Baker in Superprestigio Shock

Well, it was a shock to me. My cast iron, put-the-house-on-it prediction that Brad Baker would win the Superprestigio came up short. How short? As short as Dani Pedrosa stood in a pothole.

Baker was slightly off the pace in timed practice, being out-qualified by Supermoto champ, Thomas Chareyre, but it wasn't a concern to me or my prediction, because Baker's a racer.

The 2014 GNC champ comfortably made the Superfinal to race Marquez for the first time in the night. After a mid-pack run to the first corner, Marquez kept tight and exited turn 2 in the lead, with Baker behind him, then checked out. Even, and I say that with all due respect, Toni Elias passed Baker, pushing him back to third at the flag. It just wasn't Brad's night.

 The American said tyre choice was crucial and showed on Flat Track Live's feed that his soft Michelin Supermoto wet was chewing up. It seemed the same for everyone though. The official Superprestigio website quoted him as saying 'I haven’t feel at my ease in the race track and honestly I’ve been much more nervous in this event than in my current competition in flat track in the US.'

In a crash-strewn night, the British DTRA riders had mixed fortunes. A strong travelling support saw Ollie Brindley make the Open Finals, but one of the UK's brightest stars didn't progress to the Superfinal this time. George Pickering just missed out on the Open finals in his first Superprestigio, while Alan Birtwistle was out of sorts after having his van was broken into and robbed outside the event. Young Toby Hales had the bad luck too, when he couldn't avoid a crash bike on his line, was catapulted over the bars and broke his wrist.

 Keep an eye out for 2017 DTRA dates being released this week. G

Hard racing, decent crowd.

Ollie looking relaxed before the battle.

The appearance of 16/17in wheels on DTX bikes made the machinery look too much like Supermoto for some hardcore fans, others didn't care.

 Avoiding first corner carnage was crucial. 30, Alan Birtwistle about to go up the inside.

Baker leads Chareyre

 Japanese rider Masatoshi Ohmori styling it up for the crowd.

British rider Alan Birtwistle styling it up for the crowd. Rad his 'Get Schooled' How To guide tips for winning a championship without team back up in Sideburn 27.  

Superprestigio: This Weekend

Superprestigio is on this weekend and the evening main event is being livestreamed for free around the world on fanschoice.tv.

2015 Superprestigio champion Brad Baker has been in Spain since early November, training on the bike he is going to compete on, including a visit to Rossi's Ranch. As long as he doesn't get tangled up in a crash he is going to win it, he's an indoor short track animal. He did crash in the Barcelona event in 2014, breaking his shoulder, with experts blaming it on unfamiliar 17in wheels. They're not unfamiliar any more. The Superprestigio rules demand 17in wheels and Michelin road race wets, not the regular 19in wheels regular dirt track races use. This is because Michelin are a sponsor and don't make suitable 19in tyre.

British interest is stronger than ever. The DTRA has four riders in contention - Superprestigio regulars Ollie Brindley and 2017 DTRA champion Alan Birtwistle, plus George Pickering and Toby Hales.

The DTRA were allowed to field extra riders when the troubled Spanish National dirt track series fizzled out before it could hold its end of season qualifying race.

For those unfamiliar with the format, the entry is split into two: Superprestigio and Open. The former is for road racers. The only current MotoGP rider in the whole field this year is Marc Marquez, where in the past there has been a handful of MotoGP men. There are still plenty of Moto2 and Moto3 riders and, for the first time, former WSB factory Ducati rider Ruben Xaus (see him below on a Ducati Hypermotard), but the entry is nowhere near as eyecatching as previous years, but don't let put you off. Indoor short track is never boring.

The open class is for riders who compete primarily on dirt - flat trackers, speedway, long track and also, supermoto. There are top racers from Spain, Italy and the UK, plus Baker, the only American this year after Jared Mees pulled out because of injury.

The top four from each class face off in a Super final.

Here is the Superprestigio schedule so you can plan your fanschoice viewing. G

Sideburn presents Force of the Moto-Ninja

Sideburn: Force of the Moto-Ninja from SIDEBURN on Vimeo.

