Category: Racing

Rok Bagoros, Slovenian Stunt Rider

As if Americans need further proof that scootering is far more evolved in Europe, stunt riding has been growing in popularity across the Continent. Originally featured in exhibitions at other motorsports events, stunt riding apparently has its own competitions now, and one of the leading stars is Rok Bagoros, a 21-year-old Slovene who grew up idolizing German sportbike stunter Chris Pfieffer and has been practicing since he turned 15. Rok performs astounding stunts, all on his customized automatic Yamaha Aerox. He’s got sponsors, a flashy website, autographed photos, magazine features, and a growing fan base. We’ve all seen our share of ill-advised scooter jackassery, but wouldn’t it be great to see Americans take stunt scootering (and racing, and customization) to such a professional level?

2010 Land Speed Trials

The long-awaited first MSILSF scooter speed trial took place last Sunday (November 21, 2010). The event faced a late change of venue from El Mirage Dry Lake (which turned out to be not-so-Dry-Lake) to a (slightly hilly) half-mile stretch of Route 66 near Devore, CA. The new shorter and hillier course perhaps wasn’t ideal for speed testing, but attendance was good and at the very least, a bar has been set in the various classes for future events. Overall winner was Patrick Owens at 90mph (Yamaha TMAX 500), all winners are listed here. The California Scooter Company posted a good overview and some great photos. Two MSILSF events are already planned for 2011, a Salton Sea Endurance Rally in March and a trip to IMOLA in July, as they work towards getting scooters officially sanctioned for AMA/BUB events at the Bonneville Salt Flats.

Isle Of Man Lambretta Racing c. 1970

This is a great video. You may want to turn up the brightness on the monitor but that may take away some of the appeal. The music is so good you’d think Mr. Illnoise had posted this. The event isn’t quite the closed-road TT, though the pilots just show their mettle by mixing it up with lorry traffic. Now you’ll excuse me while I go look for a petrol can in the carport.

Via the SIP Facebook page

It’s Time to GIVI Thanks

About a month back I received a call from Phil Waters from Pride of Cleavland Scooters. He had an offer I ultimately couldn’t refuse. GIVI USA offered an opportunity attend the Indianapolis Motorcycle Grand Prix as guest of the LCR Honda MotoGP team, run by Lucio Checchinello. Phil was generous and thoughtful enough to pass this opportunity along to an enormous fan of MotoGP. An impromptu ten hour road trip later I was rewarded with the VIP treatment in the exclusive Grand Prix paddock and the privileged of watching qualifying practice from the LCR Honda pit garage while rider Randy DePuniet put in his best efforts while recovering from a violent crash only weeks before where he broke his leg. We were hosted by team representatives Elisa Pavan and Oscar Haro who lead us out to spend time right on the pit wall during the closing minutes of qualifying when riders were putting in their last ditch efforts for pole position. Our paddock passes allowed us amazing access to spend time rubbing elbows with the greatest motorcycle racers in the world. Sunday we watched the race from the main grandstands and had a wonderful time before heading back on a non-stop drive back to Minnesota.

I just wanted to give special thanks to POC Phil, Givi USA and the LCR Honda Team (links to their Facebook pages). Without this opportunity my next post regarding the Lambretta Racing Team wouldn’t have been possible! Stay tuned.

(/shamelessplug)

Too much racing for one headline

If you’re interested in scooter racing at all, read on! Simply put, there’s a big schload of scooter racing going on this summer, and that is awesome.

Our 2SB Rally Calendar should now be up to date with all events for the following organizations/leagues:

Are we missing anyone? (Probably!) See any errors? (blame Google Calendar!) In either case, please let us know!

You’ll see we’ve added a new series of events, following the success of Twist and Gone in May, the North American Scooter Racing Association is hosting a full season of drag races in Nashville, IN, sponsored by Scooterworks.

One last bad news/good news bit: MWSR’s organizer Seth tells us that the race this weekend at G&J Kartway in Camden, OH has been postponed, but the good news is the track will be open to scooters for only $10.

Kymco racer photo above is courtesy of Alan Spears, MSILSF

Scooter Racing Returns to the Midwest

Just a couple months ago, I complained that there didn’t seem to be much racing going on, and people keep making me eat my words (happily, for once). The latest league of fast gentlemen, Mid-West Scooter Racing, has recently cropped up in 2SB’s ancestral homelands, Southwest Ohio, and is organized by one of our favorite guys, Seth Hershey, from one of our favorite shops, who we won’t name because they’d prefer Seth not highside and miss work. Seth tells us:

The one time I raced I sucked, but I still had such a fulfilling time I just have to do some more.

