On Track Off Road No. 185

MXGP 

DOES 

EXCELLENCE 

EVER FADE? 

Just how good in this guy? 33 years old, 

9 world championships, 87 Grand Prix 

wins and owner of 3 of the 4 MXGP motos 

held this season so far after a very decent 

British round of the FIM World 

Championship last weekend. Assuming 

he endures the ‘lottery’ aspect of 

motocross then the time will soon come 

when the talk turns to #10 

Photo by Ray Archer

AMA-SX

MAKING 

THE 

BREACH 

Dylan Ferrandis completed an ‘All-French’ evening at 

round 12 of 17 in the AMA Supercross series and his 

250SX West victory was another landmark in a distinctive 

career. The SX triumph had been coming…even if it does 

feel like a long time since he was the scourge of Jeffrey 

Herlings in MX2. Ferrandis now joins the small 

Euro/Gallic club of winners in the stadiums 

Photo by James Lissimore

MotoGP

LET’S GO 

AGAIN 

MotoGP visits Argentina this weekend and 

scene of one of the most astounding and 

theatrical races of recent years just twelve 

months ago. How has the sport and the 

series moved on from the unforgettable 

images at Termas de Rio Hondo? Neil 

Morrison takes some perspective in his 

excellent new Blog inside 

Photo by Monster Energy/Milagro

MXGP 

BRITISH GRAND PRIX 

MATTERLEY BASIN · MARCH 23-24 · Rnd 2 of 19 

MXGP winner: Tony Cairoli, KTM 

MX2 winner: Thomas Kjer Olsen, Husqvarna 

By Adam Wheeler, Photos by Ray Archer

MXGP GBR

FEATURE MXGP

MXGP GBR

FEATURE MXGP

JVH IN THE RED 

Jeremy Van Horebeek is in the 

initial throes of a career renaissance 

after some lean and mediocre 

years with Yamaha and 

in the distant wake of a defining 

season in 2014 where he claimed 

his first (and only) MXGP win todate 

as runner-up the world. JVH 

is somewhat scorned after being 

snubbed by most of the paddock 

in the depths of last summer and 

is certainly riding with renewed 

perspective on his status and 

that of the sport. Almost rivalling 

HRC’s Tim Gajser for results and 

potential after two rounds the 

inevitable question arises as to 

Van Horebeek’s potential value 

for Honda. The irony is that the 

Belgian receives marginal support 

from the manufacturer (HRC 

are independent as a race division, 

the rest of the MXGP operation 

is marshalled by Honda 

Motor Europe) and is proving 

the brand’s point in terms of the 

competitiveness of their stock 

customer base. 

“Mid-February Jeremy and the 

Honda SR team made the decision 

that they wanted to go 

MXGP racing and they did contact 

Honda Motor Europe for help 

but at that time there was nothing 

we could do,” explained Off- 

Road Manager Gordon Crockard. 

“The plan for 2019 was signedoff, 

budgets were agreed and 

every euro had been allocated. 

The timing of the request was 

impossible to respond to. 

We went to Argentina with this 

feeling of gratitude to Van Horebeek, 

Honda SR and Honda 

France and all the people that 

put Jeremy on the line. It was 

fantastic that they were prepared 

[for the season] but timing was 

the issue for us and we could 

only say that we’d support them 

in any way we could: and that is 

an ongoing process.” 

Crockard, who won 250cc 

Grands Prix for Honda in 2001, 

empathised with Van Horebeek’s 

plight but was also quick 

to highlight the positivity of 

the privateer’s progress. “He is 

doing exceptionally well and I 

can relate to from my own personal 

experience as a non-factory 

Honda rider in my career and 

taking podiums and winning 

races,” he said. “So I’m right 

behind him in terms of what he 

is doing and the promotion of the 

customer CRF. Anyone can create 

that bike and it demonstrates the 

ability of that product. It helps on 

two fronts: to the consumer that 

we want to buy our bikes and 

also to the rest of this paddock 

to show that you don’t need the 

‘magic bike’. Riders in previous 

years have complained that they 

couldn’t get the results because 

they don’t have factory material. 

What Jeremy is doing is a great 

argument against that claim and 

will really help for future years in 

dealings with riders.” 

While Van Horebeek’s bright run 

of speed and form is an advertisement 

for Honda there is also 

the awkward PR situation of a 

rider potentially excelling for a 

brand and then receiving little 

compensation or assistance for 

the job he is doing, especially if 

#89 feels like ‘emphasising’ his 

privateer status repeatedly in 

the media. For now at least JVH 

will have to persist with his lot at 

Honda SR and the underdog ‘forgotten’ 

tag seems to be suitably 

fuelling the fire. 

“People can say ‘but you’re 

Honda: why don’t you have any 

euros?’ but this is subject of 

budgets, plans, management. 

There is nothing we can allocate 

at the moment but It is not a 

closed door or subject,” Crockard 

stresses. “It is wonderful he 

is doing so well because it helps 

my case to say this guy is delivering 

the goods and he should 

be given support and help. It is 

an ongoing process that I am 

working-on internally. This is a 

new dynamic where a guy has 

showed up on his own - with his 

own bike - and is making the 

MXGP podium; we are continuing 

to work on it. Would be go 

any better on a factory bike? We 

don’t know.” 

MXGP GBR

MXGP

WORLDSBK POR 

MXGP GBR

MXGP 

MIND THE (GOGGLE) GAP 

Observant visitors to Matterley 

Basin may spotted the new 

‘Goggle Lane’ at the end of the 

pit straight. This area/initiative 

is new for 2019 and in reaction 

to the amendment to the 

FIM rulebook stating that riders 

must circulate during races with 

eyewear; if goggles are ditched 

then racers have until the following 

lap to either pit or enter the 

Goggle Lane to grab a new pair. 

MXGP athletes were informed 

about the addition to their potential 

race strategy at the opening 

round in Argentina where they 

were also told – allegedly – that 

there would be no ‘hard enforcement’ 

of the rules for 2019 as 

the paddock acclimatises to the 

presence and use of the Goggle 

Lane. 

Anstie rightfully cited the example 

of Calvin Vlaanderen’s misfortune 

at the 2018 Motocross 

of Nations as justification. The 

HRC man was forced to ditch 

his eye protection in the RedBud 

mud and subsequent medical/ 

cleansing treatment meant he 

could not enter the final moto 

in the USA and the Netherlands 

missed out on what would have 

been a sure-fire victory. “It’s so 

they don’t have the situation 

like with Calvin at the Nations,” 

affirmed the Standing Construct 

KTM rider. “Maybe if they had 

the Goggle Lane [there] then he 

wouldn’t have had that issue. It is 

a good thing that they recognised 

it and they are trying to see what 

happens. It might be only one or 

two races where we’ll use it. We’ll 

see. 90% of the time you don’t 

need to change goggles.” 

HRC’s Tim Gajser pointed out 

the potential ‘tactical’ problem 

with the Goggle Lane and onelap 

rule for the future: will a 

rider take more risk with dirty or 

malfunctioning goggles rather 

than lose time making a forced 

change? It is a scenario that 

could well arise, particularly 

towards the end of races and for 

final positions. “For safety it is 

better but from the other side 

nobody will want to lose time by 

throwing the goggles away and 

might persist with muddy ones 

or try to look with one eye to try 

and not stop,” he said. “It has a 

positive and some bad about it.” 

“They said they were not going 

to penalise anyone if you don’t 

stop,” revealed Max Anstie at 

Matterley Basin. “I think for this 

year it doesn’t matter. They’ve 

done it [established the Goggle 

Lane] to make it faster and to 

make the riders want to do it.” 

“I haven’t tried it yet but it seems 

like a good idea to me,” voiced 

Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s 

Thomas Kjer Olsen. “It is so 

dangerous to ride without goggles 

and to go right through the 

pitlane takes a while. I haven’t 

seen it being used yet but it 

could work.”

WORLDSBK POR 

MXGP GBR

MXGP

WORLDSBK POR 

MXGP GBR

MXGP 

WHERE IS ALL THE GOLD? 

Not since the 2007 FIM 

Motocross World Championship 

has the premier class missed a 

defending #1 in the gate for the 

opening rounds of the series 

(2006 winner Stefan Everts had 

retired at Ernee, France) but the 

situation of both reigning champions 

MIA was not only a startling 

blow for Red Bull KTM but 

an extremely rare occurrence in 

MXGP. 

Jeffrey Herlings’ presence in 

Munderfing and KTM’s race HQ 

in the week before Matterley 

Basin clarified his direction for 

2019, and put-paid to rumours 

of his defection to the Lucas 

Oil AMA Pro Nationals for the 

summer. There had been teasing 

statements from the world 

champion once Herlings realised 

the chances to recapture his 

crown were effectively scuppered 

by his broken right foot. However 

there was some resistance to the 

suggestion. KTM invest too much 

into their peerless MXGP squad 

to be without another star rider 

for the year when the roster had 

already been cut from five to four 

athletes and one of those was GP 

rookie Tom Vialle. Herlings was 

enamoured with a new target 

and a fresh scene (as well as the 

prospect of more collaboration 

with famed South African trainer 

Aldon Baker) but once the reality 

of his rehab and recovery was 

underlined by KTM management 

then he could hardly complain. 

The champions are hoping that 

#84 will be able to ride by April 

22nd and if the repaired right 

foot can cope with the build-up 

of saddle time and tests through 

a variety of tracks and conditions 

then Herlings would still have 

struggled to be 100% for the 

start of the Nationals at Hangtown 

on May 18th (and also contemplate 

all the relocation and 

transition hassle of being based 

in the USA). 

With the subject swiftly removed 

from the table Herlings has less 

pressure to hurry his return to 

the MXGP field. The initial estimate 

is that he’ll miss Grands 

Prix in Holland and Italy and 

might appear for the first time at 

Mantova on May 12th, which is 

the first of three events in a row. 

Eying a quicker comeback, Jorge 

Prado is in the quandary of resting/rushing 

for an improvement 

in his left shoulder and the haematoma 

that effectively ‘locked’ 

him out of the British round. 

“I did everything to try and come 

to Matterley but it just wasn’t 

possible,” he said exclusively of 

the repercussions to his practice 

spill that developed into a more 

serious issue. “The week after 

Argentina I crashed while training. 

It was pretty big but I didn’t 

feel anything and kept on riding 

and doing my motos. The day 

after I did some gym workout 

and felt quite stiff with the neck 

and back. I just assumed it was 

from the crash. I kept riding and 

training and everything was going 

well and I felt strong.” 

“Then suddenly one day I woke 

up and couldn’t get out of bed!” 

he explains. “I had so much 

pain and could not run or even 

breathe. It was hard to move. We 

went to two doctors in one week 

and they couldn’t see what was 

wrong but in the end we found 

out three days before the GP. I 

still cannot even move well today 

[Friday]. It is a bummer I’ll miss 

the GP because of a stupid injury. 

