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jeudi 23 octobre 2014
MOTOGP : Cap sur la Malaisie pour l'avant-dernière manche de la saison2014 / Rossi on a high in second as Marquez looks to win again
La tournée outre-mer prend fin cette semaine au Circuit International de Sepang, où Marc Márquez tentera de renouer avec la victoire tandis que Valentino Rossi voudra conforter son avance dans la lutte pour le titre de vice-Champion.
Vainqueur des dix premières manches de la saison, Marc Márquez est actuellement sur une série de résultats qui contraste fortement avec son exceptionnel début de saison. Le pilote du team Repsol Honda, qui a remporté son deuxième titre de Champion du Monde MotoGP™ au Motegi, ne s'est plus imposé depuis Silverstone, à la fin du mois d'août, et n'est monté sur le podium qu'une fois, au Japon, sur les quatre dernières courses, avec un abandon sur chute dimanche dernier en Australie.
Le double Champion du Monde MotoGP™ a cependant encore deux courses devant lui pour égaler; voire dépasser, le record du plus grand nombre de victoires remportées en une saison dans la catégorie reine, établi par Mick Doohan avec un total de 12 en 1997. Márquez avait fini deuxième à Sepang l'an dernier, derrière son coéquipier Dani Pedrosa.
Suite à sa victoire à Phillip Island, où il avait hérité de la première place suite à la chute de Márquez, Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) compte 82 victoires en 250 courses dans la catégorie reine et un total de 108 victoires sur l'ensemble des trois catégories. Le nonuple Champion du Monde a d'autre part pris la seconde place du classement général en solitaire, avec huit points d'avance sur Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) et vingt-cinq sur Pedrosa. Le coéquipier de l'Italien est actuellement sur une série de huit podiums et n'a gagné qu'une seule fois à Sepang, en 2006, lorsqu'il courait en 250cc.
Contraint à l'abandon en Australie après avoir été percuté par Andrea Iannone (Pramac Racing), Pedrosa aura à coeur de se relancer ce week-end en Malaisie, en essayant de rattraper Rossi dans la lutte pour le titre de vice-Champion, sur un circuit où il avait gagné l'an dernier ainsi qu'en 2012.
Cinquième du classement général avant le Grand Prix Shell Advance de Malaisie, Andrea Dovizioso a réussi à finir quatrième en Australie, où neuf pilotes ont abandonné, dont son coéquipier Cal Crutchlow, tombé dans le dernier tour alors qu'il occupait la seconde position.
Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech3) a profité du malheur de son compatriote pour faire sa première apparition sur le podium MotoGP™ avec une troisième place qui lui a permis de revenir dans la lutte pour la sixième position dans le classement général. Smith est désormais huitième, devant Iannone et Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda), qui ont tous les deux abandonné en Australie suite à leurs erreurs respectives.
Aleix Espargaró (NGM Forward Racing) mène cette bagarre pour la sixième place avec un petit point d'avance sur son frère cadet Pol Espargaró (Monster Yamaha Tech3) et neuf longueurs d'avance sur Smith. Les deux Espagnols étaient parmi les pilotes à abandonner dimanche dernier à Phillip Island.
La première séance d'essais MotoGP™ du Grand Prix Shell Advance de Malaisie a lieu vendredi matin à 9h55, heure locale (GMT +8), soit 3h55, heure de Paris.
After 2014 MotoGP™ World Champion Marc Marquez’s crash in Australia gave Valentino Rossi the opportunity to notch his second victory of the year, the Repsol Honda rider will be striving for nothing less than a win at Sepang.
It is Marquez’s hunger for victory which drove him to this year’s title in fine style with 10 wins from the opening 10 rounds, though since then he has added just the one further triumph at Silverstone and has now gone four races without a win. Marquez still has the chance to match - and eclipse - Mick Doohan’s record from 1997 for most premier class GP wins in a single season of 12 victories.
Last year at Sepang Marquez was second in the race behind his Honda colleague Dani Pedrosa and he will aim to go one better this time.
Another rider who knows all about winning is Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s remarkable nine time World Champion Rossi who delighted his fans at Phillip Island with his 82nd premier class victory in his 250th race in the top category of Grand Prix competition.
It was also Rossi’s 108th win across all classes and the 25 points from Australia helped him to move clear in second place in the World Championship. Rossi leads Lorenzo by eight points with two rounds remaining.
Lorenzo described his result in Australia as the luckiest second place of his career as his pace dropped in the second half of the race, but his rostrum appearance was the eighth consecutive podium of an excellent recent run.
Last year’s Sepang race winner Pedrosa was unlucky on Sunday at Phillip Island as his efforts came to en early end after he was hit by Andrea Iannone and was forced to retire. That DNF result saw Pedrosa slip to fourth in the standings, 25-points adrift of second placed Rossi.
Fifth overall ahead of the Shell Advance Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix is the ever-consistent Andrea Dovizioso who stayed upright in Australia to take fourth, with nine riders in total unable to finish the race – including his Ducati Team colleague Cal Crutchlow who went down on the last lap with second place looking almost guaranteed.
Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Bradley Smith got his first MotoGP™ podium at round 16 and has forced his way back into the battle for sixth in the standings. That third place Phillip Island result took Smith up to eighth overall above Pramac Racing’s Iannone and LCR Honda MotoGP’s Stefan Bradl – both of whom aim to bounce back in Malaysia after their respective mistakes on Sunday.
Smith is now also only nine points behind sixth placed Aleix Espargaro (NGM Forward Racing) and eight adrift of his Tech 3 teammate, Aleix’s brother, Pol Espargaro – with the Spanish siblings also suffering Australian DNFs.
The first premier class practice session at Sepang will start at 9.55am local time (GMT +8) on Friday morning.
