AJO Motorsports Johann ZarcoFor the third time of the 2015 Moto2 Championship, Johann Zarco earned the pole position. The Frenchman’s latest arrived at the TT Circuit Assen – and in record-breaking style.Under ideal conditions during 2015 Assen Moto2 qualifying, Zarco – the current points leader – smashed the previous Moto2 pole record of 1:37.133 set by Marc Marquez in 2012 by almost 0.8 of a second. The AJO Motorsports Kalex pilot earned the pole with a 1:36.346 arond the 2.82-mile Assen TT circuit containing 18 corners. This was also Zarco’s fourth pole of his Moto2 career.
Joining Zarco on the front row are the reigning Moto2 Champion, Marc VDS Racing’s Tito Rabat, and Speed Up Racing’s Sam Lowes. And just like Valentino Rossi’s record pole performance in Assen MotoGP qualifying, nobody was even close to Rabat. He finished 2015 Assen Moto2 qualifying 0.287 of a second ahead of the Rabat, and 0.532 of a second ahead of Lowes. The Brit Lowes was also the final rider to post within a second of Zarco.Though he crashed earlier in qualifying Athina Forward Racing’s Simone Corsi qualified on top of the second row. Corsi was 1.047 seconds slower than Zarco. Joining Corsi on row two are AGR Team Kalex’s Jonas Folger (-1.088s) and Federal Oil Gresini Racing Moto2’s Xavier Simeon (-1.163s).Rounding out the top 10 in qualifying were Alex Rins (Paginas Amarillas HP40), Thomas Luthi (Derendinger Racing Interwetten), Lorenzo Baldassarri (Athina Forward Racing) and Takaaki Nakagami (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia).As for crashes, EG 0,0 Marc VDS’s Alex Marquez (13th) wrecked at the Haarbocth first turn and Ratthapark Wilairot (27th) at the Geert Timmer chicane. Both riders escaped unhurt.
Our first segment introduces you to the new Arch 1s. This latest, slightly more sporting American V-twin, adds to the original KRGT1 coming from the boutique manufacturer based in Hawthorne, Southern California. Senior Editor Nic de Sena rode through Malibu with Gard Hollinger, who co-founded Arch Motorcycle with his friend, Keanu Reeves. The 1s is a unique ride for sure, and Nic explains what makes the bike really stand out.
For the entertaining story behind Arch Motorcycle from Gard Hollinger himself, you must listen to his podcast episode on Motos & Friends HERE
——————–
The guest segment of Motos and Friends is brought to you by the faster and most technologically advanced, 2023 Suzuki Hayabusa—visit your local dealer or suzukicycles.com to learn more.
——————–
In our second segment, Associate Editor Teejay Adams chats with multiple Emmy award-winning writer, Producer, Director, and actor, Thom Beers. the former Chairman & CEO of Fremantle Media North America, responsible for American Idol and America’s Got Talent.
Thom’s fertile imagination led to most of the really big reality TV shows such as ‘Deadliest Catch’ (now in its 17th season!), and many others. Of course for us in the motorcycle world, you’ll be interested to hear the genesis and story of how he started the first real fabrication reality show ‘Monster Garage’, that showcased Jesse James, and then how that led to ‘Biker Build Off’ and the ‘Zombie Choppers’ movie.
You’d imagine that most of Thom’s time is spent sitting behind a desk and on his phone. Not so. His intense stories of capturing much of the content for these shows make for some hair-raising listening.