I mean, I kept riding after the 

crash! And then one day I could 

not even walk. I had two compressed 

vertebrae but this was 

not the big deal, it was more the 

shoulder blade and the bleeding 

that was occurring underneath; 

it got to the point where it was 

putting pressure on my lungs 

and affecting the nerves, which 

meant I could not move my 

arms. We cannot do anything to 

speed it up, just rest and see if 

we can do good in Valkenswaard. 

The championship is long so I’m 

not stressed about it.” 

With Prado’s absence and 

Herlings’ continued abscond, 

the factory team have already 

suffered more ‘DNS’ in 2019 

compared to all of the previous 

season when they had five riders 

on the works SX-Fs. Another 

example of the frivolity of fortune 

in the sport.

MXGP GBR

MXGP 

BLOG 

THE HARDEST JOB... 

Who’d want to organise a Grand Prix? 

I was a little surprised to reach 

Steve Dixon on the phone last 

week for a quick chat to construct 

a Telegraph story about the rigours 

of formulating his tenth British 

Grand Prix; the ninth at the grasssite 

Matterley Basin circuit which 

effectively means it is used just 

once a year and signifies special 

logistical upheaval. Not that Steve, 

a thirty year veteran of team management 

and grand prix racing, is 

unreachable – quite the opposite 

in fact – but that he’d had the time 

or the head space to comment on 

all the commotion around him. 

Compared to his first venture in 

2005 at the defunct Matchams 

Park on the edge of the New Forest 

and a quest to re-establish 

his home round of the FIM World 

Championship that had fallen 

into the doldrums, Matterley has 

become a familiar and systematic 

process for Dixon. I’d wager that 

very few people in the UK will 

know more about the myriad of 

environmental, legal and regulatory 

issues that surround a race 

meeting of a similar nature. 

Staging this event with the instability 

of climate, attendance figures 

and the ever-present question of 

sustainability – simply covering 

costs – must be like standing in 

the middle of the waiting zone surrounded 

by forty revving bikes. For 

Dixon the annual challenges for 

Matterley have come down to the 

varying level of infrastructure and 

presentation that have squeaked 

and heaved depending on the 

amount of notoriously difficult 

budget available. 

Without the benefit of government/tourist 

board funding or 

the presence of heavy (almost 

title) sponsors the guy must be 

sweating at every opportunity: the 

assurances from partners and suppliers 

to get the event running, the 

count through the gate and then 

the count-up of the takings to get 

everybody paid. 

For a fixture that costs upwards 

of a quarter of a million pounds 

to run, the possibility to trim and 

save must be one of the operational 

protocols, and anybody who 

has dealt with Steve will know that 

making money from Matterley is 

not at the top of his priorities. “I 

still cannot really give an answer 

as to why I do it,” he said to me. “I 

think if people were not prepared 

to give their time and their knowledge 

for sporting events like this 

then they wouldn’t exist and that 

goes for pretty much any sport I 

believe.” 

The second round of the 2019 

MXGP series occurring in the UK 

was a massive gamble. Memories 

were still fresh of the cold, rain-hit 

mudder of the 2017 Motocross of 

Nations at the end of September 

and with all the inconvenience and 

hassle that entails. 

Dixon claimed that running the 

Grand Prix in March shaved 25% 

away from his costs; for example 

the price of fencing being much 

cheaper at this time of year compared 

to the summer when music 

festivals and other outside events 

are looking to bank on better odds 

of British weather. There was also 

the appeal of being the initial European 

date.

By Adam Wheeler 

It is the time when fans and most 

of the paddock enjoy their first 

taste of MXGP as the seasonopener 

in Argentina is a continent 

too far for the Eurocentric race 

teams. The scheduling was still not 

too kind in this respect as the British 

Grand Prix is followed immediately 

by the Dutch round on the 

‘all-weather’ sand of Valkenswaard 

just south of Eindhoven and then 

the hard-pack of Arco di Trento in 

northern Italy. The political buffoonery 

and indecisiveness in the 

UK at the moment is hardly enticing 

more European visitors but 

those from the mainland would be 

more likely to wait until Valkenswaard 

– even if that race shivered 

in snow and sub-zero temperatures 

last year in a similar spot on 

the agenda. 

The gamble worked. Sunday 

splashed welcome sunshine and 

blue skies to temper the chilly 

breeze and the public crowded 

what had been a sparse site on 

Saturday. Dixon talked about one 

of the exasperating elements of 

cash-feeding the Grand Prix in that 

fans are likely to make snapshot 

decisions on the day and not take 

profit of early bird offers. Some 

scepticism is understandable 

and many would have eyed the 

weather forecast before making a 

final decision on whether to head 

to Winchester but it was clear that 

Dixon was longing for some of the 

financial help that music festivals 

typically enjoy when the public 

buy their tickets quickly and far in 

advance. 

There was a rougher edge to this 

Grand Prix. It was also the first 

race for Youthstream and the full 

might of their circuit set-up so it 

felt hurried and a little chaotic. It 

was noticeable via the small things 

such as security staff lacking 

information or briefing, generator 

power in the living area or the absence 

of lighting in the parking and 

paddock zones. Where the event 

really counted though – the track 

and the spectacle – then Matterley 

delivered. The course was a splendid 

mix of rough ground but high 

speed and vast jumps. It invited 

throttle-straining pace but also 

dared riders to take risks. It asked 

questions of their willingness to 

push and to paraphrase track creator 

and caretaker Johnny Douglas 

Hamilton “that’s motocross”. It is 

still so popular for the racers that 

have to find the lines and tackle 

the bumps. Hamilton felt that the 

terrain was at an optimum point 

of moisture, and this was another 

element in which the Grand Prix 

was fortunate. It would have been 

perilous to rip the track deep and 

well in advance due to the propensity 

of the English rain (and across 

the channel riders described their 

frustration at not being able to 

train due to the deluge in Belgium) 

and in the end the crew 

were scrabbling to ensure the right 

amount of watering was in place. 

Hamilton’s verdict was backed up 

by the fact that very little dust was 

evident by the end of the second 

MXGP moto and a programme 

that had seen two support classes 

also in action. 

In a podcast with Shaun Simpson 

and Paul Malin (OTOR’s second 

ProTaper-backed recording and 

easily found on the website) we 

talked about Matterley Basin’s 

status as the home of the British 

Grand Prix. It has been the port 

of call as the UK’s top off-road 

gathering since 2011 and while its

MXGP 

BLOG 

geographical location means a 

long trip for everyone north of 

London it has the size to accommodate 

MXGP and flexibility 

from the land owner (as well as 

other permanent additions such 

as water piping and communications 

link). For all the hassle of 

having to cart infrastructure on 

site and subsequently dismantle, 

Dixon still feels there are very 

few sites or existing circuits that 

can meet the requisites of Grand 

Prix. It would be interesting to 

get spectators viewpoints: those 

that are British GP regulars 

or have visited Matterley for 

the first time. Reach out to us 

on our Twitter feed to offer an 

opinion. 

Across the weekend there was 

(ambitious) talk of the first 

Australian Grand Prix since 2001 

taking place in a horseracing 

stadium complex in the city of 

Perth. It’s sounds speculative 

but also curious. I’m not adverse 

to new experiments with MXGP 

because it only adds diversity to 

the calendar and thus the richness 

of the show and the depth 

of the challenge. 

I’ve left some new or ‘alternative’ 

Grands Prix unimpressed, 

by what was either the impact 

of the racing or the plausibility 

of the organisation but in almost 

every case I’ve been able to respect 

the attempt to offer something 

different or try transporting 

motocross to a fresh scene or 

audience. 

People might turn their nose up 

at the ‘dilution’ of sport and its 

organic roots and could consider 

the temporary sandy circuit at a 

place like Assen as an aberration 

but the FIM World Championship 

does have venues steeped 

in history like Teutschenthal, St 

Jean D’Angely, Valkenswaard, 

Loket, Uddevalla. Perth could be 

mega. It might also be a forgettable 

and ill-advised mistake. 

Matterley Basin is not the oldest 

or most characteristic venue on 

the MXGP trail but it is generally 

loved by the riders and, still, 

draws the public. The Grand 

Prix is one of the very few ‘old 

models’ where promoter and 

organiser combine to make it 

happen on a shoestring and this 

is another area of risk. 

Dixon and his crew need some 

help and protection to not only 

ensure that Matterley survives 

but can even look to longer stability 

and event upgrades without 

thinking that this extra effort 

constitutes ‘burnt cash’.

FIND ROADS 

WITH NO NAME 

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Please make no attempt to imitate the illustrated riding scenes, always wear protective clothing and observe the applicable provisions of the road traffic regulations! 

The illustrated vehicles may vary in selected details from the production models and some illustrations feature optional equipment available at additional cost. Photo: F. Lackner

PRODUCTS 

24MX 

This is an enticing offer from the largest motocross/motorcycle 

one-stop site in Europe. 

These 3x3m easy-ups race tents are now 

available at 65% off their normal retail price 

(just 59.99 in the UK with a 79.99 version 

that includes the 3 wall section attachment). 

The product has some outstanding reviews 

and – with some willing hands - can be assembled 

in just 4 seconds (hence the term 

‘easy-up’). 24MX claim it is very durable and 

designed for regular use. The legs are made 

from steel and the canvas is weatherproof 

PU-coated polyester. 

www.24mx.com 

It can stretch up to 3.2m of height, providing 

9m2 of space and has a tensile strength of 

30kg/5cm. The whole structure weighs 25kg 

and comes with a carry bag when folded up, 

meaning it will conveniently tuck away into a 

corner of a van. For road racers/riders then 

24MX’s sister site XLmoto have the same 

structure, and the black awning will be an 

essential asset for paddock set-up and for 

creating a decent piece of work or promotional 

space. Great cost as well.

FEATURES 

• Eighteen bold new colorways across the Fuzion and 

2.0 Square handlebar pad lines 

• Durable high-density closed-cell pad foam provides 

impact protection and keeps the elements out 

• Revised cover designs improve fit and finish 

• Unique color-matched pad foam 

Photo: Juan Pablo Acevedo

THOMAS KJER-OLSEN DOMINATES MX2 OF GREAT BRITAIN 

@ P R O T A P E R 

P R O T A P E R . C O M

FEATURE 

THE 

HEAD 

LINE 

HOW THE FIM ARE CHANGING THE 

PERCEPTION OF HELMET SAFETY 

By Adam Wheeler, Photos by CormacGP, 

Ray Archer, Fly Racing, 6D, Leatt, Alpinestars

FEATURE 

The crash helmet game is changing. 

