86 Honda Cr250r (springfield) on 2040-motos

Moto blog

2014 World Supersport – Phillip Island Results

The 2014 World Supersport season opened in dramatic fashion after a red-flagged restart turned the 18-lap race into a five-lap sprint, with MV Agusta making a triumphant return to the top of the podium for the first time since 1976. The Supersport event began with a hard-fought battle between three-time champion Kenan Sofuoglu, Kev Coghlan and Michael van der Mark. Sofuoglu and his Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R held a slim lead over Coghlan’s Yamaha R6 and van der Mark’s Honda CBR600RR when the race was halted after CIA Insurance Honda rider Jack Kennedy suffered an engine problem and leaked oil onto the track.

Florida to Alaska and Back on a Honda CBR125R

A 65-year-old man from Windsor, Ontario, Canada is attempting a cross-continent ride from Key West, Fla., to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska and back, on a Honda CBR125R. Bob Munden of Windsor is attempting to set the record for the smallest motorcycle to make the trip from the southernmost accessible point in North America to the northernmost point, and back. A print shop owner with a stable of five motorcycles, Munden will attempt the trip on the 124.7cc single-cylinder four-stroke Honda CBR125R, an entry-level sportbike model Honda offers in Canada.

Schwantz and Mackenzie on the Nurburgring box

A 500GP bike never fails to stop me in my tracks and that’s exactly what happened when I spotted this Schwantz example from the early nineties, proudly displayed on the Arai stand at the recent Motorcyclelive show.  On loan from Crescent Suzuki and accompanied by a rostrum publicity shot from the 1990 German GP at the Nurburgring, I felt the urge to write a few words on that special weekend. I started the year running my own 250 GP team with fairly standard TZ Yamahas but was drafted in as Kevin Schwantz’s team mate after Kevin Magee suffered a serious head injury at the second Grand Prix in Laguna Seca.  With no testing and some major Spanish food poisoning I finished 8th at the next round in Jerez then followed that up with a 5th place in Misano. Next up was the Nurburgring and after qualifying on the second row of the grid, my crew chief Geoff Crust informed me he had a premonition of a race day rostrum finish. He also told me I better make it come true as he was already looking forward to a few post race celebratory refreshments. While I hoped Crusty was the new mystic meg, the truth was I would have been more than happy to buy the beers if I made it to the flag inside the top five. I had an outside chance of catching one major scalp as Wayne Rainey was riding with a nasty hand injury but I suspected adrenalin would see him through the day. I also followed Mick Doohan a fair bit in practice but he was beginning to find his feet on the Rothmans Honda so was going to be another problem.  When the lights went out Schwantz and Rainey went straight to the front I while I hung in behind Doohan and Pier Francesco Chilli, and then it happened. Coming out of the bottom right hand hairpin, Doohan and Chilli simultaneously high sided in one of the most spectacular crashes of the season. I never liked seeing any fellow riders crash but I made the most of this early race gift and rode my 160bhp/115kg RGV hard to the flag, claiming my first podium of the season.  We partied hard (win or lose we always did) that night and I went on to have my best ever season finishing fourth overall in the championship. After the last round in Australia, I finished second to Kevin at Sugo in Japan then won in Malaysia at another international race that KS didn’t attend. I also tested at Eastern Creek for the following season but then was flicked from the team for reasons that still remain a mystery. Hey Ho!