The FIM Magazine - Ride with Us - N° 77

R I DE F I M

M A G A Z I N E

WITH US!

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ICE RACING RUSSIAN STYLE

A YEAR OF MANY POSSIBILITIES FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

BST BLACKSTONE BLACK GOLD!

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FEBRUARY MARCH 2011 5

Editorial RIDE SUPERBIKE

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Major Targets FIM Superbike World Championship FIM INSIDE GALLERY SUPERCROSS

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The Nicolls Father & Son!

gallery SUPERCROSS

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What is going on in the AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship?

GALLERY SUPERCROSS

Publishing Director: Guy Maitre Chief Editor: Isabelle Larivière Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme 11, route Suisse – 1295 Mies – Suisse Tel : +41-22 950 95 00 – Fax : +41-22 950 95 01 @ : info@fim.ch website : fim-live.com Photos: FIM/Good-Shoot Eric Malherbe Zanzani/Nikon Yamaha Racing Brown Dog Wilson Stan Perec Oliver Franke-IFMXF Slava C. Lavery/FIM Jay Groat Lay-out & Printing: OIKO SERVICE srl via Po 74 66020 S.Giovanni Teatino Chieti (Italy)

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RIDE motogp

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The copying of articles and photos even partially is forbidden unless permission has been requested from the FIM in advance and reference is made to the source (© FIM).

FIM INSIDE

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Libor Podmol: “The most important run of my life…”

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FIM INSIDE RIDE ICE RACING

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Ice Racing - Russian Style VINTAGE

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International Six Days Trial - Chapter 2 The 1923 Affair TECH TALK

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The articles published in this magazine do not necessarily reflect the official position of the FIM. The content of this publication is based on the best knowledge and information available at the time the articles were written.

A year of many possibilities

GALLERY FREESTYLE

FIM Magazine n°77 Issued February March 2011 Past issues available on request

Christina Denney: Team Manager

BST Blackstone Black Gold!

GALLERY

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Here come the Girls Sidecar Track Racing passengers

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ROAD BOOK APRIL/MAY

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editorial Continental Unions: New objectives and new image.

The first Continental Union was born 36 years ago in Latin America, at the initiative of a small group of FIM affiliated Federations. That continent was looking with admiration at the European continent, home of the FIM since its foundation and also the host of most World Championships.

Vito IPPOLITO FIM President

The desire to get closer, to be recognised and heard was a strong motivation to create the Latin American Motorcycle Union (ULM) in 1975. The size of the continent was also an inspiring factor to find better ways to organise their own competitions.

AF R I CA

ASIA

In 1998, after 23 years, at the initiative of the FIM, the decision was made to create a Union for each continent and this is how five more unions were born in Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and Oceania. The intention was to reach a higher level of organisation, although some leaders also tried to give it a political connotation.

The FIM, as many other affiliated Federations, needed to expand its World Championships, maintain close contact with all the Federations and improve service delivery.

Today, after just over 10 years, each of the actors in this story has accumulated significant experience and many things have been happening around the world. We have found more opportunities for development and we are also more aware of the threats. Thus we have recently introduced new ideas to develop continental activities and coordinate them with the main objectives set out in our Strategic Plan.

The main objective of the FIM is the development of the sport around the world. But it’s not just about that anymore. We plan to deepen relations with the authorities involved in motorcycle use on the roads. There are specific targets in the area of the environment and development of alternative energies. Finally, we are beginning to cover all areas that relate to motorcycling.

To achieve these objectives on a global scale and for the benefit of all, it is necessary to align and harmonise the plans of the Continental Unions with those of the FIM. These Unions will actually be the most powerful vehicles at the service of motorcycling. And to give them more strength and better tools, we don’t only support them financially but we also want to enhance their image before our public, the authorities, sponsors, promoters, riders, etc. For these reasons today their names have changed by using the FIM name followed by the name of their continent.

EUROPE

LATIN

AMERICA

NORTH

AMERICA

Until the next edition.

OCEANIA

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MAJOR TARGETS 2011 FIM SUPERBIKE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

BIAGGI AND APRILIA GO FOR A SECOND TITLE, BMW HAS FINISHED PLAYING, KAWASAKI IS BACK AND DUCATI IS NOT DEAD. THERE ARE SEVEN MANUFACTURERS AND THE SAME NUMBER OF MAJOR TARGETS FOR A FIM SUPERBIKE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP WITH MULTIPLE ENTRIES.

Seven manufacturers but for the first time in the history of the FIM Superbike World Championship there is no factory Ducati on the starting grid in 2011. ///

This FIM Superbike World Championship season won’t be exactly the same as the others. For the first time in the history of this championship, there will be no factory Ducati on the starting grid. This absence is the symbol of a changing era which is leading Superbike more towards “support” teams with less direct engagement from the factories. The “Xerox” bikes were stored in the museum of souvenirs just after Magny-Cours 2010. Finally there are only BMW, Aprilia and Yamaha left who are directly involved in competition without passing through a structure, as is the case of Honda with Ten Kate, Kawasaki with Paul Bird or even Suzuki with Alstare. Ducati has not disappeared from the monitors in 2011 as the manufacturer has chosen to be present through three teams. Althea, Liberty and Supersonic: three teams and four motorcycles with Carlos Checa, Jakub Smrz, Sylvain Guintoli and Maxime Berger. Benefitting from a direct technical support of the Borgo Panigale factory, a rider like Carlos Checa is capable of running for the 2011 title, without any complex, facing the factory RSV4 Aprilia.

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BIAGGI AND THE DOUBLE STRIKE Are Max Biaggi and Aprilia able to clinch a second consecutive title in the FIM Superbike World Championship? There are some hints that will give us a more precise idea of the situation. The oldest rider of the class, at 39 (he will be 40 on June 26), did not hide his impatience last winter, not to say his irritation. Between 2 December 2010 (private testing at Phillip Island) and 21 February 2011 (official practice at Phillip Island), Max Biaggi only did 46 laps on his RSV4 Aprilia during official testing sessions organised by tyre manufacturer Pirelli in Portimão (Portugal), largely perturbed by heavy rain. The Roman is very much interested in a perfect setup. His machine and his winter programme didn’t satisfy him. More to the point, others, such as BMW, did not waste their time. Nevertheless, Max Biaggi knows he can count on a high-performance RSV4 which has undergone little evolution between the end of last season and the beginning of 2011. The 2010 FIM Superbike World Champion recently declared: “Those who think I gave the best of myself in 2010 are making a mistake. This year, my adversaries who want to become World Champion must first beat me”.

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The 2010 FIM Superbike World Champion Ma x Biaggi rece ntl y declared: “Those who think I gave the best of myself in 2010 are making a mistake. This year, my adversaries who want to become World Champion must first beat me�.

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BMW AIMS FOR THE TOP For of all, this 2011 season will be marked by the European rivalry between Aprilia and BMW. The former, with a title and the glory brought by the 2010 World Champion Max Biaggi will fight against a German manufacturer which has carefully planned its season.

At BMW, everything started at the end of 2010 with a double, resounding divorce. Even before the end of the season, the Italian team manager Davide Tardozzi was fired, followed a couple of weeks later by the Sports Director Berthold Hauser, who was at the origin of the Superbike project. With a clean slate at managerial level, BMW was at the same time signing with the 2010 runner-up Leon Haslam. During the whole winter, different stages of physical preparation and circuit testing in Europe and Australia did not stop.

Strategically, BMW even built up a B team with its Italian importer, and recruited the double World Champion James Toseland and the 1000 Superstock Cup winner Ayrton Badovini. Even if nothing was officially confirmed, it is evident that this team will be in charge of the development and validation of the technical solutions throughout the season. BMW’s aims are very high. By signing with Leon Haslam, the only rider last year capable to challenge Max Biaggi during the whole season, the German manufacturer has big hopes to fight for the title as of this year. It is still running after its first victory.

By signing with Leon Haslam, the only rider last year capable of challenging Max Biaggi, the German manufacturer BMW has big hopes of fighting for the 2011 title. ///

THE METAMORPHOSIS OF KAWASAKI After years of problems with the former generation of ZX-10R, Kawasaki has found the necessary means to be back in the forefront. The new Ninja seems promising and all the testing made since last August (the first one was made in Autopolis, Japan) shows that important technical work is being done under the direction of the Japanese engineer Yoda. The engine has not changed much but the chassis and the geometry of the green Superbike is very different. Faster in curves, easier to maintain on the trajectory, more reactive, the new generation of ZX-10R is satisfying its riders, starting with the Englishman Tom Sykes. With a very good end of the 2010 season, Sykes was confirmed by the manufacturer for the team in 2011, beside Chris Vermeulen and the Spaniard Joan Lascorz. However, this complete casting also brings some problems to the team. Since his crash in Australia at the beginning of 2010, Chris Vermeulen has been seriously suffering from a knee injury and his comeback to competition has been delayed. He almost didn’t do any testing during the winter and without doubt he

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The new Ninja seems promising and all the testing made since last August shows that important technical work is being done under the direction of the Japanese engineer Yoda. ///

won’t be at his best level for several weeks.

Joan Lascorz, also seriously hurt following a crash in Silverstone during the FIM Supersport World Championship round last August, is progressively coming back. His

winter tests are very promising, but bearing in mind his lack of experience (first season in Superbike), it is above all Tom Sykes who Kawasaki Kawasaki will be depending on in the hope for quick results.

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THE CHANCES OF DUCATI Following the disappearance of the Ducati Xerox official team, betting on the chances of Ducati in the 2011 competition is not obvious. However, the factory remains present through the technical support brought to the teams entered with its machines, in particular regarding the structure of Althea in which Carlos Checa is a leading rider. The Spaniard with his experience will be the top rider for Ducati in 2011. The direct support from Ernesto Marinelli, the last team manager of the official Ducatis and Technical Director of the team during the Bayliss years, is witness to it. Ducati may have withdrawn, but the factory remains involved. Moreover, its history within Superbike is sufficiently rich in order not to come to

an end. The formula has changed but the interest of Ducati for it remains intact. No one then should be amazed to see 1198Rs in the forefront of a race. Carlos Checa had a great first part of the 2010 season before suffering from repeated mechanical problems, such as in the USA when his motorcycle suddenly stopped in each of the two races while he was clearly in the lead. The Spaniard may perfectly well think he can match the performances of Max Biaggi’s Aprilia. At the beginning of the winter he said: “in order to beat the Aprilia, I just need a little more power”. Now that the factory 1198Rs are gone, Ducati will surely give out some technical secrets “which will make the difference” to Checa’s team.

The Ducati factory remains present through the technical support brought to the teams, in particular regarding the structure of Althea in which the experienced Spanish rider Carlos Checa is the top rider for Ducati in 2011. ///

THE SUZUKI COMPLEX Suzuki is the only manufacturer present in Superbike which is entering only one motorcycle. The budget restrictions from Japan had a hard impact on the structure of Francis Batta who did not have the means for a second rider. The only GSX-R 1000 on the 2011 grid will be in the hands of the Italian Michele Fabrizio. After years spent on a Ducati, first as a privateer in the DFX team, then as an factory rider alongside Troy Bayliss, then Noriyuki Haga, Fabrizio is again finding the sensations of an in-line four-cylinder engine. These are difficult working conditions as one knows that the Japanese manufacturer invested very little last year in technical development while Leon Haslam was still in the lead of

the Championship’s provisional classification. What will happen this year? Nobody knows. There are no sponsors knocking on the teams’ doors to offer support, and if the manufacturers step back technically, performances will drop. However, Michel Fabrizio may count on an Alstare team known for its competence and devotion, and also on the great experience of the boss Francis Batta. Now, all this does not change the fact that Michel will be the only rider on a GSX-R and that he will not be able to exchange information with anyone. This kind of technical isolation is not always easy for a rider to face.

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THE RENEWAL OF YAMAHA The 2011 season of the official Yamaha team is placed under the sign of renewal. Neither of the two riders contracted has any experience in the Superbike World Championship. Marco Melandri disembarked from the MotoGP planet, and Eugene Laverty spent the last two years fighting for the title of the FIM Supersport World Championship, which he missed each time by a few points. To complete the picture, the famous team manager Massimo “Maio” Meregalli went to the MotoGP as Ben Spies’ manager in the official Yamaha team. His replacement, Andrea Dosoli, is not an unknown figure, as he shared the Hayate adventure in MotoGP with Marco Melandri. Anyway, Yamaha is putting up a completely renewed team, with a certain number of interesting talents and individuals

who now have to work together. Besides an operation on his shoulder this winter which left him temporarily handicapped, Marco Melandri will have at his disposal a perfectly prepared R1 for his first Superbike season. One must take care, however, as Laverty could thwart Melandri as team leader. This winter, in particular in Portimão, the Irishman showed that he is extremely fast riding the R1 and that he was already following the path of a certain Cal Crutchlow with whom he fought in 2009 for the Supersport World title. Laverty is the kind of rider who learns fast and who has no complexes. Melandri may have some worries as his teammate will be his first rival.

Marco Melandri, disembarked from the MotoGP planet, will have a perfectly prepared R1 at his disposal for his first Superbike season. ///

HONDA’S CONTINUITY This winter, beyond his testing and development programme with his Ten Kate Honda team, Jonathan Rea also had the privilege of testing the MotoGP factory RCV 212V during a private session in Sepang. This may be a sign that HRC – Honda Racing Corporation – has some mid-term views for the young English rider. The message is clear: “Win the FIM Superbike World Championship and there are good chances for you to go to MotoGP in 2012”. Moreover, it will be

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the year of changes in the MotoGP rules and the arrival of “Johnny” would tactically be a good plan. For the time being, the Honda official rider carries on his shoulders all the hopes of the manufacturer for a title in 2011. This manufacturer has not launched any new CBR for the last three years, and the development of the Superbike machine is not an easy task. Honda knows that it can count on Jonathan Rea and his determination in the races to fight for the title among the group of top riders on the 2011 grid. It remains to be seen whether the CBR 1000 will offer the necessary performances.

