Road Racer X's Speed Dating & Morais Filling In for Parkes

For this week of March we have a number of important dates in the weekly Road Racer X Speed Dating column. Celebrating birthdays this week are Danny Webb, Andrea Dovizioso, Roberto Rolfo, Al Ludington, Steve McQueen, Keiichi Kitagawa, Raffaele De Rosa, Harald Eckl, Chris Walker, Burt Munro, Sebastien Charpentier, Toni Elias, Christian Sarron, Bill Bagnall, and Katsuaki Fujuwara. Unfortunately, it is also the anniversary of the death of Mike Hailwood...Please take the link to learn more...

http://tinyurl.com/yfh76yc

In the World Superbike Championship series, Echo CRS Honda rider Broc Parkes sustained a broken leg in a preseason training injury and had to give up his seat to Josh Brookes at Phillip Island. For the Portimao round (and, quite possibly for Valencia as well), the faster Sheridan Morais will be substituting for Parkes on the Honda. Morais has been able to out-ride Parkes before, so this may be the beginning of something or just a quick trip to the majors for Morais...

http://tinyurl.com/yh6pmnt

More Afternoon Moto News - Brutale 1090RR Review & New Norton Races!

The new MV Agusta Brutale 1090RR is something to behold - lovely, powerful, and very well-made. Well, how does it perform on the street? Well, let's just say that the Brutale sets the standard in the naked bike segment as it always has. The author here finds it slightly less perfect than the Streetfighter, but at least the Brutale has well-sorted suspension right off the production line and it is much more reliable than the Ducati...and that is borne out through the large number of warranty work on the new Streetfighter. Go MV and you will never regret it!

http://tinyurl.com/ycvesfx

The 'new' Norton is going racing, finally! Chris Walker, of British and World Superbike series and new Sales Manager for Norton, will be taking the Commando 961 to the Thundersprint event. That's right, no VIP and full access to Walker and the beautiful race bike from the new Norton shop - thanks, of course, to Kenny Dreer. Really fantastic news!

http://tinyurl.com/ydslhmv

Friday Evening Moto News - Bikesafe London / MCN London Motorcycle Show

Making a welcome appearance at the MCN London Motorcycle Show this weekend at the Excel Center in London were the representatives of Bikesafe London. The sessions are designed to stress motorcycle safety through skills development, training and good old experience... and it reduces their insurance costs as well. Charley Boorman and Chris Walker were among the many rather interesting people who were at the show as well. If any more decent reports come through, they will be here...and there are previous entries as well.

http://tinyurl.com/yjgk2s3

Rumor Mill: Chris Walker to Work for Norton Motorcycles?

The rumors are coming out that fan favorite Chris Walker of the British Superbike Championship may be taking a marketing position with the new Norton Motorcycles. It could be that he will remain in the BSB series while working at Norton, but nothing has been finalized as of yet...

http://tinyurl.com/y95bbbs

Gowland and Walker Start BSB Silverstone Round on 3rd and 4th Row

In the highly-competitive world of British Superbike, Graeme Gowland and Chris Walker qualified well for their team. Gowland will be in eleventh on the third row and Walker will be right behind him on the fourth row. Should add even more nail-biting action for today's races!

http://tinyurl.com/yerobwj

Motorpoint Hendersons Yamaha to Start on Third Row at Croft

Tomorrow's British Superbike Championship races will have Chris Walker and Graeme Gowland starting in 10th and 9th positions, respectively. They fought hard to make the top 10 for the new qualifying system and managed to do well. Karl Harris and Dan Linfoot were not so lucky. Tomorrow will see if the YZF-R1 bikes they are riding will propel them further forward at the finish.

http://tinyurl.com/oks3ko