The most simple, most obvious 

form of motorcycling safety 

has progressed from leather ‘skull caps’ 

as little as seventy years ago to the kind 

of material composite and ‘suspension’ 

technology perhaps more advanced than 

the equipment found on the bikes themselves. 

“THE FIM RACING HOMOLOGATION 

PROGRAMME IS THE VANGUARD FOR 

MORE DEVELOPMENT WORK THAT 

WON’T ONLY INVOLVE HELMETS...” 

In the past companies large and small, 

specialised and speculative have fabricated 

their own ideas of protection and 

performance adhering to the DOT, Snell 

and ECE tests and criteria for impact resistance 

and strength. The development 

of shell materials, EPS liners and internal 

weaves have allowed brands to further 

address issues connected with concussion 

and the potential fatal consequences 

of brain injury, such as rotational acceleration 

(where the brain essentially 

shears away from its roots). It is a subject 

we’ve looked into thanks to OTOR’s 

contacts with firms like 6D Helmets and 

then other procrastinators like Leatt and 

MIPS. 

While a helmet with added safety specs 

is a boon for street or off-road riders, 

the additional advantages compared to 

normal ‘light, tested, ventilated’ units 

were largely ‘take it or leave it’. The vast 

helmet industry offered a mammoth 

spectrum of price, efficiency, design and 

innovation. 

Over the last half decade and in response 

to the growing advances in ‘lid’ health 

funcionality, a proactive invesitgation 

and stance by the FIM – controllers of 

world championship motorcycle racing – 

has stirred the pot. The governing body 

sought a new test protocol to define a 

fresh standard of safety for every

motorcycle racer that takes to a grid, 

gate or timing line. The FIM Racing 

Homologation Programme for helmets 

(known as FRHPhe) was a first bold 

move considering the sheer scale of the 

multi-national businesses – many of 

whom are steeped in history, knowledge 

and established manufacturing processes 

– would be affected. Motorcycle racing is 

one of the largest promotional windows 

for related products and the FRHPhe 

has already been implemented in road 

racing (off-road is coming) with a raft of 

press releases over the last six months 

informing the media and public of the 

latest model or company to pass the new 

control. 

Not only is FRHPhe a delicate and problematic 

scheme for the FIM (where they 

FRHPhe & THE FUTURE OF LIDS

FEATURE 

had previously diverted to existing international 

standards for approval in their 

competitions) but it is also brave and 

exhaustive. “The process of defining the 

testing protocol took approximately two 

years,” reveals the FIM’s Erica Manfredi. 

“Many meetings were organised between 

FIM, the industry, the testing laboratories 

and other stakeholders. A testing protocol 

was published in 2017 with pass/ 

fail criteria corresponding to a phase 1. 

A phase 2 has already been announced 

with more stringent criteria and the potential 

evolutions are under discussion. 

The helmet testing is carried out in laboratories 

approved by FIM. So far there is 

one at the University of Zaragoza and two 

more will be added for the near future.” 

“It is difficult to give numbers as applications 

and tests are still ongoing,” 

she adds concerning the workload. “The 

majority of helmet brands with products 

used for motorcycle competition have 

worked hard and have had at least one 

model FIM-homologated in all or some 

sizes.” 

Unsurprisingly the FRHPhe has been met 

with varying levels of enthusiasm/opposition, 

which begs the question: why do it? 

The FIM have overseen other strides in 

motorcycling competition safety, ranging 

from stipulations over circuit’s medical 

facilities and resources to minor regulations 

such as the compulsory use of 

chest protectors in Grand Prix motocross. 

FRHP had its next target. “FRHPhe was 

established in order to take account of 

a more complete and demanding evaluation 

of performance, and give specific 

and exclusive recognition to helmets that 

meet more demanding criteria,” Manfredi 

states. “Of course the FIM was aware that 

the implementation of an FIM Helmet 

Standard would be an uphill struggle, but 

believed that the key to its success was 

to work directly with the industry and 

with experts in the field of helmet testing 

and to establish a solid and robust testing 

protocol.” 

For a section of the industry – those 

motivated by the same progressive attitude 

as the FIM as to what head protection 

can offer – FRHPhe was like another 

(larger) star on the banner. The road racing 

homologation process is well underway 

but off-road (motocross, supercross, 

rally and enduro) is awaiting finalisation.

“THANKS TO FRHPhe RACERS WILL SOON NOT HAVE MUCH 

OF A CHOICE...BUT FLY ARE QUICK TO POINT OUT FOR ALL THE 

STRESS AND TOIL TOWARDS IMPROVEMENT CONSUMERS 

WILL MAKE THEIR OWN MINDS UP ABOUT WHAT DEGREE OF 

PROTECTION THEY WILL PREFER...” 

FRHPhe & THE FUTURE OF LIDS 

It’s mystifying why off-road specialists 

are stretching ahead of their road counterparts 

for the performance aspects of 

helmets. Road lids traditionally have a 

preoccupation with shell strength and 

aside from innovations like the quick release 

system have evolved their products 

in terms of comfort (noise, visibility, fit, 

aerodynamics, cooling), structure (twopiece 

hinged full-face) and other minor 

technical adds-on such as Bluetooth 

compatibility. Off-road helmets are perhaps 

more rudimentary but can be even 

more complex when it comes to design 

and are far more likely to wear or suffer 

damage/a crash. 

Ironically for the first results of FRHPhe 

it is the road helmets that are receiving 

the FIM stamp while the technologies (or 

idiosyncrasies) of off-road have still to be 

verified for world championship contests. 

Since Californian pioneers 6D introduced 

their ATR-1 (the ATS being the street 

model and the firm have since expanded 

into cycling) and the Omni-Directional 

Suspension – a ‘damper’ system between 

the liners – at the turn of the decade it has 

prompted renewed thinking about how the 

energy of a crash or impact at low, mid 

and high velocity can be better managed. 

Their efforts, testing and unique (and 

costly but successful) manufacturing drew 

attention to similar philosophies, such as

FEATURE 

the Swedish MIPS mechanism (licenced and 

used by firms such as Fox Racing, Answer and 

Troy Lee Designs), Leatt’s turbine idea, Bell’s 

Flex and Fly Racing’s Adaptive Impact System. 

6D’s Bob Weber explains that the FIM still 

need to refine FRHPhe for a different sport. 

“The implementation of the FIM’s FRHPhe 

testing for off-road would be a step in the 

correct direction, assuming that the test was 

modified for off-road type crashes, which will 

require lower impact velocities for starters,” he 

says. ‘The addition for rotational energy management 

testing will bring the safety for riders 

up, even at phase one for a starting point opposed 

to doing nothing.’ 

‘It is pretty amazing that the FIM has been 

able to make a decision, put in the work into 

developing a testing protocol and get many

helmet manufacturers onboard to a new test 

standard,’ Weber adds. ‘Erica and her team 

had an uphill battle with some of the helmet 

companies in the manufacturer’s consortium 

to make the needed changes. For 6D this was 

not as hard as we have already completed 

the work and only needed to raise the impact 

velocities for our testing parameters… and 

spend a lot of money in doing so to meet the 

new standard.’ 

Leatt, helmed by South Africa Dr Chris Leatt 

who founded and developed the neck brace, 

claim that the Capetown-based operation 

have added the latest helmet test equipment 

to their comprehensive laboratory. Their GPX 

6.5 (and 5.5) models was the result, with the 

Turbine Technology advocating 30% less head 

impact at concussion level and a 40% reduction 

for rotational acceleration. All the preposition 

and discovery through millions of dollars 


FEATURE 

us reduce rotational energy (angular velocity) 

and rotational forces (from angular acceleration) 

during impact. We have invested in state 

of the art equipment to help us develop and 

improve our technology and our latest helmet 

rig allows us to evaluate linear and rotational 

impacts at both repetitive load speeds as well 

as high speed impacts and is the same specification 

used by the FIM for their new Racing 

Homologation Programme for helmets.” 

The most recent addition to this new sphere 

of the market was Fly Racing who raised 

eyebrows with their ‘Formula’ helmet and the 

Adaptive Impact System formed from energy 

cells made by Rheon (an ‘active’ strain-rate 

sensitive material that dissipates energy) and 

the Conehead liner formation. Fly are perhaps 

more renowned for their wide catalogue of 

motorcycling wares and poplar off-road gear 

lines but Creative Director and a lead figure on 

and years of studying motorcycle crashes for 

their neck brace research allows some special 

understanding when it comes to their work on 

helmets. 

“The ‘best practices’ test methodology on rotational 

acceleration is still a work in progress 

and there is a healthy debate on this matter 

within the helmet community and FIM,” he 

says. “We believe that test standards should 

be revised to include rotational type testing, 

as well as other test methods that would help 

evaluate the helmet’s ability to mitigate the 

chance of concussion or serious head / brain 

injuries.” 

“The need to mitigate the risk of concussion 

or more serious head/brain injuries remains 

a high priority for Leatt,” he adds. “As cost is 

not LEATT’s main USP, we are able to constantly 

evaluate different technologies to help

the Formula, Jerry Lathrop, emphasises that 

“FLY Racing has been specializing in helmets 

and safety gear development for over 20 years. 

As a gear brand, it is common that our expertise 

in helmets is a bit overlooked, but it is a 

very big part of what we do at our headquarters 

in Boise, Idaho.” 

“We have aligned with Dr. Dan Plant and his 

London based team, Rheon Labs, which are 

leading the study and development space of 

impact and rotational materials,” he explains. 

“We are in the best position we have ever been 

to effect change in helmet safety. Today, we 

build the best helmet you can buy for motocross 

with real and fair benchmark test data 

available for the world to dig in in and learn all 

about it. The investment to realize all this was 

for sure a high cost, in fact the Formula helmet 

was the most expensive product FLY Racing 

has ever developed. For test comparisons, we 

invested in over $30,000 worth of competitor 

benchmark helmets alone. Our team spent 3 

years heavily focused on the project.’ 

After their renewed dive bomb into the helmet 

segment Lathrop says that protective capabilities 

are now priority number one. ‘Most of the 

helmet developers I have talked with agree 

that it is time for the helmet standards to implement 

a rotational impact criterion. For that 

we are happy to see this type of standard moving 

forward. As with any safety test methodology, 

implementation is time consuming and 

requires a high level of scrutiny and review.’ 

Alpinestars entered the helmet fray after almost 

half a decade of refining their SM-8 and 

SM-10. Safety, characteristically, was at the 

top of the design brief. “Alpinestars has approached 

the development of helmet technology 

in the same way as all other market leading 

innovations it has brought to the motorcycling 

and motorsports world over the last 55 years,” 

the firm said to us of the models that boast 

MIPS and a number of other features, in particular 

rigid shell construction. “In the case 

of the Supertech range of motocross helmets, 

this has meant four years of focused endeavour 

before the helmet appeared at Round 1 of 

the AMA Supercross series in 2018.” 

