Australian Motorcycle News

Editor Dean Mellor Deputy Editor Kel Buckley Sub Editor Hamish Cooper Road Test Editor Pete Vorst Founding Editor George Lynn Art Director Brendon Wise Sir Alan Cathcart, Michael Scott, Ben Purvis, Mat Oxley, Neil Morrison, Adam Child, Gold&Goose, Go

THE AFRICA TWIN line has been refreshed for the 2024 model year with more torque across the range and a more road-biased design for the Adventure Sports version. Upping the compression ratio from 10.1:1 to 10.5:1, along with tweaked valve timing, int

THE DESERTX is already the most convincing off-road model in Ducati’s range but for 2024 the new DesertX Rally raises the bar. The DesertX Rally gets a larger diameter 48mm KYB fork with 20mm more travel at 250mm. It’s a closed-cartridge system, simi

AFTER WEEKS of rumours about Marc Marquez’ future and whether the six-time MotoGP champion would depart Honda and head to another manufacturer, we have finally heard from Ducati’s Gigi Dall-Igna that he has broken his existing contract – no doubt at

THE NEW scrambler won’t be the only extra 650cc twin-cylinder model joining Royal Enfield’s range in 2024. The company has also type-approved the Shotgun 650, which will use the same engine (rated at 34.6kW on the Shotgun’s approval documents), in th

AMERICAN EMISSIONS approvals have betrayed another of Ducati’s planned 2024 models – revealing that a special Panigale V4 SP2 to mark three decades since the launch of the legendary 916 is set for production. The Ducati Panigale V4 SP2 30th Anniversa

American Doug Domokos set a new world record for distance covered on the back wheel. Domokos ripped out a monster 233.2km wheelie on his Honda. There was a chance he could have gone on longer but the Honda ran out of fuel. The current record is held

ANSWERS WILL BE REVEALED IN THE NEXT ISSUE AN AMCN NECK SOCK EMAIL YOUR ANSWERS AND ADDRESS TO AMCN@AMCN.COM.AU FOR YOUR CHANCE TO WIN! ■

1245cc Boxer 249kg (wet) $33,305 (ride away) 1301cc V-Twin 220kg (dry) $33,315 (ride away) 1160cc triple 240kg (90% fuel) $32,990 (ride away) ■

• 937cc Testastretta V-twin • 82kW (111hp) @ 9250rpm (claimed) • 93Nm @ 6500rpm (claimed) • 166kg (dry, claimed) • Cornering ABS, traction control, wheelie control, launch control, two-way quickshifter. From $19,700 (ride away) • 889cc parallel twin

DUCATI CONSIDERED making an ultra-twin, a no-holds derivative of their successful 90° V-twin desmo Superbike, which while it would have had obvious marketing benefits, wasn’t however judged likely to produce enough power to be competitive. This was d

At the start of the year, the Italian would have been a shoo-in for a podium spot, and he even led on points after the first couple of races, after winning round two in Argentina. Another win in France after Acosta fell off boosted his hopes, but by

Never underestimate the home-race boost factor. Jack’s strong start with Red Bull KTM featured a double podium at Jerez, and another Sprint third place in Germany. Since then he has struggled to match his earlier results. But now he is racing on home

With both Lenovo Team riders Pecco Bagnia and Enea Bastianini injured, and Prima Pramac Ducati’s Johann Zarco leaving the Ducati fold next year, it was up to his teammate Jorge Martin to test the early version of the GP24. He, of course, got up to sp

Inside the Aprilia garage it was difficult to see anything new for the test, but to be fair the Italian factory hasn’t stopped during the past 12 months, updating almost everything. I was reliably informed it was testing a new, slightly different cha

CASEY STONER and Valentino Rossi are equal on the amount of times they’ve stood on the top step (six), but Stoner has six consecutive wins between 2007 and 2012, while Rossi has five consecutive wins between 2001 and 2005 with his sixth coming during

A battle to the very end between Wayne Gardner and Wayne Rainey (with Christian Sarron and Kevin Magee hot in the mix, too) saw Gardner victorious. It’s a race the Wollongong Whiz still hails as the most memorable of his career. The pair were battlin

Fox Sports, Kayo and Videopass Check website and local guides MotoGP heads to Mandilika for Round 15. The MotoGP Sprint kicks off at 6pm Saturday (AEST), then Sunday;s racing starts with Moto3 at 2.35pm, Moto2 at 3.55pm and MotoGP at 5.50pm. Next sto