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2011 FIM SUPERSPORT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

BRAND NEW CLOTHES Two things must be remembered about the profile of the FIM Supersport World Championship even before the start of the first race. First: the grid is full, with not less than 29 permanent riders entered. There were only 17 riders at the start of the Supersport at Phillip Island last year. Second: the three main contenders of the 2010 Championship – Kenan Sofuoglu, Eugene Laverty and Joan Lascorz – are no longer in Supersport in 2011. The Turkish rider went to Moto2 and the two others will fight in the FIM Superbike World Championship: the Irishman on a Yamaha and the Spaniard on a Kawasaki. In short, the 2011 FIM Supersport World Championship is wearing brand new clothes. In the Ten Kate Honda team, with the title in the bag, the renewal comes from France. Nine years after his World title, the first clinched by the Dutch structure, Fabien Foret is again riding a factory Honda. “When you are in the Ten Kate team, you know why you are there”, said the French rider during the winter, just after signing his contract. He will have Florian Marino as his teammate. Aged 17, the Frenchman is the youngest rider ever contracted by the Ten Kate brothers in the World Championship. Runner-up in the 600cc Superstock, Marino gets to ride one of the best machines on the grid

without any pressure. Target: to learn quickly and well! The competition already seems tough for the two Frenchmen.

British Supersport Champion Sam Lowes replaces Eugene Laverty on the Parkalgar Honda. As from the first testing sessions in Portimão last January, he was the fastest. The two factory Kawasaki riders, the Australian Broc Parkes and the Spaniard David Salom, will also be serious competitors for the title. But the most important factor of this winter remains the comeback of the Yamaha team in the FIM Supersport World Championship. With the 2009 title thanks to Cal Crutchlow, the Japanese manufacturer left the Championship in 2010 for essentially financial reasons. The R6 are back with the Italian structure BE1 Racing which was competing last year under the colours of the British manufacturer Triumph. BE1 Racing, with Chaz Davies and Luca Scassa, should again race the 2011 Championship under the English brand and colours, but the proposal from Yamaha has decided otherwise, and here are Scassa and Davies on R6, unfortunately for Triumph and its high-performance Daytona 675, without any structure one month before the start of the Championship.

by Eric Malherbe

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STEVE AESCHLIMANN FIM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, OPERATIONS

IN MARCH, THE FIM BOARD OF DIRECTORS MADE PUBLIC THE HIRING OF ITS NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OPERATIONS: STEVE AESCHLIMANN. A SWISS AND ITALIAN CITIZEN, STEVE JOINS THE FIM FROM THE UEFA WHERE HE HAD SIMILAR RESPONSIBILITIES.

This new role is a positive consequence of the FIM’s new governance and revised organisation structure. Reporting to the CEO, Steve will lead all “support” functions of the FIM Administration providing a series of services to the FIM staff and volunteers around the world.

“The FIM is following a consistent development strategy. After strengthening its core sports activities in the middle of the 2000s and then building a dedicated department for Marketing and Communications, the creation of this Chief Operating Officer (COO) position makes a lot of sense!” explains the 40-year-old former strategy consultant. “The organisation has reached a turning point where the operations need serious attention from the management in order to make the right calls on organisation structure, staffing and technology to support the strategic plan.”

I really feel at ease almost everywhere on this planet and I look forward to going out in the field and meeting with the people of our national federations.

Concretely, the Operations division encompasses the following functions: Finance, Legal, Human Resources, IT and Logistics. Also reporting to the COO are some of the non-sporting commissions (Environment, Medical and Technical) as well as the Commission for Women in Motorcycling. “The scope is quite wide but there is a real logic behind bringing all these functions under one umbrella and that is the optimisation of our resources’ allocation. Throughout a period of change and economic uncertainties, it is important to have someone who can help the CEO steer the business and make the best use of our resources!”.

Steve joined the FIM in Mies from the neighboring organisation UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) where he was the Director of Services. There Steve worked, among other things, on the setup of the new Marketing and Events company (UEFA Events). He also put together the first long-term staffing plan that triggered the construction of a third building on the “UEFA Campus”.

Prior to moving into the world of sports federations, Steve enjoyed a career in corporate finance before moving to London, completing his MBA at the London Business School, and joining McKinsey & Company, a strategy consulting firm where he advised a wide range of clients in the area of performance improvement.

“My friends enjoy saying that I am a true global citizen, for I grew up in Africa, studied in Europe and the USA and travelled extensively in the Latin America and Asia Pacific regions for business. I really feel at ease almost everywhere on this planet and I look forward to going out in the field and meeting with the people of our national federations”.

Educated as an international economist at HEC Lausanne and the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, Steve also spent time in the USA studying aviation and completing his pilot’s licence. “If I had not followed this career path, I would have probably ended up somewhere around the world in a Swiss embassy or perhaps flying a Boeing 747 for a large carrier!” he laughs.

by FIM Communications Department F I M MAG AZ I NE .7 7 /// February March 2011 13

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THE NICOLLS

IS IT A SOAP? IS IT REALITY TV? NO, IT IS SUPERCROSS! LET’S TALK AMA SUPERCROSS, AN FIM WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP. TO DO SO, WE HAVE INVITED DAVE AND KURT NICOLL. FOR THOSE WHO DO NOT KNOW THEM, HERE THEY ARE. DAVE NICOLL WAS A RATHER GOOD MOTOCROSS RIDER IN THE 60s AND 70s. THEN HIS SON KURT STEPPED ONTO THE SCENE. KURT GOT A SILVER FOUR TIMES IN THE FIM 500CC MOTOCROSS

WORLD

CHAMPIONSHIP; HE E VEN CAME CLOSE TO WINNING THE GOLD BUT AN INJURY COST HIM A POSSIBLE TITLE. Throughout his entire career Dave was there as his team or personal manager.

In racing, they had this unique bond between father and son and a closeness that made the pair a force to be reckoned with as of the mid 80s until the mid 90s.

Today, Dave Nicoll is the FIM Motocross World Championship Race Director, a position he has held since 1999. He has also been attending Supercross in the US as the FIM Chief Steward since 2008.

After his active race career, Kurt Nicoll became KTM’s European (1998-2005) and North American (2006-2009) team manager. He then started working for a film production company that also produces the “Nitro Circus”. Kurt is still living in the States closely following Supercross.

So, here we are for an episode of “The Experts – Supercross”… and it is “age” before “beauty” … (Sorry, Dave; sorry, Kurt).

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FIM: What is it that makes the AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship so big?

Dave Nicoll: The reason Supercross is a big success in the USA is firstly there is a larger percentage of the population interested in motorcycles compared with the rest of the world. Also, Supercross is in a spectator friendly environment inside a large baseball stadium with comfortable facilities. Another important factor is that the press and TV have very good coverage and ‘hype’ which lifts the sport. Also, don’t forget the racing is intense, spectacular and high risk - all leading to spectator appeal.

Kurt Nicoll: I think that over the years the names for sure have been promoted very, very well and Americans like going into stadiums. It is a great show for the American public that likes to sit down, drink beer and watch racing. That is why it is so much bigger; “Supercross” is the “Motocross”

here. There is a major recession here right now and to keep the stadiums full, the racing is going to have be really, really good. I think it is amazing that you could fill Anaheim I with that many spectators with that recession. There are not that many sports that are still filling up the stadiums.

FIM: What are your thoughts on last year’s Championship?

D.N.: The 2010 Championship gave some good racing and made a new super star of Ryan Dungey who gained confidence and grew into the position as champion. BUT, missing the top two, through injury, Stewart and Reed made an opening.

K.N.: I think last year’s Championship was pretty good. Every year, you cannot have a race down to the finish like two years ago and where there were three riders going to the finish. Supercross is still very strong

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K.N.: James is the fastest rider. I think if he stays healthy there is a chance that he could start dominating again because physically he is actually faster than anybody else. But he needs to stay healthy and he has not done that for two years. So, let’s see.

FIM: Chad Reed?

D.N.: Reed is still finding his feet with his new team. I do not think he will be disadvantaged with no factory bikes. He will become stronger.

K.N.: Right now, Chad is at the end of his career. I guess he will keep getting “top fives” but I do not think he will get back to the front again.

FIM: Ryan Villopoto?

D.N.: Villopoto has equal speed to Stewart on normal track conditions but he is liable to make mistakes that will cost him points over the series.

K.N.: He is kind of the same thing as James Stewart. He is not as fast but he needs to stay healthy for a whole season. If he does, then he is on the same level as Dungey. here in the States. The first round this year in Anaheim was full again.

FIM: Trey Canard?

FIM: Let’s talk “riders” now. Give us your opinion on the reigning Champion, Ryan Dungey.

D.N.: Trey is a talented young rider who will always be a front runner, not a winner when all the top riders are there, but there is more to come.

D.N.: A talented young rider who grew in confidence in 2010, does not make mistakes but mentally knows Stewart is stronger. Ryan will finish in the top three.

K.N.: He is probably the fittest and most dedicated rider out there. It will still be very, very tough for anybody? to beat him this year.

FIM: James Stewart?

D.N.: Mentally, Stewart is the strongest and also has the fastest track speed but he makes mistakes.

K.N.: It will probably be two years before he will be finishing on the podium regularly but this year – until other riders get hurt – he is probably “top five”.

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he will move up the standings. Raw speed, he is not the same as the guys mentioned before but he will probably end up around the top five.

FIM: Kevin Windham?

D.N.: In my opinion Kevin is the most talented rider on the track at this point, but his age makes him more reserved and therefore not a winner. He will always be in the running.

K.N.: He is like Chad Reed, coming towards the end of his career. He will be consistent but I do not think that he will get many podiums this year.

FIM: Is there any rider that we forgot?

D.N.: I think we have mentioned the main contenders.

K.N.: I think Justin Brayton will be a lot stronger than anybody thinks. I mean, he will be in the top five this year. Davi Millsaps will also have some good rides and some bad rides. That is probably about it for the guys that are going to finish in the top five.

by Dirk De Neve

The reason Supercross is a big success in the USA is firstly there is a larger percentage of the population interested in motorcycles compared with the rest of the world.

– said Dave Nicoll.

FIM: Andrew Short?

D.N.: Short is a solid rider who is still learning the, new to him, 350 KTM. He is suffering from medium starts which he has to overcome. There is more to come but I am not sure he will be a winner.

K.N.: Andrew is really consistent and as riders start to drop out as they get hurt then

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The overall result of the time practice in Anaheim I showed Stewart, Canard, Reed, Dungey and Villopoto on top and might well be an indicator of things to come. With 12 races under their belts, these 5 riders are clearly on a different level. Up to Arlington, these riders have taken all the victories or podium spots. In fact, the 2011 championship is one of the best ever and very unpredictable.

Surprise, surprise…after a somewhat “slow” start and adapting to the new “surroundings” of his privateer team, Chad Reed (AUS/ Honda) is leading the Championship. Reed has won one event only - the very muddy San Diego – scored 7 podiums and never finished out of the top six. Chad is proving that consistency is one key to success. The Aussie rider is also a former AMA Supercross FIM World Champion; he has done it before, he knows what it takes, he knows he can do it and could well do it again! But there are some more contenders…

Ryan Villopoto (USA/Kawasaki) is one of them. With 3 wins, 3 more podiums and never out of the top 7 before Jacksonville, Ryan had 16

built up somewhat of a “breather” points gap and was leading the Championship. But he did not qualify in Jacksonville losing some valuable points and is now 3 points behind Reed. Villopoto has got everything it takes to finish the season on top.

And then there is reigning FIM World Champion Ryan Dungey (USA/ Suzuki). “Ryan number 1” started off as strong as last year with a 2nd in the opening event. Constantly in the top 6 but never really dominant, a broken chain in Anaheim II relegated him to 5th in the provisional standings 38 points behind the “other Ryan” (Villopoto) who was leading the Championship then. Dungey scored his first win this year in Toronto and has been closing the points gap to a slim 12 points. The Toronto victory might just have been what it took to get the machine started.

And then there is the strange case of James Stewart (USA/Yamaha).

James is the fastest man out there but may be lacking some consistency. Unfortunately for James, “fast” does not always lead to “victory”. Crashes have been costing him some valuable points.

He is 24 points behind the leader; that is very few and a lot at the

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SO, WHAT IS GOING ON IN THE 2011 AMA SUPERCROSS, AN FIM WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP? same time. The Championship is not lost yet; anything can happen.

Stewart has won the AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship before but he will have to keep his cool if he wants to beat the competition in 2011.

Last but not least in the “big 5” is “Rookie” Trey Canard (USA/ Honda). Trey is making a name for himself in the Supercross class winning the Houston and Jacksonville events! He is showing the same consistency as Reed but could not do better than 13th in Daytona. He is in close striking distance of Stewart; only 2 points behind the Yamaha rider. Still, Canard is not letting us down. He is a pleasant surprise in this year’s Championship and could still reach the top three.

But there are more riders than just these “supermen”. There is a fierce battle among at least 7 riders for the spots between 6 and 10. And we all know that Short, Brayton, Windham, Millsaps, Wey, Tedesco and Metcalfe are not exactly “softies” either. On a good day, they can all take important points away from one of the pretenders to the throne. Special mention should be made of Andrew Short

(USA/KTM) in 6th position who is slowly but surely positioning the new KTM team of Roger De Coster as a “force” to be reckoned with.

So, who ever said that Supercross was boring? With 5 more races to go, just anything can happen. The 2011 AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship is a thrilling and gruelling series that pushes the riders to their ultimate limits. Today’s winner may be tomorrow’s last. All the top riders are still in the running. The golden rule for them will be “not to go down and, stay healthy”; whether that is practicing or racing.

Reed, Villopoto and Stewart know all about that from last year. They paid a hard price in 2010 but are now still in the hunt for the 2011 Championship.

For results and standings: www.fim-live.com

by Dirk De Neve

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CHRISTINA DENNEY Date of birth: 16 February 1971 Place: Fort Lauderdale, Florida (USA) Residence: Atlanta, Georgia (USA) Marital status: Married, one daughter, Ashley (10) Professional career: Currently Christina and her husband own a graphics business, Roost MX. They are specialised in motocross graphics as well as wraps, signage, decals and promotional items. They started out in the graphics business with their sign company, Denney Designs in 1999.

