Yamaha’s Sylvain GuintoliYamaha’s official return to the World Superbike Championship began in the most optimal way Friday during free practice at Phillip Island in Australia.The Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK YZF-R1 earned the provision pole with the 2014 WSBK Champion at the the controls. Guintoli, who also led the preseason World SBK Test in Australia, was quick throughout both hour-long free practice sessions. The Frenchman finished second in Free Practice 1 behind Kawasaki Racing Team’s Tom Sykes.
But in the second free practice, Guintoli was able to post the best time of 1:30.865, which was 0.384 of a second ahead of Honda World Superbike Team’s Michael van der Mark. Third fastest was Kawasaki Racing Team’s Jonathan Rea, the reigning champion.Sylvain Guintoli says “I wasn’t expecting to be at the top of the times today but I’ll definitely take that! We have such a good base with the YZF-R1 even at the start of this project, especially the chassis and engine character, so it’s nice to know we can work up from here. We have spent a lot of the winter evaluating and assessing, and expected to be continuing this for the opening round at Phillip Island.“This is my favorite track on the calendar so hopefully we can continue to improve as the weekend progresses and enjoy a good couple of races with the new split two-day schedule starting tomorrow.”Ducati’s Davide GiuglianoThe top 11 riders all posted within a second of Guintoli, with all eight manufacturers represented. Sykes finished fourth fastest (- 0.498), followed by MV Agusta Reparto Corse’s Leon Camier (0-5.80); the sole American in the series, Honda World Superike’s Nicky Hayden (-0.610); Aruba.it Racing Ducati’s Davide Giugliano (-0.662); Aruba.it Racing Ducati’s Chaz Davies (-0.728); IodaRacing Team Aprilia’s Lorenzo Savardori (-0.860); Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK’s Alex Lowes (-0.960); and Althea BMW’s Markus Reiterberger (-0.968).As per World SBK’s new practice schedule, the top 20 fastest riders in Friday’s second free practice automatically qualify for Saturday’s two 15-minute Superpole sessions. Race one follows on Saturday at 3 p.m. local time, and race 2 on Sunday also at 3 p.m.
Zero Electric ADV Bike + Al and Bridget from Throw Your Leg Over
byMotos and Friends by Ultimate Motorcycle
Hello everyone and welcome to Motos and Friends, a weekly Podcast brought to you by the editorial team at Ultimate Motorcycling. My name is Arthur Coldwells.
Electric mobility is everywhere nowadays. Whether it’s a car, a truck, an assisted bicycle, a scooter, or any number of new innovations, the electric revolution is certainly here. In this week’s first segment, Nic de Sena took a ride on Zero’s recently announced new Adventure bike—the Zero DSR-X. There’s been a lot of hype about this new arrival on the ADV scene, and of course the questions are many. Nic talks to me about whether Zero actually have a credible, alternative energy ADV bike—or if the machine is just simply an empty promise.
In our second segment, I chat with Al and Bridget from ‘Throw Your Leg Over’. They took time out to record this episode from somewhere in the middle of Romania, of all places.
These interesting Aussies have traveled—and painstakingly documented—the thousands of miles they’ve covered riding the best roads and sights through Australia, Tasmania, Europe, eastern Europe, and Scandinavia, among other places.
Their guided tour books and videos are all available online as a tremendous resources for all you would-be travelers. A membership to Throw Your Leg Over also helps fund their future travels—and who knows where those might lead them.
Al and Bridget are truly committed to their passion for travel, and that really comes across. Their fun and zeal for life on two wheels is great to hear.