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OFFICIALLY, I SHOULD never be allowed anywhere near a grand prix, okay? It’s something I know very little about and was never good at. If you recall, I was the first person to fall off at Phillip Island (AMCN Vol 72 No 07). No surprise really. I’d on

I’VE JUST returned from my first European racing trip where I completed a wildcard in the R3 bLU cRU European Cup at Magny-Cours as well as representing Australia in the R3 Cup Super Finale with Marcus Hamod at Portimao. Portimao might be the most fu

IN THE SMALL hours in the fortnight before the Indonesian GP, a wakeful Pecco Bagnaia will surely be lamenting his plight – the ongoing collapse of what looked like an assured defence of his world title. In the last four races a points lead of 66 (af

NO ONE COULD deny Somkiat Chantra (HTA Kalex) on Japanese soil – not even teammate, home hero and last year’s victor Ai Ogura (HTA Kalex) as the Thai rider capped a dominant weekend with a comfortable win – his second in the class. Chantra had topped

FOR THE SECOND weekend in succession Jaume Masia (Leopard Honda) looked the rider most likely to emerge from a hectic fight and become world champion. The Spaniard topped every session bar one and fought back from a subpar opening to claim a second c

THE GLORIOUSLY hot sun followed the WorldSBK caravan as it decamped from Motorland Aragon and reassembled itself in the Algarve coast of Portugal. But things were serious this time. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba Ducati) was in his first potential title-winn

NICOLO BULEGA (Aruba Racing Ducati) won his first WorldSSP Championship by winning his opening race at Portimao. He led his last arithmetically possible challenger Stefano Manzi (Ten Kate Yamaha) over the line by two seconds, and in doing so won the

THE FIRST race had no shortage of drama for new world champion Jeffrey Buis (MTM Kawasaki) when he went from potential winner to a ride-through penalty and then demoted one place for irresponsible riding on the straight. With Jose Luis Perez Gonzalez

ASBK SUPERSPORT 300 riders Cameron Swain and Marcus Hamod finished strongly at the Yamaha bLU cRU R3 European Cup Superfinale, held at Portimao as support to the World Superbike round over 29 September – 1 October. The pair adapted to the Portuguese

MARC MARQUEZ JUMPING ship from Honda to Ducati is the biggest rider news since Valentino Rossi’s multiple bed-hopping. It raises at least two burning questions. The first concerns the status quo. By joining the largest gang on the grid, is Marquez ri

AUSSIE MAX FRICKE will not be part of the line-up of permanent riders for the SGP series in 2024 after being only named as first reserve. The top six from this year automatically carry on, as does the European Championship winner (Mikkel Michelsen),

We cannot talk about BMW’s centenary of motorcycle manufacturing without first mentioning six-cylinder engines. If you know your cars, you’ll know BMW is famous for its exquisite sixes. Sixes are in BMW’s DNA — they made BMW’s name and reputation way

1923 R 32. BMW’s first motorcycle is a boxer from day one. 8hp, 500cc, side-valve. 1925 R 39. BMW’s first single-cylinder bike, a 250 with 6.5hp. 1928 R 63. BMW was already making OHV engines but the R 63 raised capacity to 750cc for 24hp and a 120km

THIS FORTNIGHT the drama focused on the British Superbike Championship, with our sources within the paddock reporting the feeling towards Tommy Bridewell and Glenn Irwin is split pretty evenly after their crash at Melbourne Loop. And it was no surpri

RACING HAS rarely held much importance during BMW’s 100 years of motorcycle manufacturing. BMW’s racing efforts increased as its ambitions grew in the 1930s but WWII quashed all that before it really paid dividends. Privateer and distributor-backed r

FEW MANUFACTURERS can be credited with starting an entire genre, which makes BMW’s creation of the adventure-touring motorcycle a standout example of innovation and imagination. Before the R 80 G/S, there was nothing like it; since then, almost every

THREE SIGNIFICANT names from dirt track and speedway have died in recent weeks. Firstly, William Trevor ‘Herb’ Jefferson was one of the all-time greats of Australian dirt-track racing. Those who saw him race or tried to catch him on the track spoke g

THIS YE AR ISN’T BMW’s 100th birthday, but it is the 100th year of motorcycle manufacturing by the German company. The corporation commemorates 1916 as its founding year, when Bayerische Flugzeugwerke AG (BFW, or Bavarian Aircraft Factory) was establ