Former Grand Prix World Champion Kevin Schwantz has been making the headlines a lot recently, and not necessarily for good reasons. But finally there’s some good news: Schwantz is  coming out of retirement to race in the 2013 Suzuka 8 Hours endurance race.

Schwantz is joining Yukio Kagayama‘s team for the July 28 race, riding a Japanese Superbike-spec Suzuki GSX-R1000. Schwantz will be Team Kagayama‘s third rider, behind Kagayama and former World Superbike star Noriyuki Haga.

The last month and a half had been a trying period for Schwantz when it should have been a positive experience with the first ever MotoGP race to be held in his home state of Texas. In a perfect world, Schwantz would have been the event’s promoter, playing the welcome host to the Grand Prix circus. Instead, Schwantz has been surrounded by controversy. Continue Reading »

Endurance racing and superbike racing have a lot in common. Both types of racing use similar machines and often feature the same riders. Some endurance races, the Daytona 200 perhaps the most notable of them, are included as regular points-scoring rounds in championships that otherwise feature rounds that are a quarter the length. But there are also some key differences such as functional lights, swapping riders and, of course, the overall length of a race. One of the most important differences, and one that plays a vital role in team strategy, is the pit stop.

The 2013 FIM Endurance World Championship kicks off this weekend, April 20-21, with the Bol d’Or 24-hour race at Magny-Cours in France. To mark the start of the Endurance racing season, the Honda TT Legends team released a new video breaking down its pit stop procedure. The team’s race manager Russell Benney talks us through the many steps involved in a standard pit stop. Continue Reading »

The International Motorcycling Federation (FIM) has released an updated list of motorcycles homologated for the 2013 Superbike, Supersport, and Superstock racing season. Notable additions include the new BMW S1000RR HP4, the MV Agusta F3 and the Superbike-spec Ducati 1199 Panigale R.

To qualify a production-based racebike for FIM homologations, manufacturers have to meet certain production thresholds. Manufacturers must first produce 125 units ahead of a homologation inspection. After that, manufacturers have to produce a minimum of 500 units by June 30 and 1000 units by December 31 of the current year, and a minimum of 2000 units by the December 31 of the following year.

Production counts include both ABS and non-ABS versions of the same model, and at least 250 units of each version have to be produced. Production models must also be available for sale in either the U.S., Europe or Japan by the end of April of the current year to qualify. Continue Reading »