When the Moto-Ninja calls in at his local Sideburn stockist, Static Records, to buy the latest issue he manages to snag the last copy in the shop. This upsets the local literature-loving bikers and that spells trouble.

If you're in Wigan, or passing through, Static will be stocked up with Sideburn 24 before the weekend. G

Motorcycle Limbo at Dirt Quake IV

DTRA rider Alan Birtwistle ruling the Di Traverso School-sponsored Motorcycle Limbo at Dirt Quake IV. This blew my tiny mindholes. G

AMA Season Starts Today!

The season kicks off in Daytona tonight. With the second night of the double-header tomorrow. You can watch live on fanschoice.tv

Moving in line with the MotoGP world, the Expert class is now called GNC1 and the Pro (support) class is GNC2. Here's all the info from the AMA... (ET is Eastern time (New York time) if you're trying to work it out from anywhere else in the world)

On-track action begins both days with practice sessions at 3:30 p.m. ET (12:30 p.m. PT). The pre-race show is slated for 6:15 p.m. ET (3:15 p.m PT) to 7:15 p.m. ET (4:15 p.m. PT) and opening ceremonies are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET (4:30 p.m. PT). The GNC2 main is set for a 9:40 p.m. ET (6:40 p.m. PT) start with the Bruce Rossmeyer's Daytona Harley-Davidson GNC1 main slated to see the green flag at 10:10 p.m. ET (7:10 p.m. PT).

Every session from the "World Center of Racing" will be streamed live for fans around the world at FansChoice.tv. 

Jared Mees will begin his GNC1 title defense, sporting the No. 1 plate for the third time in his career, but he'll be facing off against the likes of Bryan Smith - last year's runner-up for the GNC1 title - Brad Baker, Kenny Coolbeth, Jr., Jake Johnson and the rest of the star-studded field. 

In 2014, Briar Bauman and Coolbeth kicked their seasons off on the right note. Bauman took the first checkered flag on opening night with Coolbeth putting on a clinic in Round 2 to earn the victory. 

In the GNC2 class, Ryan Wells and Brandon Wilhelm left Daytona Beach with victories to start the season. 

Kyle Johnson, the 2014 GNC2 champion, and Jarod Vanderkooi, winner of four GNC2 races last year, highlight a rookie class moving up the elite ranks to challenge Mees, Smith, Johnson and the others. 

The GNC1 lineup is full of potential winners. Sammy Halbert, Johnny Lewis, Mikey Rush and Brandon Robinson have all won main events at DAYTONA Flat Track since the new circuit debuted in 2010, and none can be counted out in 2015. 

DAYTONA Flat Track will also play host to, for the first time in AMA Pro Flat Track in history, a brother and sister racing with National Numbers. Shayna Texter will debut her new No. 52 and join her brother, Cory Texter, owner of No. 65. 

Baker, the 2013 Grand National Champion, will be back in the saddle after suffering a shoulder injury at the Superprestigio exhibition race in Barcelona, Spain, in December. His status has been the subject of speculation recently, but the Factory Harley-Davidson rider has confirmed he'll be in the field Thursday. 

Jared Mees' wife, Nichole Mees, will not be in the field at Daytona, but plans to run other races in 2015, which she said will be her final season. 

The entry list also has plenty of international flair with Doug Lawrence and Michael LaBella representing Canada in the GNC1 ranks and Italian Vittorio Marzotto and England's [the DTRA's!] Alan Birtwistle racing in GNC2.

Watch Superprestigio LIVE

The Superprestigio goes off tomorrow evening in Barcelona, Spain. It's arguably the most hotly anticipated dirt track race of the 21st century, and Fanschoice TV, the same great service that has brought live casts and YouTube recordings of every GNC race this year,  is offering a live feed.

If that wasn't enough, our old mate Chris Carr is guest commentator.

