80 Years of Race Experience to Compete in Suzuka 8 Hours

Kevin Schwantz Flying the Colors on a Grand Prix Victory Lap

Almost 80 years would be more accurate, and it will be a very good story to watch unfold. Kevin Schwantz, 48, will join Noriyuki Haga and Yukio Kagayama, both 38 now, will race for Suzuki at the iconic Suzuka 8 Hours on 28 July. All riders have experience at the circuit, and all are among the top talents in the history of the sport - motorcycle racers which no one will forget - but they are also in the upper end of the racing age spectrum. These men are all professional, though, and will race to win. If only it were televised...the potential for record book writing is there!

http://tinyurl.com/c5zfc8p

Tuesday Night Moto News - Yoshimura Suzuki

Yoshimura Suzuki is moving out of the AMA paddock - well, let's say they are expanding. Having been so successful in the AMA Pro Racing over the last several years (domination of the Superbike class for over a decade), they have decided to embark on some World Sueprbike rounds - and an endurance race - with a few different riders. They will participate in Assen, the Netherlands, with Yukio Kagayama; the second at Imola with Daisaku Sakai; and, finally, the Suzuka 8 Hours with Kagayama and Sakai e Nobuatsu Aoki.

http://tinyurl.com/y8kfdeq

Wednesday Morning Moto News from Around the Industry

We are back to Wednesday now - just a few more days left this year - and there is some news. One thing to keep in mind is that many people consider this the end of the first decade of the 21st century. They are wrong, unless the first decade is only 9 years long, as there was no year 0. That means that 2001 was the true beginning of the 21st century and the end of this decade will be midnight, 31 December 2010. It's simply absolute fact.

So, in that spirit, we have a list of the most important motorcycles of the first 9 years of the 21st century. On this list are bikes which you may or may not agree with, but the author believes that this is the list. I have to say that there are at least five bikes there which could easily be replaced with other models. Anyway, go and take a look and see if you agree.

http://tinyurl.com/yfe34v6

Now, a lawsuit has been settled which Harley-Davidson (a very litigious manufacturer) brought against family-owned Ridley Motorcycles. It seems that the lawyers up at H-D considered the 'Auto-Glide' transmission on the Ridley bikes to be too close to Harley's own 'Glide' series. So, now the David in our story has been slain by Goliath and Ridley will no longer use the name. Ridley will also no longer be making motorcycles - at least it appears that way since they have now filed for bankruptcy protection and have some serious debt (much of it coming from the fight with H-D; thank you so much H-D for ridding the world of another manufacturer, bastards!)

http://tinyurl.com/ykvrbb5

http://tinyurl.com/ye822uy

Also, Hiroshi Aoyama will be running the number 7 in MotoGP next season. He already lost his 4 due to Dovizioso already having it in the series, so he changed to 7 now that Vermeulen has left. He is doing it to honor Daijiro Kato, the Japanese MotoGP rider who died in a horrific crash at Suzuka in 2003.

http://tinyurl.com/yfqsh9a

And, it is now possible that Malaysia's Sepang Circuit could loose the MotoGP event at that track. The contract with the MotoGP management runs out next year and negotiations are under way now. This could also limit Malaysian racers' chances of getting into the series as full-time participants, so this has some far-reaching effects. I sure hope they get things nailed down before the 2010 Malaysian GP!

http://tinyurl.com/yjea86g

Yoshimura Suzuki Leaving Japanese MFJ National Championship

The Yoshimura team will move on to contend three or four World Superbike events, the Suzuka 300, and the Suzuka 8-Hours. This is in reaction to the Japanese MFJ National series moving towards rules like the DMG/AMA Pro racing series - as opposed to moving the regulations closer to World Superbike. No one wants to race in AMA anymore, so why would the MFJ series move that way? That's a good question, I hope someone asks them!

http://tinyurl.com/yc7zbcv