The Italians did admit however that the strides 

of their newfound helmet peers were not an 

instigating factor. “The criteria that Alpinestars 

set for its Supertech helmets are defined by its 

own long-held beliefs about the needs of riding 

motorcycles to the limit and the key features 

that make riding the great experience that riders 

seek when getting out on their bikes. These 

criteria are not influenced by other manufacturers 

products or trends in the market but are 

shaped by the vision that Alpinestars Product 

Development Department has for the evolving 

needs of riders. Homologation standards are 

an important component in giving a baseline 

guide for performance but do not define the 

ultimate product performance or benefits.” 

Unfortunately past experience in trying to 

contact Bell’s marketing team have proven 

fruitless, so their fascintating Flex technology 

(which 6D concede holds decent merit) remains 

on the periphery of this story. 

Two of the most recognisable helmet names, 

Arai and Shoei, felt unwilling or unprepared to 

vocalise on FRHPhe, which could be expected 

if the companies are in the throes of testing 

their own new theories due for release soon (or 

they may be frantically trying to modernise). 

‘The Arai team is in the process of crafting a 

statement regarding the FIM and the Racing 

Homologation Program,’ was one response, 

while Shoei would simply state: ‘We, SHOEI, 

are not in a position to comment on the homologation. 

We are developing and manufacturing 

our products which are complied with 

the required homologation.’ 


FEATURE 

“The process of implementing the 

standard has been long and sometimes 

tough,” admits Manfredi. “Nevertheless 

the more motivated manufacturers 

drove the others and everybody is now 

on the same page. Today, the FIM Helmet 

Standard is considered worldwide 

as very advanced and many other standards, 

institutions, etc. are adopting or 

adapting the key aspects of it. The FIM 

Helmet Standard has a solid scientific 

basis and has been presented, discussed 

and approved in the most important 

forums and events, with the biggest 

worldwide experts in helmet testing and 

in head injury biomechanics.” 

“OF COURSE FRHPHE ONLY CARRIES 

RAMIFICATIONS FOR COMPANIES 

THAT USE RACING AS AN R&D TEST 

BED. COUNTLESS OTHER HELMETS 

PASS THE INTERNATIONAL TESTS 

AND NEVER SEE THE EXPANSES OF 

A RACETRACK. THIS DOES NOT STOP 

THE FIM BELIEVING THAT IT COULD 

BE A WATERMARK...” 

The FIM are conscious that any guideline 

with such wide-ranging influence has to 

be watertight and pay total due diligence 

to an industry that invests millions and 

millions in R&D and production. Their 

dependence and trust on existing research 

and the scientific findings is illustrated 

by the (so far) ‘cool’ approach to 

something like neck protection: a device 

and theory that has seen a number of 

firms investigate and ultimately manufacture 

since Leatt presented their case 

in the middle of the last decade. “The 

FIM has so far quite neutral 

(neither recommending them/making 

them mandatory, nor banning their use),” 

says Manfredi on the subject of neck 

braces. “This is due to divergent opinions 

in the medical and scientific community. 

So for the moment these are not 

included in the FRHP and more research 

is needed going forward.” 

‘We are in constant communication with 

them to ensure that we stay on top of 

this possible new standard development 

for the off-road market,’ says Chris Leatt 

on the subject of FRHPhe. “There are 

also several other working groups, linked 

to regulating bodies and organizations 

(involved with helmet test standards), 

that are actively discussing the effects of 

rotational impacts and ways to incorporate 

them into existing helmet standards. 

At Leatt Corporation we are constantly 

innovating and looking at new ways, be 

it new materials, clever application of existing 

materials or smart designs, to try 

and improve the impact protection levels 

for all the helmets in our product line.” 

“The FIM Helmet Standard criteria and 

thresholds are based on data and findings 

drawn from internationally recognised 

scientific publications and works,” 

Manfredi further justifies. “These references 

were taken into account in order to 

select suitable injury criteria and limits 

related to determined and quantified 

injury risks.” 

But the very nature of a motorcycle 

crash involves a dizzying array of possibilities 

and scenarios and that feeds 

into the complexity of the trials. It is far 

from simple. “The testing method that is 

being used, and the testing apparatus for 

the rotational testing, may require a new 

approach in the future to help eliminate

the inherent variables that are present 

during rotational testing,” says Weber. 

“These are due to complicated physics 

issues that have been studied for many 

years, and argued from many different 

groups of people and universities, and 

need to be developed further to allow 

for more repeatable test data outcomes 

by different testing labs. In addition, the 

injury metrics that are to be used are still 

in a state of debate from industry experts 

in the field of biomechanics, the equations 

used and the weighting as to what 

is most important for protection. With 

all this, the FIM has had a tough job in 

getting the first rotational test standard 

up and running that the industry helmets 

can be compared to as a starting point.’ 

FRHPhe & THE FUTURE OF LIDS 

Of course FRHPhe only carries ramifications 

for companies that showcase and 

use racing as a research and development 

test bed. Countless other helmets 

pass the international tests (DOT, Snell 

and ECE) for the safety sticker and never 

see the expanses of a racetrack. This 

does not stop the FIM believing that 

FRHPhe could be a watermark. Manfredi: 

“As the latest state of art methods of 

testing (such as the innovative oblique 

test, and linear tests at higher and lower 

speeds) were included in the Standard, 

the FIM is hopeful that the Standard will 

serve as an inspiration for and cascade 

to international standards for road use. 

This would be confirmation that we have 

done a good job and we would be very 

happy to see safety on the road benefit 

from our work.” 

‘As the leading authoritative body within 

the motorcycle industry, the FIM has taken 

a proactive and bold stance to be the 

first to say we can demand more safety 

for the riders, and not leave it entirely up 

to the governments of the world,’ says 

Weber. ‘It is not easy to get an industry to 

change its methods and there is an associative 

cost to not only the manufacturers, 

but also to the consumers as a whole, and 

the FIM has tried hard to understand these 

issues with a balanced approach over an 

iron fist.’ 

‘While the FIM has a good start, one of the 

dangers is that the FRHPhe does not get 

the needed consumer attention and support, 

and starts to become less of a concern 

and the future advancements for more 

stringent requirements are implemented,” 

Weber adds. “It will take a lot of ongoing 

effort and expense for the industry to continue 

to push the safety requirements to 

new levels, and as helmet manufacturers

FEATURE

we need to be pushing side by side with the 

FIM to meet these new requirements as they 

are defined. ‘ 

Alpinestars, a brand that bases so much of 

their product development in their comprehensive 

racing programme, sees the immediate 

correlation value of FRHPhe. “Racing 

offers the most demanding test environment 

for new product technology and also gives 

the strongest possible assurance of protection 

standards,” they said to us. “Top level racing 

is uniquely demanding and not only are minimum 

safety standards a vital development for 

rider well-being but also provide a visible and 

formally established protocol that ensures all 

equipment being brought to racing is produced 

to a suitably high standard. These standards, 

by extension, provide a directly relevant homologation 

requirement for customers using 

the technology for their own leisure riding and 

racing.’ 

Thanks to FRHPhe racers will soon not have 

much of a choice but Fly are quick to point 

out for all the stress and toil towards improvement 

consumers will make their own minds up 

about what degree of protection they will prefer. 

Much in the same way how some people 

will ride motorcycles wearing shorts and trainers 

instead of leather trousers and reinforced 

boots and how some bikers around the world 

still don’t advocate the use of crash helmets 

at all. ‘I think there are all levels of need out 

there,’ says Lathrop. ‘Not everyone can afford 

the latest technology, nor does everyone follow 

these technologies. For that reason, some price 

point products should exist so all can afford to 

protect themselves. Today’s standards such as 

DOT and ECE serve a huge role in saving lives 

every day.’ 

Leatt says his peers should not cower from 

what the FIM are proposing and pushing. “As 

long as the standards are well conceived and 

applied, no manufacturer should balk at meeting 

them. Customers demand cool helmets 

that are protective, manufacturers have an 

ethical obligation to produce the safest helmets 

practicable.” 

FRHPhe is here to stay and the influence in 

MotoGP and circuit racing has caused consternation 

with a delay from February 2019 (and 

the start of the season) until June 2019 for 

the enforcement of the homologated models 

with just AGV, Bell, HJC, Kabuto, X-Lite Nolan, 

Shark and Shoei’s X-Fourteen receiving the 

blue stamp so far. Companies that did not submit 

their lids for laboratory testing before the 

end of February could miss the test and approval 

window for ’19. From the start of 2020 

FRHPhe homologation will be mandatory. 

Elsewhere airbags are now obligatory in MotoGP 

and it seems with each passing season 

the FIM are including more and more safety 

measures into their disciplines; MXGP will 

soon enforce goggle use on track. 

FRHP is the vanguard for more development 

work that won’t only involve helmets. “The FIM 

Racing Homologation Programme has been 

established with this very purpose in mind: a 

framework to grant special recognition to all 

products related to safety and as a requirement 

for FIM competitions,” offers Manfredi. 

“The main aim of this Programme is to meet 

the need for an advanced evaluation of the 

safety performance of different kind of products: 

among the items under the recent spotlight 

are off-road helmets, racetrack paints and 

protective barriers for tracks. There is a lot of 

work to do with a twofold objective: safe venues 

and safety for riders.” 


PRODUCTS 

fly racing 

Five very inviting new colourways of Fly Racing’s 

Kinetic Mesh racewear for their ‘19.5’ release. 

The company have the catchy ‘Flow air/Filter dirt’ 

tag for the gear that can easily be spotted on the 

forms of Blake Baggett and Zach Osborne in AMA 

Supercross. Fly highlight the benefits as: ‘utilizing 

ventilated dual-mesh construction coupled with 

dynamic multi-directional stretch-rib paneling for 

flexibility and a ratcheting closure system on the 

pants for a secure fit, Kinetic Mesh is meticulously 

tested and researched for maximum rider comfort.’ 

The garments come in standard fit, which is important 

for riders not over-enthusiastic about 

some of the tight ‘performance’ kit doing the 

rounds of the shelves and hangers. The pants are 

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heat shield knee panels and 900 denier material. 

All-in-all Kinetic Mesh is a serious and reasonably 

priced option for your next gear purchase.

www.flyracing.com

AMA SX 

VBlog by Steve Matt

AMA SX SEATTLE 

IVRE 

hes, Photos by James Lissimore 

SEATTLE 

CENTURY LINK FIELD · MARCH 23 · Rnd 12 of 17 

450SX winner: Marvin Musquin, KTM 

250SX winner: Dylan Ferrandis, Yamaha

AMA SX

AMA SX SEATTLE

AMA SX

AMA SX SEATTLE

AMA SX

AMA SX

AMA SX SEATTLE

AMA 

BLOG 

THE RIGHT TIME? 

