Repsol Honda's Marc Marquez - the 2013 MotoGP Champion - leads the grid at Sachsenring
Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez – the 2013 MotoGP Champion – leads the grid at Sachsenring2014 MotoGP RidersThe FIM released the provisional rider-entry list for the 2014 MotoGP Championship. So far, 23 riders are listed, with 11 of those on factory machines (Ducati, Honda, Yamaha).
Much has changed on the grid. For 2014, the biggest change on the factory bikes is Cal Crutchlow’s switch to the Ducati Team, and 2013 Moto2 Champion Pol Espargaro’s jump to the premier class with the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 satellite team.Also, the CRT class has disappeared, and there is now an “Open” class.As for Americans, only two remain following Ben Spies retirement from motorcycle racing. For 2014 MotoGP, Colin Edwards returns on the NGM Mobile Forward Racing team aboard the FTR Yamaha. Nicky Hayden also returns, but not with the factory Ducati Team; Hayden will pilot an RCV1000R in the Open class for the Power Electronics Aspar team.Following is each entry in 2014 MotoGP (rider #, name, nationality, team, manufacturer).2014 MotoGP Provisional Rider Entry List#4 Andrea Dovizioso (Italian), Ducati Team – Ducati *#5, Colin Edwards (USA), NGM Mobile Forward Racing – FTR Yamaha#6, Stefan Bradl (German), LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda *#7, Hiroshi Aoyama (Japanese), Power Electronics Aspar – Honda#8, Hector Barbera (Spanish), Avintia Blusens – FTR#9, Danilo Petrucci (Italian), Iodaracing Project – TBS#17, Karel Abraham (Czech), Cardion AB Motoracing – Honda *#19, Alvaro Bautista (Spanish), GO&FUN Honda Gresini – Honda *#26, Dani Pedrosa (Spanish), Repsol Honda Team- Honda#29, Andrea Iannone (Italian), Pramac Racing – Ducati *#35, Cal Crutchlow (British), Ducati Team – Ducati *#38, Bradley Smith (British), Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha *#41, Aleix Espargaro (Spanish), NGM Mobile Forward Racing – FTR Yamaha#44, Pol Espargaro (Spanish), Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha *#45, Scott Redding (British), GO&FUN Honda Gresini – Honda#46, Valentino Rossi (Italian), Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha *#59, Niccolo Canepa (Italian), Iodaracing Project – TBA#63, Mike Di Meglio (French), Avintia Blusens – FTR#68, Yonny Hernandez (Colombian), Pramac Racing – Ducati#69, Nicky Hayden (USA), Power Electronics Aspar – Honda#70, Michael Laverty (Britsh), Paul Bird Motorsport – PBM/ART#93, Marc Marquez (Spanish), Repsol Honda Team – Honda *#99, Jorge Lorenzo (Spanish), Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha *To be confirmed – Paul Bird Motorsport – PBM/ART* = Factory option competitors
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!