American Motorcycle Dealer AMD 216 July 2017 | Page 12

NEWS Ducati, BMW, Yamaha, Buell and
BRIEFS Harley machines eat Indian’s dust
at ‘Punks Peak’ sprint
The Big Tourer ‘space’ just got even
more crowded with Yamaha’s air
cooled 1850 cc Star Venture set to
go up against Harley, Indian and
BMW offerings and the venerable
Honda Gold Wing.
AIMExpo is hoping that Harley
riding U.S. Vice President Mike
Pence may put in an
appearance and make a
speech it is Columbus show in
September. The event is
apparently in the Pence
schedule and he has said he
wants to do it, but final
confirmation is awaited.
Meanwhile Yamaha and Suzuki
have become the latest OE
manufacturers to confirm their
participation – last month
AMD reported on Indian
Motorcycle and Harley-
Davidson both confirming
their AIMExpo debuts this
year.
In pimping its latest vehicle-to-
vehicle (V2V) telemetry sharing
technology, Bosch has claimed that
such systems could help avoid up
to a third of all motorcycle crashes
– those where a car (or other
vehicle) driver has not seen the
motorcycle, or vice versa.
Ford has patented a lane
splitting detection technology
for autonomous vehicles.
Motorcycles pose one of the
toughest challenges for so-
called “driverless cars” (and
other four-wheel vehicles).
Their system uses a
combination of microphones
and video cameras to detect
an approaching motorcycle.
Motorcycle thefts in the U.S.A. were
up by +2.0 percent in 2016
according to National Insurance
Crime Bureau data, saying that
46,467 motorcycles were reported
stolen to police or insurance
companies. However, thefts, though
also up in 2016, remain well below
the comparable 2006 figure of
66,774 motorcycle thefts;
apparently thefts peak in August,
with the lowest rate being recorded
in February.
Young Guns Nik Heer and Fabian
Witzig (of Young Guns Speed
Shop, Switzerland fame) saw
their ‘Miracle Mike’ Indian Scout
continue to prove itself as a
formidable sprint racer, winning
the ‘Punks Peak’ Superbike
category of the race highlight at
the Wheels and Waves Festival,
Biarritz, France, in June.
Ridden by former 250cc GP
rider Katja Poensgen, the Indian
Scout blasted easily through its
three sprint races to go up
against the powerful BMW R
nineT built by the Workhouse
Speed Shop and ridden by
Sebastien Lorentz in the final.
Staged on the GI-3440
mountain road that runs across
Mount Jaizbikel near San
Sebastián (over the border from
Biarritz in northern Spain),
‘Punks Peak’ may be organizers
Vincent Prat and the
Southsiders Motorcycle Club’s
tongue in cheek answer to the
rather more famous hill climb in
Colorado, but there is nothing
lightweight about the racing or
Harley has named the Full
Throttle’s campground as its
Official 2017 Sturgis Rally
Campground for HOG
members. Full Throttle owner
Mike Ballard named his facility
after legendary racer, Sturgis
Rally founder - and Indian
motorcycle dealer - Pappy
Hoel.
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AMERICAN MOTORCYCLE DEALER - JULY 2017
the seriousness and passion
invested in the challenge by the
competing teams.
Part of Europe’s burgeoning
‘Essenza’ sprint racing scene,
Indian, Young Guns and Katja
arrived at the event buoyed by
their win the prior weekend in
the Essenza sprint race. “The
Scout is running so, so well,”
she said. “I know that the Young
Guns dialled up the power for
the race, and I could certainly
feel that on the sprints today.”
Fabian Witzig’s and Nik Heer’s
creation thrashed a field made
up of Ducati, BMW, Yamaha,
Buell and Harley-Davidson
Former 250cc GP Racer Katja
Poensgen pulls ‘Miracle
Mike’, Young Guns’ race
prepared Indian Scout away
from the powerful BMW
machines, and even an electric
bike from Essence Motorcycle.
The pits at ‘Punks Peak’ clearly
showed how the standard of
bikes competing in the ‘Essenza
Sprints’ is on the increase, and
in a field of over 100 machines
and five different classes, the
Indian Scout topped the most
prestigious class – thanks in
large part to the technical
support provided by Ohlins,
Brembo and Akrapovic, and the
fact that Witzig and Heer have
mated the stripped down
Scout’s 1133cc V-twin engine to
a nitrous oxide system – which
can’t have hurt!
Grant Bester, VP/GM for Indian
Motorcycle in Europe, said:
“This project was all about
bringing the right people
together to see what Indian
could do. We wanted to try and
bring back the essence of the
Indian Motorcycle Company in
building, competing and having
fun – just as our colleagues in
America are doing with the AFT
Twins series.”
www.AMDchampionship.com