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Dismal Trend

Two -wheeler sales have witnessed a steady decline over the past six months and this has prompted most of the manufacturers to cut down production. Incidentally, the health of the automobile industry is a good indicator of how the economy is doing.

Last month I was in Portugal to ride the all-new BMW S 1000 RR at the Estoril racetrack. The bike is truly a rocket ship. You may read my first ride report in this issue. The problem I face while riding these 200-plus-PS motorcycles is that I am sore for three to four day after the ride. This is due to not riding a motorcycle on the racetrack on a regular basis. The last time I rode a motorcycle on a racetrack was in January 2018 when I had gone to Valencia to ride the Ducati Panigale V4.

After the S 1000 RR ride I headed straight to Las Vegas for the BMW X7 drive and all the fellow journalists were laughing at me as I was struggling to walk up and down stairs. All I can say is that I am thankful to God that I can still wobble around a racetrack at a decent clip and keep the Indian flag flying. Most of the Australian, American, and European journalists are very quick to look down upon Asian journalists, especially when you have grey hair. However, it is only when they see you ride that their perception changes and so does their attitude.

Indian motor sport suffered a big loss with the passing away of George Francis. I had known George since my racing days when he got into race photography. He used to be present at all the race meetings in Chennai and I remember having fun with him while he was shooting. Whatever few action shots I have of myself are thanks to George. Thank you,
George. May your soul rest in peace.

Aspi Bhathena
Editor

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Triple Crown for Rookie Twain

AFTER A LULL OF THREE MONTHS, THE WORLD SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP (WSBK) kicked off in Philip Island, Australia, and the MotoGP season kicked off in Qatar. History of sorts was created by Alvaro Bautista and the all-new Ducati Panigale V4 R. It was a race for the V4 Panigale. It was rookie bike and rider that claimed the triple crown of the super pole, race one, and race two. Bautista is a rookie in WSBK but has come from MotoGP and this just proves that the standard of MotoGP is much higher than that of WSBK. I wish one of the sport channels starts broadcasting the WSBK races live.

For the first time, we saw the Japanese rider, Kaito Toba, win a Moto3 race. In fact, Kaito is a product of the Asia Talent Hunt Racing series which is open to all riders from Asia. We do not have a single rider from India in this series which is a stepping stone to Moto3 world championship.

In Moto2, Lorenzo Baldasari won from Thomas Luthi who made a successful return to Moto2 after struggling last year in MotoGP. It was business as usual with the main protagonist, Andrea Dovizioso, and Marc Marquez finishing first and second and Cal Crutchlow making a brilliant comeback from injury to claim the last spot on the podium.

This month we have quite a few first rides, comprising the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R, the upgraded Bajaj Dominar, Benelli TRK502, Yamaha MT15, and the updated Yamaha R15 ABS.

 

Aspi Bhathena
Editor