When it’s your year, it’s your year. I’ve been saying that for 

a while when it comes to Red Bull KTM’s Cooper Webb and 

his improbable run to this 450SX championship. 

Case in point this past weekend 

in Seattle, Webb didn’t look like 

his usual self all day, the big 

whoops seemingly able to get the 

better of him. In the main event 

he rode in fourth for most of the 

race and although he was catching 

Monster Energy Kawasaki’s 

Eli Tomac for the last spot on the 

podium, in the end he couldn’t 

do it and lost seven points to the 

suddenly hot Marvin Musquin. 

The points spread was gonna be 

down to seven with five rounds 

left. 

But after the race Musquin was 

docked seven points for jumping 

on a Red Cross flag (for the 

downed Justin Brayton and Chad 

Reed, both riders look to be out a 

while unfortunately) and although 

he gets to keep the win, Marv 

loses those points and the purse 

money. You may remember a 

similar penalty being applied to 

GEICO Honda’s Jeremy Martin 

last year when he won Indianapolis. 

It’s a newer rule, one that doesn’t 

take a win away from a rider but 

does incur a penalty. For this situation, 

it was the right thing to do, 

Musquin needed to be penalized 

but it was only a few seconds of 

a twenty minute race, in the past 

riders have had all their hard 

work taken away for something 

that’s been pretty miniscule. 

But back to Webb, after the penalty 

was applied, Webb and Musquin 

scored the same amount 

of points and voila, the fourteen 

point advantage is back for Coop 

with five rounds remaining. It just 

feels like things are going the way 

for the #2 on the KTM right? 

For Musquin though that’s two 

wins in a row after going winless 

all season long. He’s been on fire 

lately and truthfully should have 

more than just the two victories 

but couldn’t quite get it all together. 

Generally his successes 

have come in the second half 

of the season so look for him to 

keep this roll going. Will it be 

enough to catch and pass his 

upstart teammate? Stay tuned 

and I think before this thing is all 

said and done, there will be some 

friction between them. 

Ken Roczen admitted in the team 

PR last week that he can’t quite 

figure out what’s been going on 

with him lately as he’s lacked 

energy and fire that he normally 

has. I’d agree with him based on 

the fact that he went four weeks 

without a podium. In Seattle, he 

was very good all day long and 

scored a runner-up finish. He’s 

in California this week at the Red 

Bull facility getting some blood 

work done to try and figure out 

what exactly has been going on 

but there’s some hope based on 

his Seattle ride. He got close to 

Musquin at times but couldn’t 

make anything happen but it was 

the best #94 we’ve seen for a 

month.

By Steve Matthes 

Tomac finished a quiet third, he 

didn’t get the start he needed 

and spent some time working 

through some good riders to get 

that third. He was charging hard 

and was the fastest man on the 

track about four to five laps into 

the main. He rode amazing in 

Seattle last year to win so one 

would think his charge might’ve 

carried him past the top two 

rides. But then something…happened. 

He lost his speed and 

lost touch with the top two pretty 

badly. In fact, if there was one 

more lap in the race he would’ve 

had a big problem on his hands 

with Webb. It was another performance 

that left you scratching 

your head a bit and both Tomac 

and Roczen sit third and fourth 

in the series standings. Definitely 

not something we expected to 

see at this point. 

Rockstar Husqvarna’s Dean Wilson 

is having a real solid season. 

Considering he started the year 

without a ride, the adaptation to 

a factory saddle with Jason Anderson’s 

injury has been pretty 

smooth. Two weeks ago Wilson 

won a heat race for the first time 

this year, in Seattle he qualified 

fastest. Baby steps indeed for the 

oft-injured rider that’s looking 

to score a second career 450SX 

podium one of these weeks. 

“I feel like my riding has been 

really good the past four to five 

weeks. I’m always real close in 

timed qualifying,” Wilson told me 

this week. “My speed is good. 

Heat races are getting pretty 

good. I’m in the battle. Starts are 

pretty good. Today main event 

was a lot better. I was probably 

sixth off the start and then was 

just kind of in a battle, rolling 

some stuff because we’re stuffing 

each other. The guys got away.” 

In the 250SX class, Monster 

Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s 

Adam Cianciarulo protected his 

points lead with a second place 

behind Monster Star Yamaha’s 

Dylan Ferrandis. With three races 

remaining, the lead for Cianciarulo 

stands at 13 over the Frenchman 

and those two are emerging 

as the top two guys after the 

start of the season saw Ferrandis 

teammate Colt Nichols and TLD 

KTM’s Shane McElrath take turns 

battling for wins. 

Nichols has had some crashing 

issues lately and McElrath has a 

back injury that knocked him out 

of Seattle and most likely out of 

the next two races also. The fact 

that McElrath was set to point 

out of the 250SX class and this 

back injury flared up is, I’m sure, 

entirely coincidental. 

Anyways, Ferrandis’s win was 

impressive, he held off a charging 

Kawasaki for most of the 

main event and lappers proved 

to be an issue throughout. The 

win was the first in 250SX for 

Ferrandis and completes his 

decision to come over here as 

a good one. He’s won 250MX 

races and has now completed 

everything. He’ll go into 2020 as 

a 250SX favorite. The oft-injured 

rider, going back to his GP days, 

seems to have figured things out 

and although there are still some 

sketchy moments, Ferrandis 

has adapted rather well to the 

USA style of racing, helped by 

his coach David Vuillemin, who 

knows a thing or two about winning 

over here as a Frenchman.

AMA 

BLOG 

“Honestly, this ride gives me 

confidence, too. He’s (Ferrandis) 

always coming from the back 

and he’s always got speed and 

whatever. When I was behind 

him, I felt like I had him,” Cianciarulo 

told me after the race. “I 

just didn’t pull the trigger, and 

that’s on me. He was the better 

guy tonight. But I got plenty of 

confidence. I’m good.” 

Still, it feels like Cianciarulo’s 

time to finally capture a championship 

that’s eluded him so 

far as injuries have struck more 

than a few times. With an eye to 

jumping up to 450’s next year, 

the kid’s last chance looks to be 

2019. He’s as fast as ever and 

seems to have everything figured 

out. It ain’t over by any means 

but the once Golden Child is 

making good on his incredible 

promise.

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SBK 

BLOG 

HERE, THERE AND... 

More than Europe’s 

largest MC store 

The WorldSBK Championship has a little bit of a break 

whilst all the freight returns from the far east and before 

the first European round at Motorland Aragon in a couple of 

weeks. My focus has changed in that time to MXGP. 

The plan for 2019 is to attend a 

limited number of events and help 

manage the photography service for 

one of the main manufacturers in 

the championship. The past weekend 

was my first event at Matterley 

Basin in the UK. It was a challenge 

changing the focus from road circuit 

to MX both in terms of the action 

and the set up of the race track and 

paddock. 

I did bump into a couple of familiar 

faces on Sunday though, in the 

shape of Alex Lowes and Paul Denning 

from the Pata Yamaha WorldS- 

BK team. Alex was in good spirits 

and had had time to reflect on the 

previous weekend in Thailand. It’s 

a track he has gone well at before, 

scoring his first WorldSBK podium 

there, and last time out he felt he 

was becoming a serious challenger…to 

Jonathan Rea at least. I had 

actually spoken to Jonathan the day 

before and they both commented 

that Bautista and the Ducati Panigale 

V4R are just on another level at 

the moment. However, something 

that Alex pointed out was that both 

Chaz Davies and Eugene Laverty 

didn’t seem to have the same speed 

as the Spaniard. 

Personally I am not convinced that 

Davies is 100% fit but no mention 

has been made of it since the tests 

in Jerez and Portimao. At that time 

he was suffering from a recurring 

back problem that they thought was 

a throwback to the accident he had 

with Rea in Misano in 2017. I may be 

offering an excuse for Chaz but the 

old adage is certainly true that you 

don’t become a bad rider overnight. 

We will find out in a couple of weeks 

as he and Bautista have been testing 

in Aragon in the last few days. 

The significance of that is two fold: 

the Motorland track is a favourite 

of Davies. If he and the team have 

found a breakthrough in set up 

then the extra time in Spain will 

give them a chance to confirm that 

before FP1 two weeks on Friday. 

The other significant point is - as 

I said last time - Ducati are throwing 

everything at their attempt to 

win the championship. To have the 

budget to rent the track and have a 

complete set of bikes to test, whilst 

the other race bikes are still on the 

way back from Thailand, is tantamount 

to the level of effort they are 

putting in. 

Reflecting on the past month I 

think we may just be at a juncture 

in bike development where Ducati 

have raised the bar. Paul Denning 

responded to an article shared on 

Twitter at the weekend that the bike 

they race uses the base R1 road 

model as the starting point. The 

R1-M on the other hand is a specifically 

race derived road bike but 

in any event that the performance 

difference between a 15k and a 40k 

road bike would be huge without 

some form of tuning.

By Graeme Brown 

I also read this week that Yamaha 

have applied for various patents for 

their reverse rotation crankshaft 

and variable valve timing for their 

engines, technologies widely used 

in MotoGP. The article went on to 

say that Honda and possibly Kawasaki 

were going down the VVT 

engine route as well for new 1000cc 

road machines expected in the 

next year or so. Most manufacturers 

are coming to the end of their 

current model cycles and all will 

have to update their existing bikes 

to comply with the upcoming Euro5 

emission regulations in 2020. It 

is widely accepted that VVT is the 

best way to retain the high power 

output needed to counteract the 

losses incurred by complying with 

the emission regulations. In race 

terms we may be on the cusp of 

another performance revolution. 

Ducati and BMW have played their 

cards first. It could mean that 

Ducati steal a march on this year’s 

WorldSBK title but if Honda, Kawasaki 

and Yamaha bring new models 

to the market for 2020, WorldSBK 

could be in for exciting times. 

It was interesting on Sunday that 

Alex also picked up on something 

that I had noticed in the dynamic of 

the MXGP event and the difference 

to WorldSBK. There were a lot more 

families, in particular young children, 

at the motocross. My experience 

of road racing events is that 

there is predominantly a middle 

aged male demographic but there 

was a completely different feel to 

the paddock in MX. For one it is 

also a lot more compact. You have 

to, and can relatively easily, walk 

everywhere. The start line, the paddock 

and the trade stands were all 

cheek by jowl. At a road race circuit 

I wouldn’t be able to my job to the 

level I do without a paddock scooter 

and the facilities for the fans are 

much more spread out. 

