#racing

You might remember Eric Bostrom from his days racing Kawasakis on both the national and international level. While highly successful, E-Boz’s post-racing life has seen him dealing with the lingering injuries he sustained in racing while continuing to live an active lifestyle. He decided to tackle the source of the pain with natural remedies instead of relying on medications. His solution is a company he’s founded called Backmate. Here you can find information related to natural healing as well as dedicated products to help relieve pain. And to spread awareness about natural, lasting solutions for pain, Bostrom is giving away memorabilia from his racing career. It started with this custom Kawasaki jacket and continues now with one of Eric’s Alpinestars leather suits. Says Bostrom:

Akrapovič. You might have that word on your bike’s exhaust, and you’ve certainly seen Akrapovič’s distinctive logo on thousands of racing vehicles over the years, from MotoGP, WorldSBK, MXGP to Dakar and even to four-wheeled competition in the FIA World Endurance Championship. When Jorge Lorenzo clinched the 2015 MotoGP World Championship for Yamaha, Akrapovič took home its 100th world-championship title; just 15 years after American Colin Edwards (Honda) won WorldSBK title in 2000, first world championship title for Akrapovič exhaust.

Following the fire earlier this month that destroyed the entire fleet of Energica Ego Corsa spec race bikes, the FIM has released an updated calendar for the 2019 MotoE World Cup.

Late last year, the MOron crew participated in yet another 24-hour minibike road race, this time aboard the Benelli TnT135. It shouldn’t come as any surprise, but we got spanked – like bringing a knife to a gunfight spanked. Not surprisingly, the winning team consisted mostly of kids who couldn’t reach my head even with their arms fully outstretched. Surely their power-to-weight ratio helped, but we’d be dumb to think the kids weren’t also very skilled at their craft (and a lack of fear helps, too).

I’ve never been a fan of the mid-’90s – early 2000s Suzuki Katana. To me they were fat, underpowered, and hideously ugly – three traits that should spell instant death to any motorcycle. It’s an utter shame the Katana name – a once well respected and sought after model – was attached to that motorcycle in the end. I made my distaste of that bike well known when I met James for the first time. He laughed it off, even agreed with me on some points, then changed the subject. It was like he knew the Katana he was riding was bad, but didn’t want to dwell on it any more than he had to. Maybe he got it for free?

The joy and fun of riding supermoto is something I personally love, but apparently this sentiment isn’t shared by most. It’s too bad, really. Supermoto offers all the fun of track riding for a fraction of the cost of taking your sportbike to a trackday. And if you’re a dirt guy, there’s even some of that, too. By their very nature, motocrossers are light, narrow, agile, and come packed with potent engines. Converting them into SuMos isn’t more than a wheel change, brake swap, and suspension tweak away, and yet the apparent demand is so small most OEMs – with the exception of Suzuki and its DR-Z400SM – haven’t taken notice.

The famous Nurburgring is known as one of the most dangerous racetracks in the world. With its high speed nature, mixed with a couple tight turns that can throw off the best pilots, it takes a brave soul to pilot a vehicle there at speed. Oh, and don’t forget the guardrails – they’re awfully close to the track. Making matters even more precarious is the fact that cars and motorcycles are allowed on the course at the same time. So not only do you have to worry about the track, you also have to worry about not getting hit by a young buck in a Porsche. That said, get it right and the Nurburgring Nordschleife is an absolute thrill to experience. Get it wrong and you’ll be crying all the way home – if you’re lucky.

Markus Kramer said it so nonchalantly when I asked him. “Three months ago,” he said. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, so I asked in a different way. “You mean to tell me this motorcycle didn’t exist four months ago?” Again, the response was simple. “Yep.” Markus isn’t a man of many words, but that’s when I knew this ride aboard the GP2 Prototype from Kramer Motorcycles was going to be different. I shouldn’t have been surprised. Back when KTM’s 790 Duke was first announced, I knocked on Joe Karvonen’s social media door, asking the sole importer for Kramer Motorcycles USA whether the 790 Twin engine would make its way into a Kramer.

With the championship already decided, what was there left for fans to root for in the MotoGP finale at Valencia? How about Pol Espargaro earning his first ever premier class podium? How about him doing it on a KTM machine, giving the Austrian factory their first MotoGP podium as well? How about Álex Rins giving Suzuki four podia in a row for the first time since 1994 and establishing his dominance over your boy Johann Zarco?

The controversial Romano Fenati is set to return to Grand Prix racing in 2019, reportedly with his former team, Snipers, but with a demotion to the Moto3 class.

MotoGP’s traditional Valenciana finalé, in years like this, resembles a boxing match in which the undercards are vaguely entertaining, and the main event is moved from late Saturday night to Tuesday afternoon and closed to the public. Sure, it would still be great to have a ticket. Even with all three championships decided, you could still get solidly buzzed, maybe work on your tan, and stoke a few adrenaline rushes of your own for your €100. Get your picture taken with a bunch of bored fashion models, too.

For the first 16 laps of today’s Malaysian Grand Prix, Valentino Rossi and his Yamaha YZR-M1 took us back in time to the days when he was reeling off world championships like the Chicago Bulls. We were brought hurtling back to Earth at Turn 1 of Lap 17, when The Doctor lost the rear and slid off, handing the win to the trailing stronzo Marc Marquez. Álex Rins and Johann Zarco joined #93 for the joyous podium celebration, but it felt like the end of an era.

With the title decided, the factory Yamaha “team” of Valentino Rossi & Maverick Viñales, joined by Ducati ace Andrea Dovizioso – the next top three riders in the remnant of the 2018 season left after Marc Marquez secured the championship in Japan – have determined to slug it out until the bitter end in Valencia in the chase for second best in 2018. The young upstart facing the current powerhouse facing the still-competitive old man in the figurative fight to caddy for Marquez as he golfs his way around his world during the winter. Only a mother could love this part of the season.

Five laps into today’s Australian Grand Prix, four of the top riders in the world had become spectators. The residue of this carnage produced a bizarre top ten, headed by Maverick Viñales on the factory Yamaha, cracking a non-win streak for the brand extending back to Assen 2017. Alvaro Bautista finished fourth on Jorge Lorenzo’s Ducati GP18. Even Bradley Smith made a KTM top ten appearance. All in all, a mell of a hess.

Each time we post a story or video around a small-displacement motorcycle, inevitably we’ll see a comment along the lines of, “That bike sucks! It’s way too slow. 1,000cc or nothing, bro!” If you’re one of those people, you’re absolutely going to hate this list. Longtime readers already know this, but if you’re new to Motorcycle.com, you should know that, while we clearly enjoy riding big bikes, we absolutely love riding little bikes – minibikes, even! There are a variety of reasons why, and here we’ve gathered six of them for your consideration. If after reading all six you’re still not convinced, come out with us to give it a try. Really.