BROUGHAM: A CADILLAC-INSPIRED SOFTAIL
In the Hollywood of the late 1950s, if your name was Clark or Frank and you wanted to make a splash, you bought a Cadillac Eldorado. And not just any Eldorado: it had to be the exclusive, hand-built Brougham.
From the quad headlights to the outrageous tail fins, the Brougham just oozed style—and wealth, since it cost even more than a contemporary Rolls-Royce.
Fabulous as the Brougham may be, it’s not an obvious inspiration for a bike build. But this Softail custom is one of the sleekest, classiest Harleys we’ve ever seen.
It’s the work of German engineer and master craftsman Julian von Oheimb, who runs a shop called One Way Machine. And when he saw Clark Gable’s Brougham twenty years ago on a trip to the USA, the experience stuck in his head.
Von Oheimb has been steadily picking up awards around Europe, and he’s just won the ultimate accolade for a V-twin builder—the Modified Harley-Davidson Class at the AMD World Championship. By show bike standards, his builds are unusually practical too: “Modern customers are looking for authentic, credible and easy-to-ride bikes,” he says. “The times are over for excessive, hard-to-ride trailer queens.” And amen to that.
‘Brougham’ started life as a 2001 Softail Deuce with a mere 900 kilometers on the clock, liberated from Harley’s Saarbrücken dealership. (“It was basically in ‘new’ condition.”)
Most owners would start a regime of polishing and maintenance to preserve such an unmolested bike, but von Oheimb had other ideas. In his Staufenberg workshop he stripped the Softail down to the essentials, cleaning up the frame and the swingarm, and installing modified Dyna forks.
The engine and transmission have been refinished with new cases and black paint, adding to the vintage vibe. The custom oil tank could be a straight lift from a pre-WW2 bike.
Von Oheimb’s choice of fuel tank is inspired. The stock Softail Deuce tank is pretty sleek by Big Twin standards, but it’s no match for a 1930s DKW tank. The tank was completely remodeled to slip over the Softail frame and to create a remarkably low profile. It’s topped off with a vintage car hood ornament that does double duty as a filler cap.
The upper visual line of the Brougham defines the bike. It segues neatly from the compact tank into the solo seat, and then terminates right above the back axle, with a delicate custom fender held in place by slim vertical struts. The lower visual line comes from a pair of straight-shot custom pipes.
There’s a small supporting cast of aftermarket parts: Harley’s own smooth-laced wheels in 21” and 19” fitments, Beringer brakes, and an air filter and ignition cover from Mooneyes. The pulled-back bars are a One Way Machine product, already available for order in either black or chrome.
It all hangs together immaculately: there’s a place for everything, and everything is in its place. Few custom builders understand the power of restraint, especially when aiming for a trophy on the show circuit, but von Oheimb is the exception.
His Softail is simply a masterclass in modern-day custom Harley building.
One Way Machine website | Facebook | Images by Steffen Theis.
via BIKEexif
WEZ’S R100
Wez from Port Elizabeth, South Africa proved he has what it takes to put a bike together when he sent us his beautifully finished MB100, take a look here. He said he’d be back with something bolder and grander; and here it is.
When the wife and kids are tucked up in bed, Wez sneaks off to his humble shed and gets customising. 7 months of midnight oil later and here we have a nicely sorted 1981 BMW R100T, built in true shed style with limited tools and a budget to match. Wez hit a fairly steep learning curve, going form a single cylinder two stroke to a Bavarian mass of wiring and over engineering. Luckily his mates kept him on the straight and narrow, offering motivational “Dude, just get it finished already” speeches and the occasional beer no doubt.
The donor arrived in full touring spec, including a leather tank cover. The superfluous fairings, pannier racks and other heavy bits were removed, leaving a bare bones machine ready for a personal touch. But before the fancy stuff comes reliability, looking good broken down isn’t a good look; so Wez removed the motor, stripped it down and replaced anything that was vaguely worn out. Whilst at it the paint on the casings was painstakingly removed, a thankless task at the time, but the results are worth it.
The subframe is 150mm shorter with a kick-up loop welded in, providing a mounting for the moulded PVC seat base and stitched vinyl cover. Uprated Hagon shocks suspend the new rear and give a plusher ride. Low and wide bars are sleek, with end mounted mirrors so as not to interfere with the view, both when riding and whilst admiring.
Brown must be this season’s new black as this is the second Beemer in a week to sport a lustrous dark tone. The tank badges are the car versions and as such needed a good deal of persuasion to get them to fit. Forks are standard but with fresh oil and seals, kept clean by ribbed gaitors. Satin black powder coat and Bridgestone Spitfires sorts the wheel side of things out.
Why buy when you can make? The licence plate mount is precision bent aluminium, finished with black anodising. Exhausts are stock but modified to kick up at the back, keeping in line with the rear hoop. The rear mudguard wasn’t allowed back from the parts bin, the licence plate playing the role of dirt deflector. BMW didn’t half put a big battery box in these things but with new tech smaller options are available, lurking under there is on two thirds the size, wrapped in figure hugging black vinyl; very slimming apparently.
A small and simple speedo with tiny idiot lights gives just enough information without being distracting. Whilst tidying the dash Wez fabricated a small stainless steel plate to mount the ignition.
The build had its ups and downs and caused much head scratching but once the learning curve was crested Wez decided that this was an endeavour too enjoyable to keep as a hobby. After 15 years in secure, full time employment, Wez has decided to go forth and build bikes for a living. Best of luck to you, just remember to send us the photos of the next one.
If you live near Port Elizabeth and fancy a new ride, drop Wez an email.
Photography by Marc Sing Key
via The Bike Shed
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