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Category: Superbikes
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Known for being a big fan of all forms of two-wheels, Kawasaki British Superbike rider Leon Haslam’s latest venture is Supermoto and, as a result, the latest addition to his garage is a Supermoto spec Kawasaki KX450F. 
The highly modified KX machine was sent to Trevor Pope Motorcycles in Gosport – an experienced Supermoto machine builder – who turned the lime green machine into a Supermoto special.
The standard cast Triple Clamps were replaced with an X Trig 16mm Offset Triple Clamp Front End Yoke Set to improve stability, turning and strength. It has a pair of slick Dunlop tyres and the front has been fitted with a Beringer oversize Front Brake Caliper to accept the 320mm oversize wavy Disc to cope with the extra, heavy braking required – there’s a wavy disc on the rear too. The standard clutch has been changed to a Sutter Slipper clutch too – which is essential to enable the rear wheel to break and gain traction. The machine has also received SAMCO Silicone Radiator Hoses – in green, of course, plus much more…
Leon Haslam said: “I can’t wait to get to have a play on it! Kawasaki have been kind enough to build me a full racing bike – I’ve seen the odd picture of the bike as it’s been built but to see it in the flesh now is awesome.
I got into supermoto over the winter for training ahead of the British Superbike Championship. I train out in Spain with the Lowes twins – we ride pit bikes, motocross and supermoto – and was borrowing their bike, so I was keen to get one of my own. From my perspective, I’ll be using it mainly for training. There’s lots of good spots we go to in the UK too – we usually ride them on pit bikes so to attack them on a super KX450F will be good fun!”
To view the full range of KX machines, visit: www.kawasaki.co.uk
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Team Winfield, one of the most successful Classic motorcycle racing teams on the planet, will once again take to the TT Mountain Course in 2017 having secured the considerable talents of Josh Brookes for the Classic TT Races presented by Bennetts.
The team will concentrate their efforts this year on the Bennetts Senior Classic TT Race with Australian ace Brookes campaigning the 500cc Paton that John McGuinness took to a record-breaking victory 12 months ago.
Roger Winfield’s outfit have been ever-present at the Classic TT since 2013, and the Classic Manx Grand Prix before that, and although McGuinness was out of luck in the early years of the Classic TT, he made up for that last year when he won the race and set a new lap record of 113.342mph as he came home over twenty seconds clear of Dean Harrison.
The 23-time Isle of Man TT had been due to ride Winfield’s rapid 500cc twin cylinder Paton again this year but having sustained leg injuries at the North West 200, the team were in need of a top quality replacement and they’ve got just that in 34-year old Brookes.
The former British Superbike Champion enjoyed a superb return to the 37.73-mile Mountain Course at this year’s TT as he lapped at close to 131mph on the SG6 Norton on his way to securing sixth place in the Pokerstars Senior Race. He took the same result in the Bennetts Lightweight Race, on Ryan Farquhar’s IEG/KMR Kawasaki. The Northern Irishman himself has a strong link to Team Winfield having taken numerous victories at the Manx Grand Prix on Winfield’s immaculately prepared machines.
Brookes will be getting his first taste of Classic TT action but there’s not doubt that the combination of his skill and talent and Winfield’s engineering expertise, is one to be feared They will come into this year’s event as one of the pre-race favourites. Indeed, the Sydney rider could well start favourite for his maiden Mountain Course race victory.
Team owner Roger Winfield commented:
“We were deeply saddened when John (McGuinness) was ruled out after his crash at the North West 200. Working with John has been a real highlight for our team over the past few years and after some terrible luck we showed what we are capable of last year when he won the race and moved the lap record on considerably. Hopefully he will continue to mend well and we look forward to be able to work with him again in the future.”
He continued:
“The task of replacing the most successful living TT rider has been a difficult one and we would have been forced to miss the event if we couldn’t find a rider of the very highest calibre to fill John’s boots so we were delighted when Josh Brookes agreed to join our team. While not as experienced on the Mountain Course as some of the riders in the field, there is no question about his skill level, and his results impressed everyone at this year’s TT after two years away. We will give Josh a great bike which hopefully he will get a lot of enjoyment out of riding, and we will see where we all end up after a week’s qualifying and four fast laps in the race itself.”
Josh Brookes added:
“It’s great to be riding the team Winfield Paton at the Classic TT. The team and the bike clearly have pedigree having won last year’s race and setting a new lap record. It’s going to be a steep learning curve for me with a type of bike I have no experience of riding, but I am looking forward to the challenge and will give it my all to give Roger and the team a good result.”
Classic TT Grandstand tickets are available now starting from as little at £5 with race day tickets priced at £20. VIP experiences, tickets for the Classic TT Party on Saturday 26thAugust the RST Classic TT Legends Dinner on Sunday 27th and the Classic TT Prize giving and Closing Party on Monday 28th August are all available to buy now at iomtt.com or our sales hotline on (00 44) (0) 1624 640011.
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The US Round of the 2017 FIM Superbike World Championship has come to a close today at the Laguna Seca Raceway, with Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team’s Stefan Bradl and Jake Gagne finishing in 11th and 14th place respectively, at the end of the second 25-lap WorldSBK encounter of the weekend.
Bradl had an exciting first third of the race: from 17th place on the grid, the 27-year-old German managed to make his way up to 10th after only eight laps. He was then involved in a three-way battle for ninth with Lowes and van der Mark and eventually rode a lonely last part of the race in 11th position all the way up to the chequered flag.
Jake Gagne rode in the top-15 for the majority of the race and well defended his 14th place – despite some rear-grip issues – until two laps to go, when he was passed by Krummenacher. The 23-year-old completed his first World Superbike round with yet another 15th place and one more point in the standings.
