ktm 1290 super duke gt

QUICK LINKS IN THE WIND 22 ARCHIVES 108
FIRST RIDE
KTM 1290 SUPER DUKE GT
DUKING IT OUT
VOL. 53 ISSUE 10 MARCH 15, 2016
DAYTONA FLAT TRACK
HALBERT, JOHNSON
SWING FIRST
TORONTO SUPERCROSS
ROCZEN WINS,
DUNGEY BREAKS
RECORD
PLUS…
THAILAND WORLDSBK
DAYTONA 200
GEORGIA GNCC
LOUISIANA ARENACROSS
BRIDGESTONE TIRE TESTING
IN ABU DHABI
JEREMY MARTIN
DANIEL MILNER
Yamalube/Star Racing
N-Fab/AmPro/Yamaha bLU cRU
YZ250F
YZ450FX
WALKER FOWLER
N-Fab/AmPro/Yamaha
YFZ450R
CHAD WIENEN
Wienen Motorsports/SSI/Maxxis/Yamaha
YFZ450R
MICHAEL BARNES
Palm Beach Police Foundation/Prieto Performance
YZF-R6
FOR CURRENT RACE RESULTS OR TO FIND THE NEAREST DEALER, VISIT YAMAHAMOTORSPORTS.COM · ATVs shown are recommended for use only by riders age 16 years and older. Yamaha recommends that all ATV riders take an approved
training course. For safety and training information, see your dealer or call the ATV Safety Institute at 1-800-887-2887. ATVs can be hazardous to operate. For your safety: Always avoid paved surfaces. Never ride on public roads. Always wear
a helmet, eye protection and protective clothing; never carry passengers; never engage in stunt riding; riding and alcohol/drugs don’t mix; avoid excessive speed; and be particularly careful on difficult terrain. Professional riders depicted on
a closed course. ©2016 Yamaha Motor Corporation, U.S.A. All rights reserved.
DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA · 03/05/16 - 03/13/16
D A LT O N G A U T H I E R
DGR Motorsports/Yamaha
YZ450F
SAMMY HALBERT
Van’s Yamaha/Fredericktown Yamaha
YZ450F
DAYTONA
DOM1NANCE.
Yamaha kicks off the 2016 racing season in a huge way with seven major wins
in seven events, setting the tone for the rest of the year. From Jeremy Martin’s
YZ®250F and Sammy Halbert’s and Dalton Gauthier’s YZ®450Fs, to
Michael Barnes’ YZF-R6®, Daniel Milner’s YZ450FX™ and Walker Fowler’s and
Chad Wienen’s YFZ®450Rs, Yamaha was unstoppable. Congratulations to all!
™
CMYK
Blue: 100C/70M
Black: 100k
P44
IN
THE
WIND
Sam Lowes was on
fire in the desert
and will be a race
favorite when the
Moto2 field lines up
in Qatar next week.
LOWES STEERS CLEAR
IN QATAR FINAL TEST
F
ederal Oil Gresini Kalex Moto2 rider Sam
Lowes has signaled his intentions before
the start of the 2016 Moto2 World Championship season by finishing up the final
preseason test in Qatar 0.2 seconds clear of
class veteran Thomas Luthi.
Lowes tested a variety of parts including a
new swingarm as his times continued to tumble over the three days of testing last week,
the Brit holding a clear advantage as he looks
to take his first Moto2 World title to add to his
World Supersport crown of 2013.
Third at the test went to German Jonas
Folger ahead of Alex Rins and Lorenzo Baldassarri. The first non-Kalex rider was Simone
Corsi on the Speed Up Racing chassis in 12th
place.
In the Moto3 class, Italian Niccolo Antonelli
finished at the head of the field after three
days of testing. Antonelli was almost half a
second under Alexis Masbou’s lap record by
recording a 2:05.455. Second went to 2015
Indianapolis Moto3 race winner Livio Loi from
Fabio Quartararo. CN
Ph. Courtesy Yamaha Motor Europe®.