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CHRISTINA DENNEY OCCUPATION: TEAM MANAGER CHRISTINA IS THE ROCK RIVER TEAM MANAGER IN AMA SUPERCROSS, AN FIM WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP; THE ONLY WOMAN IN THAT POSITION. FIM: HOW DID YOU DISCOVER MOTOCROSS? Christina Denney: I first discovered motocross in 1990 when I met my husband now of 15 years.

Coming from the beaches of South Florida it was all new to me. Motocross became a huge part of our life.

FIM: DID YOU EVER RACE YOURSELF OR DO YOU RIDE A MOTORCYCLE? C.D.: I have never been a racer myself but do own a pit bike that I like to ride around on. We do have a small pit bike track in our backyard in Georgia.

FIM: HOW DID YOU GET INTO MANAGING A TEAM? C.D.: My involvement with the team happened overnight when the team owner of Rock River, Mike Duclos, asked for assistance. At first, my company Roost MX was sponsoring the team with graphics and we also wrapped the semi and trailer. We had been doing business with Rock River for almost 7 years when he asked for our support with the team.

I would never have imagined that I would go from supplying graphics to help run daily logistics of a professional team. I haven’t looked back yet and cannot wait to see what the future holds for Rock River.

FIM: HOW DID THE RIDERS AND THE TEAM MANAGERS REACT? C.D.: Showing up at Anaheim was very intimidating for me but I was welcomed by everyone I met. The AMA was so supportive and helped in so many ways. Fellow Team Managers and riders alike made it very easy for me to fit right in. It is as if gender wasn’t even an issue. No special treatment was ever received nor did I ever ask for any. Yamaha Racing supported me from the beginning and I couldn’t have done it without all their help. I am so fortunate to have such a great support system.

FIM: WHAT HURDLES DID YOU HAVE TO OVERCOME? C.D.: My biggest hurdle was that since I have never been a racer myself, helping my riders on the track was difficult. With the help of my husband, I have learned a lot and feel I can help them succeed on and off the track.

FIM: WHERE IS THE CHALLENGE FOR YOU AND WHAT DRIVES CHRISTINA DENNEY? C.D.: I don’t look at what I am doing as a challenge but as an opportunity. What I get to experience each and every weekend with my team is what drives me to do whatever I can to make my riders succeed at being a better rider, person and professional athlete.

Seeing them succeed is what drives me. Knowing that maybe a small part of what I do for them has helped them to get to where they are and where they are going.

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Valentino Rossi switches from Yamaha to the blood-red all-Italian Ducati squad. The passion and national fer vour behind this marriage is dazzling: for vast legions of “The Doctor’s” fans it is the dream package!///

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A YEAR OF MANY POSSIBILITIES EVERY SEASON STARTS WITH HIGH HOPES ... FOR THE FANS, THE RIDERS, THE TEAMS. AS THE 18 RACES UNFOLD AND AS THE MOTOGP CIRCUS SPANS THE WORLD, HOPES CAN TURN INTO REALITY, OR RAPIDLY UNRAVEL. ACCIDENTS INTERVENE, CRAZY WEATHER ALSO. AND PATTERNS THAT EMERGE IN THE EARLY PART OF THE YEAR CAN ALL CHANGE AGAIN IN THE SECOND RUN. There are 18 rounds, one up on last year with Aragon now firmly on the calendar (the remote but beautiful Spanish track was a substitute last year). It begins under floodlights at Qatar on March 20, pops in on Spain in Jerez. The Japanese Grand Prix, at the circuit of Twin Ring Motegi, originally scheduled on April 24, had to be postponed to 2 October 2011 due to reasons of force majeure after the terrible earthquake. The Portuguese Round will start the hectic run of the main European season, a run of seven races culminating in Germany. Then comes the MotoGP-only US GP at Laguna Seca on July 24. The last eight races start at Brno in the Czech Republic, include another visit stateside to Indianapolis, plus the Malaysian/ Australian trip, before concluding at Valencia on November 6. Only then will we know if our predictions were correct.

squad. The passion and national fervour behind this marriage is dazzling: for vast legions of “The Doctor’s” fans it is the dream package.

But the glitz and glamour of it all cannot obscure the fact that the Marlboro Ducati has failed to recapture the dominant form that gave Casey Stoner the first 800cc-class championship in 2007. The glamorous and powerful Desmosedici, with its unique spring-less positive-action desmodromic valve gear, has won races since then, but lacked consistency, with a tendency to pitch its riders into the gravel as the front wheel slid away on corner entry.

The relatively tiny Italian factory is technically the most adventurous, with its carbon-fibre chassis and swing-arm; while Rossi and famed crew chief Jerry Burgess have already once played a Rossi and famed crew chief Jerry Burgess have already once key role in transforming the also-ran played a key role in transforming the also-ran Yamaha M1 into Yamaha M1 into the most successful the most successful bike of the 800 era. /// bike of the 800 era. Doubtless they and It is a year when there are few certainties in the premier MotoGP class, after the leading rider, Valentino the Ducati engineers can do the same again: the question is – how Rossi, has put himself on the back foot. Seven-times premier class long will it take? champion since 2001, the dominant Italian has been the man to beat throughout that time. It’s still true as he turns 32. But two factors mean that an unprecedented number of truly serious rivals 2011 is the last year of 800cc MotoGP bikes. From 2012, newgeneration 1000cc engines will be allowed. This is especially can feel a bit more optimistic than usual. significant for Honda, the biggest player in the business. The The first is physical: the right shoulder injury that troubled him all great HRC (Honda Racing Corporation) has not won a single last year was fixed by surgery last November ... but the damage championship in this particular class, and it is clearly very anxious was worse than at first thought, and as testing began Rossi was still to make amends. short of strength and full movement.

Their V4 RC212V had improved significantly in all areas late last The second encompasses the biggest adventure of the season: the year, and started this year by dominating the tests, the riders having great man’s switch from Yamaha to the blood-red all-Italian Ducati only to decide between a newer chassis and last year’s version.

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Former 250 champion, Marco Simoncelli made a slow but ultimately blazing debut in the top class last year, and this year has a factory Honda as new leader of the San Carlo/Gresini team. ///

And what a line-up of riders. Repsol Honda has no less than three, all former World Champions, and all MotoGP race winners.

The trio make a formidable phalanx of Rossi-challengers.

Casey Stoner is new this year, having vacated his seat at Ducati to Rossi. But already the 25-year-old Australian has taken a leading role, fastest at tests and saying rather ominously: “I haven’t gone to the limit yet.” He is favourite for many. Previous team leader Dani Pedrosa (25) is hardly slower, but the Spaniard is running out of time to justify the top-level support he has enjoyed since 2006, with just 12 wins out of 84 starts. The third man is Italian Andrea Dovizioso (24), overshadowed by his teammates, but certainly a dark horse.

But the strongest challenge might easily come from the defending champion. Jorge Lorenzo, just 23. Now firmly Yamaha team leader, running in factory colours after the Fiat sponsorship vanished along with Rossi, the Majorcan is already a superstar, and ran an immaculate 2010 season to win his first crown. The question is whether the slight evolutionary improvements achieved by the Yamaha factory will be enough to stem the

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Repsol Honda has no less than three riders, all former World Champions, and all MotoGP race winners.The trio make a formidable phalanx of Rossi-challengers! ///

tide of bullish Honda and improving Ducati.

The same question affects new team-mate Ben Spies. The 26-year-old American came fresh from a maiden FIM World Superbike title last year, and soon got to grips with the higher level. Ben should be ready to win races this year ... and perhaps even a bit more.

The last 800cc World Champion is likely to come from within these ranks. But there can always be surprises. In 2006 Nicky Hayden won the final 990cc title for Honda, through consistency and hard work. Now in his third year with Ducati, he will benefit also from the arrival of Rossi, and will surely work as

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But the strongest challenge might easily come from the defending champion. Jorge Lorenzo, is now firmly the Yamaha team leader. ///

Ducati satellite ranks are swelled by veteran triple-champion Loris Capirossi, at 37 the oldest rider on the grid; plus ex-Honda privateer Randy de Puniet from France (picture), both in the Pramac racing team.///

hard as ever.

And then there is former 250 champion Marco Simoncelli. The mane-haired Italian 24-year-old made a slow but ultimately blazing debut in the top class last year, and this year has a factory Honda as new leader of the San Carlo/Gresini team. Toni Elias is a former MotoGP winner and returns after

a triumphant maiden Moto2 championship last year. A slow start to testing belies the Spaniard’s natural talent. It takes exceptional ability even to qualify for a MotoGP race, so it is not fair to call the mid-field men “also-rans”; and some of the best battles of recent years have been for the lower top-ten placings.

Expect even more of the same as last year’s ex-250 rookies return with a year’s experience. These include Spaniards Alvaro Bautista (26), now alone in the shrunken factory Suzuki team; and satellite Ducati rider Hector Barbera (24); plus ex-250 champion Hiro Aoyama, moved to the Gresini Honda team. Ducati satellite ranks are swelled by veteran triple-champion Loris Capirossi, at 37 the oldest rider on the grid; plus ex-Honda privateer Randy de Puniet from France, both in the Pramac racing team. A new third satellite Ducati team fields rookie Karel Abraham, whose wealthy Czech father is financing the team after a couple of strong Moto2 results last season.

There is but one satellite Yamaha team, but it does field the formidable ex-Superbike champion Colin Edwards, now 37 and eager to claim a first GP in his final year. He will also be mentoring the second rookie Cal Crutchlow, his new team-mate, fresh from FIM World Superbikes and Britain’s latest hope. Both are in the Tech 3 Yamaha team.

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For the second year, the Moto2 Class was once again over-subscribed for entries but the number was set at 38. Thirteen different chassis manufacturers of 2010 has shrunk to nine, as designs are refined and choices narrowed down, only the more successful surviving. ///

MOTO2 – SECOND TIME AROUND Moto2 made a blazing start next year. A massive grid and fantastically close racing swept any doubts aside that a controlengine series lacked status in the World Championship canon. If this is the future of racing, said the doubters, perhaps the change is not for the bad after all.

The second year was once again over-subscribed for entries, but the number was set at 38; while 13 different chassis manufacturers of 2010 has shrunk to nine, as designs are refined and choices narrowed down, only the more successful surviving.

With all entries supplied with identical Honda 600cc engines and using the same control Dunlop tyres, chassis refinement is a paramount factor. Swiss-made Suters are the most numerous chassis, with 13 on the grid; compared with seven FTRs and six of the title-winning Japanese Moriwaki units.

First-year champion and seven-race winner Toni Elias has gone to MotoGP, but most of the other race-winners last year are back for more. Prominent among them Italian Andrea Iannone, the only other man to take more than one 2010 win (he had three). Also Spaniard Julian Simon, who actually beat Iannone to second overall in spite of not claiming a single win ... a string of strong seconds saw to that. Simon is riding a Suter chassis, and so too is Iannone – a change for him; last year he rode a British FTR.

But there is not likely to be any easy dominance, with last year’s strong men all back and itching for more. Race winners Stefan

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Bradl, Alex de Angelis, Jules Cluzel and Yuki Takahashi are still there; likewise tough guys Thomas Luthi and Simone Corsi. Plus fast-rising British star Scott Redding, along with class rookie Kenan Sofuoglu, Turkish double 600 Supersport World Champion.

That’s the problem with Moto2. Even a simple paragraph like that becomes a maelstrom of names. All pushing and shoving for position. That’s what it’s like in any Moto2 race.

And there are plenty more. Mika Kallio and Aleix Espargaro are both down from MotoGP, while there is a gang of rising stars in the other direction, on the way up from 125. Champion in that class was teenager Marc Marquez, who has made a blazing start with ultra-fast times in testing. His rival Pol Espargaro has come too, as well as Briton Bradley Smith. Austrian Randy Krummenacher and Esteve Rabat.

Look out also for Thai rider Ratthapark Wilairot and Kenny Noyes, still the only American; and Spanish son of a champion Axel Pons.

And for the only heretics on the grid – the MZ factory is the only one to use a steel space-frame chassis, where the rest are all broadly similar aluminium beam frames. But only one of two MZ riders will use that chassis, Australian battler Anthony West. His new teammate, ex-Superbiker Max Neukirchner will use an FTR.

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The Spaniard Nico Terol heads the short list of the few candidates to become the last ever 125 champion. Next year, 125 two-strokes will be replaced by 250 four-stroke Moto3. ///

125CC – THE LAST OF THE GRAND PRIX TWO-STROKES Two-stroke engines took over racing from the bottom classes in the 1960s. As technical fashions changed, they have been eliminated from the top: MotoGP went from 500 two-stroke to 990 four-stroke in 2002; 250 two-strokes gave way to 600cc Moto2 bikes in 2010. And now 2011 is the final year for 125 two-strokes, replaced next year by 250 four-stroke Moto3.

The entry list for final honours is strong, although half of last year’s championship top ten have moved on to Moto2. Three of the top five have gone, including champion Marquez. It leaves only a handful of candidates to be the last ever 125 champion.

Nico Terol heads the short list. The Spaniard (22) took three wins and eight seconds last year as he fought Marquez for overall victory. Terol was off the rostrum only once, when he was fourth, but missed important races through injury. Terol rides again for the highly respected Bancaja Aspar team, and has a strong team-mate in Hector Faubel, down from Moto2 and a seasoned former 125 winner. Faubel pipped Terol at preseason Jerez tests, and it could be between the two of them.

Sarath Kumar is the first ever Indian rider, riding an Aprilia for the Indian/Italian WTR team. ///

There are two other potential rivals: fellowSpaniard, Efren Vazquez, fifth overall last year and back on a Derbi, this time in Ajo colours; and Sandro Cortese, seventh last year. The German rider, despite his name, has switched from Derbi to Honda, one of only two on a grid made up almost entirely of Aprilias or Derbis, which are clones of one another. The other is ridden by his Team Germany team-mate Tomoyoshi Koyama, a past race winner.

Another strong rider back from Moto2 is Sergio Gadea, riding for the Blusens-Paris Hilton team (yes, that Paris Hilton – and in pink!).

