Anyone who questions the future of electric motorcycles may want to take a look at Zero. The California-based company is moving its corporate and manufacturing headquarters to a new 47,000 square-foot location in Scotts Valley, California to meet demand. Continue Reading »
Blake Young may not have a full time AMA Superbike ride this season but he will get the chance to compete in some high-profile races. CycleNews reports the former Yoshimura Suzuki rider will race for Attack Performance on its Kawasaki-powered CRT racebike at the three U.S. MotoGP rounds.
Young was runner-up to Josh Hayes in the last two AMA Superbike campaigns. In 2011, Young trailed Hayes 363-358 at the end of the season but had a 7-3 edge in race wins. This year, Young had three wins but they all came in the first three double-header events before Hayes separated himself from everyone else on his way to a record-setting season. Despite being one of the few racers with a good chance of catching Hayes, Young found himself without a ride after Yoshimura decided to go in a different direction.
Now that he’s landed with the Attack Performance team, Young will be chasing M1s around the track instead of R1s at three MotoGP races. Young will compete in the April 21 Grand Prix of the Americas at Austin’s new Circuit of the Americas, the July 21 U.S. Grand Prix at Laguna Seca in Monterey, Calif., and the Aug. 18 Indianapolis Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Continue Reading »
Attack Performance Racing and GPTech made history this year as the first teams to build and enter motorcycles under MotoGP’s Claiming Rule Team rules as a wild card entry. Both teams will race again, receiving wild card invites to all three U.S. rounds in the 2013 MotoGP season.
Attack Performance debuted at the Laguna Seca round but failed to qualify due to a fuel pump problem, but returned weeks later for the Indianapolis Grand Prix, finishing 14th overall and earning two championship points with Steve Rapp riding a Kawasaki ZX-10R-based race bike. Indianapolis Motor Speedway also saw the debut of GPTech‘s Suzuki GSX-R1000-based machine which Aaron Yates piloted to 16th place. Continue Reading »
The International Motorcycling Federation released a provisional calendar for the 2013 World Superbike Championship. The 2013 season will see a new round in India, the return of Jerez, and Laguna Seca replacing Miller Motorsports Park as the series’ lone U.S. stop.
The 2013 WSBK season kicks off Feb. 26 at Australia’s Phillip Island circuit with Superbikes supported by the World Supersport Championship. Two weeks later, the series will make its Indian debut at the Buddh International Circuit near New Delhi.
The series then shifts to Europe starting with Spain’s Aragon circuit where the Superstock class will begin its 2013 season. Continue Reading »
Infront Motorsports announced a new agreement with Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca to host the World Superbike Championship from 2013-2015.
Laguna Seca hosted the series from 1995 to 2004, but from 2005 onward the Monterey, Calif., circuit hosted the MotoGP World Championship instead of WSBK. Starting next season however Laguna Seca will return to the schedule and replace Utah’s Miller Motorsports Park as the WSBK Championship’s only U.S. stop. Utah’s MMP hosted WSBK from 2008-2012. Continue Reading »
Back in 2009, Yamaha released an entertaining video featuring MotoGP racers Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo, Colin Edwards and James Toseland working on various mundane jobs at Yamaha Motor USA headquarters.
Three years later, Yamaha has released a follow-up featuring its current MotoGP lineup of Lorenzo, Ben Spies, Cal Crutchlow and Andrea Dovizioso (with King Kenny Roberts lunchbox in tow).
Tech3 Yamaha racer Crutchlow takes over his predecessor Edwards’ spot as a Yamaha security guard, but throws his own British spin on the job. The soft-spoken Spies tried his hand at Rossi’s former post as a receptionist but found it didn’t quite match his skill set. Tech3′s Dovizioso takes over for Lorenzo’s former position as janitor, and he takes to it much better than the 2010 MotoGP champion did. Lorenzo meanwhile landed a big promotion. Continue Reading »
Eric Bostrom has signed on to ride the Brammo Empulse RR in the electric motorcycle race at Laguna Seca July 28-29. The race is the final stop on the TTXGP‘s North American series and a joint event with the FIM’s ePower series.
The AMA racing veteran will join Steve Atlas to represent Team Icon Brammo at Laguna Seca. Bostrom becomes the latest established racing name to compete in the relatively new field of electric motorcycle racing. Bostrom’s renown in U.S. racing circles gives both Brammo and the TTXGP another boost towards legitimacy in the eyes of those who still have doubts about the potential of electric motorcycles. Bostrom says he is a believer.
LCR Honda rider Stefan Bradl took to the streets of San Francisco on his MotoGP race bike for a video promoting the upcoming U.S. Grand Prix at Laguna Seca.
Bradl, the runaway favorite to take home MotoGP rookie of the year honors this season, took his Honda RC213V out for a spin on San Franciscio’s Treasure Island before going for a ride down the city’s iconic Lombard St., no doubt using the steep, winding road as practice for Laguna Seca’s Corkscrew.
Later in the day, Bradl and LCR team owner Lucio Cecchinello were guests in a conference at Stanford University titled “Embracing Risk in the Pursuit of Victory”. Bradl, the 2011 Moto2 World Champion, is still looking for his first MotoGP podium but with three top-five finishes including a fourth-place result at Mugello, it may be just a matter of time before his pursuit of victory becomes a success. Continue Reading »
Former Moto2 World Champion Toni Elias is back in the premiere MotoGP class, albeit on a temporary basis. The Pramac Racing satellite Ducati team has signed Elias to race at the U.S. Grand Prix at Laguna Seca in place of Hector Barbera who is sidelined with a broken leg.
Barbera, pictured above, broke his left fibula and tibia in a training accident on July 21 in Spain. Barbera underwent surgery to have a titanium plate and several screws inserted into the leg and is expected to be out four to six weeks. The Spanish rider will miss this week’s U.S. Grand Prix and likely the Aug. 19 Indianapolis Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
For Elias, this marks a return to MotoGP and a quick end to his recent unemployment. Elias started the season racing for the Aspar Racing Moto2 team but the two sides agreed to part ways after the July 15 Italian Grand Prix at Mugello. Aspar has replaced Elias with reigning Spanish National Moto2 Champion Jordi Torres. Continue Reading »
Yamaha is giving fans the opportunity to watch the 2012 U.S. Grand Prix at Laguna Seca from its exclusive Yamaha Chalet.
Located inside Turn 5 of the Monterey, Calif., circuit, the Yamaha Chalet will be open for up to 200 Yamaha fans each day of the July 27-29 MotoGP and AMA Pro Racing event.
Yamaha will give away up to Chalet access wristbands to the first 200 Yamaha fans to visit the information desk at the Yamaha Marketplace at 8:30 am each day. Wristbands will only be awarded to those who wear an article of clothing with the Yamaha logo and the keys to a Yamaha vehicle. Continue Reading »