In terms of manufacturers marketing 

it would also seem that the way 

to attract the next generations to 

the world of motorbikes would be 

through the off-road market. This 

is easily done in a country like the 

US where there are thousands of 

square miles of open space and 

places to go riding off road are 

easily found. In Europe and especially 

in the UK, there is a constant 

conflict between land owners, residential 

areas and off road riding. I 

saw a fair few electric trials bikes 

on the weekend and that may be 

the future. It also reminded me of a 

little lad that lives at the end of my 

street who has a Yamaha PW50. He 

has the full gear as well and rides 

along side his dad, down the lane 

at the back of our houses, whilst 

they are walking the dog. A little 

twist of the throttle and off he goes, 

waits for dad and the dog to catch 

up and Braaap, off he goes again. 

I love it but I can imagine some of 

my neighbours getting a bit antsy 

when he is a teenager and starts 

pulling wheelies up the street. With 

electric bikes we could get more 

kids on bikes and have less of the 

perceived nuisance value. 

It’s a bit of an intense period of 

work for me with four races on 

the bounce. This week I am off to 

Valkenswaard in the Netherlands 

for MXGP before heading straight 

to Spain for WorldSBK at Motorland 

Aragon. This is also when we 

have the only back to back races in 

WorldSBK, where we go direct from 

Motorland to Assen. After that, 

I may be at the MotoGP race in 

Jerez, but that’s still under negotiation. 

At this rate I will be pinching 

a battery from one of those little 

trials bikes and plugging myself in.

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BLOG 

THE CRUCIAL DIFFERENCE... 



How do you know when it’s the rider who is making is the 

difference and when it’s the bike? 

It always amazes me how many 

people profess to being able to 

recognise this subtle nuance of 

elite level motorcycle racing, based 

purely on how fast the whole package 

goes in a straight line. 

Back at the opening round of the 

2007 MotoGP World Championship 

in Qatar, Casey Stoner stunned 

the world with his debut victory for 

Ducati, muscling the notorious Desmosedici 

around 80% of the circuit 

well enough to stay on the back 

wheel of Valentino Rossi’s Yamaha 

and make use of his bike’s 12km/h 

top speed advantage over the M1 

on the straight – pretty much the 

only place on the whole track where 

he could dare to venture a pass. 

To my memory at least, nobody had 

even mentioned the superior potential 

of the Ducati during preseason, 

free practice or qualifying, until the 

end of that first lap when Rossi’s M1 

got blown into the sand. 

The advantage of the Yamaha at 

Losail – presumably – was its famously 

sweet handling through the 

fast, flowing sections of the track. 

But since the vast majority of us are 

generally not qualified to see such 

subtleties in the way a MotoGP 

bike is behaving via our television 

sets, we tend to forget that they are 

happening. As such, at the time, 

Stoner wasn’t given credit for how 

he actually had to ride the thing to 

stay in touch. 

than Stoner during that Qatar race 

in 2007). 

The Australian, it later became apparent, 

was in fact a genius. Over 

time, with the benefit of hindsight, 

even his erratic performances on 

the LCR Honda in 2006 became 

generally and rightfully regarded 

as flashes of brilliance amidst a 

brutal first season at the top table 

of MotoGP, where Valentino always 

got his dinner first. 

Eventually, even the staunchest 

Stoner critic would be forced to 

concede that the only advantage 

the Desmosedici ever really had 

over the other bikes out there was 

the soft, fleshy bit sat on top. 

‘Ducati power!’ screamed the commentators. 

‘Not fair!’ cried Rossi’s 

partisan fan base. None of them 

could fathom how else this surly 

young Australian upstart might 

be able to usurp the Greatest Of 

All Time under the setting desert 

sun, if not for his clear straight-line 

edge. 

We know now, of course, that in the 

hands of any other rider an infinite 

amount of horsepower would not 

have been enough to balance out 

the shortcomings of a whole generation 

of Desmosedicis (incidentally 

Alex Barros, Loris Capirossi and 

Alex Hofmann – all on the same 

bike - posted higher top speeds 

The reason I bring this up, as you 

might have guessed, is that the 

start of the 2019 World Superbike 

Championship has echoes of those 

early 800cc Stoner-Ducati days 

over a decade ago. Once again, 

Ducati have conjured up a brandnew 

bike with some serious grunt 

and once again they have a rider

By Matthew Roberts 

capable of taking full advantage. 

Yet, once again, it seems to be 

the bike that is taking most of the 

credit. 

The vagaries of the WSBK ‘balancing 

rules’ may soon see Alvaro Bautista 

penalised for his utter domination 

of the championship so far on 

the undeniably irresistible Ducati 

V4 Panigale. And, from a neutral 

perspective with a vested interest 

in the closest possible racing, you 

won’t hear me complain about that. 

There are mitigating reasons why 

the other Ducatis haven’t been 

anywhere near as competitive yet: 

Chaz Davies’ injury-hit preseason, 

Michael Ruben Rinaldi’s lack of experience 

and Eugene Laverty’s early 

struggles with the obvious limitations 

of a customer team. When 

these issues get ironed out, we may 

well see another V4 running away 

with Bautista at the front. 

But until that happens, I don’t care 

who you are how or much you 

know about motorcycle racing, it 

is impossible to suggest that the 

Spaniard has an unfair advantage 

underneath him. 

Up to now, all you can say for sure 

is that Bautista has demonstrated 

his quality, experience and incredible 

physical conditioning to help 

make the difference over a hugely 

competitive rival in Jonathan Rea 

and the Kawasaki. The way he has 

clicked with the new Panigale and 

the Pirelli tyres is another throwback 

to Stoner’s immediate affinity 

with the Desmosedici and the 

Bridgestones. 

Whether Bautista can maintain that 

for a whole season is a different 

matter. With a new bike there will 

always be new developments to 

try, some of which won’t work, and 

we have yet to see how the whole 

package adapts to new circuits 

and a range of conditions. We also 

have yet to see Kawasaki and Rea’s 

response. 

Bautista too has questions to answer. 

When things don’t go his way, 

will he still be quick enough to take 

a second place? Will any amount of 

top speed help him when he can’t 

find a setting on a cold, damp Saturday 

morning at Magny Cours? 

For now, to the naked eye it might 

look like World Superbikes and in 

particular Jonathan Rea has an immediate 

problem with the Ducati’s 

top speed. But, as always with racing 

at this level, the reality is much 

subtler than that.

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MOTOGP 

BLOG 

THE WAY TO WIN... 



Did Andrea Dovizioso win the opening race of the 2019 

MotoGP season at Qatar? By the time you read this, we 

might know. 

He certainly crossed the line 

ahead of Marc Márquez. But 

his fate is to be decided by the 

MotoGP Court of Appeal in Switzerland, 

who heard the protest 

entered by Aprilia, Honda, KTM, 

and Suzuki against Ducati’s use of 

the aerodynamic spoiler attached 

to the swing arm of the GP19. 

The question the Court will have 

to address is whether Ducati’s 

spoiler is legal. And here’s where 

it all gets horribly difficult. The 

official FIM rules for MotoGP only 

discuss aerodynamics in terms 

of the fairing and the mudguard. 

So naturally, engineers seized 

upon the loophole left by the rule 

makers’ lack of imagination, and 

started attaching aerodynamic 

components to the places the 

rules didn’t mention. In Ducati’s 

case, the bottom of the swing 

arm, inspired in part by Yamaha’s 

rain deflector fitted in the same 

place last year. 

Judged solely by the rulebook, 

Ducati’s parts are legal. But there 

is more to it than just the rulebook. 

MotoGP Technical Director 

Danny Aldridge also issued 

a series of additional guidelines 

for factories to use. Part of those 

guidelines stated that spoilers attached 

to swing arms were legal, 

but only if they were used to 

deflect water or debris from the 

rear tyre, or for cooling. Any device 

whose purpose is to generate 

downforce is explicitly banned. 

This is where the dispute ultimately 

arises. Ducati says its 

spoiler helps to cool the rear tyre. 

Aprilia, who had a similar device 

rejected in February, says Ducati’s 

device must generate downforce 

based on the computer simulations 

they did for their own spoiler. 

The decision to ban Aprilia’s 

spoiler, but allow Ducati’s, led 

Aprilia to protest. 

I know just enough about aerodynamics 

to realise that I know 

absolutely nothing, so I won’t 

attempt to pass judgement on the 

legality of Ducati’s spoiler. But it 

has been clear for some time that 

the Pandora’s box of aerodynamics 

has been irrevocably opened, 

and there is no going back. When 

Dorna’s spec ECU restricted antiwheelie, 

Ducati reached for wings 

to keep the front wheel down, 

and the other factories quickly 

followed. The knowledge gained 

from those wings opened up new 

and unexpected areas to explore, 

and so here we are. 

The biggest problem is that aerodynamics 

is a bottomless pit in 

terms of cost. The more money 

you throw at it, the more returns 

you see, though the marginal 

gains keep declining. But when 

Andrea Dovizioso beats Marc 

Márquez by just 0.023 seconds 

after 42 minutes of racing, even 

the smallest gains are worth the 

cost.

By David Emmett 

“When you are competing at 

this level, and you are competing 

against Honda, and against 

Márquez, who as we know is an 

exceptional rider, every fraction of 

a hundredth of a second counts,” 

Ducati’s Sporting Director Paolo 

Ciabatti told me after the race. 

“So if we have something that is 

legal, and we think it gives a fraction 

of a millisecond advantage to 

Andrea on saving the tyre for the 

last part of the race, why not?” 

For Aprilia, the lack of clarity in 

the regulations makes the situation 

much worse. Massimo Rivola, 

Aprilia Racing CEO, and who 

came to Aprilia from Ferrari in 

F1, said it was not their objective 

to have the result of the race 

changed, but if costs are to be 

contained then the rules have 

to be made much clearer. “From 

my experience in Formula 1, if 

we decide to go to the aerodynamic 

field, it will cost a fortune 

to everybody. Probably for a very 

little gain, especially in the areas 

which are now free. And it is very 

difficult to police. So, you spend 

a lot of money, and the federation 

cannot control the rules. 

I expect that everybody understands 

that there is a need for 

some clarification.” 

The biggest problem for MotoGP 

is that aerodynamics is a new 

frontier, and has consequently become 

another Wild West. Factory 

engineers pore over each new rule 

looking for what is not mentioned, 

and take that absence as permission 

to explore what is possible. 

Scrutineers lack the expertise to 

tell when engineers are barely 

toeing the line, and when they are 

pushing their luck. That is hardly 

surprising: aerodynamics is a vast 

and complex field, and not something 

you can catch up with in the 

space of a few months. 

