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Category: Events and Shows

  1. RIDING LEGENDS ROAR INTO MANCHESTER MOTORCYCLE SHOW

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    Riding legends will be roaring into the Manchester Motorcycle Show, held at Manchester Central Convention Complex on Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th January 2012. Former British Superbike Champion turned MotoGP TV commentator Steve Parrish, TT racers Guy Martin and Michael Dunlop and the fastest female TT racer Jenny Tinmouth will all be in attendance.

    Steve Parrish brings over 30 years of motorcycling experience to Manchester. He is guaranteed to keep the crowd entertained with his superb sense of humour as he tells a tale or two. If you have a question, then ask away as Steve will be on hand to provide the answer as well as signing autographs throughout the weekend.

    One of the hottest bikes on display will be TT racer Guy Martin’s 500bhp turbo café racer, brought to the show by none other than the man himself. Guy, who will be at the show on Saturday to talk about the bike and sign autographs, has built the bike from a 1991 GSX-R1100 but not much of the original bike remains as it now has a 1380cc big bore engine and fuel injection.

    Jenny Tinmouth represents the female population in the world of motorbikes by being the fastest woman to ever go around the Isle of Man TT course as well as competing in the 2011 British Superbike Championship and British Supersport Championship.  Chester-born Jenny can tell you what it’s like to be a female racer in a predominately male environment.

    On the Hunts Motorcycle Honda stand throughout the weekend will be Guy’s racing opponent and Double TT winner Michael Dunlop.

    Adult ticket prices are £10 when booking in advance, £15 on the day. Children under 15 years enter for free when accompanied by a paying adult. The show is open from 10am each day and closes at 5pm. To book tickets and for the latest updates, visit www.manchestermotorcycleshow.com

  2. Africa or Perù?

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    Alain Duclos reaches the 15th place in stage 12th. Peru is the 27th country crossed by the Dakar, and tests the skills of the riders with its difficulties.

    NASCA –It was expected that the Dakar difficulties were growing with its stages, as it was shown today with its 12th special between Arequipa and Nasca, known by its lines only visible from the sky.

    It was the second part of the marathon stage, with a 245 kilometers special stage, which contained all possible kind of grounds. It started in the beach, followed by road tracks, canyon and the terrible dunes of Tacana, with a sand so softened that was almost a sacrifice for the engines.

    The lands looked like Mauritania, a strong point of the Dakar in Africa, with lots of “camel grass”. It was a special where Alain Duclos had lots of fun on his Aprilia, and proved it with the 15th position of the day. Alain thought lots of the friction of the engine and took extremely care of it. He is one of the few riders that have not changed the engine yet, which demonstrates the liability of the v-twin engine of the Aprilia.

    As the overall position is no longer a matter since stage seven, the French-Malian rider keeps rolling to acquire more experience and test the bike performance.

    Alain Duclos: “I think this was the most beautiful stage of all Dakar. There were so many different kind of ground in only 250 kilometers! It seemed like if we were in Mauritania. I felt well and my Aprilia worked perfectly. I took care of the engine in the dunes; they were very soft, so soft that I needed to get out of them in 1st gear with the engine giving all of its power!”

  3. Dakar 2012, Aprilia Team looks for the top

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    Everything is ready for Dakar 2012. After the two days of scrutineerings, all is set for the big start in January 1st. Team Aprilia will be represented by the Chilean rider Francisco “Chaleco” López and the French-Malian Alain Duclos.

    MAR DEL PLATA – The bureaucracy preceding the race is finally over and everything is set for the big show of the Dakar Argentina-Chile-Peru, which will start tomorrow with the first of fourteen stages. Team Aprilia will relive the adventure with last year´s amazing performance of Francisco “Chaleco” López, who has finished third and fourth in the last two editions.

