Monday Evening Moto News - Loveliness and Ricky Carmichael

The loveliness comes to us courtesy of Bubba Shobert's Honda RS750. It was designed and built to fight with the all-powerful Harley-Davidson XR750 on the flat dirt tracks of the US. The bike was an unqualified success and along with Ricky Graham, who won the 1984 season, it won four AMA Grand National Championships from 1984 through 1987; the last three of which went to Shobert.

http://tinyurl.com/ykmjnd4

MX Sports, the people who bring us the AMA Amateur National Motocross Championships, have worked out a very cool new race and school - yes, school. Ricky Carmichael has joined with them to bring the Ricky Carmichael Amateur Supercross Championship, which will be held at Daytona International Speedway on 6 march 2010 (also Bike Week), and Ricky Carmichael University, held the following day. An amazing chance for any off-road racer, no? There is much more after the link...

http://tinyurl.com/ydnf3wf

Christmas Day Moto News - A Little Something for You

Yep, it is Christmas Day and people are stuffing themselves and getting gifts, but some of us are still paying attention to the news of the day - not everyone celebrates this day. And, even those who are having a great day will still be checking their blogs and newsletters.

With that in mind, we start with a rather beautiful machine from French designers Frank Charriaut and VincentPrat. They visited the Legend of the Motorcycle International Concours d’Elegance in June 2008 and decided to build a machine for themselves. They took a featherbed frame and a Norton 750 engine and turned it into the bike you see pictured here, the CP Project One. It is an incredible design exercise which would look perfect in my garage!

http://tinyurl.com/y98mnya

Now we have a 'Best of 2009' from MotorcycleUSA which brings us their picks for the best machines and best companies in the motorcycle industry from 2009. They have some controversial choices, but they do back them up with good reporting and good information. Take a look and see if you agree with them...

http://tinyurl.com/yekovwg

Lastly, for this post, comes some news on the Czech Dakar Team - one of the best European entries - is getting ready to head out for the Rally Dakar in South America. They have 36 team members total across all class entries, and they will be riding a Yamaha WR450F in the motorcycle competition. They have a quality team and good support, which only makes the racing more interesting!

http://tinyurl.com/y8gsadu

Finally! MX Sports and AMA Release 2010 WMX Schedule

Funny how this took so long to come to light. I guess it is more to do with them figuring out which rounds of the series the WMX racers will be attached to. I do wish they would come up here near me at Washougal - I would love to see 2009 champion Ashley Fiolek race in person; she is phenomenal. Anyway, if you are looking for the WMX schedule, take the link.

http://tinyurl.com/ybyuy9t

MX Sports Pro Racing Mourns Oscar Diaz

Diaz was a victim of a tragic shooting in Guatemala after a motocross event - no details have been given. But, MX Sports, who run the AMA Pro Motocross series, announced the tragedy and mourns the passing of a promising young racer...

http://tinyurl.com/nrgx6n