That’s our Seth. He’s certainly not the aggro intense speed-demon type, but we love incongruity here at 2strokebuzz. Classes and race prep look suitably laid-back and inclusive, so we’re betting he’ll put on some great events.

Motor-Scooter International Land-Speed Federation

Gentlemen, tune your engines: “With no recognized sanctioning organization willing to accept motor-scooters into the fold, we decided to create our own organization, appoint ourselves as the sanctioning organization of motor-scooter land-speed records, and get about the business of hosting the First Annual Motor-scooter Land-Speed Record Trials on November 21st 2010 at El Mirage Dry Lake, California.” The MSILSF is also working towards the creation of scooter classes at Bonneville in 2011.

eWhat?

eHow features some weird/pointless scooter tips, such as How to Compete in a Vespa Rally, which seems like it was written in a couple minutes with no actual insight into scooters or racing. Do eHow writers just crank these things out for an easy paycheck or what? Aside from MotoGiroUSA, which is not specifically for scooters, and a couple one-off events over the years, are there even any European-style Rally road races in the U.S.? I feel bad linking to more of these articles, they don’t deserve the traffic, but there are listings for “How to Restore a Vespa,” “How to Become a Vespa Dealer,” “How to Join a Vespa Club”… all of which basically say “1. Use a little common sense. 2. Look on the internet for more information.” Thanks, eHow!

New Lambretta Oddly Like Old Lambretta

The 2010 Motorcycle Grand Prix season kicked off this afternoon at high noon CST (20:00 local time in Qatar). In Grand Prix racing the competition begins with the lights in front of the riders going from red to off. There were 25 riders lined up for the start of the race. When the lights flicked off, 24 125cc motorcycles pushed off from their starting position to begin the race. Toward the back of the field, history repeats itself. As the case with many scooter rides with your pals, there was a Lambretta that couldn’t quite get started and was being frantically pushed to one side pleading for assistance. Just like any large group ride where the front can’t see the back, the rest moved on and the lonely rider was left behind. All the hard work of the team and rider had gone for not. Poor Louis Salom, a former Red Bull Rookie league front runner, had been left in the lurch by a mechanical problem. Lets just hope that by the next round in Japan they sort out their mechanical gremlins and are rewarded with better luck for their efforts.

(Note: A Piaggio product won the race)

Farewell, Nev Frost

Neville Frost
David Hardy from teamSequipe.com commented a few days ago on the Team S Equipe 2SB post:

It is with great sadness that I have to announce the passing of the greatest all round scooterist, of all time, Nev Frost.

Nev passed away last Friday, unfortunately I do not know the circumstances as yet.
From the mid sixties Nev was the one you had to beat, whether it be on the track, grass track, rallies or navigation trials he would be there at the top or there about.
Just a fantastic competitor.

I hope he gets the send off he deserves, a truly great man & scootering legend.

Sadly, while Frost’s Lambretta-racing legacy looms large on the web, word of his passing doesn’t seem to have spread through the scooter community, and a week later, I’m unable to find a proper obituary. If anyone has more details, or memories to share, we’d love to hear them.

PSRA Cup kicks off on Sunday, MASR’s first race on the 24th, and Twist and Gone‘s drag event in Indiana is on May 1, perhaps racers at those events can keep Nev in their hearts and find a way to honor his memory.

“Live Like an Indy Car Driver” with Kymco

KYMCO is sponsoring the IZOD Indy Car Series again this year, so they’re running a Live Like an Indy Car Driver contest. Grand Prize is a KYMCO 4-wheeler, but with luck, you can win the two runner-up prizes: KYMCO Super-8 scooters signed by IRL racer Ryan Hunter-Reay. Pick up an entry coupon at any KYMCO dealer.

Aside from the Memorial Day limelight, would life really be that great to be an Indy Car driver? I’d imagine it’d be a lot of carefully-budgeted interstate travel, groveling for sponsors, and squeezing performance out of an underfunded car and crew, I dunno, it sounds like the pits, no pun intended. I’ll take graphic design over IRL racing any day. Maybe I’m biased from my uniquely shitty experience at Indianapolis Motor Speedway a couple years ago, and IRL would be loads better than NASCAR, that’s for sure.