The other remaining from last year’s top ten is diminutive Briton Danny Webb, who has also made a radical machine switch – to the only other non-Aprilia/Derbi in the class. The Mahindra, now owned by the Indian motor industry giant, is the latest identity for the long-serving Honda-based machine built by Italian specialists Engines Engineering. Mahindra has bought the company and has ambitious future plans: the machine’s former identities of Malaguti, Loncin and Vespa are consigned to the past. Second rider is promising German Marcel Schrotter.

Watch for Frenchman Johann Zarco, 11th last year. And some interesting rookies, including Taylor Mackenzie, son of former factory 500-class rider Niall; and the firstever Indian rider, Sarath Kumar, riding an Aprilia for the Indian/Italian WTR team.

The last trace of two-stroke smoke promises an interesting and important season ahead.

by Michael Scott

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TOURING AND LEISURE IGOR ELLISSON HONOURED BY THE ESTONIAN PRESIDENT

To mark the occasion of Estonian Independence Day on 24 February, the Estonian President gave special merit badges to active citizens. One of these was our Estonian touring motorcycling friend Igor Ellisson.

Igor Ellisson, now 56 years old, started motorcycling in 1969 and became the leader of the motorcycle section of the Auto-Moto Touring Club of the Soviet Estonian Touring Central Organisation in 1978.

On his 350cc Jawa motorcycle, he rode through Russia and along the China and Mongolia border areas in Central Asia.

After the Soviet occupation ended in 1992,

he spearheaded the foundation of the Estonian Touring Motorcycle Club and for the last 20 years has organised the most prestigious motorcycle meeting in Estonia – the Jõgevatreff.

He was the Director of the 2001 FIM Motocamp and the 2005 FIM Rally in Põltsamaa and Tartu respectively. He now lives in Jõgeva district with his wife: he has a daughter living in Norway and his two sons who live in Tallinn are both active motorcyclists. In 1999, he founded the Jõgeva Motorcycle Club of which he is still the leader.

Congratulations Igor!

Photo: Helen Urbanik 2011 FIM MOTOCAMP If you enjoy motorcycle touring and camping with other like-minded bikers, then this event is for you!

Meet up with old friends and make new ones: the 30th edition of this annual FIM touring event will be held from 8-10 June in Glastonbury, in the heart of the west of England.

Historic town, shopping and bars, excellent campsite and facilities, entertainment programme, excursions and much, much more...

For further information visit: www.motocamp2011.co.uk OR CONTACT: info@motocamp2011.co.UK

2011 FIM RALLY You are invited to attend the 66TH edition of this prestigious annual FIM touring event.

Meet up with touring bikers from over 30 countries!

WHERE: Tulln and Vienna, Austria WHEN: 6-8 July 2011

Organised by FIM-Rally Team Austria (OSK/OeAMTC) Visit Vienna, take a boat ride on the Danube, visit the famous wine “heurigen”, good food, excursions, entertainment programme and much, much more...

FOR MORE INFORMATION go to: www.fimrally2011.com or contact: info@fimrally2011.com

by Maggie Sutton

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Libor performs a “Rock Solid”, one of his many tricks..///

“THE MOST IMPORTANT RUN OF MY LIFE…”

BY THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING

LIBOR PODMOL IS THE 2010 FIM FREESTYLE MOTOCROSS WORLD CHAMPION. IN THE PAST FIVE YEARS, HE TOUCHED SILVER THREE TIMES, THEN BRONZE AND FINALLY GOLD. LIBOR IS ALSO ONE OF THE NICEST RIDERS AROUND IN THE PADDOCK AND ALWAYS UP FOR A GOOD CHAT. In order to have a better understanding of this interview, we suggest that you visit http://www.nightofthejumps.com/videos_overview.jsp?year=2010

WATCHED THE CLIP? LIBOR WATCHED IT TOO AND GAVE US HIS COMMENTS: LIBOR ON THE STRESS BEFORE THE FINAL SHOWDOWN: The stress before the event was horrible.

It was already winter time in my country and I did have a chance to practice a lot. I knew that my competitors and friends in Spain or anywhere else could practice in their countries. But since I did not want to travel much, I decided to stay at home. I was dreaming of my run every day, every night. I was doing the tricks in my bed. The last two weeks before the event were very hard. But then, somehow I handled all the stress and once I was there on the course I was just thinking about my run and the tricks. I knew what I had to do.

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Look into my eyes… I don’t really want to do this… FreeStyle is all about mental strength!. ///

LIBOR ON HIS RUN: Jump 1: I started my run with a “one hand cancan backflip” which is one of the easier backflip combinations. For me, it is the first trick because I like to “warm-up”; to “get in the right mood” and then to focus on the next trick.

Jump 2: That was a “kiss of death backflip”. It is a trick where you really have to use power to pull the bike a little bit more than normally because you stop the rotation in the air so I was little nervous. I can see now that the extension was not super perfect but it was still good enough, I guess.

kind of an emotional fight but I performed it well. After that trick I started to feel confident that everything was going to be well.

Jump 5: There I did a “cliffhanger backflip”. I just hooked my feet under the handlebars. You know, when you hold only by your feet upside down it is kind of scary but it is one of my favourite tricks. I have been doing that one for a long time and I am enjoying it. I just had to put that one in because it is one of my best tricks.

Jump 6: This trick is my newest combination; two tricks in one backflip; it is a “heelclicker to indian air backflip”; new stuff!

Jump 3: After turning left and putting my flip levers down, I went for the biggest jump on the course; a 25m jump from a 90° radius ramp. I did a straight combination of a “seatgrab to one hand indian air to rock solid” and I landed well.

Jump 7: This one is kind of my “signature trick”; a “cliffhanger to no hand landing”.

I do not touch the handlebars at all through the air and land “without handlebars” which is “kind of cool”. The audience likes it and so do I because it is “kind of personal”.

Jump 4: Then came a “seatgrab Indian air backflip”. For me personally, this is one of my most difficult tricks because I already crashed 2 times doing this trick and I have some bad memories about it. It is always

Double-up: I chose to do an “underflip indian air backflip” for the last trick (FIM: the double-up is the rider’s last jump and is awarded double points. Most of the time, it is the rider’s best trick.) This trick was very

stressful for me because you have only 20 seconds for your double-up jump. I knew my run was good enough to become FIM World Champion but I also realised that if I made any mistake now by even sliding down a little bit when landing or crashing I was going to lose the title. There was a lot of pressure but it worked out. I was super happy and pumped!

LIBOR ON HIS FEELINGS AFTER HIS WINNING RUN: When I finished my run I was like in a “different world”. I had been working very hard the whole time and then I broke my collarbone in the middle of the season. In the past, I was a few times close to the title but his year I felt I had to do it. And I finally made it. I was thinking about all my family, all my friends, the ones who had passed away, my father who had passed away.

I was thanking God and everybody else that I could be there and live the life that I am living now. I just remember the strong emotional feelings.

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LIBOR ON FINALLY REALISING THAT HE IS THE FIM WORLD CHAMPION: I think that was when the plane landed back home when I saw my family and friends waiting for me with flags and stuff. I was like: “Aaahrf” I did it! I am back home healthy and I have a world title in my pocket. It was like: “Whawwhaw!”; it was a perfect feeling.

LIBOR ON PARTYING AS A FREESTYLER: (Laughs) I was still full of emotions and adrenaline when I said that; just trying to look cool for TV but – for sure – we partied like any other athletes after the season is over and done. It is true; the sport has developed and changed a lot. It is not as “wild” as it used to be. Well, we are still “wild” but we know when we can and when we cannot. The sport has become more professional.

LIBOR ON WORKING HIS WAY UP IN THE RANKS: I got my first motorcycle for Christmas when I was 10 years old.

It stayed there on the balcony for some years and I started riding it at about 12. I then raced motocross until about 19 when I decided to do freestyle. It got very difficult when my father passed away and we did not have much money to continue in motocross. I had no future in racing but my motocross sponsors did not want to join me in freestyle. I did not know what to do.

So in 2002, my mother and I borrowed money from the bank to buy my first bike to go freestyling. I started practicing and went for the first invitation runs of the “Night of the Jumps”. I knew that if I did well, it was going to be good for my future. I did well, did more competitions and got more sponsorship. All that pushed me to work harder to be competitive in this sport and I went to the World Championship. Now, I have sponsors, get bikes and am even making some money but I continue to work hard for my career.

LIBOR ON CRASHING: When I crash and immediately jump up and wave to the crowd it is usually a good sign. You may be sour, you may be hurting but your bones are not broken. Worse is when you just lay down on the floor and you know that something is wrong and that you have a serious injury. But when you “just crash” and are “kind of okay” you are full of adrenaline and rush and you do not feel the pain. It is like as if you have more power than normal; you do not feel the pain; you do not think about it.

LIBOR ON THE FEAR AFTER A CRASH: (Quietly) That is the most difficult part… In freestyle the mental factor is about 70 to 80%. You really have to have trust in yourself and be confident that you are going “to stick the trick” and everything will be fine.

LIBOR ON BEING A WORLD CHAMPION IN HIS COUNTRY: I am still not a national hero. Truly, I am not a soccer player; I am not a hockey player. These are the top sports in the Czech Republic. But it was different to the years before when I was

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SEEN BY THE JUDGES Marco Roth was the “head judge” in Fortaleza/Brazil. After watching the video, he comments on Libor’s performance: THE JUMPS: Jump 1: A really good backflip combination on a high level; a good start.

Jump 2: You can see that Libor wants the World Championship.

He is not running on “safe”. This is a real difficult trick. The extension was good and the landing perfect.

Jump 3: After two backflips, a seatgrab trick…That is important; variation comes in now. A well executed jump.

Jump 4: Another backflip; not the best one because it was executed a little bit too fast and the extension was not really perfect either but the rotation was fine.

Jump 5: The rotation was perfect but the cliffhanger was not totally extended. Still, it is a difficult trick and Libor again scores a lot of points.

Jump 6: That is a real difficult and technical trick. He did the backflip, the “heelclicker” and the “indian air”; that is three tricks in one jump. He scores big points for the jump but also rates high in the “personal impression” criterion.

Jump 7: Libor’s signature trick; very difficult but well executed and more points for “variation”.

Double-up: Another backflip combo. The “underflip” is an “out of axis” trick that gets him more points for “variation” and “personal impression”.

THE RUN: Libor put a lot of energy in his run. You can see that there is also a lot of fun in his run. He keeps the crowd excited.

There are no “real big mistakes” in his run so that the “technical deduction” score will be high. Libor put down a very good run and he deserves the win and to be FIM World Champion.

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Nice “Underflip”, the roof is the limit!.///

second or third and now winning a World Championship. I was in the TV news, in the main newspapers and I think I helped the sport in the media. I think that it was quite a big step for me and freestyle motocross in the Czech Republic.

LIBOR PODMOL: Date of birth: 1st June 1984, Ostrava/Czech Republic Nationality: Czech Weight/Height: 62kg/172cm

LIBOR ON FATHERHOOD AND WHETHER IT WILL AFFECT HIM IN COMPETITION: It is difficult to say. I have been a father for just 3 weeks now. I do not think that anything is going to change. I have always been a family man, living together with my mom, my girlfriend and younger brother.

I will just try to do my best and my family is going to stay with me. They know this is what I have to do and they join me as a rider. They are happy for me when I am doing well in the sport and am having fun.

And if I start to do something else, my family is going to stay with me.

Languages: Czech, English Motocross: since 1994 FreeStyle: since 2002 Signature trick: Heelclicker to indian air backflip Hobbies: SNB, BMX, music 2006-2007-2008: 2nd in FIM FreeStyle Motocross World Championship 2009: 3rd in FIM FreeStyle Motocross World Championship 2010: FIM FreeStyle Motocross World Champion

LIBOR ON ENJOYING LIFE: Yeah, I am enjoying life right now. My son is strong and healthy. I have won a World Championship. I am just having a good life and having fun…

by Dirk De Neve F I M MAG AZ I NE .7 7 /// February March 2011 31

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PUBLIC AFFAIRS SALES OF SPARE PARTS FOR RACING USE THREATENED BY NEW EU LEGISLATION!

The lobbying is certainly needed because that is far from the only problem! Another proposal is to drastically cut the numbers of vehicles permitted to be type approved under the small scale scheme. – Currently 200 per year. This is a simpler system designed to allow innovation by small companies.

Small companies of course can grow into large companies with all the benefits that brings to the economy.

Again this a very regressive approach which suggests that the authorities in Brussels have failed to The European Union is attempting take account of the wider needs of to extend the scope of, “anti the economy. A further issue is that tampering” regulations that prevent of trial and enduro machines where an owner from illegally modifying a the EU proposes to take these out of vehicle. FIM believes that the approach type approval and form a new category of restricting the sales of certain parts for machines intended mainly for off road is completely wrong and would have a T he new hy br id MP3 by Piaggio use. This is a complex issue with many side particular effect on those involved in our displayed at the ACEM conference ./// effects. Both FIM and ACEM’s experts believe that sport. Can anything be done? We believe so, and trial and enduro machines should be kept within type the European Member of Parliament Mr Wim van de approval alongside other general road going motorcycles. At the Camp, who has been appointed as rapporteur for this legislation so will guide it through the parliament, and consider amendments, ACEM conference M. Jean, head of the Automotive Unit of the EU is an enthusiastic motorcyclist. He is pictured here attending the Commission indicated his willingness to listen on this point. recent ACEM conference in Brussels where this and other matters were discussed. Mr van de Camp however cannot carry the burden On braking as previously reported the EU will legislate for anti lock alone; he needs to gain the support of others in the Parliament from systems on all motorcycles and scooters above 125cc. For 125cc and across all the major political groups. By the time this appears FIM under the requirement will be for a combined braking system where will already have written to FMNs and coordinated with UEM on braking is applied to both front and rear even if only one control is activated – as often happens in an emergency if a rider panics. lobbying more members of the parliament.

