This one was over early. Ducati Marlboro’s Casey Stoner took off like a shot and dominated the action for about, oh, a minute and a half. Rossi passed him for good on Lap 2, and Fiat teammate Jorge Lorenzo, once again dozing at the start of the race, regained consciousness in time to overtake him on Lap 5, after the excitable Dani Pedrosa had laid down his Repsol Honda in an unforced error on Lap 4 while running third. Pedrosa’s teammate Andrea Dovizioso, not to be outdone, replicated Pedrosa’s mistake at the same spot on the track on Lap 10, leaving American Colin Edwards on the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 and Chris Vermeulen on the Rizla Suzuki in fourth and fifth places. The top five spots in the race remained that way, then, for the final 16 laps of the race. My reaction to this can be summed up in two words: Ho. Hum.

Peruse the internet and you’ll find Assen referred to over and over as “The Cathedral of Motorcycling”, (but good luck trying to find anyone able to explain how it came by that moniker.) TT, as it turns out, stands for Tourist Trophy, the name of the first race held on the circuit back in 1925 and an excellent example of the difficulty of translating Dutch into English. And Alice, of course, is the little girl who fell down the rabbit hole and invented LSD in the beloved children’s tale by Lewis Carroll. Put it all together and you have the Alice TT Assen, Stage 7 of the 2009 MotoGP World Championship series that blasts off this weekend in the Netherlands.

The factory Yamaha riders moved to the front of the pack on Lap 1 and never looked back. ( Ducati’s Casey Stoner ran with them for a few laps, but appeared to have tire problems and fell back into a second half duel with Honda’s Andrea Dovizioso for the third spot on the podium, which he eventually won.) Watching the two Yamaha riders run away from the field reminded me of the early 2000’s, when Ferrari teammates Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello dominated Formula One to such an extent that the entire classification was harmed. Although that is not the case with MotoGP in 2009, it was on Sunday. Lorenzo ended up leading 12 laps, while Rossi led 13, including the most important final one.

The daring young men of MotoGP, and the shapely babes that hold their umbrellas, roll into Spain for the second time this season for Stage 6, the Gran Premi Cinzano de Catalunya. Six weeks and 700 miles removed from their sun-splashed weekend in Jerez, it’s anyone’s championship to win, and Casey Stoner’s to lose. And when I say “anyone”, I naturally mean Fiat Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi.

By the end of the day, though, it was vintage MotoGP. Occupying the podium were the season’s three leaders heading into the weekend, with Australian Casey Stoner back atop the step and the championship standings as well.

Each year, when March 17th rolls around, half the people I know suddenly become Irish. (They seem to need an excuse to drink themselves into oblivion on St. Patrick’s Day, though they’re happy to do so the rest of the year without any Irish connection, real or imagined.) It works much the same way when MotoGP’s high RPM crowd rolls into Tuscany. Suddenly, there are Italian connections everywhere you look. Capisce?

In the beginning (quoting from the Book of Genesis) the riders set off on what are referred to as “wet tires”, due to a guy in the start/finish tower holding up a big sign that read, “WET RACE.” [I wonder what they pay him for that duty.] The usual suspects – Lorenzo, Pedrosa, Stoner and Rossi – jumped out in front of the pack, the mid-tier guys – Dovizioso, Vermeulen, Capirossi, Edwards – trailed them, and the slow hands – Hayden, de Angelis, Takahashi, Canepa – were bringing up the rear. Your typical Sunday MotoGP procession – orderly and predictable, if a bit noisy, with occasional OhMyGod moments of mainlined adrenaline as riders pass one another in the corners.

Stage Four of the flying circus is upon us as we make our way from southern Spain to northern France. MotoGP refers to this as The Grand Prix de France, using the same naming convention Formula One uses for their senior events. Since F1 booted France off their 2009 schedule, we can think of this weekend as THE Grand Prix, rather than A Grand Prix, or One of Several Grand Prix de France. Grand Prixes? Whatever – it’s even more confusing in French.

