AllMoto News from the Web

(April 27) Liam Magee, nephew of former GP racer Kevin, was killed today during qualifying for the Mallala round of the Australian Superbike Championship.

* (April 27) Australia's unique Phillip Island circuit celebrates its 50^th anniversary this weekend.

* (April 26) Motorcycling Australia today announced that Rounds 1, 3 and 4 of the 2002 Shell Advance Australian Superbike Championship will feature on the SBS Speedweek program June 2, 9, and 16.

* (April 26) From Motorcycling Australia: over 170 of Australia's best return to the Mallala Circuit this weekend, for Round 3 of the Shell Advance Australian Superbike Championship. The weekend includes Round 2 Championship Classes for 125GP, 250GP, Supersport, Superstock (Series), the Lazer Helmets 250 Production Championship and Round 1 of the Lazer Helmets Australian Sidecar Championship.

* (April 21) Tohru Ukawa has proven Valentino Rossi is not unbeatable, just pipping his team-mate for a win in South Africa's MotoGP. Capirossi pulled off an impressive third, while Garry McCoy, who is still battling injury, pulled up tenth. A surprise result was Max Biaggi, who rolled in just ahead of McCoy.

* (April 21) Texan Colin Edwards and Japanese Makoto Tamada have broken the Bayliss stranglehold on the world Superbike championship by winning a race each at the Sugo round. Hodgson and Haga also scored a podium finish each. Bayliss retains the championship lead with an overall fifth on the weekend. However Aussie Supersport rider Andrew Pitt has lost his championship lead to Chambon, with the latter heading the race ahead of Fukiwara and Foret. Pitt scored seventh after a first-corner collision.

* (April 20) Valentino Rossi led an incredibly tightly-bunched field in MotoGP qualifying in South Africa. Just 1.5 seconds covered the first 19 riders. Rossi led from Capirossi, Ukawa, Biaggi and Australian Garry McCoy. 250: Battaini, Melandri and Rolfo. 125: Pedrosa, Poggiali and Nieto.

* (April 20) Sugo Superbike qualifying: Noriyuki Haga, Neil Hodgson (a big improvement!) and Makoto Tamada. Bayliss ended up in seventh. Supersport: Fujiwars, Chambon, Casoli, with Aussie Kal Muggeridge put in a cheering fourth.

* (April 20) Police in various states have got their knickers in a twist over motorcycles not having front numberplates, mostly because it reduces the effectiveness of speed cameras. At least one state police force has suggested fitting bikes with an electronic 24-hour locating device.

* (April 20) Dorna, owner and operator of the MotoGP series, has been trying to screw web site owners in South Africa out of US$1500 for the privilege of being allowed a trackside media pass to cover (and promote) the series, but not print media. The victim is CyberBike in South Africa and thisclearly displays a weird sense of priorities. We suspect Dorna hates the thought of anyone competing with its own MotoGP site. We'll be very interested to see if Dorna is game enough to try this on the UK's MCN, which runs a big web site and has considerably more muscle, in the shape of publisher EMAP, behind it.

* (April 20) From Harley-Davidson: Revenue for the quarter (Jan-Mar 2002) was $927.8 million compared with $776.9 million in the year-ago quarter, a 19.4 percent increase.

* (April 19) Australian Prime Minister Mr John Howard has extended his congratulations to SBK superstar Troy Bayliss on his new record of six consecutive victories in World SBK races.

* (April 17) From Triumph's somewhat singed Hinckley factory (see last month): Construction starts today (April 16) on rebuilding production areas which were affected by the recent fire at Triumph Motorcyles in Hinckley. Managing Director Karl Wharton has announced plans for a rebuilding programme which will enable new Triumph motorcycles to be rolling off the assembly line by the start of September.

* (April 15) From yesterday's Formula Xtreme at Winton: Defending Formula Xtreme champion Robbie Baird (Radar's Team Yamaha YZF R1) shared today's race win honours with teammate Kevin Curtain, with the pair scoring two wins apiece from today's four eight lap sprint races. The meeting also highlighted the talents of rising star Liam Magee (nephew of former GP rider Kevin). The 19-year-old from Ballarat qualified his Vicstate Distributors Suzuki GSX-R1000 second fastest during a wet qualifying session, but showed he has the skills in the dry to match the best riders in Australia. He finished today with a tally of two thirds and two fourths.

* (April 7) Bayliss Six From Six: Troy Bayliss (Infostrada Ducati) made history twice in one day at Kyalami, as his championship defence continued in perfect form. In winning race one, his fifth straight victory since the start of the season, the World Champion broke his own previous record of four. In the second race Bayliss took an unprecedented sixth straight maximum points score, more wins in succession than any other rider in the 15 year history of Superbike racing.

* (April 7) A chunked rear tyre forced three times American AMA Superbike champion Mat Mladin from the race lead of the second round of the 2002 AMA Chevy Trucks US Superbike Championship before finishing sixth overall at the California Speedway, Fontana, today. The race win went to fellow Australian Anthony Gobert (Team Yamaha) who held out Mladin's Blimpie Yoshimura Suzuki teammate Aaron Yates by 0.014 of a second at the conclusion of the 28-lap race. Third place went to current championship point's leader Nicky Hayden (American Honda) followed by the Ducati's of Doug Chandler and Pascal Picotte.

* (April 5) The new-look motorcycle grand prix world championship kicks off in Japan this weekend, with Australians Garry McCoy and Casey Stoner having made remarkable comebacks from pre-season broken bones to compete in the historic opening round at the Suzuka circuit. Loris Capirossi leads the early qualifying.

* (April 5) Is multi world Superbike title winner Carl "Foggy" Fogarty about to become Matchless? Here's what we know so far. Les Harris, or LF Harris International (which makes and sells Meriden Triumph twin replica bits across the world), has sold the rights to the Matchless marque for an undisclosed sum (we're guessing about 100,000 UK pounds) to an un-named consortium. Harris bought the name from the failed NVT (Norton Villiers Triumph) group in the early eighties as part of a job lot of gear when what was then left of the Brit bike industry imploded. He produced a Rotax-powered single under the Matchless banner in the late eighties, and a Meriden Triumph replica Bonneville twin in the mid-eighties. We're told the Matchless name has been sold to a mix of German, Swiss and English interests, with connections to F1 racing and the petroleum industry. The scuttlebutt is they plan to keep car racing, and announce a new entry in the MotoGP series for the 2003 season - possibly at a British track in July at the F1 race, which coincides roughly with the Superbike and MotoGP British rounds. Oh, and the intention is to produce a road bike. Allowing for some smokescreen, this sounds a lot like the Foggy/Sauber/Petronas alliance, with Australian Troy Corser as one of the development riders. Why would he give up a top superbike ride with Aprilia unless there was a better offer? Because there was a MotoGP ride in the offing? If you'd like another connection, we're told Foggy's father raced Matchless at one stage. Matchless was a serious road racing competition name until the mid-fifties, with its G50 as the headliner. If buying a recognised British marque name is the mission, Triumph is already taken, while the Norton brand is still the victim of ugly international court battles. Matchless was a clean sale with no legal baggage and it seems there was serious money behind the deal. So, Foggy running a Matchless team with "our Troy" as a rider?