I just finished watching the Australian Moto GP race again.  Ducati's Stoner and Yamaha's Rossi raced so fast and so close that they were 20 seconds ahead of third place Honda's Pedrosa.

The pace and the repeated high speed slides through the corners were riveting.  They gave you goosebumps.  The slow motion high definition photography is absolutely stunning.  There's nothing else like motorcycle road racing.  Lorenzo crashed out first lap, and made Hayden take a long, long ride through the kitty litter, but he miraculously kept it upright, taking last place.  What a rider.

I subscribe to SPEED Channel only for the Moto GP, WSB and AMA road races.  That's my drug.  The action is always incredible.  Plenty of the race is seen from the cameras mounted on each bike.  You even see the crashes, as the machine plows into the sand, sideways.

Speaking of crashes, the WSB opener at Phillip Island was a veritable crash fest, as some oil on the track brought them down one after the other.  Tell me this isn't an extreme sport!

Daytona:  Thursday was a school at the track being held by Team Hammer.  The classroom was filled with eager students to get out and learn what it takes to ride at speed.  Having been an instructor at Daytona for so many seasons with Team Hammer, this was the perfect fit to showcase the most peowerful liter bike ever built for the public.

With the first hand knowledge of Daytona and the infamous banked turns there, setting up the stock suspension was key.  The available adjustments made life easier than sportbikes of past, why?  Because there are just 10 clicks of adjustment in each compression and rebound adjuster.    From the first to the 4th click on the adjusters there is an instant ability to feel the change due to the great Sachs units on the bike.  Other bikes have 40 or more clicks that are not numbered and it takes more time and more clicks to notice any change.  Not with these forks or shock!  User friendly.

If you have read my past postings here, yes it is safe to say Im rather giddy about this new sporbike.  This is history making as it is the first conventional sportbike BMW Motorcycle has ever produced.  Knowing the power and the handling package coming soon to our pre order customers, I was looking forward to sharing with you all about riding it up top!

Naturally exiting pit out we enter the East horsehsoe Turn 3.  Exiting the ” East Horseshoe” in “Race” mode gave me a 1-1 ratio in throttle response.  This ever so beautifully, while in a semi tuck, lofts the front wheel and just hovers a few inches above the ground until it seamlessly clicks into 3rd gear via the Shift Assist that you can't live without, once you have ridden with it.  Entering the ultra fast ”Dog Leg”  Turn 4 in 3rd gear was interesting.  I always have had the muscle memory of R series bikes I have raced there in the past.  No need to ever put that much enrgy into turning The RR.  Effortlessly, with the small amount of counter steer and the throttle being rolled and held at a constant pace, The RR is just sailing through with ease and not fighting anything.  Then comes the “West Horseshoe” T5 and the 2nd of only 3 right hand turns on the Classic Course that measures 3.5 miles around the Speedway.   T5 is a nice semi decreasing radius 2nd gear corner.  Backshifting into 2nd from the top of 3rd again is just so seamless with zero geometry change due to the awesome slipper clutch in The RR.  Even in “Race” mode the throttle control (on brand new tires) was so forgiving.  After speaking with some other liter bike racers that weekend, they have to spend so much time tuning their throttles to make the bikes more rideable on the small part of the tire, and they have less horsepower with mods done to make their bikes faster.  The RR has such an amazing throttle response with the stock settings, the competition cannot believe how well it gets off the corner stock!    Coming up to T6 that exits us out of the infield and up onto the famous banks of Daytona!  31 degree banking and now it's time to get a little 'Ricky Bobby' and say “Slingshot… Engage!”    The run through the gears and the shift assist allowing for crisp shifts at 14,000 rpms made for a rather shorter Daytona banking than I have ever experienced.  From there we enjoy 6th gear as the brake markers for the chicane appear very quickly and at that moment 3 super fast downshifts into 3rd without easing the clutch out as you can just release the clutch lever with almost no regard for smoothness, all the while trail braking into the fast left right entry and the tight left exit.  The chicane happened so smoothly and so quickly with the stock settings, I cannot imagine what it'll feel like once the RR is truly race-built for competition!  With a smooth throttle hand exiting the chicane, the pure surge forward and not losing out having to back off due to most bikes' shaking their heads in protest, it was another run up through the 6 speed gearbox.  This time the usual comment “its governed” was getting ready to be verified.  It is true, the DOT standard of limiting all bikes “that can” reach 186 and over are electronically governed to 186 MPH!  I could not stop laughing in my helmet.  So quickly and forgivingly did it reach what The RR is limited to.  Again “limited” to.  As the day progressed and certain laps became available in between instructing, seeing how much more track I had while The RR was being choked off at 186 MPH it was just amazing how fast this new machine really is!  Braking from 186MPH is where it really shines also.  With so many user friendly aides through the slipper clutch, massive Brembo monoblock calipers, 46mm Sachs forks, and the steering damper that actually works for being stock (that steering damper tamed every drive off any corner like an expensive aftermarket damper!).  This was all witnessed by so many that were amazed at the stock RR’s potential!

RUMORS: The Ruben Xaus Show!

