by Bowler crews took on 55 miles of rain-lashed Mid-Wales rally stages yesterday, with Edd Cobley/Allan Jackson leading the way.

At the start of the Mid-Wales 55-Mile Stages in Newtown, Powys, all the Bowler team wanted was to see all five Land Rovers back safely to the finish. Some of the competitors in the first round of this LRO-supported championship had only collected their Bowler-prepared Defender 90s in the days before the event, with drivers that had never set foot on a rally stage, and co-drivers who’d never used a rally tripmeter before. As learning curves go, it would be a steep and slippery one for them.

Lining-up in torrential rain were experienced rally men Edd Cobley and Allan Jackson in car number 301, Richard Hayward/Matt Lister in no.302 (the actual 90 that features on our April 2014 issue cover), ex-Camel Trophy contestant Damien Taft with cousin Simon making his navigator debut in no.303, Stephen Richards/Kevin Handley in no.304 and Andrew Wicklow/Simon Armstrong in no.305.

After the first two stages at Pikes Peak and Myherin, everyone was buzzing with excitement as they came in to the Sweet Lamb service area, where keen spectators included Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond. Damien Taft told us: ‘It’s awesome, a total adrenaline rush. I think I held my breath throughout all of the first stage!’

Cobley and Jackson’s experience showed, being more than four minutes faster than the others over the first two stages, although they had some ‘navigation issues’ approaching a couple of hairpins in sixth gear. Edd was working the brakes hardest too: ‘It’s smiles all the way from me,’ he said. ‘It’s fun catching some of the Mk2 Ford Escorts I tell you!’

Two stages at Sweet Lamb and Hafren followed, but Richard Hayward/Matt Lister had an off near the end of the Hafren South stage and parked their 90 in a ditch against a tree. Although the crew was unharmed, the Defender suffered a dented front wing, smashed alpine light and transmission damage. It looked like they’d have to start the final stage without a fully-functioning clutch, but the time lost getting out of the ditch meant they were over their time allocation and weren’t allowed to continue the rally.

At the finish, Cobley and Jackson were almost 12 minutes clear of the Tafts in second-place, with Andrew Wicklow/Simon Armstrong less than a minute further back in third. Edd Cobley was delighted with the result: ‘There were a few interesting moments on some of the hairpins but we had a really good day. I think we surprised a fair few people by nipping at people’s heels on the stage. In these wet conditions the Defender was in its element.’

Defender Challenge by Bowler – round 1
Mid-Wales 55-Mile Stages

1 Edd Cobley/Allan Jackson – 66min 16.5sec

2 Damien Taft/Simon Taft – 78min 13.5sec

3 Andrew Wicklow/Simon Armstrong – 79min 5.9sec

4 Stephen Richards/Kevin Handley – 96min 58.9sec

5 Richard Hayward/Matt Lister – DNF

Full results here

Next up is the Somerset Stages in Minehead on April 12, where more Defenders are due to join the action. See bowlermotorsport.com for more details.

Land Rover Owner International is proud to be the official media partner of the 2014 Defender Challenge by Bowler.

KINGSTON CUSTOMS CXL500

CX500 customs are popping up all over the place at the moment, but the vast majority of them tend to be head down, bum up, cafe racers.  In fact, Dirk and his crew at Kingston Customs in Germany have already blown us away withone such CX earlier in the year.  So, when a customer approached Kingston with the brief that he needed an ultra reliable, everyday bike that he could ride off road, the CXL 500 idea was born.

Now, we have no idea if the story behind the origins of this project is true or not, but what the heck we like it, so we’ll tell it.  The owner of this bike has horses.  In the summer, he used to ride down to the stables on a cafe racer and the horses used to become restless in the paddock.  One day a horse whisperer told him that it was the aggressive riding position on the bike that made the horses edgy and fearful.  And so the brief for an upright, off-road, less horse aggravating bike was born.  Apparently.

As Honda had built a CX 500 and an XL 500, it was obvious to Dirk that he needed to build a Honda CXL 500 Scrambler.  So a ’79 model bike was stripped completely and the frame was glass bead blasted and modified, before being painted.  Kingston themselves then handmade the seat, the battery box, the front and rear aluminium mudguards, the radiator grill and the 2 into 1 exhaust manifold.

They also treated the engine to some thermo-sensitive coating, fitted some K&N’s, and married up a Speed Products exhaust pipe to the aforementioned manifolds.  The result is a perfectly decent, and totally useable 50hp.

The luxurious looking paintwork was clearly influenced by old Honda Enduro bikes from the seventies.  In fact, the level of finish on this build is so damn good that the bike itself looks like it could have been in the official Honda line up in 1979.  But we’ve come to expect that from Kingston.  Great, original ideas, executed flawlessly.

We wouldn’t be surprised if this particular build divides opinion.  But then we also wouldn’t be surprised if Dirk and his gang deliberately build bikes that challenge conventional thinking and court a little controversy.  And anyway, the horses obviously like it, so who cares.  Thanks to Dennis Zetlitz for the great photos, and thanks to Dirk for once again sharing his jaw dropping (and horse calming) work with us in The Shed. 

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