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Airoh is an Official Technical Partner of the WSBK World Championship . The Italian helmet specialist commented that " for us it ' s a great honor and an opportunity to improve even more our presence in the on road racing world . For several years we have worked hard in order to improve our products . Being a WSBK partner represents the best way to raise the bar and to increase the performance of our products still further ."
Recently acquired by Duell of Finland , Dutch specialist off-road / MX PG & A distributor Techno Motor Veghel ( TMV ) has added distribution of Airoh helmets . " The new partnership with Duell means we have access to many interesting brands for European distribution , many of which will be new to TMV - good news for our dealers ".
The ' MOT ' team at Hoya northern German distributor Hartje has hired a new motorcycle spare parts Business Unit Director - former Aprilia , Pirelli , Delticom and Niemann & Frey sales and marketing specialist Jens Engelking . He replaces respected former Matthies man Martin Trost .
American motorcycle Drag Racing legend Larry " Spiderman " McBride made the fastest Top Fuel Motorcycle run in Drag Racing history at the Virginia NHRA Nationals in May . McBride ' s spectacular blast of 268.38 mph ( 431.91 kmh ) gave him the fastest pass ever on two wheels , smashing his own November 2021 mark of 265.95 mph ( 428 kmh ). McBride went 5.61-seconds on the quarter mile run - just shy of his quickest run of all time .
Yamaha will participate in the Africa Eco Race later this year - a 6500 km , 11 stage rally raid through Morocco , Western Sahara , Mauritania and Senegal , with Riders for Health ( RfH ) as title partner . Yamaha has agreed a three year awareness raising partnership with RfH , a humanitarian organisation which provides accessible healthcare to some of the most remote communities in regions across Africa , by supplying and maintaining motorcycles and other suitable vehicles to health-focused organisations .
Benelli Tornado 402R spotted in patent By Ben Purvis
A new patent from Benelli ' s Chinese owners Qianjiang has revealed what appears to be a Tornado 402R using the company ' s latest twin-cylinder engine design . At the moment , Benelli ' s European range is sadly lacking in Tornadobadged sports bikes , even though there are plans in place for a new Tornado 550 twin and 650 four-cylinder in the future . However , some markets , including China , get the Tornado 302R sports bike , which was given a fresh design last year . This new bike , which is codenamed ' QJ400GS-16A ', has a larger 399 cc twin that was also recently the subject of a patent filing . The engine , going by the code QJ270MQ ( the ' 270 ' means two cylinders with a 70mm bore ), is virtually identical to Kawasaki ' s Ninja 400 and Z400 twin . In terms of performance , the QJ270MW is good for 33 kW ( 45 hp ), which is on a par with the Kawasaki that it takes
Over the last two years Qianjiang ' s Chinese QJMotor brand has launched a jawdropping number of new bikes across a vast array of capacities and styles , and now another new generation of machine is on the way as revealed by typeapproval filings for the QJMotor SRT800 . QJMotor ' s top adventure model is currently the SRT750 , which is mechanically and visually a close relation to the newly launched Benelli TRK800 . Benelli is QJMotor ' s European sister company , with both brands owned by Chinese giant Qianjiang . The SRT750 preceded the TRK800 and sports the same frame and 754 cc , 75 hp parallel twin engine , derived from Benelli ' s old 1130 cc threecylinder engine . The newly type-approved SRT800 visually appears to be a relatively minor update to the existing QJMotor and Benelli models , but its specification reveals that the bike is intended to use a completely new engine , dubbed ' QJ288MW ', with a capacity of 799 cc and an output of 95 hp - a full 20 hp more than the existing design . The ' QJ288MW ' name links the
inspiration from , and is bolted to a steel tube frame in the new Benelli Tornado 402R . A single-sided swingarm at the back gives the bike a surprisingly highend appearance , but while there are upside-down forks at the front the lack
QJMotor SRT800 By Ben Purvis
engine to a patent , published earlier this year , showing a Qianjiang-made parallel twin that ' s nearly identical to the 799 cc engine used in the KTM 790 Duke and Adventure models . That engine is made for KTM by Chinese brand CFMoto with the designation ' 288MW '. That suggests the new QJMotor version is a licence-built version of the same design . In Qianjiang ' s patent for the QJ288MW engine the design bears the Benelli TNT logo on the side of the cylinder head , of radial-mount brake calipers is an unusual omission . The new bike ' s styling is clearly related to the smaller 302R , sharing a similar headlight design and LED strip side lights . The mirrors are direct carry-overs
showing that the twin will be used in Benelli models as well as QJMotor machines . Chinese approval documents show that a version of the Benelli Leoncino 800 has already been developed with the 799 cc QJ288MW engine instead of the existing 754 cc twin . As well as being much more powerful than the existing QJMotor SRT750 ( and the mechanically similar Benelli TRK800 ), the SRT800 is 9 kg lighter . In the form seen here , with side cases and a top box , it
16 INTERNATIONAL DEALER NEWS - JUNE / JULY 2022 www . idnmag . com