Consequently, we are likely to 

be stuck with the controversy 

for some time to come. MotoGP 

needs expert help, both in understanding 

the problem and drawing 

up a process to deal with it. In 

the meantime, the factories will 

have to find a way to live with the 

results of races, and not protest 

at every turn. It’s going to be an 

interesting year.

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THE MAN 

BEHIND 

THE 

CURTAIN 

By Adam Wheeler, Photos by CormacGP 

TALKING WITH MARC MARQUEZ’S 

GARAGE ORCHESTRATOR 

SANTI HERNANDEZ

FEATURE 

Fifteen-odd minutes with 

Marc Marquez’s Repsol 

Honda Crew Chief Santi 

Hernandez is a privilege but 

nowhere near enough time 

to unravel some deep insight 

about the marvel hero of MotoGP. 

It is tempting to quiz the 

friendly bearded technician 

about the incessant plight to 

refine the RCV racebike to 

permit the world champion 

to perform his acrobatics, the 

continual reparation of the 93 

machine with Marquez’s hefty 

crash tally or concern over 

how much more punishment 

the Catalan’s body can take 

after a winter dominated by 

injury recovery. 

Instead we want to ask more 

about Hernandez and his 

roots in the sport and how his 

story has become intertwined 

with his 26 year old racer’s, 

now that they have only 

missed a title twice in the 

nine years they have worked 

together. 

Hernandez is one of the key 

figures in a consistent crew 

of eight people for Marquez. 

There are also four mechanics, 

a Chief Mechanic, Electronics 

engineer and Data engineer. 

Half of the group are based in 

Barcelona, others from German, 

Italy and Japan. Marquez 

himself does not have a big 

entourage: just his father Julià, 

trainer/coach Jose Luis and 

manager Emilio Alzamora. 

Hernandez conducts most 

from the hot seat next to Marquez 

in the #93 pitbox.

Despite offering to do the 

interview in Spanish, Santi’s 

English is impressive and the 

enthusiasm is warm. The guy 

looks intense but, like Marquez 

himself, looks like he can 

switch between joviality and 

determination in an instant… 

You started at Showa… 

Yes, in 1996 and I started to 

learn as a technician. I was 

working with Juan Martinez 

and Antonio Gimenez and 

every year progressed up until 

Alberto [Puig] created a team 

for the world championship 

around Bradley Smith when 

he came out of the Spanish 

Championship. We were in 

the 125s and that was my first 

taste of being a crew chief. 

“WHEN YOU ARE TAKING A 

BIKE TO 350KMPH YOU NEED 

TO BELIEVE IN THE PEOPLE 

THAT ARE TOUCHING THE 

MACHINE YOU ARE RIDING. 

SO IT IS IMPORTANT TO 

HAVE THAT GOOD RELATION- 

SHIP BUT NOT EVERY RIDER 

NEEDS IT...” 

So that was quite a change 

of roles: more hands-on with 

people and moving away from 

the bike? 

Yes. Just before the arrival of 

more electronics around the 

two-strokes and the introduction 

of the four-strokes things 

like the chassis and suspension 

were more important: or 

at least it was the area where 

you could ‘play’ with them 

more. The electronics were 

not developed like they are 

now and you could manage 

many things. There was more 

emphasis on the chassis for 

change and it was important 

to have that knowledge. It was 

a great experience to work in 

Showa because you learned a 

lot about the bike but also, in 

the paddock, you are dealing 

with many chief mechanics 

and you can see and take-on 

many things to increase your 

understanding. At Showa I 

only had to care about suspension 

but the job of Chief 

Mechanic involve much more. 

It was a great opportunity. The 

transition? It did not feel like 

‘night and day’ because I was 

already in that race environment 

but the electronics really 

gained much more value: so 

much on the bike can be managed 

by it. [thinks] The group 

is bigger. You have more engineers 

and specialists looking 

after different areas and with 

a lot of knowledge. Now the 

job now is about hearing from 

the rider, and managing the 

opinions of everybody to try 

to understand where we can 

find the problem and what we 

can touch to solve it. 

Obviously you need some 

good people skills and the 

ability to motivate a group… 

This is something I like. I follow 

football and I’m curious 

about how coaches manage 

the group. In a football team 

you have twenty-two players 

THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN: SANTI HERNANDEZ

FEATURE 

and it is not easy to handle 

all of that. I like to see how 

people do it and I think there 

are parts of the job that are 

the same here except that you 

only have one ‘player’ and 

that’s the rider but there are 

many other parts to the team. 

It’s not easy to manage characters 

and opinions and each 

member of the team has one, 

and they might believe their 

opinion is the best. So you 

need to be able to understand 

and work like a group, a team. 

You also have to know that it’s 

not always possible to say ‘I’m 

right and this is what we’ll 

do…’ You have to listen to 

everybody and I learned that 

from Jeremy Burgess. He said 

to me ‘to learn you have to listen…’ 

if you just talk, talk, talk 

then you will gain nothing. So 

you have to take the positives 

from everything and everyone 

around you and decide what 

is the best option. 

That must require a lot of 

patience… 

Yes, you have to be openminded. 

It’s like the rider: 

if you want to improve and 

learn then you need to have 

that open approach and be 

ready to listen. Of course it is 

not easy, and to get what you 

need from the group then you 

need to create a nice dynamic, 

which can be tough. I started 

the job when I was young and 

without much experience and 

it was the same when I came 

to MotoGP with Marc: I didn’t 

have any experience in the 

class. If I look back then the 

most important thing is motivation 

and passion. A guy 

with lots of experience as a 

mechanic might not be able 

to guide a group, whereas a 

guy with very little experience 

can have the right attitude to 

make the job and I think that 

was my case. You have to enjoy 

what you are doing. If you 

are here just for the money 

then you will not get the right 

result. If you want to learn and 

give the maximum all the time 

– like the rider – then this is 

the way. 

It’s curious that you are interested 

in football coaching 

and strategy. Are you a Guardiola/Barca 

fan?

THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN: SANTI HERNANDEZ 

XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXX XXXXX

FEATURE 

The football coach…it’s different. 

When he talks then it is 

like the rider talking here. The 

rider is the leader. It is very 

important that he believes 

and curates that group around 

him. I can create many things 

but if the rider does not follow 

then it is very difficult. Marc is 

a good leader. 

You have your ‘Messi’. Now, 

looking back, and the story 

with you and Marc: could you 

have ever imagined that it 

would twist and turn and rise 

like it did? 

It’s pretty cool. I never spoke 

to Marc before starting to 

work with him in 2011 in 

Moto2. But I was surprised at 

the first test in Jerez how such 

a young rider could stop and 

explain to me what was going 

on with the bike. He had zero 

experience with a four-stroke 

and a Moto2 bike. I’d worked 

and spoken with lot of riders 

but his comments were 

amazing. I didn’t expect that. 

It would be easy for me to 

say now ‘oh, back then I saw 

he would do so much…’ but 

honestly, at that time, I had 

no idea how much he would 

win or achieve. But I did think 

he was someone special compared 

to the others. It was a 

big responsibility for me. The 

same if you are with a talent 

like Messi. You can help them 

to get better and better and to 

win more and more but you 

can also cause the journey to 

go the other way. It depends 

on how you do it. It was a big 

challenge. 

How has the relationship developed? 

We’re friends and that’s the 

feeling through the team but 

we have always kept the same 

way to work: when practice 

starts we ‘close the door’ and 

make it totally professional. 

Why? Because he needs to be 

totally honest with me and I 

with him. If you put the friendship 

first then sometimes you 

cannot say what you think. 

We both speak clearly but we 

have a good relationship; and 

that is something you need 

to work towards. For me the 

most important time is when 

we are in the garage. He is 

very professional and pushing 

quite a lot. He gives 100% 

all the time and we need to 

do the same. He wouldn’t be 

happy otherwise. 

Rea/Riba, Dungey/De Coster, 

Cairoli/De Carli: several 

of the great champions have 

that team or double-act link. 

So it must be crucial… 

Of course. When you are taking 

a bike to 350kmph you 

need to believe in the people 

that are touching the machine 

you are riding. So it is important 

to have that good relationship 

but not every rider 

needs it. It depends on their 

character. Maybe Marc needs 

it but if you took another rider 

with great potential also and 

did the same thing then it 

would not work. You should 

not copy. You need to find 

what you need. 

The way Marc has ridden the 

Honda. Has the work been 

easier/harder? How do you 

begin and how do you find a 

new level? 

Every year is more difficult. 

It is like football again: when 

you win the title every year 

then you have to go through 

a process of forgetting what 

you did in the past. If you end 

up being second or third in 

the world then this wasn’t the 

target: this is why it becomes 

more difficult. The success 

gives me motivation because 

we are living something that 

not many can. We must enjoy 

what we have because it is 

maybe one opportunity in life 

and you have to take it to the 

maximum. I’m with the best 

team and the best rider and 

we are getting good results. 

Even though it is difficult I am 

in a position where I cannot 

give up and have to push and 

push more.

THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN: SANTI HERNANDEZ

MOTOGP 

BLOG 

PICKING UP THE PIECES 



For a country that can boast a landscape as stunning as 

Patagonia and cities as rich in history, culture and zest as 

Buenos Aires, the Province of Santiago del Estero where 

one can find Termas de Rio Hondo is surprisingly unremarkable. 

Well, unremarkable by Argentinean standards 

anyway. 

The flat, green fields and quiet, 

dusty towns that mark the region 

are a far cry from the scenery that 

adorns the country’s tourist board 

campaigns. Just as well for the 

area, then, its local racetrack ticks 

all the boxes. 

Even by MotoGP’s recent theatrics, 

last year’s 24-lap contest in 

Argentina still stands out. The 

record for closest top tens and top 

15s have repeatedly fallen over 

the past 24 months, and multirider 

freight trains have become 

a common sight, but the sheer 

volume of mouth-gaping drama 

on show during the 2018 event 

went way-beyond the 40 minutes 

and 36 seconds of race time. 

As trite as it sounds, last year’s 

event really did have it all. From 

the downright daring of Jack 

Miller’s pole position lap in 

qualifying – set using slick tyres 

on a wet-but-drying track – to the 

subsequent furore that surrounded 

the grid formation, the spectacle 

was only getting started when 

23 riders set off toward turn one 

five rows behind the Australian. 

Such was the commotion behind 

the lead group of four, Cal Crutchlow’s 

victory – the 750th for a 

Honda rider across all class - over 

an unlikely trio of riders including 

Johann Zarco, Alex Rins and 

Miller had to take an undeserved 

backseat in the weeks that followed. 

Marc Marquez’s on-thelimit 

display was something 

to behold; a last-to-fifth sweep 

through the field that left a string 

of scuffed leather in his wake but 

showed that even the very best 

can occasionally lose their heads. 

