2003 Honda Shadow Spirit 750 on 2040-motos

Moto blog

Bahrain track days

A few months ago, expat (and ex racer) John Beddall made contact to ask if I fancied doing some track day instruction out in Bahrain.  After thinking about it for two seconds, flights were booked and a plan was put in place to look after around forty riders for a day at the Bahrain International Circuit (BIC).  Young Taylor Mac was also recruited to look after any tasty riders that I couldn’t deal with   The Brits out there love their bikes, however, quite a few locals also turned up plus a few others from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar.  Most were on high end Superbikes, like S1000s, Panigales and RSV4s but there was also a healthy number R6s and new 675Rs.   Although this fabulous Hermann Tilke designed circuit is around ten years old incredibly it has never hosted a bike race.  The highlight of the year there is F1 but being owned by the Bahrainian Royal family, there is no desperate need for the circuit to operate as a profitable business.  The track reminded me of Qatar but much more interesting as some great undulations have been built into its desert location. We shared the track with Supercars on the day (20mins on/20mins off) and as you might imagine it was betty swollocks for seven hours in the 30 plus temperatures.  As usual there was a few offs with poor old RS1000 Aprilia mounted Andy breaking his femur early in the day.  Two other buddies appeared to swap bikes mid air in another incident but fortunately escaped unhurt.In the evening everyone stayed for an al fresco dinner in the paddock with the craic going on for hours as the Fosters kept flowing.   All in all it was a brilliant trip and it has left me thinking there could be cost effective ways of getting Brits out there for track days next winter.  I'll keep you posted.Cape Town next to make my racing comeback at the Killarney 8 hour on a CBR150 Honda.  Hopefully I can manage the beast, I'll post a full report next week.

Max Biaggi Announces Retirement

Max Biaggi will retire as a champion, announcing his decision to step away from the sport after winning his second World Superbike Championship by just half a point. The man known as the Corsair and the Roman Emperor announced his retirement this morning at a press conference at the Vallelunga circuit near Rome, Italy. Biaggi ends his 21-year international racing career with six world championships, with four consecutive 250cc Grand Prix titles from 1994 to 1997 to go along with his 2010 and 2012 WSBK titles.

Isle of Man TT 2014: Monster Supersport TT 1 Results

Gary Johnson narrowly beat out Bruce Anstey to take the first of two Supersport races at the 2014 Isle of Man TT. Riding the Daytona 675, Johnson’s win was the first for Triumph since 2003, ironically, with Anstey taking the victory that year in the Junior 600cc class. The race started three hours behind schedule due to fog, but once it began it quickly became a duel between Johnson and Anstey.