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ROUNDS 1-2 / MARCH 10-11
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY / DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA
FLAT TRACK
P62
AMA PRO FLAT TRACK SERIES
HALBERT, JOHNSON
SHARE DAYTONA SP
SAMMY HALBERT, JAKE JOHNSON SPLIT FLAT TRACK O
STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY
DAVE HOENIG/FLAT TRAK FOTOS
T
he 2016 AMA Pro Flat
Track season roared into
action with a doubleheader at the Daytona Flat
Track. The limestone “Bull
Ring” hosts the series’ only
appearance on a quarter-mile
oval, with the Harley-Davidson
GNC 1 presented by Vance &
Hines and the AMA Pro GNC
2 classes both aboard 450cc
single-cylinder DTX-based
motorcycles.
The challenging oval has
always provided a fair share of
surprises and while a few of the
“Young Lions” made their mark it
was two former winners returning to the top of the box.
GNC 1
Opening night saw Vans Yamaha/Fredericktown Yamahabacked Sammy Halbert take the
lead on lap two of the 25-lap
feature. Halbert then comfortably took command and raced
to his fourth Daytona short track
win, his first since 2011.
“On the first lap Jake [Johnson] and I were side by side.
VOL. 53 ISSUE 10 MARCH 15, 2016
N
POTLIGHT
P63
The Daytona
short track, once
again, kicked off
the AMA Pro Flat
Track Series and
all of the stars had
something to be
happy about.
OPENER WINS
He led the first lap by a hair,”
said Halbert. “I was able to hold
the inside and used that to my
advantage to take the lead. It
wasn’t really easy because the
track was really hard to ride.
There were some really big ruts
and holes. You had to do your
best to navigate through them. It
was pretty challenging to do that
without making mistakes. I made
my fair share of mistakes but was
able to keep the wheels in line
fairly good and keep my momentum up. That allowed me to stay
out front.”
Lap three found Brandon
Robinson (Kennedy Racing/
Armbruster Racing) taking over
second. “I’m pretty happy with
it,” Robinson said. “I passed a
couple guys, nothing too crazy.
Once I got to second it was just
kind of like I could never really
get to Sammy. It was cat and
mouse back and forth. With a
couple laps to go I realized I
wasn’t going to get him and I just
settled in.”
Vance & Hines/Brothers Powersports’ Brad Baker moved into
third on lap four and the podium
was set.
ROUNDS 1-2 / MARCH 10-11
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY / DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA
FLAT TRACK
AMA PRO FLAT TRACK SERIES
Sammy Halbert
(69) got the
2016 season
off with a win
Thursday night.
(Right) Dalton Gauthier won the
GNC 2 Main Thursday night.
“The race was pretty good
actually,” Baker said. “I qualified
third and had third fastest heat
and got third in the main,” said
Baker. “I got into a pretty good
position by lap six or seven. I
was matching the pace of both
Sammy and Brandon for probably half the race, but after that it
just pretty much became survival
mode. The track was so rutted
and rough that if you tried to ride
too aggressive you would make
more mistakes and go backwards. I just kind of settled into
third.”
On Friday night, in a repeat
of the 2010 season openers,
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VOL. 53 ISSUE 10 MARCH 15, 2016
Zanotti Racing’s Jake Johnson
followed Halbert’s win with one
of his own. It was Johnson’s
second Daytona victory.
While Thursday night saw Halbert pass Johnson for the lead
and pull away, Friday night had
Johnson coming from behind
to pass Halbert on lap four with
the battle raging for a few laps
before Johnson was able to pull
clear.
“I got a bad start, but I got
up there pretty quick and saw
that Sammy was up front,” said
Johnson. “I could tell that I was
gaining on him. He was running
a quite a bit lower line. I got by
him and passed him clean. The
After an openinground sixth,
Jake Johnson
rebounded with a
win Friday night.
Brad Baker
rode well both
nights. He was
consistent after
going 3-4.
P65
ROUNDS 1-2 / MARCH 10-11
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY / DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA
FLAT TRACK
AMA PRO FLAT TRACK SERIES
(Above) Dylan Morin celebrates the
GNC 2 Main-event win Friday night.
(Right) Defending champ Jared
Mees had his best night Thursday
when he finished fourth.
next lap we came into three and
he kind of came underneath me.
He just stood me up and ran me
wide into the corner. I wasn’t going to take it so I just fed it right
back to him going into the next
corner. I did a little bump and
run.”