To see him getting affronted by a 

hoard of Valentino Rossi fans in 

the paddock before father Julià 

screamed them away, led one to 

fear for his safety – a state that 

wasn’t helped by his shrugging in 

the face of Yamaha-led indignation 

later that Sunday evening. 

Sepang 2015 aside (a weekend 

where championship pressures 

were approaching unbearable) 

has a race in the past 20 years 

ever enjoyed such a comprehensive 

fallout in the weeks that followed? 

Even by the end of 2018, 

there was tweaks and changes to 

the decision-making process that 

date back to this particular cloudy 

afternoon. 

First, there were rightful questions 

aimed at Race Direction and 

the FIM Stewards during a race. 

Marquez was not alone in feeling 

the brunt of ill will of his fellow 

riders. Danilo Petrucci came in for 

intense criticism from Aleix

By Neil Morrison 

Espargaro after the Italian 

touched the Aprilia man early into 

the race. Johann Zarco was the 

subject of Dani Pedrosa’s ire after 

a first lap collision pushed the 

then Honda rider off-line, which 

resulted in him flying toward the 

clouds. 

But ultimately Marquez’s antics 

were what caused a change. 

“What else does he have to do 

to be black flagged? Remove the 

black flag from the rules, we are 

not using it,” said Espargaro the 

elder at the next race. 

There were subsequently heated 

exchanges at the Safety Commission 

meeting on the Friday at 

the Circuit of the Americas. As a 

result, Dorna, and Race Direction 

and the FIM Stewards, vowed to 

penalise each on-track incident 

one degree harsher than before. 

The results were immediate: Pol 

Espargaro and Marquez received 

grid place penalties during qualifying 

for round three. Scrutiny 

surrounding the decision making 

of the FIM Stewards intensified. 

This in turn led to the appointment 

of Freddie Spencer, who 

now heads the Stewards Panel, 

an appointment that allows Race 

Director Mike Webb to get on with 

the job of race directing. 

Such was the confusion regarding 

the start in Argentina, as riders 

scampered to pit lane to change 

from wet to dry tyres, rules regarding 

such situations were 

soon revised and clarified. From 

Mugello, it was determined a rider 

would have to start the race from 

his original grip position but serve 

a ride-through penalty. 

And while Marquez and Rossi 

were never going to reach the 

back slapping love-in levels of 

2013 in the wake of their Sepang 

contretemps, there had definitely 

been a thawing in relations prior 

to this encounter. Before then, the 

pair could occasionally be seen 

swapping brief exchanges in press 

conferences. Rossi even went as 

far as seeking the Spaniard out 

for compliments in parc fermé at 

Phillip Island the year before. 

This exchange put paid to that. 

From there, relations reverted 

to rock bottom. Rossi’s feelings 

could be handily surmised by the 

reaction of best friend Alessio ‘Uccio’ 

Salucci in the Movistar Yamaha 

garage as Marquez approached 

post-race to offer an apology with 

Repsol Honda team manager Alberto 

Puig and personal manager 

Emilio Alzamora in tow. 

Even when he warred with Casey 

Stoner and Jorge Lorenzo, Rossi 

didn’t reach for the extremes in 

his exchanges with the press as 

he did here. “He [Marquez] destroyed 

our sport,” “He doesn’t 

have any respect for his rivals” 

and “He hopes that you crash” 

were just a number of highlights 

from the verbal barrage he aimed 

at his great rival later that Sunday 

evening. 

Some may argue Marquez maintained 

a quiet dignity in the wake 

of it all. But a refusal to accept his 

wrongs from that afternoon did 

little to endear him to the watching 

public. It wouldn’t have done 

him any harm to acknowledge his 

role in part of the chaos that had 

played out. Instead his reaction 

was a little too adamant he was 

not in the wrong - a rare blemish 

in an otherwise near-impeccable 

year.

PRODUCTS

scott sports 

One for the training/mountain bike enthusiasts 

this and Scott have been shouting about 

the new addition to their electric cycle range 

with the Strike eRIDE. The company outline 

the advantages of the model as thus: ‘With 

its 140mm geometry and a fully integrated 

Bosch drive unit, the Strike was developed 

to fill the gap between the Spark eRIDE and 

the Genius eRIDE. True to SCOTT’s approach 

to wheelsize versatility, the Strike eRIDE 

can swap between 27.5’’ and 29’’ wheels on 

the same frame. Thanks to its comfortable 

geometry and ergonomic contact points, it 

targets both new E-Bike enthusiasts and experimented 

riders looking for the best 

www.scottsports.com 

combination of comfort and performance.’ 

Drive unit covers and battery optimisation 

have been chiselled to target the two main 

areas for the Strike: comfort and performance. 

One modification has been to use the 

four bar link suspension system to create a 

more ‘straight up’ riding position. For more 

details click on any of the links here. Scott 

is an innovative and premium brand when it 

comes to their bicycles and reading-up on 

the Strike eRIDE allows full appreciation why.

TEST 

PERFECTION 

BLENDED 

KTM PACK MORE 

FUN INTO 

ADVENTURE 

Words by Roland Brown, Photos by 

Marco Campelli & Sebas Romero

TEST

KTM 790 ADVENTURE & R 

It’s a surreal feeling for this occasional 

off-road rider to be following KTM’s 

Dakar Rally team manager and former 

rider Jordi Viladoms along a bumpy 

Moroccan desert track at speed, kicking 

up clouds of dust from a spinning rear 

wheel, having recently ridden over a series 

of gleaming golden dunes. Launches 

of new adventure bikes don’t normally 

involve such spectacular views or challenging 

terrain. 

Then again, most adventure bikes don’t 

arrive with the sense of purpose that 

surrounds the 790 Adventure and the 

even more dirt-friendly Adventure R that 

I’m aiming through this vast desert playground. 

A year after KTM debuted its new 

parallel-twin platform with the 790 Duke, 

that naked roadster’s long-awaited dualpurpose 

siblings are here. 

The anticipation has been building. 

Large-capacity adventure bikes have 

been popular for so long, getting increas- 

ingly powerful and expensive, that a gap 

has opened up for a new breed of more 

manageable middleweights. KTM seems 

an obvious contender to fill it, given the 

Austrian firm’s rapid growth and long experience 

of dual-purpose bikes, not to mention 

a competition heritage that includes a 

remarkable 18 consecutive Dakar wins. 

Expectation increased last year, when the 

Duke was launched combining a rev-happy 

799cc engine, sweet-handling tubularsteel 

framed chassis and superbike-style 

electronics. This was big-bike technology 

and thrills in a cut-down package. The 790 

Adventure promises more of the same with 

versatility thrown in. 

For Adventure use the Duke’s dohc, eightvalve 

engine is softened with new cams and 

injection, boosting midrange and trimming 

10bhp off the top-end to leave a max of 

94bhp at 8000rpm.

TEST 

The frame is redesigned to hold a fairing, 

bigger radiator, aluminium bash-plate and 

a fuel tank that runs down each side of the 

motor to give a generous 20-litre capacity 

while remaining slim at its top. 

Both Adventures run wire wheels in 21in 

front, 18in rear diameters, with suspension 

their biggest difference. The standard 790’s 

WP units give 200mm travel at each end, 

with shock preload the only adjustment; the 

R is multi-adjustable and gives 40mm more 

travel. Along with a taller seat, the R-model 

has a shorter screen, high-level front mudguard 

and comes with more off-road oriented 

tyres (Metzeler Karoo 3 instead of Avon 

Trailrider). 

The standard 790, especially, immediately 

seems very manageable. Its height-adjustable 

seat allows most riders to get both 

feet on the ground, and at 189kg dry it feels 

notably lighter than large-capacity adventure 

bikes, especially as its tank shape keeps the 

centre of gravity very low. Its choice of riding 

mode (Street, Offroad or softer still Rain) is 

displayed on a colourful TFT screen. 

Throttle response is sweet, the twin-pot engine 

responding cleanly at low revs, picking 

up the pace at about 6000rpm, and revving 

from there with a superbly loose, freespinning 

feel thanks to twin balancer shafts. 

Cruising at 80mph-plus is stable and effortless, 

helped by the useful if slightly blustery 

wind protection from a screen that unbolts to 

allow 40mm of adjustment. Flat-out the bike 

would be good for about 130mph. 

Roadgoing handling is excellent: stable at 

speed, enjoyably agile despite the big 21in 

front wheel, and impressively precise given 

the generous suspension travel, which is 

well-controlled – thankfully, given the minimal 

adjustability. Comfort on a short ride 

seemed pretty good; range should be well 

over 200 miles.

KTM 790 ADVENTURE & R

TEST 

“ON FIRMER SECTIONS IT WAS THE KTM’S 

OUTSTANDING SUSPENSION QUALITY 

THAT SHONE, ALLOWING IT TO BE BLASTED 

DOWN RUTTED TRACKS AND ACROSS 

OPEN DESERT SCRUBLAND AT SPEED...”

WORLDSBK POR 


TEST 

Plenty of adventure bikes would make more 

relaxing roadsters, but few would be more 

fun. 

A brief desert blast suggested off-road performance 

would also be very good but the 

launch left most of the rough stuff to the 

Adventure R, shod for the event in suitably 

knobbly tyres, plus a few accessories including 

gearbox quick-shifter and Akrapovic 

silencer. Following Dakar ace Jordi on the 

sandy tracks where the KTM team train was 

mindblowing, especially on a bike so superbly 

suited to the job. 

The flexible engine played its part, aided by 

the sweet quick-shifter and a Rally riding 

mode (included with the R, an accessory on 

the standard 790) that allows traction control 

adjustment while riding. The sophisticated, 

IMU-governed system encourages controllable 

slides on dirt but needs backing off on 

really loose surfaces. That helped make the 

Adventure R improbably cooperative for my 

first dune-riding experience, though occasionally 

I was glad of its relatively light weight 

when picking it up… 

On firmer sections it was the KTM’s outstanding 

suspension quality that shone, allowing it 

to be blasted down rutted tracks and across 

open desert scrubland at speed, soaking up 

even big bumps yet with the damping control 

to remain amazingly composed. It’s clear that 

for off-road riding the R, in particular, has a 

significant edge over most rivals. 

Perhaps both Adventures’ only slight drawback 

is that, with the standard model costing 

roughly 25 per cent more than the Duke (at 

£11,099 in the UK) and the R ten per cent 

more again (£11,999), they’re close on price 

to some well established larger-capacity 

machines. But as the KTMs’ lightness, agility, 

sophistication and versatility mean that for 

some trips and situations they’ll be the pick 

of the bunch regardless of capacity, that’s 

arguably really not a drawback at all.


BACK PAGE 

British Grand Prix. Photo by Ray Archer

BACK PAGE

ON 

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