The official press release (aimed at Americans, hence the Eastern Time - just google it to work out what time that is where you are) says:

The Superprestigio is set to begin at 12:00 noon ET (9:00 a.m. PT) on Saturday, Dec. 13 and all of the action will be broadcast live on www.FansChoice.tv, the official home for live streaming of all AMA Pro Flat Track events.

There is an incredible line-up of riders including:

SUPERPRESTIGIO CLASS
Marc Marquez - 2014 MotoGP WC
Tito Rabat - 2014 Moto2 WC
Alex Marquez - 2014 Moto3 WC
Scott Redding
Bradley Smith
Toni Elias - 2010 Moto2 WC
Troy Bayliss - 2001, 2006, 2008 WSB WC
Kenny Noyes - 2014 CEV SBK champ

OPEN CLASS
Brad Baker (2013 GNC Champ)
Jared Mees (2x GNC champ)
Shayna Texter
Joonas Kylmakorpi (4x long track WC, who is racing a Zaeta painted by Maxwell Paternoster!)
Thomas Chareyre (3x Supermoto WC - surely a dark horse)
Fabrizio Vesprini (2x FIM Euro flat track champ)
Francesco Cecchini (2014 FIM Euro flat track champ)
Ivan Cervantes (4x Enduro WC)
Taddy Blazusiak - (5x Superenduro WC)
Guy Martin

And from the DTRA in the Open Class

Tim Neave (2014 champ), Tom Neave, Aidan Collins (4x UK champ), Ollie Brindley, Alan Birtwistle

(WC = World Champion)

The winners of each class race each other in a grand final.

Below is a photos from the @marcmarquez93 instagram feed of him practicing yesterday at the Canudas track. Many of the top riders were there.

Superprestigio - Soon

The Superprestigio organisers have moved their event from January to December, so, for 2014, there will be two in one calendar year, and it's coming up on Saturday 13 December. That leaves time for you to book a relatively cheap Euro flight out there if you fancy it.

It was a great spectacle last time, in an Olympic arena within the city, and I have a feeling it will be a 15,000-plus sell out this year.

Go to Superprestigio to find out more and order tickets (good website in Spanish, Catalan and English)

SUPERPRESTIGIO CLASS
The class for World Championship road racers.
This year there will be all three current MotoGP champions: Marc and Alex Marquez and Tito Rabat - all local riders so the atmosphere and support should be impressive.
Also from MotoGP are Scott Redding, Bradley Smith and Alvaro Bautista who are all on the provisional entry list. Spanish Superbike champion and Euro Flat Track Festival organiser, Kenny Noyes is in and Troy Bayliss is confirmed too.
No Rossi or Hayden though.

OPEN CLASS
For dirt track specialists and other disciplines, plus those who qualified through the DTRA championship and Kenny Noyes European Dirt Track Festival.
From America, Brad Baker is back and joined by 2014 number 1, Jared Mees.
UK riders include multiple DTRA champ Aidan Collins; current DTRA champ Tim Neave and European Dirt Track Festival champ Tom Neave; Alan Birtwistle and Ollie Brindley.
Dirt Quake III chopper class champion Guy Martin is racing too.
 

Lower Than a Snake's Belly in a Puddle

Kawasaki UK dirt track team rider Alan Birtwistle at last weekend's Dirt Bike Show. Co-Built made him the titanium bar end.
No, he didn't crash. G

Brits to Race US Top Amateurs

Kawasaki DTRA team riders, Ollie Brindley, #24, and Alan Birtwistle, #30, along with George Pickering, are flying to the US to compete in five races in five days, in the Midwest.

They're going to be at the 2014 AMA Dirt Track GRand Championships

Springfield Mile on Monday 23 June
Springfield TT on Tuesday 24
Springfield TT on Wednesday 25
Springfield Limestone half-mile on Thursday 26

Plus one more race I don't have details of yet.

Travelling and watching five races in five days would be tiring, so imagine what racing the best young US riders is going to be like.

If you see them, say hello and wish them luck. They're good fellas. G

Photos: Ian Osborne/DTRA

Kawasaki UK Flat Track Team

Kawasaki UK have backed a new team set up by DTRA racer, and former top GP sidecar man, Derek Brindley. The two-man team comprises 2013 title contender Alan Birtwistle, #30, and the current junior champion, Ollie Brindley, #24, who is moving up to the adult class this season.