Saturday’s qualifications raised expectations for the Spaniards, as Fiat Yamaha’s Lorenzo and Repsol Honda’s Pedrosa ran first and second. Ducati Marlboro’s Casey Stoner and Fiat Yamaha’s Rossi qualified third and fourth, respectively, and seemed to be bothered by the windy conditions. From the fifth position down, surprises abounded. Andrea Dovizioso, Alex de Angelis and Mika Kallio lagged, while Randy de Puniet and Loris Capirossi placed surprisingly high on the grid. The surprises wouldn’t end on Saturday.

This week the MotoGP rocket jockeys are off to Jerez, in Spain’s Andalusia region for the first European stop on the championship tour, just in time for some great weather (Ed: for once), the first big crowd of the year, and a little misplaced hometown machismo. This region in southern Spain claims to have essentially invented sherry, horses and flamenco dancing. While we’re happy to give them the flamenco crown, and aren’t too broken up over the sherry business, we wish to remind them that Kentucky invented horses, as any fool knows. The 135th running of the Kentucky Derby this weekend is undeniable proof, for any of those tight-pant wearing, flamenco-dancing, sherry-swilling Spaniards that need it.

The MotoGP gods, who themselves had been mercilessly lobbied by Honda, declared instead that Friday’s fastest practice lap times would be used as a proxy for qualifications. Before adjourning for drinks, the deities in attendance voted to allow the home team, Honda, a 50th anniversary miracle. The result tightened up the championship standings considerably, and the gods thumbed their collective noses at the Italian God and His chosen icons, Valentino Rossi and Ducati. Behind the scenes, the inscrutable Yamaha gods smiled and said nothing.

Has it only been two weeks since Qatar?

No stranger to controversy, he is rarely confused by the facts. He invites reader comments (as he is unable to escape them anyway, given that most of his observations are frivolous and half-baked).

Mike reckoned he could build just such a machine using a couple of Hayabusa engines and a pair of high-speed Mickey Thompson tires. His beer-toting buddies thought otherwise, and told him there was no way. That was all he needed to seal the deal. From an early age, Mike didn’t like being told he couldn’t do something. He had the resources and the time to give it a try; the rest as they say, is history.

In many ways it was a minor miracle that it happened at all. The Daytona Motorcycle Group had its hands full with taking over the Superbike series and was not sure what to do about Supermoto. Enter supermoto founder and visionary Gavin Trippe, who, in a move reminiscent of Steve Jobs' return to Apple, offered to help. Together with entrepreneur Troy Lee, he produced a schedule in January to "keep the patient alive."

Since its inception in 2006, XDL has helped grow stunt riding into the professional sport of sportbike freestyle. XDL introduced consistent judging criteria, professionally run events, ample prize money, raised safety standards and provided an environment that fostered growth in the sport through competition. All this was exemplified at XDL Round 4: Indianapolis, when the series ran with MotoGP in a spectacular downtown venue, in front of thousands of dedicated fans. XDL brought the sport to the most significant motorcycle event of the year and put sportbike freestyle on the map. Indy was the crowning achievement in a long transition from a street phenomenon to a professional sport of the highest caliber.

The competition was the fiercest of the season, with Alex Flores squeaking out a 2.5-point win over the field that put him in solid contention for the national title. Bill Dixon, Ernie Vigil and Nick Brocha all tied for second place with a score of 82.5, showing how close the riding has become. After the tiebreaker was applied, Dixon finished his usual second, points leader Brocha was a disappointing fourth and Vigil was finally back in the top three.

Set in downtown Indianapolis on a portion of North Street that intersects the Indiana War Memorial, XDL put on two days of blockbuster competition in front of huge crowds. Aaron Colton took the win in the Individual Freestyle division, with Nick Brocha and Bill Dixon close on his heels. Alex Flores suffered a crash during his warm up and could only manage an 8th place finish as a result. This has tightened the points race at the front and after adjusting for the buy, which allows riders to drop their lowest score, only 18 points separate the top four. With a maximum of 46 points up for grabs at each event, the top is locked in a dead heat and everyone down to 8th place Luke Emmons still has a mathematical shot at the title.

