Maverick VinalesDuring the final round of the 2015 MotoGP Championship at Valencia, Maverick Vinales will collect his award as 2015 MotoGP Rookie of the Year.The 20-year-old Spaniard has already earned the award, having acquired 92 points in 2015 MotoGP. The Team Ecstar Suzuki GSX-RR pilot has improved throughout the year, and has taken top 15 spots in 17 races, with top finishes of sixth at Catalunya and Phillip Island.
Vinales, who is 12th overall in points, will collect the award during the annual FIM MotoGP Awards Ceremony Sunday evening.Regardless of earning the award, Vinales is still on a mission to score another top 10 finish during the 30-lap race at Valencia.Maverick Viñales says: “For sure I’m happy for having taken the Rookie of the Year title, even if it wasn’t my priority it is a good feeling. My objective for this year was not to focus on the classification but to learn as much as possible with the new class and the new machine; also being a Factory rider in a fully organized Factory team. This has been an amazing experience, I could learn a lot and I feel I still have much to gain, this keeping my ambition always high.“The race in Valencia will be important as all the others, we are very close to the 100-points target and not so far from the top 10 in the Championship; it will be hard but it would be a good result after the positive season. I like the circuit, it could also be good for our machine’s layout and the fight will be very interesting. We have developed a way to approach the race that makes me feel comfortable, I like to work hard to prepare for the race and this is basically what we are going to do.”The 20-year-old Spaniard Vinales joined the Grand Prix Motorcycle World Championship in 2011 during the final year of the 125cc two-stroke class aboard an Aprilia. He finished third that year, followed by third in 2012 (FTR Honda), the debut year of the Moto3 Championship. Vinales then switched to KTM for 2013, and earned the Moto3 title.He joined Moto2 aboard a Kalex in 2014, and finished third overall (four wins). Vinales then signed to the returning Suzuki team for 2015 MotoGP.For more on Valencia MotoGP, visit 2015 MotoGP Showdown between Valentino Rossi & Jorge Lorenzo.
Hello everyone and welcome once again to Ultimate Motorcycling’s weekly Podcast—Motos and Friends.
My name is Arthur Coldwells.
This week’s Podcast is brought to you by Yamaha motorcycles. Discover how the YZF-R7 provides the perfect balance of rider comfort and true supersport performance by checking it out at YamahaMotorsports.com, or see it for yourself at your local dealer.
This week’s episode features Senior Editor Nic de Sena’s impressions of the beautiful new Harley-Davidson Low Rider ST that is loosely based around the original FXRT Sport Glide from the 1980s. Hailing from The Golden State, these cult-status performance machines became known as West Coast style, with sportier suspension, increased horsepower, and niceties including creature comforts such as a tidy fairing and sporty luggage.
In past episodes you might have heard us mention my best friend, Daniel Schoenewald, and in the second segment I chat with him about some of the really special machines in his 170 or so—and growing—motorcycle collection. He’s always said to me that he doesn’t consider himself the owner, merely the curator of the motorcycles for the next generation.
Yet Daniel is not just a collector, but I can attest a really skilled rider. His bikes are not trailer queens, they’re ridden, and they’re ridden pretty hard. Actually, we have had many, many memorable rides on pretty much all of the machines in the collection at one time or another.
From all of us here at Ultimate Motorcycling, we hope you enjoy this episode!
