Wheeeeeeeeeeeeelieeeeeeeeeeeeee!

A swift bit of footage for you from last weekend's World Wheelie Competition up at Elvington.
This was the winning run, and you'll be seeing more coverage in Streetfighters mag very soon.


PS The speedo reading is actually in kilometres per hour...

Feel Good Factor...

Okay, so there's no great heroics, and no jaw-dropping stunt antics, but it is a video that makes you want to get out and ride...

Aside from the lean angle indicator thingy, it's proof that there's some cool riding roads in Germany...
And thanks to our friends at East Side Fighters, here's another vid they've done...

It's the same rearwards-facing camera angle, but it does mean you get to see the cool, chattering, intakes on the Max...

DIgital Greasy Spoons

Judging by the number of cafe racer projects being undertaken this year, especially on the far side of the Atlantic from SF Towers, it seems that there's something of a revival in interest in cut-down, race-inspired 'classic' bikes...

Despite their potential at incurring chronic lower back pain, and the limited amount of power available from the varied powerplants chosen (certainly when in comparison to modern sports bikes) we can certainly see the potential in making a bike that's a hoot to ride out of what was, originally, a cheap ol' nail...
If your interest has been piqued, you'll be pleased to know that there's numerous aspirational online scrap books focussing on cafe racers, most notably the one on the ADVrider forum - a thread that is currently an impressive 328 pages long! See more here

Rea Racing & Yoshi Johnny @ Manx GP 2011

Just a reminder that Nigel Rea will be out for practice tonight, weather permitting, on the Isle of Man Mountain circuit in preparation for the Manx GP.

He will be alternating between his Yamaha R6 in the Junior class, and the hand-built (by Yoshi John Oliver) GSX-R 750 Slabside in the Classic Superbike class. Tonight he's out on the Slabby from 1820 - 1905 and then on the R6 from 1910 - 2010, and the rest of the MGP calendar is shown below.

Tune in to Chris Kinely's live commentary on Manx Radio from 7pm tonight, and for all sessions throughout the rest of the Manx Grand Prix, at www.manxradio.com. And pick up Streetfighters #212, on the shelf next week, for the complete lowdown on the build and preparation of the GSX-R, followed by a full race report in #213.

PRACTICE SESSIONS:

Wednesday 24 Aug
1820-1905 Senior, Junior, SuperTwin, Newcomers A
1910-2010 Classic, C/Superbike, Jun P/Classic, Lightweight,New B

Thursday 25 Aug
1820-1905 Senior, Junior, SuperTwin, Newcomers A
1910-2010 Classic, C/Superbike, Jun P/Classic, Lightweight, New B

Friday 26 Aug
1820-1905 Classic, C/Superbike, Jun P/Classic, Lightweight, New B
1910-2010 Senior, Junior, SuperTwin, Newcomers A

Saturday 27 Aug
1930-1940 Senior, Junior, SuperTwin (No Newcomers)
1945-1955 Classic, C/Superbike, Junior P/Classic, Lightweight (No Newcomers A & B)

Monday 29 Aug
1525-1630 All Classes except Newcomers A & B, Junior, 350/250cc Classic

Wednesday 31 Aug
1515-1525 Senior, Classic Superbike, Junior Post Classic (1 lap)

RACE DAYS:

Saturday 27 Aug
1730 Race 1 - The NEWCOMERS RACE (3 laps) in 2 capacity classes run concurrently. Followed by practice session.

Monday 29 Aug
1015 Race 2 - The 350cc/250cc CLASSIC GRAND PRIX RACE (4 laps) in 2 capacity classes run concurrently

1315 Race 3 - The JUNIOR MANX GRAND PRIX RACE (4 laps)
Followed by practice session.

Wednesday 31 Aug
1015 Race 4 - The 500cc CLASSIC GRAND PRIX/FORMULA CLASSIC RACE (4 laps) in 2 capacity classes run concurrently
1315 Race 5 – The SUPERTWIN/LIGHTWEIGHT MANX GRAND PRIX RACE (4 laps) in 2 capacity classes run concurrently.
Followed by practice session.

Friday 2 September
1015 Race 6 - The SENIOR MANX GRAND PRIX RACE (4 laps) 1315
Race 7 - The CLASSIC SUPERBIKE/JUNIOR POST CLASSIC RACE (4 laps) in 2 capacity classes run concurrently.

Followed by VMCC Closed road parade.

Jaw On The Floor?

It will be.
We've shown you Danny McAskill videos on the blog before, and once again, we'll make no excuses about the fact that he's on a push bike. This video needs no excuses, it is, quite simply, awesome...

Not That There's Nowhere Else To Go...

So the MAG Ganton Gathering in Yorskhire may be cancelled, but this is probably one of the busiest weekends in the calender...
There's the Bulldog Bash at Long Marston Raceway just south of Stratford-Upon-Avon, which has opened today. Early reports say that there's minimal police presence (unlike previous years), and that the weather is due to improve from today's soggy conditions in time for the weekend's drag racing and Status Quo on Friday night...
The Straightliners freight train heads to North Weald in Essex for Sunday, with not only the UK's premier drag race series taking place, but there's also classes for classic machinery, and an autojumble too. And just a spit off the M11.
Hunters of a fast buck or two can head to Smeathorpe airfield (down by the Somerset / Devon border) on Saturday, as there's £300 cash for the quickest ET for a street legal bike over the 1/8 mile, and a large trophy to put the cash in too. It's £10 on the gate per person and sign on £25 per rider to sign on.

Going To Ganton?... Don't.

It is with great sadness that the Organisers of Ganton Gathering have today announced that the rally has had to be cancelled.

This is due to poor ticket sales, as the Event had not sold enough tickets to be financially viable to go ahead.

*We can now confirm that everybody that paid for tickets by debit/credit card has been refunded, though it may take a few days for the refund to show on your account. Refund receipts are in the post. Thank you for your patience.*

If you have paid for your tickets by cheque, a record will have been kept of your booking and a refund will be sent to you in due course.

MAG UK, on behalf of MAG Foundation, would like to extend our grateful thanks to those people that have so vigorously supported Ganton Gathering and worked hard to make this Event a success.

We apologise for any inconvenience the cancellation of this Event may cause and can only offer assurance that the Organisers have not taken this decision lightly.

Essex Police camera bikes - "extremely successful" - hmm...

Have a read of this article, from the Essex Police website:

http://www.essex.police.uk/news_features/video__audio/audio__video/drive_to_reduce_biker_casualti.aspx

And watch the video:



Wethinks the plod got this one wrong. The article says: "The covert patrols and RIDE courses have been launched following a significant increase in the number of serious road collisions involving motorcycles. Between January 1, 2011 and April 12, 2011, three riders died and 42 were seriously injured, compared with three fatalities and 30 serious injuries in the same period last year."

But the cop in the video says (at 1:05ish): "It's been extremely effective, since the beginning of 2011 more than 60 bikes have been stopped using this scheme..."

So it is only since the introduction of these camera bikes that the sharp increase has occurred. Using police logic, you could argue that this initiative has caused an extra twelve casualties in 2011. It certainly isn't the "extremely effective" and "extremely successful" initiative they say it is. An increase of twelve casualties seems rather a failure, that is if you're actually concerned with the safety of motorcyclists.

Yaaaaawnn....

Well, that was Brent Cross... An awesome day - incredible stunting that was of a true world class, sunshine that defied the cliche of a typical British summer, and an astounding display of not only the UK's finest 'fighters, but also a strong showing of foreign bikes too.
We'll have more info and pics in the next issue, once we've had some sleep...