Provec Racing has announced Carla Grau Pi as the only female team manager in the WorldSBK paddock. With Ana Carrasco now ready for her assault on the 2021 WSSP300 title, this represents another first for women in the world of motorcycle racing. Her female colleagues inside the Provec organisation include KRT superbike team coordinator Silvia Sanchez and Communications Coordinator Eva Blanquez, plus tyre technician for Jonathan Rea, Mara Soto and in the design/creative team Txell Baró. Former WorldSBK rider Joan Lascorz has joined the Provec WSSP300 team as rider performance advisor to 2018 World SSP300 Champion Ana Carrasco.
The Motorcycle Industry Association in the UK has confirmed 4-12 December 2021 for the UK's biggest motorcycle show, Motorcycle Live in association with Bikesure Insurance, at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) Birmingham. www.motorcyclelive.co.uk
PIERER Mobility AG (KTM, Husqvarna, GasGas etc.) has announced guidance for 2021 after seeing market share gains in key motorcycle markets (USA, Australia and Europe). For the financial year 2021, sales of between € 1,800m to € 1,900m, an EBIT margin between 8 - 9 % and an EBITDA margin exceeding 15% are expected. It says it expects demand in the motorised two-wheeler sector to remain high, with a further increase in sales and operating profit compared to 2020. The operating margin in its motorcycle sector is expected to return to pre-crisis levels.
Hungary is set to join the MotoGP calendar from 2023, with construction of a new circuit slated to get underway this year at Debrecen, Hungary's second largest city. The centre piece of a planned motorsport hub, the venue is near the Romanian border, Slovakia and Ukraine.
The first results are emerging from Polaris' 2020 partnership deal with Zero Motorcycles in the form of an all-new 2022 electric RANGER utility side-by-side slated to debut in late December 2021, advancing the company's strategic rEV'd up electrification strategy. This full-size RANGER is the first EV Polaris has developed since that deal was announced in September last year, with models of the new electric RANGER due to start arriving in dealerships in early 2022.
After ADV events in Norway (2017) and South Africa (2019), Honda Motor Europe has postponed the 2021 edition of the Honda Adventure Roads experience that was slated for 30 CRF1100L Africa Twin riders for Iceland this year - new dates for 2022 are June 24 to July 4. With BMW hoping to take GS Adventure riders to Albania this summer, and KTM planning to tear up Western Greece, it will be interesting to see if Harley plays the "us too" game for such an undertaking in the future now that it hopes to be a player in the ADV space.
Daytona was Green this year as the Monster Energy Kawasaki team took a third consecutive sweep in round 9 of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship. Staged at the Daytona International Speedway, Kawasaki riders took the sweep in both classes - with Eli Tomac capturing a record-tying fifth victory at Daytona Supercross.
Last year saw Airoh helmet equipped riders win eight world titles, taking the Italian brand past the century of World Titles mark to 103 championships in just 23 years - its first coming in 2005 when the then emerging talent of Antonio Cairoli won the MX2 title. Airohx still makes it a company policy to seek out and back younger, promising talent as well as established champions.
The advantages of hydrogen as an alternate fuel have been well understood for decades. The prohibitive issues have remained the expensive, energy intensive production at anything short of huge scale and its subsequent storage under very, very high pressure. Now a German research team at the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials (IFAM) in Dresden has come up with a product it is calling 'PowerPaste' that acts as a hydrogen storage medium - it sounds like a paste, it looks like a paste, it is a paste! The researchers claim that it would be an excellent emissions elimination solution for motorcycles and scooters.
Valencia, Spain headquartered Spanish parts, accessory, gear and apparel chain store operator Máximo-Moto is to open its first outlet in the United Kingdom.
Sources: AMD, IDN, FT, Reuters, PSB, MPN, BDN, MCN, AP, Bloomberg, MSNW, Electrek, electricmotorcycles.news, RideApart.com, Motor1.com, Cycle World, motorbikewriter.com
