Jorge Lorenzo Ex-Works Aprilia 250cc GP Motorcycle
The rarity of motorcycles at the Autumn Stafford Sale have always impressed. From hard-to-find Vincent White Shadows to Crockers, serious collectors can find serious machinery at Autumn Stafford Sale.This year’s offering from the Bonhams Motorcycle Department on October 15 will be no different. One bike is already topping the rarity list for the race-minded collector: the ex-works 2007 Aprilia 250cc Grand Prix bike ridden by that year’s champion Jorge Lorenzo.
The Spaniard, who made his Grand Prix debut on his 15th birthday in 2002, currently has 65 GP wins, and is the fifth-most decorated GP racer in history.Jorge Lorenzo ex-works Aprilia 250cc GP BikeLorenzo, a five-time GP Champion now riding for Ducati Team in MotoGP, earned a ride with the Fortuna-sponsored team in 2005, finishing fourth overall after securing four pole positions.Lorenzo remained with Fortuna until the end of the 2007 season, by which time the Spanish team had gained full factory support from Aprilia who supplied the machine offered by Bonhams during the Autumn Stafford Sale.The tightly tuned bike gave Lorenzo the edge he needed, and he romped home to his second World Championship, with an astonishing 9 wins from 17 starts.The legions of Grand Prix racing fans were devastated only a few years later when the 250 category was axed and replaced by the production-based Moto2. This decision has made these powerful, last-of-the-line thoroughbreds all the more desirable, especially when combined with World Championship wins at the hands of one of the sport’s most successful young riders, Bonhams reports.“Jorge Lorenzo’s career is already one that has irrevocably altered the motorcycle racing landscape,” says Andy Barrett, Bonhams Motorcycle Specialist.“Since his debut at the age of 15, he has gone from strength to strength, and his duels with former team mate Valentino are legendary have become legendary in the sport. To be offering one of his World Championship-winning machines is truly spectacular, and we are thrilled to be offering this unique piece of racing history.”Bonhams says the Jorge Lorenzo ex-works Aprilia is strikingly original, and has remained unchanged and unridden since the end of the 2007 season. World title-winning machines are always a rare treat at auction, but one ridden to victory by such a charismatic and acclaimed champion is truly unique.For additional information, visit Bonhams Autumn Stafford Sale.
Hello everyone and welcome once again to Motos and Friends, the weekly podcast brought to you by Ultimate Motorcycling. My name is Arthur Coldwells.
Motos and Friends is brought to you by Yamaha. You can check out the amazing YZF-R7 at your local Yamaha dealer, or of course at YamahaMotorsports.com. The YZF-R7 is an amazing supersport machine that is comfortable too!
In this week’s first segment, Editor Don Williams takes the smallest BMW ADV bike on an urban adventure in Los Angeles. The BMW G 310 GS is a full size motorcycle with a modest engine, so of course we wonder if it is a little too underpowered and might struggle. Don put it through its paces and gives us his take.
In the second segment, Neale Bayly and Kiran Ridley have returned from the Ukraine to Paris where Kiran is based.
Kiran is an award winning photojournalist, and as an accomplished documentarian, he has covered stories as diverse as drug smuggling around the Mexican border, to the devastation of the Australian Bush Fires, to the tragedy of the Mediterranean migration crisis. Neale and Kiran reminisce about their motorcycle adventure in the Ukraine, and their observations and experiences with the incredibly resilient people of Ukraine, who have been put through such brutal hardship.