    “Chaleco” has totally recovered from the accident in Tunisia´s Rally and find himself motivated to face this new adventure. The Chilean rider will be accompanied by his “bodyguard” Alain Duclos, who will participate in the Dakar with Aprilia for the second time after his outstanding performance as last year´s fastest private rider!

    The duo will take the new version of the Aprilia RXV 4.5 into the South American deserts specially prepared by Aprilia Racing that made this new bike faster and lighter. Many other technical changes were applied to adapt the bike for rally raid use, most of all concerning reliability, a very important matter in order to complete the 8391 kilometers of the race that will cross Argentina, Chile and Peru, where riders will reach the finish line in Lima next January 15th.

    There will be also two other Aprilia RXV in the race, supported by the structure of Team Giofil: the French rider of thirty seven years old Arnaud Besnier that jumps into this extreme challenge, and also Edouard Boulanger, Dakar Challenge´s winner who will make his dream come true. The French rider living in Italy earned the free registration fees to participate in the Dakar after his great performance as private rider in Pharaons Rally 2011.

    Tomorrow the Dakar 2012 will have its official start ceremony in Plaza Colón in Mar del Plata, in front of the Casino Municipal, where all competitors will greet the start and the first competitive stage will be a 57 km timed section with 763 of road connection to arrive to the first bivouac located in Santa Rosa de La Pampa.

    APRILIA RACING RIDERS

    FRANCISCO “CHALECO” LOPEZ

    Francisco López was born September 15th, 1975 in Curicó, the southern center region of Chile. At the age of four, he starts riding a motorcycle, motivated by his father, Renato Lopez, a very brave motocross rider. López not only inherits the talent from his father, but also the nickname “Chaleco”, which means “sweater”, coming from the fact that his dad raced with a sweater knitted by his mother Ana María.

    He started in rally raid in Por las Pampas in 2005, where he obtained a stage victory, showing its strength in this discipline. In 2007, he was crowned World Champion in 450 cc class with Honda. This result took him straight to take the place of an official KTM rider in 2007.

    “Chaleco” became an official rider of Team Giofil Aprilia Racing in Pharaons Rally 2009 and took the Aprilia bike made in Noale, Italy, to the third place in Dakar 2010. That same year, López won the Rally of Tunisia and took the second place overall and first in 450cc class in the Rally of Egypt, finishing second in the world ranking.

    The unfortunate end of Dakar 2011 is still in mind. López was on the third place overall, but some miles before the finish line of the last stage the rear suspension broke down and he could only reach the fourth place after two stage victories. Then, in Tunisia´s Rally last April, the Chilean was well placed overall when an accident cost him a long period of inactivity and time to recover from it.

    Now, Chaleco is ready to race again, motivated to the highest point after his return to the races in Pharaons 2011 last October, his last test before the Dakar 2012 Argentina-Chile-Peru.

    ALAIN DUCLOS

    Alain Duclos was born on June 25th, 1971 in Bamako, Mali, from a French father and Malian mother. At the beginning of the 80´s, and as part of a very passionate family, he discovered the two wheel universe but he was still too young, so he decided to dedicate himself to BMX.

    In 1982, the Dakar´s passage through Korghoro light the fire inside of him and he promised himself that he was going to participate on it once.

    He practiced Enduro for years until he finally took part of the race in 2000, in the Dakar Paris-Dakar-Cairo. Duclos has always been improving results, he took the 14th place in 2005 and 7th in 2006, where he was the fastest private rider.

    Also 6th in 2010, before starting with Team Aprilia, he alternated great stage results and technical problems during the last Dakar, where he was an outstanding support for the 4th position of Francisco López. Duclos arrives to the hardest race in the world highly motivated to take his new Aprilia RXV 4.5 to the top.

  4. Christmas comes early for MOSI’s Harley winner

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    When Jeremy Harrison admired an 883 Sportster Harley-Davidson motorcycle during a visit to MOSI (Museum of Science & Industry, Manchester) earlier this year, he never imagined that he might actually get to ride it. The doctor from Lancashire is celebrating Christmas early this year as he is the lucky winner of the motorcycle in a raffle organised by exhibition organiser Claridon and MOSI.