New laws currently under consideration by the European Parliament threaten to make the sale of certain motorcycle parts to individuals illegal. Both FIM and ACEM (the motorcycle industry association for Europe) are lobbying for changes to the draft text.

Readers may be forgiven for wondering why lawmakers anywhere would want to ban the sale of parts of a vehicle lawfully produced by legitimate manufacturers!

CRETE – LAUNCH OF NEW HELMET CAMPAIGN SUPPORTED BY FIM

March saw the launch of a new campaign in Crete by Make Roads Safe Hellas. Many riders on the island fail to wear a helmet; even those who do often do not do up the strap making the helmet useless. – The campaign, supported by the FIA Foundation aims to change this with a series of actions.

Partnering with the media riders who obey the law will be identified and spoken to. Their details will be entered in a draw with prizes of new helmets donated by Nolan. An end of season grand draw will see winners attending a MotoGP with tickets donated by FIM. As the campaign progresses into its second year it is anticipated that it will include improved police training in traffic safety. A mentoring scheme is being devised bringing together officers from the Greek and Spanish police.

The opening conference in Chania was addressed by HRH Prince Michael from the British royal family. Prince Michael later attended the training centre nearby (he is also a keen rider) and impressed instructors from the 0300 motorcycle training school with his ability.

FIM Director of Public Affairs commented, “I was so impressed by the 0300 school. Some of the best instructors and facilities I have come across.” Chief Instructor Thanasis Choundras has a

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distinguished record as a motorcycle sportsman and today also works in motorcycle journalism as well as rider training. Training takes place at the circuit Pistapark. www.pistapark.com

FIM M AGA ZINE . 7 7 / / / February March 2 0 1 1

Fim inside

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TRAINING

Some years ago the FIM was a partner in the Initial Rider Training Project in Europe which led to the production of a basic road safety manual in English. FIM Commissioned translations into French and Spanish and these have been available for some time on the FIM internet site – via the public policy link on the home page. The EU has commissioned further translations and these should be available by the time this appears. FIM and FEMA officials helped with refining the texts of these further editions and we are grateful to everyone involved.

We are delighted now to report that FIM Asia has produced an Arabic edition and FIM CAP Director Achilles Damen is seen here receiving the new text from CAP expert (and FIM Asia Vice President) Mishaal Al-Sudairy. Mishaal has committed a vast amount of time to this

project between the FIM Congress in Macau and the Commission meetings in February where the results of his labours were received.

Back in Europe the Swedish street rider organisation SMC (a partner of SVEMO when it comes to maintaining links with FIM and UEM) has also been active. This time with researching the effectiveness of rider training by looking at the attitudes of riders who have participated in their courses by means of an on line survey, and subsequent analysis. The research was conducted by Dr Elaine Hardy who was commissioned by SMC to do this work assisted by the staff of the SMC. The interesting results can be read in an English text of the report which is now also on the FIM internet site. Many thanks to our Swedish colleagues for this.

FIM GEARS UP FOR MAY ERTS SYMPOSIUM IN CANADA

With the official launch of, “The Decade of Action for Road Safety” on 11 May 2011 the next FIM ERTS event starting on 26 May will be one of the first official events of the Decade. – We are pretty sure the first motorcycling one for sure! With support from the FIA Foundation and from Bosch the event is now fully subscribed.

2011 marks a departure from previous events in the series both in taking place outside of Europe, and also taking the form of a partnership between FIM, the CMA and the Canada Safety Council.

Transporting delegates within Canada (the distances being greater than most Europeans apart from Scandinavians are used to) is a challenge. Help has come in the form of sponsorship from the company Ocean Transportation Services Freight Forwarding.

There is a full agenda with delegates having the opportunity to participate in training exercises Canadian style, learn about police rider training and also see how “off road” training is used to promote better road skills and also reach out to young riders.

FIM SEEKS AMENDMENTS TO NEW EU LAWS ON MOTORCYCLE TYPE APPROVAL

As reported in previous issues the EU is now legislating on Type Approval. These complex proposals currently do not include trial and enduro motorcycles. – Both FIM and industry association ACEM believe they should. We fear that moving trials and enduro motorcycles into a new category of “vehicle intended for mainly off road use” could adversely affect the future of both disciplines and lead to complex and differing rules across all 27 countries of the EU. This is not the only issue. New proposals on “anti tampering” could affect the supply of spare parts used in competition. Production of motorcycles in “small series” will also be affected as the EU seeks to reduce these from 200 per annum to 50 and in some categories even less.

FIM has been engaged since the start of this process and in March a meeting was held with MEP Wim van de Camp from The Netherlands who is acting as rapporteur for this legislation. Fortunately Mr van de Camp is himself a keen rider so has a good understanding of the many problems raised.

By the time this magazine goes to print FIM & UEM Director of Public Affairs John Chatterton-Ross will have briefed all European FMNs on how they can help as the law reaches the plenary stage in the EU parliament, before being passed to the Council of Ministers for final approval.

by John Chatterton-Ross

F I M MAG AZ I NE .7 7 /// February March 2011 35

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ride

ICE RACING RUSSIAN STYLE

ALTHOUGH ICE RACING HAS ITS ORIGINS ON THE FROZEN LAKES OF SCANDINAVIA AND SIBERIA THE MODERN VERSION OF THE SPORT INVOLVES FAR MORE THAN SOME ENTHUSIASTIC – SOME WOULD SAY CRAZY – MOTORCYCLISTS SLIDING AROUND THE ICE WITH SPIKES IN THEIR TYRES FOR TRACTION.

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Today the successful competitor needs a more professional approach and will use specially designed machines from the Czech Jawa factory with a methanol-burning 500cc four- stroke engine. An unlimited number of 28mm spikes can be fitted to the tyres but great care must be taken over the position of the spikes which, along with the tyre pressure can affect the performance of the bikes. Not surprisingly, the preparation of ice racing tracks demands a similar level of expertise and we asked our Russian friends how they would expect to put down a track suitable for a World Championship event.

Most tracks in the west of Europe are built in arenas normally used for speed skating and are of artificial ice, with access to the facilities often restricted until only a few days before an event making track preparation difficult. However in Russia where subzero temperatures can usually be guaranteed, natural ice tracks

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ride

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ICE RACING TRACK FACTS An ice racing track can be between 260-425m in length, although typically a natural track will be around 400m. A track of this size might require:

• 40-45 days to prepare a track completely • 2100 bales of hay to be used for protective fencing • 35-38 cm of ice laid on a track • 10 track crews working 21 hours each day for the 3 days of an Ice Racing World Championship meeting

• 5,174,000 litres of warm water to fill in a track

are regularly used and these demand a special approach; the ice needs to be much thicker and particular attention has to be paid to the building up of the layers of ice. If access to the stadium is not a problem then preparation of the track will start with the first winter frost. Only warm water will be used for the ice layer otherwise the surface will be bumpy and the first layer of the track will be a thin snow “pillow”. The track crews hose the surface with water each day, building up layers of ice so that the thickness of each layer will not exceed 1 cm.

After that water will be sprayed around the ice by a tanker which has a brush attached to the rear helping to smooth the ice and at the end the surface looks like a giant pie with icy layers. Using this method it will take over 40 days to prepare the track for the FIM Ice Racing World Championship meeting. It is very important to do everything gradually; this is the key to success!

Once the track is ready, track crews start to prepare the soft protective fencing. They use straw bales, specially wrapped in thick plastic film and placed in a position so as to absorb impact in case of any crash. The straw bales are placed in two parallel rows for additional safety with the distance between the first and second protective rows is 3 m. inside the turns and 2 m. on the straights.

Racing meetings should take place at temperatures below zero.

Riders say that for them it does not matter how cold it is but, ideally a temperature of -10 degrees will provide the best grip on the track.

Maintenance during practice and racing involves the use of as many as 4 machines equipped with special brushes and blades. This has to be carried out after every four heats during a World Championship event which takes around 6-8 minutes.

F I M MAG AZ I NE .7 7 /// February March 2011 37

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ride

We asked two of the competitors in this year’s competition to comment on their attitude to racing.

ANTONIN KLATOVSKY Date of birth: 13 September 1979 Nationality: Czech “I have been racing now for 14 years and I am also my own mechanic. I like to fix all the spikes myself as it helps me to ‘feel’ the bike better during racing. During the summer months I am involved with my own business because I don’t have much sponsorship to help support me on travel, spare parts and the like.

Many people ask us if we are afraid to go out there on ice. I say “No, absolutely not. It’s like football. It’s a sport and any kind of sport can be traumatic or dangerous”.

I would also say that the problem is not in the body, the problem is usually in the head. Psychology and a competitive attitude play a big role in Ice Racing. You have to concentrate 100% considering that our races last only one minute.

There are a few guys from Germany, Sweden, Finland and Poland here in the championship and it’s difficult to say who my main rival is. All eighteen riders are good, especially the Russian ones. They are the best riders in the world here.

The season started well for me but maybe there were some technical problems with the engine.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to the Team Ice Racing World Championship which will take place in Berlin.

What is my main goal for this season? We’ll see, you can ask me when we’ve finished!”

IGOR KONONOV Date of birth: 26 April 1987 Nationality: Russian “I became a rider when I was 16 years old so I have been involved in Ice Racing for the last 7 years. This is a family tradition for me as my father was a motocross rider before me. I also had an opportunity to start learning Ice Racing in the special school which was opened in my home town. When I’m on ice my main feeling is the thirst for victory.

Fear? Well, there are no fearless people in this world but sometimes I have to take risks when I’m on the track. It helps me to achieve more constant results. Sometimes I think it would be better for me if I had started to learn Ice Racing when I was younger, perhaps 8 or 10 years old.

The season started off very difficult. I was literally without any rest in the summer because I took part in the Polish Speedway league.

I started to do ice training immediately after the speedway season.

Most of the other riders have the whole summer to prepare their bikes and I was lucky enough to be able to do everything in just a couple of weeks. There is very serious competition in the Individual World Championship. And I always try to do my maximum here.

This season I have set myself high aims and I believe that I will be able to achieve them.”

by Nadia Orlova 38

FIM M AGA ZINE . 7 7 / / / February March 2 0 1 1

ride

FIM WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2011 The 2011 FIM Ice Racing World Championship Final series involves riders from Austria, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, The Netherlands, Poland, Russia and Sweden with the series opening in Russia where defending champion Nikolai Krasnikov was seeking a record 7th consecutive title. He was supreme in the opening round at the Zorkiy Stadium in Krasnogorsk near Moscow with an unbeaten 50 points from the two meetings.

In front of some 20,000 cheering fans the Russians dominated both days, filling the top 8 positions with Germany’s Gunter Bauer the most successful of the western European riders.

Togliatti was the venue for Final 2 where racing was affected by difficult track conditions which eventually resulted in the abandonment of the finals on the second day. This did not deter the Russians who again filled the top 8 places with local riders Dmitri Khomitsevich and Danil Ivanov delighting the home fans and veteran

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Swede Stefan Svensson the best from the west. Igor Kononov was in aggressive form suffering two disqualifications but still remains in a strong position behind Krasnikov, Khomitsevich and Ivanov as the tournament heads into the final two rounds in Assen and Inzell.

The 2011 FIM Team Ice Racing World Championship was held in Berlin and, as expected was won comfortably by the Russian team. However it was the form of the Austrians which caught the attention of the fans as the men from the Tyrol stormed to a well deserved second place.

The Czech team took the bronze medal.

Final scores were: Russia 58 (Ivanov 23, Krasnikov 21, D.Khomitsevich 14); Austria 49 (Zorn 31, Simon 18); Czech Republic 37 (A.Klatovsky 24, J.Klatovsky 8); Sweden 32 (Svensson 28); Holland 25 (Stellingwerf 12); Finland 25 (Jarf 18); Germany 24 (Pletschacher 15).

by Graham Brodie

F I M MAG AZ I NE .7 7 /// February March 2011 39

V INTAGE

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INTERNATIONAL SIX DAYS TRIAL - CHAPTER 2 THE 1923 AFFAIR

At the Congress held in Geneva in

August 1922, the Swiss delegate, Mr Jules Neher, FICM Vice-President, received congratulations from his colleagues for another victory in the International Six Days’ Trial – the third consecutive one. He thanked them and explained that the Union Motocycliste Suisse (UMS) was studying if they would apply once again for the organisation or would waive this right to do so and offer the organisation to another country. The idea was to hand it over to Sweden and Norway. At the following Congress in London in December 1922, the Swedish delegate, Mr Anderson, stated that the Svenska Motor Cycle Klub, in cooperation with the Norsk Motor Cycle Klub, gladly accepted the suggestion made by the UMS to organise the next International Six Days’ Trial in their countries. He said that “Sweden had a large experience in organizing such competitions and was therefore prepared to undertake such responsibility for organising the 1923 ISDT”. He explained that “the general conditions would be the same as those for the 1922 Trial, but that they would not propose to inflict any penalties for the conditions of the machines”. The proposals put forward were accepted by the General Council.

THE SPIRIT OF THE RULES

The 1923 International Six Days’Trial

was held from 6 to 12 August, with one day off on the 10th in Gothenburg.

There were 94 riders taking part in the Six Days, of whom 23 retired. This was many more than the 23 entered riders in 1920 (of which 15 had taken the start).

Riders came from six different countries: Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Great Britain, Belgium and Switzerland. In the Trophy team classification, Sweden finished in first position (with their three riders), Great Britain in second and Switzerland in third (both with two riders only). Various protests were lodged during the event, but none of them was accepted by the Jury.

The “affair” started when Mr Jules Neher took the floor at the Central Bureau meeting on 4 December 1923 during the Congress in Paris, in order to report facts that had

A team for the Silver Vase could be composed of three motorcycles that were not manufactured in the team’s own country. ///

been gathered from various eye-witness sources present during the Six Days. Neither the Swedish nor the Norwegian delegates were present at that Congress.

“The Swiss Motorcycle Union, although entitled to organize the Trial in the year 1923, decided to abandon its rights to the Swedish Motorcycle Union, in view of giving this important trial a greater international importance and interest”, said Neher. During the FICM Congress in London, the delegate of Sweden was not then in a position to present final, or even preliminary regulations, but he made a formal declaration that the 1923 regulations would in every point be in accordance with the regulations adopted for 1921/1922 with the only exception that the technical examination of the machines after the trial and the ensuing penalties for defects incurred during the trial would not be included. This innovation was adopted by the Congress.

