With the 2013 season now complete, Feld Motorsports and the International Motorcycling Federation have released its schedule for the 2014 AMA Supercross Championship.

The 2014 season will again feature 17 rounds held at baseball and football stadiums but there are some changes from this past season. The season will again start the first weekend in January with the first of three rounds at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, Calif., and end the beginning of May at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev.

Dropped from the schedule are Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City, Utah, and the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome which is scheduled for demolition in February. Taking their places will be Ford Field in Detroit, Mich., and MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. 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 new unified electric racing series run by the International Motorcycling Federation and TTXGP has a new name: the eRoadRacing World Cup. The new World Cup, announced last month, unifies the FIM’s ePower championship with the TTXGP’s eGrandPrix series

As previously announced, this year will follow the TTXGP’s traditional format, featuring two separate series in Europe and North America, and a best-versus-best final championship event to be held in Asia.

The FIM released a provisional calendar for the World Cup featuring three rounds each in Europe and North America. The schedule isn’t complete however, as the FIM and TTXGP previously announced plans to have four rounds in each series. The series will only use this World Cup format for the 2013 season before switching to a more traditional racing series format. Continue Reading »

Icon and Brammo made a big splash last year with eye-catching livery for their TTXGP racebike, with Steve Atlas riding the black-and-white patterned “Stack” graphic Empulse RR to a TTXGP world championship. The riding apparel maker returns to sponsor Brammo’s team again for 2013, introducing two new designs for Atlas and teammate Eric Bostrom.

Atlas’ Team Icon Brammo Empulse RR will be clad in a red cheetah-themed “Sauvetage” livery (pictured above). It features a red-on-red spotted pattern with a gaping mouth with fangs running from under the seat to the belly resembling the design of fighter planes of  the World War II era “Flying Tiger” 1st American Volunteer Group. The livery is paired with red wheels and frame.

Bostrom’s race bike keeps the black and white with florescent green from last year’s Empulse RR but features a new zebra-themed design called “Big Game” (pictured below the jump.) Continue Reading »

The International Motorcycling Federation has updated its homologated model list for the 2013 World Superbike, Supersport, Superstock and Endurance racing seasons. The list is largely unchanged from the list released in February with the exception of a couple of additions.

The Superstock 1000 and Formula Endurance World Championship list now includes the 2013 Ducati 1199 Panigale R and the MV Agusta F4 RR. On the previous list, the F4 RR’s status was listed as being “in progress” while only the S version of the Panigale was initially homologated for Superstock 1000 and Formula Endurance.

Also worth emphasizing is the 599cc Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R remains homologated for the FIM’s Supersport and Superstock 600 championships but the 636cc version is not eligible for those classes. The homologation list distinctly includes the Ninja as the “ZX 600 R F” but not “ZX 636″. AMA Pro Racing differs in this regard, including the 636cc version on its list of eligible racebikes for 2013. Continue Reading »

The great schism in electric motorcycle has been mended with the TTXGP‘s eGrandPrix and the International Motorcycling Federation‘s e-Power series unifying to form a new world championship. We caught wind of a potential merger last June and it finally looks like electric motorcycle racing is ready to put on a united front.

After running opposite each other for three years, the two formerly rival series are uniting to form a new championship. Specifics still need to be worked out but the 2013 championship will follow the TTXGP’s usual format, featuring four events in both Europe and the U.S. (the TTXGP’s Australian series has been dropped) with a final best-against-best world championship final in Asia.

From 2014 onward, the championship will revert to a regular world championship format featuring six events supporting other FIM World championships with no final. Instead, the winner will be decided in the conventional manner, through points accumulated through the season. Continue Reading »

The International Motorcycling Federation has named Franco Uncini the FIM Grand Prix Safety Officer and circuit inspector. The 1982 500cc Grand Prix World Champion (pictured on the left above) takes over for the retired Claude Danis (right in the photo) to oversee safety in MotoGP.

The now 58-year-old Uncini won the 1982 World Championship for Roberto Gallina‘s factory-backed Suzuki. After retiring as a racer in 1985, Uncini managed Ducati‘s factory World Superbike team for Doug Polen‘s 1992 championship-winning campaign.

Uncini first worked in a safety advisory capacity in 1993 after being Grand Prix racers appointed him the IRTA rider safety delegate. Part of his duties involved working with Danis, making Uncini a logical choise as Danis’ successor. 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 »

The International Motorcycling Federation has suspended Moto2 racer Anthony West for testing positive for methylhexaneamine, substance considered a stimulant and prohibited under the FIM’s anti-doping code.

West will be ineligible for competition organized by the FIM or its affiliated federations for a month, starting from Oct. 30, effectively ruling him out of the Moto2 season finale Nov. 11 at Valencia. West, who races for the Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation team, still has the right to lodge an appeal before Nov. 3.

Methylhexaneamine, also known as 1,3-dimethylamylamine or DMAA, was originally developed as a nasal decongestant but more recently has been commonly used as a dietary supplement. Since Aug. 1, methylhexaneamine has been banned in Australia, West’s native country. The positive test however occurred on May 20 during the MotoGP round at Le Mans, and as a result, the FIM has also stripped West of his seventh-place finish at the French Grand Prix Moto2 race. Continue Reading »

The International Motorcycling Federation and the Superbike Racing Commission released a number of amendments to the 2013 World Superbike Championship rulebook including pitstops, fake headlights and a revised starting grid alignment.

We’ve already seen the fake headlights with Kawasaki getting a jump on the new regulation earlier this season with headlight decals on Tom Sykes‘ and Loris Baz‘s ZX-10R. Starting in 2013, all superbikes will have fake headlights to resemble their homologated production models. The idea is create a closer visual tie between the race bikes and their street-legal counterparts. Superbikes will switch to 17-inch wheels from the current 16.5-inch wheels, another move to bring them closer to production models. Continue Reading »