Sunday Afternoon Moto News - Kawasaki Announces Off-Road Team

Kawasaki has announced their 2010 US off-road motorcycle race team. Chad Reed and Ryan Villopoto will be riding the Kawasaki KX450F and in the 250c.c. Lites Class, they will run five riders total. Jake Weimer and Josh Hansen will ride in the Western series and Christophe Pourcel, Tyla Rattray, and Dean Wilson will tackle the East series championship. In the more hard core side of off-road racing, they will field Destry Abbott, Ricky Dietrich, and Justin Soule. This is just about all of the Kawasaki US contingent as they will not have a factory road race team due to the DMG / AMA Pro Racing issues we already know...

http://tinyurl.com/yam27xs

New Year's Day Moto News - First Edition of 2010

First of all Happy New Year! The year has changed again and I am very optimistic that 2010 will be a good year for the motorcycle industry - and I hope it will be great for you as well!

It seems that things have worked out to where Jake Zemke will be riding for Jordan Suzuki in 2010. He will compete in the AMA Pro Racing series, but the exact details have yet to be released. It also appears that Aaron Yates will remain with the team, but they will be letting Geoff May go; this is an odd development as May was always close with the team members. Anyway, it's all un-official for now, so the truth may be completely different.

http://tinyurl.com/ybvdago

A big off-road 450c.c. shootout is available from MotorcycleUSA already. I suppose that they had it ready to go when the date changed as I doubt anyone there is working today - almost everything is closed. But, if you would like to see how the 450 dirt motorcycles from the major manufacturers compare to one another, take a look here. Unfortunately, all they were able to test were the offerings from Kawasaki, Honda, Yamaha and KTM (Suzuki has shuttered their press department due to the economy!).

http://tinyurl.com/yzuo8lk

Well, there are some updates for other stories, but that is about it for now, so take a look and get some reading done in this new year we have before us now...

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

Early First Ride: 2010 Honda CRF450R

This article does not provide a full review, but it is a quick note on the changes made to the class-leading CRF450R. How it compares to the 2010 Kawasaki KX450F and the revolutionary 2010 Yamaha YZ450F. Honda has only updated their 450 motocrosser slightly, but they did make some changes which customers have been asking for since the 2009 model was released.

http://tinyurl.com/ye4yuhh

Paul Whibley Stuns Competitors and Has Perfect Season in OMA Series

Whibley had already won the GNCC title last week and now he goes down in the record books after winning every single Parts Unlimited Off-Road Motorcycle and ATV Nationals race in 2009. It was even surprising to Whibley who seemed at a loss for words when he was interviewed after his win at last weekend's Moose Run in Fenton, Illinois. It's a great story and one which will not soon be forgotten!

http://tinyurl.com/yzxpbjq

2010 Kawasaki KX450F First Riding Impression

Kawasaki already had a great motocross bike in the 2009 KX450F but, with the competition getting even tougher in the 450 class, they improved it more! It is hard to believe that they would need to, but the other manufacturers seem to believe that well enough is certainly not good enough, so Kawasaki is keeping them on their toes.

http://tinyurl.com/mewttv