When the preliminary regulations were issued, several of the articles were found insufficient and lacking in precision. This insufficiency was pointed out to the FICM by letter and was also discussed at the Dinant Congress on 16 July 1923. In view of the absence (once again) of any Swedish delegate, the Congress was not in a position to enter upon the subject, and further, it was supposed that final regulations would correct the deficiency of the preliminary regulations. However, when the final regulations were issued, it was noted too late - that two of the most important conditions of the 1921/1922 regulations were simply omitted. They were 1: the obligation to follow the official course and 2: the obligation that all repairs have to be made exclusively by the competitor, and that the spare parts for such repairs should be exclusively carried on the motorcycle itself throughout the trial.

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/ / / VI NTAGE

ESSENTIAL RULES OMITTED The problem was, quite obviously, that these two omissions completely modified the character of the Trial to the unquestionable advantage of the home team, which was in a position to choose shorter or better roads than those marked out on the official course, and could also make use of all the means available for their repairs, means that were not accessible to the riders arriving from outside. The omissions of these rules were also in contradiction to the declarations made by the Swedish delegate during the London Congress in December 1922. In Stockholm just before the start, the organisers explained to the riders that on controlled hills Art. 22 of the regulations permitted competitors to touch the ground with their foot in case of wheel slip; such steadying would not carry a penalty as long

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as the engine was running. However, Swiss riders were penalised. Other complaints were mentioned, such as:

• Scandinavian

riders were seen leaving the official course wherever they chose in order to follow easier roads.

• Cars

equipped with full sets of spares and for repair work followed the Swedish teams and made all kinds of repairs during the Trial by means of workmen who were not themselves competitors.

• All test rides on the hill in Christiania were forbidden to foreign riders under penalty of disqualification.

• During the speed test, several machines

were allowed to take off all their accessories, and therefore did not have their normal trial equipment. The other riders were not allowed similar unloading.

• In Norrköping, a 1000cc motorcycle was

removed from the enclosure during the night and brought back at half past five in the morning – certified by an eye-witness.

• A

controlled hill was eliminated on account of road repairs. This road was not under repair a few days before the Trial.

This hill happens to be in the immediate neighbourhood of a motorcycle factory…

• On

day 5, the motorcycle referred to above was not in running conditions and could scarcely ascend the slightest hill without the assistance of the passenger.

On day 6, the same machine, on the kilometer test, achieved a speed of over 73 km/h. Neither the machine nor the number plates were sealed, an omission which would naturally permit the substitution of any defective part.

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V INTAGE

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For many years, the motorcycles taking part in the Six Days’ events were “normal” motorcycles, manufactured for road use. Not all roads were asphalted in the early 20th century. But, in the ISDT, motorcycles were s u p p os e d to h a n dle a ny of f- roa d u s e .

The biggest “enemy” was of course rain… ///

THE JURY PRESIDENT

The end of the report requested that “for the future, complete and impartial regulations for International Trials should be established by the FICM; for each Trial an International Jury should be elected in accordance with the international teams entered and with an even number of members for each nation presenting a team; the results of the 1923 ISDT should not be approved by the FICM and the International Trophy should be returned to the FICM as this could not be attributed to the Swedish team, the riders of which were unjustly favoured; the FICM should express its disapproval to the organisers for having failed in their obligations of international impartiality”.

In fact, what came out from this meeting is the fact that good faith was not really respected. The target of the Six Days was also not respected. But FICM’s Secretary General Major Thomas Wynn Loughborough had officiated as Jury President in Sweden. He answered to the report commented on by Mr Neher by explaining that the rules were effectively lacking a number of points but that they were accepted by the competitors.

Concerning the hill in Christiania, it was private property and no permission was granted for the Trial. As for the timekeeping, the methods employed were those in use in the country. The Jury was of the opinion that it was a poor sort of competition but that the Swedes had done their best and that the rules were not made to the special advantage of the Swedish competitors or otherwise. “In my sincere opinion the Trial was run in an impartial manner and the omission in the rules of a clause obliging competitors to follow the special route and preventing them from receiving outside assistance was very unfortunate, and probably operated in favour of the national team, but on the other hand, as the Trial took place under the printed rules accepted by the competitors, no protest can be admitted on these different points. I am of the opinion that the results have not been vitiated by the omission of these rules and that the Federation cannot go further than to express its regrets that its members who were invited to enter this Trial did not perceive those omissions until too late”.

Mr Neher took the floor again: “In the first place I should like to declare that we recognize that the reception of the competitors and the general organization of the Trial were above reproach. All these gentlemen are loudly to be praised as far as the general organization is concerned.

Secondly I am sure that the Jury has carried out its duty, for it has applied the rules which were placed before it”.

Various delegates regretted that no Swedish delegate was present at this meeting.

He could have provided explanations on the subject of these various protests. The problem, however, was not the results, but rather the moral results from the operation of the regulations to which attention should be directed. The route book issued to each competitor included an itinerary and a map; surely the competitor should unhesitatingly think that the official route must be followed – if not, only the actual

controls should have been indicated. Mr Longuemare, the French delegate who was chairing the meeting, said: “We have before us very serious complaints. In this Trial fundamental principles have been violated and in the opinion of all present the original international regulations were a model for all regulations and it was impossible to omit any of them without disastrous results”. He then proposed to put it to the vote whether or not the Six Days’ organised by Sweden should be confirmed. By seven votes against, one in favour and two abstentions, the results of the 1923 ISDT were not approved.

ONE YEAR LATER It was not until the Congress held in Paris on 7 October 1924 – almost a year later and well after the 1924 ISDT held in Belgium -, that the matter could be discussed and, thanks to the presence of Swedish and Norwegian delegates, finally “settled”.

The Svenska Motorcycle Klub (SMK), represented by Captain Nils Brambeck and Messrs de Lagerberg and Sven Dahlen, and the Norsk Motorcycle Klub (NMK) represented by Mr Eric Mathiesen, had received the report of the UMS and then sent their own report, answering the UMS document point by point.

The discussion in the general meeting started with Mr Loughborough reporting that “an emphatic objection had been lodged by the Swedish Association against the refusal of the Federation, following the objections lodged by the Swiss Association, to ratify the results of the 1923 ISDT”. The President (Count Bonacossa) had decided that the question must be re-opened.

Mr Neher stated that he had seen the Swedish reply which he accepted without question. “The criticisms were made in all sincerity and were based on the fact that in the regulations two essential things were omitted. The objective was to ensure that in future Trials of this description the regulations shall be so framed that no suspicion of partiality can fall on either the promoters or the competitors”.

Mr de Lagerberg expressed the regret of the Norwegian and Swedish Associations in being prevented from attending the last Congress. A complete report on the Trial, replying to every objection that had been raised, was submitted to the Federation, and he requested that a précis of this report, made the Secretary General, should be read to the meeting.

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/ / / VI NTAGE

In those early years, each team included a sidecar and sometimes also a cyclecar in which the passenger was occasionally a woman. ///

Major T.W. Loughborough then read the report on the position of the SMK following the charges made by the UMS.

• The

regulations were not made as the promoters had undertaken they should be made: the SMK pointed out that the regulations were accepted by the competitors, as is proved by their starting without protest.

• These

regulations favoured the home team with the omission of the obligation to follow the official course and of the necessity for all repairs to be made by the competitors, spare parts having to be carried on the motorcycle itself: the SMK admits omission but stated that “in competitions in Sweden the competitors are always allowed to choose for themselves the road they prefer between control points (sic).

But there is, as a rule, only one direct connection between two places, and the selection of another road would involve a considerable loss of time”. The Jury accepted this explanation and refused to accept any protest against a competitor for leaving the route. In the case of repairs, the SMK also admits omission but stated that “outside assistance with repairs or adjustments was never given” and also “that vital parts of the cycle or engine could not be exchanged as they were, of course, marked”.

• Regarding the examples of malpractice, the SMK stated that of all these points, only four of them were object of a protest before the Jury and were all rejected.

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“Strictly speaking, the UMS have not given any example of the regulations operating in favour of the home team, which example was a subject of a protest before the Jury and therefore open to appeal to the FICM”.

Mr Loughborough concluded: “The conclusion to be drawn is as follows: no admissible evidence has been produced to the effect that the Swedish team was unfairly favoured. The regulations were not, as the entrants had been led to expect, the same as in 1921/1922, but were accepted by all entrants without protest.

The incompleteness of the regulations, as to following the route and assistance, did not, judged from the protests which came before the Jury, unduly favour the Swedish team”.

Lieut.-Col. F.S. Brereton, FICM VicePresident and Chairman of the General Committee of the ACU, complimented both sides on the way in which their case had been presented. He then proposed the following motion: “This Congress, having heard the reply of the SMK and the NMK, is not prepared to adjudicate on the results of the Trial, which are hereby ratified, but desires to place on record its regret that in drawing up the regulations, the SMK and the NMK do not appear to have sufficiently appreciated the necessity of keeping so strictly to their undertaking that it would be impossible for any suggestion of a lack of international impartiality to be made”.

President Bonacossa expressed his approval of the suggested resolution. Two delegates, the Baron Nothomb (Belgium) and Mr Longuemare (France) expressed their

doubts about the motion – not sufficiently precise, not insisting enough on the seriousness of the omission to follow the official route. Mr Neher closed the debate by repeating that the UMS would not oppose the motion and that the objective in bringing the matter forward was to clear the ground for the future.

The President, summing up, pointed out that there were two aspects from which the question should be viewed, the sporting aspect and the political aspect.

They were both delicate, but the latter, which might involve a reprimand from a friendly country, was the more delicate of the two. He commended the motion as a wise solution of the difficulty. The motion was carried by five votes in favour.

This story confirmed the idea of creating a separate “working group” or Committee – the CSI – in order to take care only of sporting/technical matters. The rules were from then on strictly studied by the International Competition Committee (Commission Sportive Internationale, created at that same Congress) after being submitted well in advance.

Nevertheless, the kind of problems mentioned in this article would appear again throughout the years…

by Marc Pétrier

FIM M AGA ZINE . 7 7 / / / February March 2 0 1 1

/ / / tech talk

BST BLACKSTONE: BLACK GOLD! JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA, IS A CITY BUILT ON GOLD, WHERE THE WORLD’S RICHEST DEPOSITS OF THAT STRANGE YELLOW METAL THAT LADIES LOVE AND MEN ROB BANKS FOR WERE DISCOVERED IN 1878 IN THE MILE-HIGH WITWATERSRAND REEF.

But today, there’s another kind of precious substance produced there by BlackStone Tek/BST, whose founders Gary Turner and Ms.Terry Annecke mine the black gold represented by their company’s exquisite carbon fibre wheels, whose lightweight yet exceedingly strong design is proven to be suitable for both racing and roadbike applications. For these are the only such wheels in the world which are homologated for street use on motorcycles, approved by Germany’s TüV. Since the company began production in 2002 under the watchword of Engineering the Future, more than 10,000 BST monocoque carbon wheels (each one a single integral structure with either five or seven hollow spokes, not bolted together from separate parts like Honda’s mid-‘80s Comstar carbon wheels) fitted with CNC-machined billet aluminium hubs have been manufactured via a patented process in its purpose-built 4,900m² Jo’burg factory by a 30-person workforce predominantly drawn from the indigenous African community. This has duly led to several awards - indeed, in 2008 BST was chosen as the 1,000th member of the SA government’s ‘Proudly South African’ Industrial Innovation programme.

BST’s products are sold all over the world, with a pair of its street-legal carbon wheels fitted with steel bearings retailing for $3,750 per front and rear set irrespective of sizes, or

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$4,000 per set with ceramic bearings. But the firm’s racequality wheels are now also used by a steadily increasing number of discerning MotoGP, Supermoto and drag racing teams, even including the MotoCzysz e1pc electric bike for which BST also manufactured the carbon fibre chassis. The fact that, this coming season, that list will include the factory Ducati MotoGP team, whose GP11 Desmosedici will be equipped with BST carbon wheels, speaks volumes for the excellence of the South African products. Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden will indeed be part of the 2011 Gold Rush - but it’s black gold, though!

However, BST wheels aren’t just eye candy. “Carbon fibre wheels are the best bolt-on performance product you can purchase for your motorcycle,” says former road racer Gary Turner, 44, the designer of BlackStone Tek’s iconic products. “They don’t just look nice, but you also get an instant improvement in performance, and it’s something the rider feels immediately.” This instant gratification comes because, alongside its better-known benefits in handling and suspension compliance, a BST carbon wheel’s much lighter rim delivers better acceleration and braking by reducing the moment of rotational inertia. Its lower weight means less inertia to overcome in starting the mass of the wheel moving under acceleration, as well as offering a similar

FIM M AGA ZINE . 7 7 / / / February March 2 0 1 1

t ech talk

benefit in stopping it, where there’s less rotational mass whose momentum must be brought to a halt. But as well as offering improved suspension compliance via reduced unsprung weight, meaning there’s fewer kilos for the forks and shock to dampen, lightweight wheels are also a critical factor in improving a bike’s steering, thanks to the diminished gyroscopic mass of a lighter carbon wheel.

