2012 Morgan 3 W Bespoke. Photo by Dennis Glavis

Morgan cars and three-wheelers used to be called Moggies by the blokes I knew in the car and motorcycle racing world of Britain in the late 1960s. They were generally considered to be vehicles of choice for people who wanted to be self-consciously different. Like motorcycles, though, three-wheelers had been used traditionally in Britain for transportation by those unable to afford a car.

The recently unveiled 2012 Morgan 3 W, currently slated to have a $44,000 price tag in Malvern Link, England, is obviously intended for those who can afford a car—as well as a vehicle which, in the U.S., will be considered by state motor-vehicle agencies as a special-category motorcycle, not a car. Meaning that in all but a few states (such as California), any new three-wheel driver will need to get a motorcycle-operator’s license with a three-wheeler restriction, and will also have to wear helmets in jurisdictions with mandatory helmet laws. So, we’ll soon be seeing that most curious of vehicles: a three-wheeled cyclecar steered by steering wheel but driven by someone wearing a helmet.

(more…)

“I was really disappointed with my performance here last year,” said American SuperBike Race 2 winner Tommy Hayden. “I challenged myself to come here and redeem myself. This one felt really good.” Photo by James Wirth/F1stop.com

Rain forecast for the San Francisco Bay Area did, in fact, arrive on Saturday night, soaking Infineon Raceway and its rolling, 12-turn, 2.32-mile road course. Despite the heavy-at-times precipitation and cool, windy conditions, all three scheduled races—SuperSport, Daytona SportBike and American SuperBike—were completed in full.

Was it a miracle, a sign from the heavens? Just before the start of the American SuperBike race, I ran into AMA Pro Racing COO David Atlas on the grid. I pointed toward the suddenly blue sky and bright, shining sun. “I’ll let you in on a secret,” he smiled. “We’re on a mission from God.”

(more…)

Yamaha's Josh Hayes won Race 1 at Infineon. Photo by James Wirth.

Josh Hayes rebounded from a crash in the last minutes of final qualifying to win the first of two AMA Pro American SuperBike races scheduled this weekend at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California. Not only was the crash out of character for Hayes, who rarely falls, but it came shortly after he set the quickest lap of the session: a blistering 1:35.717.

“We were going to try one more lap,” said Hayes. “We put on a [new] tire and went out. On the ‘out’ lap, I had a couple of weird slides. It didn’t seem like [the tire] was very hot. So, I was going to do a second lap just to make sure it was good before I got up to speed. In Turn 4, I braked kind of early, turned it in and lost the front.”

(more…)

About half past two in the afternoon on Saturday, April 23, I looked up at the grandstands behind where I sat and realized that, though the crowd was not pathetically small, it wasn’t standing-room-only, either. It should have been. Because that afternoon—sunny, not too hot, a bit breezy—the Salinas, California, rodeo grounds were home to some of the most dazzling displays of American-style TT racing you could ask for, and then some. From where I sat, near the start-finish line, I could see that the other grandstands around the dirt track were nearly empty, despite the skill and talent out there in the form of AMA Grand National Pro and Expert TT racers like CW’s own Mark Cernicky and Team Cycle World Attack Performance Kawasaki’s JD Beach.

Mark shares his experiences at Salinas elsewhere, but from where I sat, he and the others put on the best AMA TT show on two wheels I’d seen since the Johnson Administration, which was the era in which I’d last been to an American TT. (Though I did my own TT racing for Team Cycle World in the Isle of Man.)

(more…)

Photo by Brian J. Nelson

There were some long days and weekends, but they were nothing compared to the seemingly endless nights. From the moment that “Road to Daytona” got the green light, this was our plight. The Team Cycle World Attack Performance Kawasaki crew assembled one bike after another. They kept up this rhythm for eight straight weeks.

Our original ZX-10R racebike was delivered within the first week. There we were, late on a Friday evening in Southern California, loading my van. Several hours later, the bright night skies of Las Vegas were reflecting off my tired eyes as I drove solo across the desert. Just three hours later, I was on the racetrack with nearly 200 horsepower under me. Better than coffee? No doubt! Conducive to best results? Doubtful.

(more…)