World Superbike will now enjoy a five-weekend break before the next round, which takes place at the Lausitzring in Germany on August 18-20.
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The Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team has completed the first day of action for the eighth round of the 2017 FIM Superbike World Championship, which is currently underway at the Laguna Seca raceway in California. Stefan Bradl and new recruit for the American event, Jake Gagne, were 14th and 17th respectively in the combined times of today’s two free practice sessions and will therefore start tomorrow’s qualifying from Superpole 1.
Bradl got an OK start to the round by completing the first session in ninth place on board his Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP2 machine. In the early minutes of FP2, however, the 27-year-old German tucked the front-end of the bike entering the Corkscrew; he then slid onto the gravel side by side with his motorcycle and ended up back onto the track. After the crash, red flags were deployed and not long after the restart – given the limited damage taken by the bike – Stefan was able to return to the track. Bradl could not improve on his morning’s lap-time and therefore ended the day in 14th place.
Bradl’s team mate for the US Round, Jake Gagne, made his much-anticipated World Superbike debut and used the majority of the track time getting to grips with the WorldSBK-spec version of the Fireblade as well as the Pirelli tyres. The 23-year-old American steadily improved lap after lap throughout the two sessions but he also ended up crashing unhurt – in the final minutes of the Free practice 2 – at the Corkscrew, with the dynamic of the accident that it was almost identical to the one occurred to his team mate earlier on.
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The legendary TT Mountain Course will reverberate to one of the most distinctive racing sounds from the 1960s at this year’s Classic TT Races presented by Bennetts as the iconic 250cc Honda-6 will complete a demonstration lap around the 37.73-mile circuit on Monday 28th August, the second race day of this year’s Classic TT meeting.
Owned by Team Obsolete’s Rob Iannucci, the ‘Six’ is the first example of Honda’s ground-breaking machine and is the only surviving RC165. Jim Redman first rode it, followed by Stuart Graham before Mike Hailwood took it to victory in the 1966 Czechoslovakian Grand Prix.
Redman raced what was the first Honda ‘Six’ at Monza in 1964 where it was rushed from Japan in the passenger compartment of a commercial airplane. The Rhodesian took third at Monza and then took the bike to its maiden victory when he won the 1964 250cc Japanese Grand Prix.
The ‘Six’ was one of the most interesting and most technically advanced racing motorcycles of its time and was built to put a stop to the run of victories for the 250cc Yamaha which, in the hands of Phil Read, won the 1964 and 1965 250cc World Championships.
Although the six-cylinder Honda 250 did not win the championship in 1965, it was able to put up a competitive fight against the two-cylinder Yamaha, ridden by Read and Mike Duff. Redman won the 250cc TT that year for the fourth time in a row. Yamaha’s response was to produce an updated two-stroke, four-cylinder motorcycle, built solely to stand up to the competition from the Honda. Ex-factory Honda rider Steve Plater, winner of the 2009 Senior TT Race and current presenter on the TT and Classic TT ITV4 highlights programmes, will ride the bike with the Lincolnshire rider completing a demonstration lap on Monday 28th August, ahead of the Motorsport Merchandise Superbike Classic TT Race.
The “Six” will first appear at the VMCC’s Festival of Jurby on Sunday 27th August for some shakedown laps. Dave Roper, winner of the 1984 Senior Classic TT, will ride the Honda at Jurby on the 27th.
ITV4 will feature the Honda Six in their highlights programme with Plater, as expected, embracing the Classic TT spirit by riding in replica leathers and helmet, evoking memories of the machine’s 1960s heyday.
Team Obsolete owner Robert Iannucci has supported the Classic TT with a series of iconic bikes with Mountain Circuit connections since the event was established in 2013 and both Redman and Graham will attend the Classic TT to talk about their experiences with the bikes.
Iannucci says of the restoration of his bike: "Recently we disassembled and scrutinized the entire motorcycle again. We are carefully rebuilding the motor with new pistons and a new crankshaft assembly. We commissioned two from an Italian Formula One technology company, supplying them with the complete original crankshaft assembly which they reverse engineered. Their engineers said that they got an education from the process. "Team Obsolete has been racing classic bikes since 1978 and have now competed in 1500 races with 50 riders. Our victory in the 1984 Historic TT, and the 1989 Manx GP Milne Shield, sealed our love for the Mountain Circuit, which represents the ultimate challenge. We have made 26 starts in all, with two wins and two fastest laps.”
"The Classic TT has now emerged as the crown jewel of classic motorcycle sport worldwide. We are honoured to have received an invitation every year since its inception to share our historic bikes with our friends. All of us come because we must. Regardless of where we hail from, we are all drawn to something very special. We all know that we belong here. We see it in each other’s faces and we feel it in our bones."
The man chosen to ride the machine at this years Classic TT, Steve Plater added:
“It is an honour to have been asked to ride of the most iconic and technically ground breaking motorcycles ever built on the most famous race circuit in the world. Whenever a bike like this gets demonstrated at other events, it is normally over a very short run, so you have to admire the ambition of Robert Iannucci and Team Obsolete in making this happen for a full lap of the TT Mountain Circuit. I’m sure the fans coming to this year’s event are in for an assault on their senses when this bike comes past!”
Classic TT Grandstand tickets are available now starting from as little at £5 with race day tickets priced at £20. VIP experiences, tickets for the Classic TT Party on Saturday 26thAugust the RST Classic TT Legends Dinner on Sunday 27th and the Classic TT Prize giving and Closing Party on Monday 28th August are all available to buy now at iomtt.com or our sales hotline on (00 44) (0) 1624 640011.
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