    The bike was the star prize for a raffle associated with the Customising, Culture & Harley-Davidson exhibition, which ended on 30 October 2011. The raffle sold 1989 tickets and closed on 30 November. The motorcycle, which was provided by Claridon, comes with a full tank of petrol and 12 months warranty. Emergency Medicine Consultant Jeremy Harrison, (age 51 years), who is married with four children and lives in Carnforth, won the bike after buying six raffle tickets during a visit to MOSI with his children.

    Jeremy said: “I saw the Harley-Davidson bike when I came to MOSI and stood there admiring it for ages before I bought the tickets. Afterwards I forgot all about it and was completely blown away when I heard I’d won it. I thought the kids were winding me up as I never win things! I had a motorcycle when I was at university and have been on the verge of getting my full licence for years, so I guess this will be the thing that finally makes me do it!”

    Chris Scott from Claridon said: “I’m delighted to present this fantastic Harley-Davidson motorcycle as a prize in association with our recent exhibition. This is a great bike to get Jeremy back into motorcycling and I wish him many happy years of adventures on it. Jeremy is always more than welcome to come riding with the Claridon team. ”

    Customising, Culture & Harley-Davidson exhibition was at MOSI from 15 April – 30 October. For more information about MOSI please look up www.mosi.org.uk 

  5. Gearing up for Prescott Bike Festival 2012 New date - Sunday 22nd April 2012

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    The first annual Prescott Bike Festival in 2011 was successful beyond expectations. The one-day event attracted in excess of 5,500 visitors, 100 exhibitors and some unforgettable opportunities to celebrate all things two and three wheeled. Most importantly, it raised more than £52,000 for charities.

    The Prescott Bike Festival was born out of the need to raise awareness and funds for the Nationwide Association of Blood Bikes and one of its member groups, Severn Freewheelers. For Sunday 22nd April 2012 (a new date to avoid a clash with major bike motor sport events), the Prescott Bike Festival will be bigger and even better. It will hopefully generate even more money for the Nationwide Association of Blood Bikes than in 2011.

    Set at one of the most prestigious hill climb venues in the UK against the beautiful backdrop of the Cotswold countryside, the Prescott Bike Festival aims to provide something for everyone; a relaxed family atmosphere, a huge variety of entertainment and a rare opportunity to ‘Run the Hill’ on your own motorcycle.

    Well supported by the bike industry, highlights of the 2011 event included the UK debut of the Morgan 3 Wheeler, classic machinery from the Brooklands Museum, helicopter rides, live bands, the opportunity to meet the stars of the British Superbike Championship and riders aged from 8 to 81 taking to the hill.

    In 2012, the Festival will feature the addition of a new Race Bikes Thru’ the Ages display. Never before will such an extensive collection of bikes have been brought together. Here, festival goers will not only be able to get up close with rare exotica, early pioneering machinery, modern MotoGP bikes and more but they will see many of them in action, ridden by race riders. Of particular note is support from competitors in the Lansdowne Classic Series, who will display some of the most prestigious race bikes of the 1950s and 1960s. The 2012 Festival also promises a new Orchard Food & Bar Village, a Run the Hill Fancy Dress competition and much more. One of the most amusing new features for the Prescott Bike Festival 2012 was inspired by the unexpected entry of Superman in the 2011 Run the Hill. For 2012, entrants can choose to tackle the hill climb in fancy dress to raise money for the Blood Bike charities and for the chance of winning a fantastic prize for the best costume of the day!

    www.prescottbikefestival.co.uk has just been launched to provide more details of what will be in store and give riders the opportunity to purchase advance tickets and secure their place to Run the Hill. There are just 200 places available to Run the Hill, so it’s best to book early!