Having spent the day Saturday at the Motor Speedway watching qualifications, I shuffled off to the Indiana State Fairgrounds last night to watch the AMA Grand National. The contrasts between MotoGP at the IMS and AMA at the Fairgrounds could not be more stark. Think 747 vs. DC-3.

Just as an aside – we haven’t had a decent rain in Indianapolis since July. As thorough as the honchos at the IMS are, they must have put someone in charge of weather this weekend. That person should be fired. Weather like this would never be allowed during the 500 or the Brickyard.

Competitors ventured onto the 2.6 mile track in the rain early this morning in order to begin familiarizing themselves with the track in unfavorable conditions. The inaugural MotoGP event utilizing this layout will be new for everyone, creating a relatively even playing field.

Catering to man’s obsessive quest to outdo themselves, during the week of September 22-26 the famous salt flats will welcome the inaugural TOP 1 Oil World Land Speed Shootout. The event is the first of its kind, representing a single competition reserved strictly for professional land-speed competitors to decide the fastest piston-driven cars and motorcycles on the planet.

We’re Rolling into Town on Thursday, September 11

With three events in the books the battle at the top of the national rankings is extremely close. Shift’s Alex Flores and Nick Brocha are tied for first with 115 points each, followed closely by Rick Hart, Bill Dixon and Red Bull rider Aaron Colton. But because of the “bye” system that allows athletes to drop their lowest score, the race is really more open than the ranking suggests, with eight riders still in solid contention for the title. Of course this assumes the top riders keep winning, and if they don’t the championship will start to open up even more.

NY winner Nick Brocha had crashed in a practice session only a couple weeks prior to Nashville and rode the event with 20 stitches in his elbow as well as a bruised shoulder and bruised ribs. Fellow “Death Squad” rider Ernie Vigil who had suffered a horrific crash in NY and broken his collarbone was at the starting line with a special brace that supported his arm and shoulder. Every session was painful for him but Vigil soldiered on for an 11th place finish to stay sixth in the points. Series favorite Chris “Teach” McNeil severely injured his hand performing at a BMW dealer demo a week prior to the competition and was unable to ride.

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Rossi capitalized on a rare accident by Stoner to claim the win and stretch his lead in the season standings to 25 points. The win came a day after Fiat Yamaha announced it had extended Rossi’s contract through the 2010 season.

After two seasons using a qualifier system, XDL has switched to a full points system that requires riders to participate in at least 5 out of the 6 series events in order to win the national championship. This change has brought to light the true strength of the sportbike freestyle segment as a sport. Both Series Director Randy Grube and Director of Competition Thomas Evans were expecting “between 8 to 12” riders to contest the entire season. But the final count for series competitors was 25 and in total 39 riders showed up to battle it out in New York. This far exceeded expectations and is on par with traditional racing series that have been in existence much longer.

The Isle of Man is a tiny island in the middle of the Irish Sea, between England and Ireland. Every year for over a century, this small independent nation has closed its main roads to traffic and held a week of motorcycle racing, through it’s biggest city, around much of the Island, and straight over the top of the highest mountain.

The series last raced in the USA at Laguna Seca in 2004, an event which was well loved by spectators and teams alike, after 10 straight years on the WSBK calendar. From 2005, Laguna Seca changed focus and instead hosted the U.S. MotoGP, leaving WSBK without an American venue to race at. Over the past 4 years, fans were teased with rumors of the series re-emerging at a variety of tracks - Road America in Wisconsin, Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama, and Miller in Utah. Finally, in 2007, WSBK organizers announced that they had reached a 3-year agreement with Miller to host the series, and World Superbike would finally be back in the USA.

Each May, Infineon Raceway hosts an early round of the AMA Superbike series. Infineon celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2008 – many of the local old-timers still call it Sears Point, the track's name from 1968 to 2002. Called the Kawasaki Superbike Showdown, this doubleheader race weekend is the fifth year in a row that Team Green has been the title sponsor.