“I had a good battle with
Jake,” said Halbert. “He passed
me and I kind of block-passed
him. He must have been fired up
because he put a hard wheel on
me.”
After a poor start, Johnson’s
Zanotti Racing teammate Kenny
P66
VOL. 53 ISSUE 10 MARCH 15, 2016
My Own Race:
42 BRYAN SMITH
5TH/8TH PLACE
Recently the Daytona short track has been hard on the
Crosley Brands/Howerton Racing-backed Smith and in fact
a heat race spill on Friday forced him to use his Provisional
Start Card. Smith was able to make the most of it however
as he worked his way up from 18th on the first lap to an
eighth-place finish after racing from 16th on Thursday to
fifth. “The day started off good in qualifying. I didn’t make
changes to the bike that I should have for the heat race”,
said Smith of his Thursday night. “I did make changes for the
semi and we were good. I had to start on the third row in the
main, so I didn’t really have high expectations. Everybody
knows how this place is. It is extremely hard to come from
the back. To get a top five from the third row, I’m more than
happy.” Even though it is early in the season, Smith was
comfortable with using his provisional on Friday. “I had to
use my provisional. You never know what is going to happen
later so you can’t chance it. If I had run a 10th in the semi
then I would have thought about it, but I was close to transferring and ran fifth last night. I didn’t really feel like I was off
the pace. I think it was smart to use it. It paid off. It’s hard to
gamble that way but you never know what’s going to happen
at the next races. It can work for you or against you.”
1
JARED MEES 4TH/9TH PLACE
6
BRAD BAKER
3RD/4TH PLACE
The Defending Grand National Champion got off to a
good if not great start, finishing a solid fourth on Thursday and then struggling, somewhat, to a ninth-place
finish on Friday. “I just rode the first few laps, kind of not
the line that I was running midrace. I feel like if I could do
it all over again I would have been a little better off,” said
the champ. “I picked it up quite a bit at the end. I’ll make
a few changes for the second race and get better. It was
good. Last year we got like a second and an eleventh,
but we walked out with some points. Hopefully the
second day we will get another top five. We are of course
shooting for a win or podium. We want to walk out with as
many points as we can.”
It was a very solid start to 2016 for the 2013 GNC 1
Champion. Baker was able to cruise to a third place fin-
Coolbeth was charging to the
front. The winner of round two
in both 2014 and 2015 was on a
mission.
“I think I actually jumped the
start,” Coolbeth said. “I was over
the beam. I have no clue why it
P67
ish on Thursday, but Friday was a different story as Baker
worked his way through the semis into a back row start
for the National. “ I’m happy with it. When you have to
work that hard and are down early in the day and end up
with a top five, it feels really good,” said Baker. “Coming from the third row on a track like this is really hard
to make up ground. I have solid points coming out of Daytona. It’s the best I’ve done here in the last couple years.
It definitely gives me some good momentum for the rest
of the season. The whole crew did a great job. It started
to get slicker and slicker. I don’t think I quite found the
line until the last couple laps. I had a line where it was
hooked up right in the center of track. That went away. I
just spent a long time searching after it went away. I was
having a hard time keeping the thing underneath me in
the center of the corner and getting the drive out. Kenny
and I had a pretty good battle for a while. He finally broke
loose of me and ran down Sammy. I could see what they
were doing. I was trying to mock it a little bit, but it is
easier said than done.”
95
JD BEACH
16TH/5TH PLACE
In what may be his only foray into the dirt track world in
2016 road racer JD Beach was able to make the Main
both nights, but Friday’s race was by far his best. “This is
the kind of track that I like. It’s smooth but it’s slick. You
can kind of just roll through the turns,” said Beach. “I was
actually starting next to Davis Fisher. I have helped him
since he was a kid. There was no way on his first national
that I was going to let him beat me. We got a good start. I
was just feeling really good. The bike was working great.
I think I might have been down to tenth or so but just kind
of worked my way up. I was just feeling really good tonight. As of right now, this race was it for me this year. It
depends on how the road racing season goes. We might
try to do another one, but just not sure yet. Qualifying
went really well. I was kind of struggling in the heat race a
little bit. Once the main came I was walking the track and
thinking this is how I like it. Off the line I started going.