OK - but how much lighter? “BST wheels will save anything between 40%-60% in unsprung weight, depending on their size,” says Turner. “But more importantly, they have much lighter rims, and carry the bulk of their weight in the metal hub – and the hub has far less effect on the performance of the wheel than the rim, because of what amounts to a flywheel effect. The further the mass represented by the weight of the rim is located away from the rotating axis, the more energy it takes to accelerate it. And that energy comes directly from the bike’s motor, which is why a carbon wheel with a much lighter rim than any conventional metal wheel, even a forged magnesium one, effectively improves engine performance via easier, faster, acceleration.” BST claims that a standard set of 17-inch cast aluminium wheels fitted to, say, a Yamaha R1 or Honda Fireblade streetbike, weighs a total of 10.0kg, split 3.5kg for the 3.50in front, and 6.5kg for the 6.0in rear, whereas a set of its same-size carbon race wheels by contrast scales in at 5.0kg in total 2.1kg for the front, and 2.9kg the rear. Halving the unsprung weight is already impressive, but because the bulk of that saving comes from the wheel’s rim and spokes, there’s an even greater saving in rotational inertia of up to 140%, says Turner, who claims that this is the equivalent of a 5bhp/3kW power saving in accelerating the wheels from zero to 200kph - a significant benefit which anyone who’s raced a bike with carbon wheels will confirm is borne out by lower lap times. I demonstrated this to my own satisfaction, by acting as the development rider for British wheel manufacturer Dymag in the 1990s, racing their prototype carbon fibre wheels which later became commercially available for competition use - Dymags were never road legal - before the company later folded, leaving BST to take up the slack. The dramatic

///

drop in lap times the carbon wheels produced on a same day basis - one second a lap or more on a 2.5-mile/4.0km circuit - with no other mechanical improvements to the motorcycle, coupled with reduced rider fatigue via a carbon front wheel’s lighter steering, made me a believer.

Indeed, hooking up with the Ducati factory race team to supply them with his products for its 2011 MotoGP bike will square the circle for former road racer Gary Turner. For, back in the mid-‘90s he was living in the Netherlands, and racing one of his two Ducati ‘half-a-Superbike’ singles in the hotly contested European Supermono Championship run as a World Superbike support class. “Carbon fibre had recently started appearing on factory Superbikes, and I was helping pay for my racing by running a company called Pro Carbon, which basically manufactured and sold many different carbon fibre parts to Joe Average - stuff like fairings, mudguards, covers, everything that’s since become commonplace,” recalls Turner. “I hadn’t yet got round to making a wheel but then you showed up with the prototype Dymag carbon wheels on your own Ducati Supermono, and that got me thinking. The Japanese maxi-singles like the Over-Yamaha and BMR Suzuki were getting punched out to 750cc and more, and our 578cc Ducatis were struggling to keep up.

So I thought - well, we’ve got to get a bit more juice out of the bike, and so I took to developing the carbon wheels as a way of reducing the rotational inertia, which helped improve acceleration and countered the extra torque those big singles had over us exiting a turn. So that’s how we got started - it all came from that!”

South Africa had already been active in developing the

application of carbon fibre as a material, specifically in creating the Rooivalk (‘Red Kestrel’) attack helicopter with a largely carbon fibre airframe, which had its maiden flight in 1990. A remarkable chopper design that can fly completely upside down, 12 examples were built by Denel Aviation in its Centurion factory north of Jo’burg between 1990 and 2001, all of which are still in operation today with the SAAF.

F I M MAG AZ I NE .7 7 /// February March 2011 47

/ / / tech talk

The knowledge spun off from

that project allowed Aerotek the aeronautical division of CSIR, South Africa’s government-run technological R&D operation, whose job is to seek other applications for technical advances made in aviation design - to produce a prototype carbon motorcycle wheel in 1991 in conjunction with Adept, a local wheel manufacturer, although attempts to commercialise that foundered when Adept disappeared in the mid-‘90s.

Gary Turner had got word of the Aerotek wheels, and on returning to South Africa in 2000 tried to track down the remains of the project, only to discover that while it was by now extinct, some crucial technology was still available that he was free to adopt in developing his prototype BST wheels. “I wanted to make a monocoque design, but hadn’t yet worked out the technique of doing the hollow spokes,” he says. “Eventually I came up with the silicone idea, and then we had to get it all to work. One

Gary Turner and Terry Annecke today own 75% of the company. ///

48

good thing is that composites as an engineering material offers you far more flexibility on what you want to do, than any of the metals. It’s very difficult to forge or cast a piece of metal in your garage - but up to a certain point you can do a lot of experiments with laminates or composites in your home workshop, and that’s essentially what I did in coming up with the silicone idea.”

Turner’s trick was to create a silicone jigsaw on the inside of each spoke, over which the carbon could be wrapped.

But now he had to refine that and form a company to manufacture the result - and meeting Terry Annecke in 2001 saw the creation of BlackStone Tek. A former IBM Systems Engineer turned marketing wiz, Annecke was headhunted by Microsoft to eventually become the US software giant’s South African Marketing Director, a job she held for four years before taking a break and looking for something new.

“Gary was looking to put the company together when I met him, and he wanted a business partner who’d take an active role in running the company while he focused on the technology,” says Terry. “I’m much more marketing and business orientated, so it was actually the perfect match.” The two partners today own 75% of the company, although its minor shareholders include some prestige names, like Thales, the French high-tech defence contractor....!

FIM M AGA ZINE . 7 7 / / / February March 2 0 1 1

t ech talk

///

BST moved into its new home in July 2002, and the first customer BST wheels left the Jo’burg factory in October 2002, since when production has gradually ramped up to 2,000 wheels per year. ///

BST moved into its new home in

July 2002, and the first customer BST wheels left the Jo’burg factory in October 2002, since when production has gradually ramped up to 2,000 wheels per year. These are split between 30 different designs ranging in size from 16in. to 21in. in diameter (with a good-selling 12in. version for Japanese minibike GP replicas!), and in rim sizes from a 125GP wheel’s 2.5in. width, up to a US powercruiser’s 8.0in. design statement.

These are all however built in the same way by BST’s team of skilled assemblers - around half of them women - working in two separate clean rooms with positive air pressure to ensure there’s no dust on any of the parts which might compromise the integrity of the finished product further down the line. The wheels are made from special prepreg carbon sheet, with a combination of woven and unidirectional formats, embedded in a resin matrix made from toughened epoxy, with a bonding agent attached to one side of the sheet, and protected by a peel-off backing. This is supplied in large rolls from BST’s raw materials partner ACG in the UK, and each BST wheel design is comprised of between 130 and 180 different individual carbon components, each of which must first be CNC laser-cut from the roll of pre-preg material, then individually numbered. The assemblers are provided with a full set of these

parts for the type of wheel they’re building, which they then start laying up in numbered order on the half-a-wheel skeleton mould which, like all the metal parts involved in production - including of course the high-precision hubs - BST has manufactured in-house on one of its bank of thirteen CNC machine tools.

Each wheel is initially built in two halves, which are then joined together in a strong single unit before baking. Every

step of the process is logged, and the entire history of each wheel is stored with its unique serial number, which means that BST wheels can be repaired or refurbished, even in the event of crash damage or a rim damaged by a careless tyre fitter. Interestingly, the carbon fibre material must be kept cold to avoid degradation, so each new roll is flown out from the UK to South Africa packed in dry ice, then stored in a

Each wheel is initially built in two halves which are then joined together in a strong single unit before baking. ///

F I M MAG AZ I NE .7 7 /// February March 2011 49

/ / / tech talk

“Carbon fibre wheels will save anything between 40%-60% in unsprung weight, depending on their size,” says Gary Turner. ///

freezer room at -20ºC. In this temperature, the material will remain durable for up to one year - but it must be removed from there once a day and warmed to 0ºC, to keep the resins fresh. Tricky stuff, carbon fibre....!

The wheels are built by BST’s team of skilled assemblers - around half of them women - working in two separate clean rooms with positive air pressure to not compromise the integrity of the finished product. ///

50

Gary Turner’s insistence on the unitary hollow monocoque design of BST wheels, to reduce the weight in the spokes and rim without compromising strength, was made feasible by his invention of the jigsaw of specially shaped silicone intensifier inserts which are laid in the mould’s metal spokes, then wrapped with carbon sheet. The silicone comes as a two-part liquid which then sets hard when combined, allowing the jigsaw of parts to be cut to fit. The complete wheel is then wrapped in a special plastic bag, and baked for between four and five hours together with up to seven other wheels at a time in one of BST’s pair of pressurised autoclave ovens at 125ºC and 6.0 bar of pressure. The silicone expands under heat and vacuum pressure to fill and shape the spokes, but then as it cools it shrinks back to less than its original size, which means the jigsaw of parts can be extracted via the holes left in the wheel’s unstressed sections. Very neat.

The cooked - as in, finished! - wheel is now removed from the mould and closely inspected for any visual defects, then weighed to ensure it meets specification. The rough wheel is then machined to spec and finished off, then fitted with the hub unit and bearings and sprayed by a special South African-made Aer-o-Mix automotive paint which is claimed to provide fifty years of UV protection, before being inspected once again. The hub is attached to the carbon wheel using a unique fastening system combining high strength aerospace fasteners with mechanical locking mechanisms, as well as

FIM M AGA ZINE . 7 7 / / / February March 2 0 1 1

t ech talk

///

Each BST wheel design is comprised of between 130 and 180 different individual carbon components, each of which must first be CNC laser-cut from the roll of pre-preg material, then individually numbered. ///

high strength aerospace a 455kg hit. “We maintain adhesive. All rear wheels our carbon wheel is much are then fitted with an stronger, as well as lighter, appropriate size Metzeler than a forged magnesium tyre and pressure tested at metal wheel,“ says Turner.

4.0 bar overnight, with zero There’s a comparable margin of error - the same twisting test, whereby using pressure must be there in special software the cyclic the morning. BST is now also bending moment can be making carbon fibre singletested by applying up to sided swingarms for the 540Nm of torsional pressure Ducati 1098 and, soon, MV to the front wheel, and Agusta models, including 600Nm to a conventional designing and making the rear wheel, or 700Nm to complicated tool to wrap the an offset wheel for fitting to carbon sheeting around it, a single-sided Ducati/MV and other structures follow The BST products are the only such wheels in the world which are homologated wheel. for street use on motorcycles, approved by Germany’s TüV. /// all the time, like the rear subframe for a modern Moto BST makes a product that is Guzzi, a KTM RC8 fuel tank, the Confederate Wraith front rare in motorcycling, one that performs as well as it looks suspension and chassis, and many parts for the new Norton and its wheels do indeed look great. They’re a product the Commando, including flyscreen, mudguards, engine covers, Rainbow Nation can be proud of, as it builds on the success etc. of having hosted the FIFA World Cup so successfully in 2010.

However, at least Gary Turner and Terry Annecke resisted the To keep checking the validity of its manufacturing process, temptation to manufacture a carbon fibre vuvuzela...!

BST makes regular impact tests which are TüV compliant, subjecting its front wheel to a 300kg impact load and the rear

by Alan Cathcart

F I M MAG AZ I NE .7 7 /// February March 2011 51

///

gallery

HERE COME THE GIRLS THERE WAS A TIME, NOT VERY LONG AGO, WHEN LADIES W ERE PRE V ENTED FROM RACING, EITHER BY LOCAL RULES OR BY SOCIAL CONVENTION. THOSE TIMES HAVE PASSED AND WITH THE SUPP OR T OF T HE F IM ’ S COMMISSION FOR WOMEN IN MOTORCYCLING, LADIES ARE PLAYING AN INCREASINGLY IMPORTANT ROLE IN OUR SPORTS, BOTH AS OFFICIALS AND PARTICIPANTS. WE ASKED T WO ME MB E R S OF T HE CO M M I S S I O N , S U Z A N N E H Ü T T I N G E R A N D N I TA Emily Cogland has been an active grass track racer since 2007, she now competes in the fearsome 1000cc class as passenger to Mark Warren. /// KORHONEN TO PROVIDE US WITH SOME INTERESTING Emily Cogland is a strongly independent can make as much difference as the drivers EXAMPLES AND THEY FOUND 25-year old avionics technician and a former speed on the clutch.”

Royal Navy Weapons Technician who saw THREE ENGLISH COMPETITORS active service in Iraq and the Gulf. She rides Of course, the sidecar passenger is in the IN THAT MOST SPECTACULAR a 600cc Honda Hornet on the road and unique position of being an important also enjoys horse riding. An active grass part of the racing team but having little OF DISCIPLINES, SIDEC AR track racer since 2007 she now competes or no control over decisions on the track.

TRACK RACING. HERE IS HOW in the fearsome 1000cc class as passenger Complete confidence in the driver must to Mark Warren. Her theory is that women be an essential feature of any successful T H E Y C O P E W I T H T H E have a clear advantage over the men as team. “Mark and I train together and have PRESSURES OF BEING GIRL sidecar passengers. “We are more flexible a friendship on and off the bike. I have every faith in him as a driver and trust him to be and lighter” she says.

PASSENGERS. safe and not to take any unnecessary risks.

So what does a passenger have to do?

Here’s how Emily described it in a recent web posting: “In the corners the passenger hangs off the bike to allow it to turn, using their body weight to give drive and control the back end of the bike. On the straights the passenger can keep the bike going straight by moving back and up into the ‘chair’ (sat on the back wheel, weight in the sidecar) and give drive by moving back. The starts are the hairiest parts, these bikes will tip with the slightest rut and a passenger’s position

52

We work very well together and both of us seem to know what the other will do without any communication. After each practice we will discuss our performance and agree, for example, whether I need to stay down longer in the corners or if Mark needs to put more weight on the chair along the straights.

Then we go out for our next session and work on what we need to improve.”

This relationship is beginning to bring success and the team won its first podium

FIM M AGA ZINE . 7 7 / / / February March 2 0 1 1

gallery

///

Abi Radley said from the beginning that she was going to be her dad's passenger. Their first official Grass Track meeting was at the beginning of the 2008 season, just a few days after her 16th birthday. ///

place in a national meeting last season.

“We handle success and disappointment in the same way” she says. “We look at what we did well and what we can do better next time. And of course we enjoy a few celebrations when we do well!”

And how has she coped in a traditionally male-dominated sport? “I was very fortunate to find Mark, my driver, who took me on as a novice passenger and patiently taught me the ropes” she remembers. “It takes a while for a girl to prove her capability but once accepted there is no animosity and a lot of good natured banter. Any supporters who think that we are there only for entertainment and to look pretty soon learn when they see us race!”