Interspersed at the most hazardous junctions are arrows pointing the route a rider must follow depending on his classification: green for Youth, blue for Junior and red for World. The red arrows designate routes a gecko would avoid, but even the less-difficult green routes demand fortitude of heroic proportions.

On Sunday, March 3, 2008, the Daytona International Speedway hosted the opening round of the 2008 SunTrust Moto-ST series. Moto-ST is not a new class, but a new style of American motorcycle road racing. It’s designed around production model four-stroke twin-cylinder machines divided by weight and horsepower. The list of eligible motorcycles follows with their respective classes:

Another reason I want to visit the Temple of Speed is to see this fickle mistress called salt. I'd love to see this surface. I'm fascinated by seemingly mundane things that present what I consider an amazing dichotomy -- like the way you can be crushed by the weight of water after a certain depth, yet theoretically you're free to move around in it.

Honda’s got an all-new literbike challenger in the form of its 2008 CBR1000RR, and though it’s not yet in dealers, it’s already been on the racetrack.

As I described in my first article, the pits are situated at the midpoint of the course, and with bikes whizzing by alone, perhaps 300 yards away and traveling at speeds frequently exceeding 150mph, there isn’t a whole lot to watch. The PA system was only average in terms of how well it could be heard throughout the pits, and with bikes starting their runs several miles away, it was difficult to keep track of who was running and how fast they had gone. Hardcore salt-racing enthusiasts may have known many of the competitors and been able to ID them as they blew past the pits, but I found myself mostly uninterested in watching the actual passes.

Like any religion, we racers and race fans have our own temples, our own holy places. Words that might be meaningless to normal people, words like “Nurburgring”, “Le Mans,” and “Daytona” can instantly interrupt a score of separate conversations, leaving heads turning and ears straining to hear the smallest fact about these legendary racecourses. Of course, for some gearheads, cornering speeds, lap times, and close passes are meaningless when compared to the pursuit of pure, unadulterated speed. For those whose love of racing focuses on the pursuit of ultimate speed, there’s only one name that truly matters: Bonneville.

Laguna!

Moto X Best Trick

And there I sat in the dark, a bitter young man not sure who to direct his rage at, the corporate marketing politburo who had taken his personal anthem of freedom, gutted it and hung it on the wall of commercialism like a trophy moose head, or Iggy who had given them permission. It's the same feeling I got this year at the Bike Week rally in Daytona Beach, Florida. Love it or hate it, Daytona Bike Week is something no motorcyclist can ignore. It's a bike culture barometer that comes right at the start of the spring riding season. What race replica helmet graphic is the most popular?

The motorcycle industry wants to sell sportbikes and that's why they care about racing. With the spring riding season right around the corner and brand new models on dealer's floors, few races are as important as those that take place during Daytona Bike Week.

Spies pre-season favorite, but Yates and Bostrom set to challenge.

Hayden Brothers Tie For First In Infineon Shocker

Once again, a mixed international field consisting of supermoto veterans and a smattering of riders from other racing disciplines lined up motocross style inside the venue's soccer field. When the green flag fell, Chad Reed (AMA Supercross / Motocross star) claimed the hole shot. But the cagey veteran Doug Henry was only inches behind Reed, while Jeff Ward tangled with the KTMs of Eric Bostrom and Jurgen Kunzel in turn one, relegating Ward to mid-field for the remainder of the race.

First: The sound was different, harsher and without the smooth shriek of a Formula One car. We expected a high-strung howl but we got a guttural roar instead, thanks to big-bang engines that deliberately bastardize the firing order, so the rear tire has time to rest between the power pulses. They didn't sound "bad" they just sounded oddly exotic, but lacked the flair and howl of a Ferrari V-12. We had Kawasaki inline-fours that sounded like parallel-twins, Yamaha inline-fours that sounded like smooth vee-fours, and Ducati vee-fours that sounded like they alternated between three and four cylinders.