The first night it just seemed like everybody was going
crazy in the big packs and I backed off a little bit. The
second night we kind of got spread out so I could work
my way up. It just felt like the track was good. The bike
was working good so we kept going forward.”
didn’t trip the beam. I jumped,
then stopped and as soon as
I stopped the light went green
and I was way in the back. I got
situated and just started picking
away. It kind of sucks but if there
is anyone that I want to beat me
it would be Jake.”
Coolbeth was able to grab
second from Halbert on lap 23
and give Zanotti Racing the top
two podium spots.
“I actually thought that Sammy’s bike was missing when I
ROUNDS 1-2 / MARCH 10-11
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY / DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA
FLAT TRACK
P68
AMA PRO FLAT TRACK SERIES
caught him,” added Coolbeth.
“He said it was fine. He said I
was just faster than him.”
GNC 2
In the GNC 2 opener on
Thursday DGR Motorsports’
Dalton Gauthier pushed his
Yamaha into the lead on lap
two of the 16-lap main and
was able to hold a somewhat
comfortable margin to the
end. The Elder Trucking/RLJ
Racing-backed Honda of Justin Jones was a solid second
over Cycle World/Suzuki/
Team 95’s Hayden Gillim.
The Friday race saw Dylan
Morin Racing/Arai/Morin
Roofing’s Dylan Morin parlay
a great start from row three,
after earning his way into the
main with a semi victory, to a
solid win. Morin pushed his
Kawasaki into the lead on lap
twelve of the sixteen-lap race.
After taking the lead from last
night’s winner, Dalton Gauthier, Justin Jones had led all the
way. Last year’s winner Jones
would be forced to accept
second for the second night
in a row. Gauthier held off Parkinson Brothers’ Ryan Wells
for third and holds a narrow
one-point lead over Jones.
Following a major accident
in Sacramento Morin has
been on the sidelines for a
while, but has shown he is
ready to pick up where he left
off. The GNC 2 class once
again looks to be very competitive in 2016. CN
Briefly...
Entries in both the GNC 1 and GNC
2 classes grew noticeably with 55
riders in the GNC 1 class both nights
and the GNC 2 class posting at 83
and 80 riders each night. With only
48 riders qualifying for the “Night
Show,” timed qualifying was intense.
About one second was the margin between fast time and loading
into the truck for the night. Sammy
Halbert and JD Beach were the
fast GNC 1 qualifiers while Hayden
Gillim and Jesse Long topped the
GNC 2 qualifying.
While it is often said that you can’t win
the points race in Daytona, but you
can lose it, this year most of the contenders had a good opening. Sammy Halbert leaves Daytona with a
narrow lead over Jake Johnson. “I’m
pretty stoked to get a double podium
at Daytona and leave with the points
lead,” said Halbert. “Daytona has
been good to me. This isn’t the first
time that I’ve left here with the points
lead. I’m pretty happy going into the
rest of the season. I feel like I’ve got a
good shot at it this year.”
Tied for sixth, 15 points back are
the two riders that have been 1-2
the last few years—Jared Mees and
Bryan Smith. Smith was able to
get by Mees on Friday as both rode
midpack. “I was just happy with two
top 10s,” said Smith. “If somebody
would have told me last week that
I would come out of here with two
top 10s I would have given them all
the money I have. Anytime you can
run with the champion and beat him,
that’s good, especially when he has
been the guy beating me the last
couple years. We are tied now and
as long as I can win more races than
him and if it would come down to a
tie at the end of the year, I’ll be happy
with that.”
THURSDAY
1. Sammy Halbert (Yam)
2. Brandon Robinson (Hon)
3. Brad Baker (Hon)
4. Jared Mees (Hon)
5. Bryan Smith (Kaw)
6. Jake Johnson (Hon)
7. Donald Mullen II (Hon)
8. Doug Lawrence (Hon)
9. Kenny Coolbeth Jr. (Hon)
10. Robert Pearson (Yam)
FRIDAY
1. Jake Johnson (Hon)
2. Kenny Coolbeth Jr. (Hon)
3. Sammy Halbert (Yam)
4. Brad Baker (Hon)
5. JD Beach (Yam)
6. Brandon Robinson (Hon)
7. Davis Fisher (Hon)
8. Bryan Smith (Kaw)
9. Jared Mees (Hon)
10. Dominc Colindres (Yam)