Of course there are things that need improvement. “I accept that we are in a minority but support from organisers could be better and there are rarely any separate changing facilities for females”

She is currently recovering from an accident last year which left her with torn ligaments and muscles in her right elbow and wrist. Has that affected her attitude and ambitions for the future? “I have handled it by accepting that we could not avoid crashing and that we did the best we could to minimise damage to the other riders involved. I also keep focused on the fact that I will race next season; the crash hasn’t put me off, it is all part of the racing. My family does not support my racing after my crash but I am very independent so I will continue to race!”

There is a possibility of a racing trip to Australia and Emily also hopes to encourage more females into the sport in the UK. She has a clear mission for the future. “To be the best I can and the best 1000cc passenger.

Also to be the best female 1000cc passenger on both grass and Speedway and to promote females in motorsport. It will be great to get there, but I will learn everything I can from the journey and know that I am helping to change history and paving the

way for the female 1000cc passengers of the future.”

Next we found Abi Radley an 18 year old Health Care support worker in surgical operating theatres at her local hospital. She is one of the youngest competitors in the 500cc class but not the least experienced.

“I attended my first Grass Track when I was about 9 or 10 years old. My dad (Nick Radley) raced between 1981 and 1987 then returned to the sport to continue his racing career when I was 11 years old. And I have loved it ever since. I was desperate to have a go myself and couldn’t wait until my 16th birthday when I became eligible to race. I said from the beginning that I was going to be my dad’s passenger as soon as I could, and fortunately for me, he didn’t put up a fight!”

Radley’s father took her out on the sidecar for the first time when she was just 11 years old. “It was on a local field which a kind

F I M MAG AZ I NE .7 7 /// February March 2011 53

///

gallery

Jeni Cossar has been racing for 3 years and now competes in the 500cc class.

Jeni Cossar is a member of one of Britain’s most prominent sidecar families . ///

farmer let us use for the day. Before I was 16, I had a couple of rides here and there at the end of some UK meetings and had definitely ‘caught the bug’ for it. My first official meeting was at Worcester at the beginning of the 2008 season, just a few days after my 16th birthday.”

And the co-operation between daughter and father? “We work well as a team. We work better together on the track than we do off track”, she admits laughing and adds “Racing with my dad is special. I trust him 100 %, as he does me. He feels comfortable when racing with me and we have a great relationship on track. It comes naturally to us. It’s obviously a biased point of view, but in my eyes my dad is the safest rider out there. Sometimes we tease him for being too much of a gentleman on the track!”

The couple has been lucky enough to walk away from the very few accidents that they have had together and luckily only ever sustained minor injuries. Abi has a philosophical attitude to the dangers of racing. “Crashing is something that happens all too often within the sport but we all know the risks when we get on the bike. I guess it’s difficult racing with someone you love

54

because, when you’re both lying on either end of the track, all you want to know is if the other one is ok.”

The team has had its share of disappointments of course but their attitude is ‘some you win, some you lose’ “Admittedly sometimes it is disheartening. But we have to remember the old saying ‘different horses for different courses’ and not every day is our day. That’s racing! You have to take the rough with the smooth.”

However to compensate, there is an ever growing list of successes that Abi and her father have achieved including Champion of Champions, British Best Pairs Champions, a 3rd place in Luedinghausen, a 2nd in Siddeburen, and 6th in the European final 2010. But for Abi, their best win was last year when they became British Champions.

“Crossing that finish line was a feeling that I will never forget. We made history by becoming the first ever father/daughter team to win the championship and I was told I was the youngest to win too. I was also the second ever woman to have stood on the top step.” At High Easter in 2010 the pair won the 500cc flying lap record attempt

beating the quickest time of the 1000cc sidecars by Mark Cossar (Jeni Cossar’s brother). “I am immensely proud, as are the whole team. We value our team a lot and couldn’t do it without them. The sport has given me some really great experiences and memories which will stay with me forever.”

Radley doesn´t think there are any advantages or disadvantages that women incur that men do not. She is also relatively happy with the support shown by the organisers. “Sometimes it’s great, especially on the continent. The vast majority of clubs overseas have shower blocks for women, which is good.”

Her enthusiasm for sidecar racing is apparent whenever she talks about it. “I love what I do and I would never want to let my dad or myself down. The best racing is close racing; it gets your blood pumping and the adrenaline rushing, building your determination. In my very first European Final, we were leading the reigning European champions. The ACU representative, who was watching from the sidelines, told me he could hear me screaming to my dad to go faster!”

FIM M AGA ZINE . 7 7 / / / February March 2 0 1 1

gallery

///

Abi and Nick Radley's best win was in 2009 when they became British Champions. ///

“ We have good support, especially from Julian and Shelly who are our friends, mechanics and sponsors all in one. My mum helps us a lot with preparing for meetings, although she doesn’t come to watch too often. My friends think what I do is great and are the first to tell people about it! They enjoy coming to watch and support when they can.”

Above all there is the burning ambition. “I don’t think there is any team that wouldn’t want to become European Champions! It would mean a lot to get there. It’s a dream.”

Jeni Cossar is a member of one of Britain’s most prominent sidecar families.

Mother Tracey is the ACU Track Racing Secretary, father Andy, brothers Mark (the current British Champion) and Tom are all sidecar racers so the 22 year old from Rugby has a great pedigree. She has been racing for 3 years and now competes in the 500cc class.

“I wanted to race as soon as I realised that girls were allowed. My first go was on a 1000cc sidecar but my dad and elder brother Mark were both uneasy about my racing so I

opted to go on a 500 sidecar and I loved it.”

Like the others she complains about the lack of separate facilities for the girls. “It is very hard with showers, they should be separate”, she grumbles but in other respects she sees little difference between male and female competitors. “All classes are the same when you are out racing together; when the helmet goes on age or sex does not matter, we are all racers.”

succeed just keep focused for a better result next time. When you win – it’s great!”

Having her whole family involved in sport, Jeni has good support from them and from her friends. She also enjoys working with her racing partners. “We mostly communicate off track, just discussing the tactics and track conditions. And racing signals such as nudging work too.”

These are not by any means the only lady passengers in sidecar track racing, European finalists Nathalie Matthijssen and Sandra Mollema from Holland are perhaps the best known and there are several more in Holland and elsewhere in Europe. Another interesting development is on the solo front where Sky Sports speedway presenter Charlie Webster recently hosted an all-ladies school in England, attended by 30 ladies including Emily Coglan.

“The important things for good co-operation are respect, trust and a good relationship before starting to race, then practice and more practice to work together as a team. It is also important to learn to read the way the driver rides and acts on different tracks and in different weather conditions.”

Her take on the bad days: “Don’t let the disappointment get to you. If you don’t

For Jeni the things which attract her most in sidecar racing are still the thrill, the adrenalin and the desire to win. She is currently expecting a baby which has curtailed her recent racing but she has not lost her enthusiasm and her biggest aim now is to get back into a sidecar as soon as she can.

So there is a brighter future in prospect for the ladies of track racing and, perhaps of other disciplines too. The message is clear to the girls.......... Bring it on!

by Suzanne Hüttinger & Nita Korhonen

F I M MAG AZ I NE .7 7 /// February March 2011 55

road book

APRIL 02

16 – 17

AMA SUPERCROSS, AN FIM WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

QTEL FIM ENDURANCE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP & WORLD CUP 24 HOURS BOL D’OR

Arlington, Texas UNITED STATES

Magny-Cours FRANCE

02 – 03

17

RED BULL FIM MOTOGP ROOKIES CUP

FIM SUPERBIKE & SUPERSPORT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

Jerez de la Frontera SPAIN

Assen NETHERLANDS

09

30

St Louis, Missouri UNITED STATES

Salt Lake City, Utah UNITED STATES

AMA SUPERCROSS, AN FIM WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

AMA SUPERCROSS, AN FIM WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

09 – 10

FIM SPEEDWAY WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP GP

Leszno POLAND

MAXXIS FIM ENDURO & JUNIOR ENDURO WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MAXXIS FIM ENDURO & JUNIOR ENDURO WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

Ponts-Lerida SPAIN

Vale de Cambra PORTUGAL MAXXIS FIM YOUTH ENDURO CUP 125cc 2-STROKES

Vale de Cambra PORTUGAL

MAXXIS FIM YOUTH ENDURO CUP 125cc 2-STROKES

FIM SUPERSTOCK 1000cc WORLD CUP

Assen NETHERLANDS FIM MX3 MOTOCROSS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

Megalopolis GREECE

Ponts-Lerida SPAIN

FIM WOMEN’S MOTOCROSS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

FIM WOMEN’S ENDURO WORLD CUP

Megalopolis GREECE

Ponts-Lerida SPAIN

FIM SIDECAR MOTOCROSS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

02 – 07

FIM CROSS-COUNTRY RALLIES WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP & WORLD CUP - QUADS

///

Castelnau de Lévis FRANCE FIM SPEEDWAY WORLD CUP QUALIFYING ROUND 1

30 – 01

RED BULL MOTOGP ROOKIES CUP

FIM WOMEN’S ENDURO WORLD CUP

Lonigo ITALY

Estoril PORTUGAL

FIM SPEEDWAY UNDER 21 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP – QR1

10

Herxheim GERMANY

30 – 07

FIM MX1 & MX2 MOTOCROSS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

Rallye de Tunisie TUNISIA

03

Sevlievo BULGARIA

24

FIM MX3 MOTOCROSS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

FIM CROSS-COUNTRY RALLIES WORLD CUP - QUADS

FIM ROAD RACING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP GRAND PRIX

FIM WOMEN’S MOTOCROSS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

Troyan BULGARIA

Rallye de Tunisie TUNISIA

Jerez de la Frontera SPAIN

Sevlievo BULGARIA

FIM CROSS-COUNTRY RALLIES WORLD CUP -WOMEN

FIM SIDECAR MOTOCROSS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

16

25

FIM MX1/MX2 MOTOCROSS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

FIM SUPERMOTO WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

Magny-Cours FRANCE

Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge UNITED ARAB EMIRATES FIM CROSS-COUNTRY RALLIES WORLD CUP - WOMEN

Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Oss NETHERLANDS

Busca ITALY

Vale de Cambra PORTUGAL

FIM E-POWER INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

Valkenswaard NETHERLANDS

AMA SUPERCROSS, AN FIM WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

Valkenswaard NEHTERLANDS

Seattle, Washington UNITED STATES

FIM CROSS-COUNTRY RALLIES WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

Rallye de Tunisie TUNISIA

FIM VETERAN MOTOCROSS WORLD CUP

FIM SIDECAR MOTOCROSS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

Frauenfeld SWITZERLAND

F I M MAG AZ I NE .7 7 /// February March 2011 57

/ / / road book

MAy 01

20 – 21

Estoril PORTUGAL

Basel SWITZERLAND

FIM ROAD RACING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP GRAND PRIX

FIM FREESTYLE MOTOCROSS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

02

21

FIM TEAM SPEEDWAY UNDER 21 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

QTEL FIM ENDURANCE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP & WORLD CUP 8 HOURS OF ALBACETE

Rivne UKRAINE

Albacete SPAIN

14 – 15

28

MAXXIS FIM ENDURO & JUNIOR ENDURO WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

FIM SPEEDWAY WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP GP

Prague CZECH REPUBLIC

Francavilla di Sicilia ITALY

FIM LONG TRACK WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP – QR2

MAXXIS FIM YOUTH ENDURO CUP 125cc 2-STROKES

Artigues de Lussac FRANCE

Francavilla di Sicilia ITALY

07

AMA SUPERCROSS, AN FIM WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

Las Vegas, Nevada UNITED STATES FIM SPEEDWAY WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP GP QUALIFYING MEETING – RD1

Krsko SLOVENIA

FIM SPEEDWAY WORLD CUP QUALIFYING ROUND 2

Landshut GERMANY

15

FIM ROAD RACING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP GRAND PRIX

Le Mans FRANCE

FIM SIDECAR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

Schleiz GERMANY

FIM E-POWER INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

Schleiz GERMANY

FIM MX1/MX2 MOTOCROSS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

Glen Helen UNITED STATES

08

FIM VETERAN MOTOCROSS WORLD CUP

Monza ITALY

FIM MX3 MOTOCROSS WORLD CUP

FIM SUPERBIKE & SUPERSPORT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP FIM SUPERSTOCK 1000cc WORLD CUP

Monza ITALY

FIM SIDECAR MOTOCROSS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

Chernivtsi UKRAINE

Glen Helen UNITED STATES

T.B.A. BRAZIL

SPEA FIM TRIAL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

Gefrees GERMANY

FIM JUNIOR TRIAL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

FIM LONG TRACK WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP – QR1

Gefrees GERMANY

14

Gefrees GERMANY

Göteborg SWEDEN

Neustadt Donau GERMANY

Mühldorf GERMANY

FIM SPEEDWAY WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP GP

FIM YOUTH TRIAL CUP 125cc

FIM SPEEDWAY UNDER 21 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP - QR2

FIM SPEEDWAY UNDER 21 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP – QR3

Chervonograd UKRAINE

58

FIM SPEEDWAY UNDER 21 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP – QR4

Malmö SWEDEN

FIM SPEEDWAY UNDER 21 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP – QR5

Gorican CROATIA

21 – 22

SPEA FIM TRIAL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

Bréal-sous-Montfort FRANCE FIM JUNIOR TRIAL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

Bréal-sous-Montfort FRANCE FIM YOUTH TRIAL CUP 125cc

Bréal-sous-Montfort FRANCE

22

FIM MX1/MX2 MOTOCROSS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

Indaiatuba BRAZIL

FIM SPEEDWAY UNDER 21 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP – SEMI FINAL 1

Rawicz POLAND

FIM SPEEDWAY UNDER 21 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP – SEMI FINAL 2

Diedenbergen GERMANY

29

FIM SUPERMOTO WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

Pleven BULGARIA

FIM MX3 MOTOCROSS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

30

San Salvador de Jujuy ARGENTINA

FIM SUPERBIKE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

27 – 01

FIM CROSS-COUNTRY RALLIES WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

Salt Lake City, Utah UNITED STATES

Sardegna Rally Race ITALY

FIM CROSS-COUNTRY RALLIES WORLD CUP QUADS & WOMEN

Sardegna Rally Race ITALY

FIM M AGA ZINE . 7 7 / / / February March 2 0 1 1