Being this MO-ron's first dirt track race visit, I learned a lot in the process of wandering through the pits and staging areas. Largely a family event, I was fondly reminded of the days when I raced BMX 'back East'. Parking in the large dirt lot, operating from the bed of a pick-up truck and eating dust & dirt all day long - all fond memories. Motos, heats, semi's and the main events are all very similar. The biggest difference is the speed! Where I peddled my ass to a top speed of maybe 20mph, these folks speed around the track @ 70 plus mph, with reported peaks of 120+ mile per hour on the mile track! Engines are the obvious difference - skills and bravado are less obvious - especially with women within the pack of racers. Nicole Cheza (#16) finished 4th place in the Pro Singles Main event, racing against men aged from teens to 40's +

Titled "SuperMoto A Go-Go", the sixth and final stop of the AMA's newest race series backed it in to the parking lot of the Rio Hotel and Casino on a Friday to enthrone a new champion. Supermoto could've owned Vegas if Don Rickles were not it town. RedBull did a bang up job for this race and all that it encompassed to blend in seamlessly with all that is Vegas. Go-go dancers on Thursday night at the riders and press meeting, umbrella flogging honeys, more free RedBull than any one person should be allowed to drink, The Blue Man Group riding in on Honda 50s to perform the national anthem, live race time coverage by

Supermoto, for the uninitiated, combines the sky high dirty antics of motocross with the peg grinding skill of roadracing, all in an area not much bigger than your typical moto/supercross track. Supermotard as it was previously dubbed by the French, which means loosely "Superbiker, had it's moment in the sun in the late 1970's courtesy of ABC's Wide World of Sports. In essence the machines are dirtbikes with modified suspension and 17" wheels shod with sticky roadracing tires. They also being modified in order to deal with the dirt portion of the track with consumes roughly half of the course. A series of mild jumps (mild compared to your typical super or motocross track) and banked dirt turns present just enough grief to make getting back on paved surface demanding , that no one rider can rely heavily on only one type of riding even for the skilled likes of Doug Henry, Jeff Ward, Ben Bostrom, Joe Kopp, Jürgen Künzel and ever colorful, yet always lovable Mike Metzger, just to name a few.

BUYTEN LAUNCHES TO VICTORY IN MOTO X STEP UP
Rookie knocks off three-time champ to snag X Games gold

A turbocharger is nothing new: The pre-industrial revolution watermill used the same technology. Submerge part of a wheel in a moving fluid and it will tend to turn. If it turns fast enough, you can install something on the other end of its axle that will perform work. This work can be anything from grinding corn for the local peasants to compressing the inlet charge of an engine.

Our hired gun, Terrance Gerlinski, came through for us big time. Whereas most of our contributors send us mish-mashed rolls of film for stories, we actually received information about the bikes of which he took shots. Thanks.

We try to keep our promises, and in our last Superbabes pictorial we promised we'd post better pictures. We wrote this believing that Brian J's bud Victor would send us better babe pix any day. Well, ole Vic did materialize a few weeks ago and he promised to overnight his slides, but, alas, unless FedEx has a new, 21-day delivery deal, Victor has decided he just can't bare to part with his collection.

Luck was on our side when part-time MO contributor and full-time South African playboy Michele Lupini e-mailed to inquire whether we could pull a few strings and get him and his buddy on the guest list, so to speak. Sure, we said, if MO has anything it is our ability to pull things, although strings aren't necessarily the Staff's forte. We did tell Michele that in return for the favor we'd like babes and bikes pictures. No problem, answered Michele. Cool, we thought. Babe pictures.

Join us. Stand up and refuse to be a part of this frightening trend. If amateur babes are to be treated as equals, they will need your support in the coming years, a collective movement of united peoples who will say no(!) to any kind of appreciation of professional babes that excludes the amateurs. We at Motorcycle Online will not back down. We will fight, and with your help, we will win.

Sometimes it's those little unanticipated occurrences that force a rider to be resourceful. Marty Jones of San Angelo, Texas found that to be the case on his Kawasaki Voyager. "I was out to win, and eight hours into the rally, I busted a fuel pump in Cleveland," said Jones. "It was too late to get parts, and too far away to replace the part and make the first bonus or make the first checkpoint." As a result, he failed to make that checkpoint in adequate time after making the repair himself with an aftermarket automobile fuel pump.