GEICO Honda Wil Hahn2013 AMA Motocross Injury ReportRecently crowned 250SX East Supercross champion Wil Hahn will not be joining his GEICO Honda teammates for the beginning of the AMA Pro Motocross Championship season next week at Hangtown because he’s scheduled to undergo surgery on a broken hand on Wednesday morning.
Wil Hahn (GEICO Honda CRF250R Motocross says: “It’s a real bummer for sure. I had so much momentum going for me after finishing on the podium at every Supercross race and we won the championship. I wish there was another way around it, but for my long term heath, surgery right now is my best bet.”Hahn broke his hand during the final practice at the Supercross finale at Sam Boyd Stadium last weekend. Hahn was able to gut out the East main event, finish third and clinch the title by a handful of points. He did sit out the East-West shootout, however.Wil Hahn says: “I’m just thankful it’s not as bad as it could have been. It doesn’t take anything away from the weekend I had in Vegas. I’m still pumped about winning the title.“I’m still trying to sort through all the text messages, voicemails and tweets congratulating me on the championship. My family, friends and the fans have been awesome, and I can’t thank everyone enough.”On Wednesday, Dr. Arthur Ting, orthopedic surgeon and team doctor for the NHL’s San Jose Sharks, is scheduled to insert a plate to stabilize the broken bone in Hahn’s hand.The recovery time for the injury is three to four weeks, and Hahn said he’s targeted a return date of June 22 for the Budds Creek National in Mechanicsville, Md.Hahn’s teammates: Eli Tomac, Zach Osborne, Justin Bogle and Zach Bell will start the outdoor season on May 18 at the Hangtown MX Classic in Sacramento, Calif.
Hello everyone and welcome once again to the Ultimate Motorcycling podcast—Motos and Friends. My name is Arthur Coldwells.
Motos and Friends is brought to you by the Yamaha YZF-R7—Yamaha’s awesome supersport machine that is as capable on the racetrack as it is on the street. …and it’s comfortable too! Check it out at at your local Yamaha dealer, or of course at YamahaMotorsports.com.
In this week’s first segment, Senior Editor Nic de Sena rides the BMW K 1600 GT. This is the sporty bagger version of BMW’s K series of machines, those are the models with the awesome 6-cylinder engine. The GT has been given a little makeover for 2023, and Nic gives us his take.
In the second segment, I chat with one of my all time heroes—three-time World Champion racer ‘fast’ Freddie Spencer. I’ll do my best not to come off as too much of a fanboy here, but frankly it’ll be tough!
In my humble opinion, Spencer is a contender for the GOAT—greatest of all time. Sure, his career was a little shorter than some, and his number of championships falls behind the likes of Lawson, Doohan, Rossi, and of course Marquez. But at the time, Freddie literally changed the way motorcycles were ridden. 30 years before Marc Marquez, Freddie was able to push the front wheel into a slide, corner after corner, lap after lap in order to get the bike turned faster than anyone else. Freddie took completely different lines and was able to get on the throttle so early he could out accelerate anyone off a corner.
In the modern era, of course Freddie is the chairman of the FIM MotoGP Stewards panel. This is the panel of referees for all three classes of Grand prix racing. I talked to Freddie about his task there, and although for contractual reasons with Dorna and the FIM he cannot talk about specific riders, teams, or events, nevertheless his explanation of the job makes for interesting listening. It’s a tough job, and frankly I wouldn’t want to do it!
At any rate, Freddie’s new book ‘Feel’ is available on Amazon—I’d highly recommend you reading it whether you’re a fan of Freddie or not, even whether you’re into racing or not; every rider has something to learn from his mental approach.
Actually—Ultimate Motorcycling is giving away five copies of the book—signed by Freddie himself—to the first five listeners who contact us with the correct answer to the question: How many national AMA championships did Freddie win, and which years were they?
Please email your answers to producer@ultimatemotorcycling.com and we will contact the winners and send you a signed copy of Feel. Those five winners will be announced on a future episode. Unfortunately for legal reasons this offer is ONLY open to US residents.
So, from all of us here at Ultimate Motorcycling, we hope you enjoy this episode!