I saw the team at the first official practice and they have a very slick set-up, with two very down-to-earth, but hellish-fast riders who have both travelled to the US and won.

The new Kawasaki team joins the Honda UK-backed multiple champion Adi Collins and the Suzuki UK-supported Peter Boast making three importer-backed teams in the DTRA Pro class. Come see them all battle at Leicester, next Sunday. All the Thunderbike framers will be there too. Racing from 12. Free entry for spectators. G

Superprestigio - Super Slo-mo

This raised the hairs on the back of my neck.
#9 is Kenny Noyes (from the Noyes Camp in Spain)
#93 is Marc Marquez
#41 is Aleix Espargaro
#7 is Alessandro Baldassari
#30 is Alan Birtwistle
#1 is Brad Baker
#53 is Tito Rabat.

Watch how the holes on the corner entry unsettle Marquez's bike, but not Marquez. G

UPDATE: We have some exciting Kenny Noyes/ DTRA news coming up later today.

Superprestigio Dirt Track

Perma-smiling, Lorenzo-baiting, elbow-scraping, physics-defying, record-breaking, five-piece-boy-band-on-wheels, Marc Marquez sewed up the 2013 MotoGP title, the toughest for a good few years, in his rookie season then decided to celebrate wit a party, an indoor dirt track party on 11 January in Barcelona - the Superprestigio Dirt Track.

As Spain made a clean-sweep of the GP titles this year, it seemed a good idea to invite Moto2 champ Pol Espargaro and Moto3 winner Maverick (yes he really is named after a character in Top Gun) Vinales.

UPDATE: The Superprestigio class is purely for GP road racers. It seems they don't want some 'unknown' dirt track or supermoto riders spoiling the party.

Thanks to Kenny Noyes, himself a Moto2 racer and a former US national dirt track champ, four British DTRA riders are also competing on the night, and they're just about the most exciting riders we have. Alan Birtwistle, Tom and Tim Neave (SB10 cover star) and schoolboy Ollie Brindley qualified to compete through their performance at November's Dirt Track Festival, at Motorland Aragon, Spain.

As I understand it, Ollie will race in a junior class, while Alan, Tom and Tim will race in the Open, support class. We've seen these riders progress for the last few years and they've all put in a massive amount of time and money, racing and practising anything and anywhere. They're all lovely fellas, obviously the cream in the UK and all three have flown to the US to race, and in many cases, beat the best flat track amateurs in their class over there.

The bikes they will be racing are 450s in DTX spec but on 17 or 16.5in wheels, not the regular dirt track 19s, with Michelin supermoto wet tyres (not sure what Ollie is racing).

US journalist and columnist Mark 'The Backmarker' Gardiner pointed out, on a US website, that you can hardly have an event called Superprestigio Dirt Track and not invite the current best dirt tracker in the world, the GNC's undisputed #1, Brad Baker. The Spaniards saw sense and sent him an invite.
I saw a tiny clip of Brad practising on 17s at the Mt Salem indoor track. The unfamiliar tyres and wheel size was the only question mark in his mind about wether he could smoke these fancy Yooropeens, and he looked incredible.

I've just spoken to Anthony at the DTRA and he says Baker will be in the support class with the British riders, but hopefully there will be a best of the best where the best of the Open race the best of the Superprestigio class. Otherwise, it's a long way for Brad to fly to race in a support class.

If any road racer beats Brad Baker on a dirt oval it will be a hell of an upset. G

 Alan Birtwistle

 Tom Neave

 Ollie Brindley

Photos by Dutch Brothers Racing

Alan Birtwistle

This is Alan Birtwistle one of the DTRA's star riders. Birtie started flat tracking three seasons ago and got the bug. He's flown over to the USA to race the top amateurs over there and we return in 2014. Keep an eye out for him. G
Photo: Jan-Willem Dutch Brother