After crashing four S1000RR’s during WSBK’s stop at Phillip Island, and then missing the race entirely, Ruben Xaus hasn’t exactly put his best foot forward in the 2010 World Superbike Championship season. For some the continuation of the Spanish rider’s career on a factory supported Superbike seems to have a death clock already running, and the rumor is that Xaus has to prove his worth or risk being shown the door from the BMW WSBK team.

Reportedly BMW Spain has nixed any immediate firings of the Spanish rider, presumably because of the large Spanish riding population, and the buzz from having a Spanish rider on the S1000RR as the series makes stops in Portugal and Spain. After WSBK finishes its stops in Portimao and Valencia however, it would seem the corporate intervention disappears, which could mean that Xaus could be replaced mid-season, and making things a “Race on Sunday, Fire on Monday” sort of affair.

For now it’s hard to tell how much of this rumor is idle speculation after a bad weekend, or true sentiment. As always time will tell.

BMW returns to Isle of Man TT

Having recently re-joined the International stage, German manufacturer BMW has wasted no time in tackling the biggest test of all with the announcement that an official manufacturer supported team will be contesting the Superbike and Senior Isle of Man TT Races in 2010, further increasing the number of manufacturers participating in this year's event.

It was only 12 months ago that the Bavarian giant entered the World Superbike Championship for the first time but now, fresh from a stunning fifth place at last year's Macau Grand Prix, German ace Rico Penzkofer will have a full Superbike-spec machine at his disposal for the two six-lap TT races. An official test rider for BMW, 34-year old Penzkofer has been part of the major development team of the S1000RR, a bike that has created headlines all over the world both for its design and performance.

It will be the first time since the late 70s that an official BMW team has contested the TT, when Helmut Dahne and Hans Otto Butenuth, both iconic riders from that era, raced on the Isle of Man. BMW has recorded 30 TT wins since their debut in 1937, with the majority of those coming in the sidecar class that they once dominated.

Penzkofer, meanwhile, made a strong debut at the TT last year when he contested the two Supersport races. He achieved a personal best lap of just under 120mph and left the Island with two bronze replicas. With a year's experience around the Mountain Course, the Borna rider is sure to feature more prominently this year and the former World Endurance Championship race winner is relishing his return to the TT.

Rico Penzkofer:

"To be representing BMW on their return to the TT is a tremendous honour for me and after my debut last year I can't wait to return to the Mountain Course. Riding the Superbike will obviously present a new challenge but the bike is superb and that, combined with my own improved knowledge of the course, should see us able to make a good impression. Troy Corser and Ruben Xaus have proved in World Superbikes that the bike is competitive and we hope to do the same at the TT."

Evan Steel Performance and Iron Horse BMW recently tested the BMW S1000RR Superbike in Arizona. The purpose of the test was to determine the competitiveness of the new BMW Superbike in the AMA American Superbike class.

Like many teams going into the 2010 racing season, ESP was forced to suspend their racing efforts due to a lack of budget. Not wanting to watch the entire AMA series from home, the team started looking at other partnerships and opportunities that could see them participate in a few AMA Superbike rounds. That search brought them together with John and Jennifer Cartwright of Iron Horse Motorcycles, a Tucson, Arizona BMW dealer.

Iron Horse BMW was looking to race one of their BMW S1000RR motorcycles to prove it's track worthiness to the local racer and track day crowd, a group of enthusiasts who might have overlooked the BMW in their search for a new ride. According to Cartwright, "we have this great new product in the BMW S1000RR and we were looking for a way to introduce the bike to the sportbike crowd who may have never set foot inside a BMW dealer before."

Cartwright rode an S1000RR across town to the ESP shop to inquire about taking one of his demo bikes to a track day. That conversation led to Evan Steel calling up former ESP rider Chris Peris to come down to a ‘Take it to the Track' event at the brand new Inde Motorsports Park in Wilcox, Arizona. Peris was familiar with the track, having set the motorcycle lap record there in recent months with a time of 1:55.60 on his AMA Superstock spec.--VIR podium finishing-- GSXR1000.

The day of the test, Peris rode a bone stock BMW S1000RR, complete with headlights and all street equipment- minus the mirrors and passenger footpegs. The only performance enhancing equipment fitted to the bike was a set of racing slicks. In the first 15 lap session, Peris was getting a feel for the motorcycle and how it reacted when he turned up the pace. By the fifth lap of his second session, he bested the lap record by over a second, turning a 1:54.07.

Evan Steel Speaks...

"The bike was hugely impressive for a stock machine, the fact that Chris was able to lap faster on it than on his race bike is incredible!" Chris added, "Wow. I've never ridden one of these new BMW's before, I can't believe I went faster on a stock bike with headlights, then I did on my own personal racebike. I can't wait to ride it after the ESP boys turn it into more of a racebike."

Based on the strength of their first outing with the BMW S1000RR, Iron Horse Motorcycles and ESP have decided to join forces, creating Team Iron Horse BMW/ ESP for the upcoming AMA Superbike race in Fontana with Chris Peris riding. Although the team would like to contest the remaining AMA Superbike rounds, the budget is not currently in place. Team Iron Horse BMW/ ESP is actively seeking sponsorship to campaign as many additional AMA rounds as possible in 2010.