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IOMTT: Popular Victory in Superstock Race

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The early morning warm sunshine gave way to cold cloud cover for Monday’s second race, the Royal London 360 Superstock race. Four laps of grand TT racing, the Superstock class is essentially street legal bikes with bolt-on pieces (along with race trim obviously), and thus a fairly analogous representation of what one could do around the Mountain Course…provided of course you have the mettle of a true TT racer. With a number of riders showing promise for the race win, all eyes were on the clock as the green flag dropped.

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IOMTT: Video of Guy Martin Crashing at Creg Ny Baa

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In this morning’s Supersport race, Guy Martin found himself on the wrong end of the pavement at Creg Ny Baa, crashing into the safety barrier after over-shooting the corner. Unscathed, the TT rider was able to restart the race, after Race 1 of Supersport was red flagged for Derek Brien’s unfortunate crash. In the age of digital media, an Isle of Man TT spectator behind the safety fence of course got the crash on film, and has graciously posted it to YouTube for all to see. Check it out after the jump, as maybe a decade ago, this would have been a fatal mistake for the likable Guy Martin. Thanks for the tip John!

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IOMTT: Supersport Race 1 Finishes Despite Red Flag

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Despite raining last night, Monday’s Isle of Man TT Monster Energy Supersport race started under promising skies, as the sun was mostly out through the cloudy skies. Though John McGuinness won the weekend’s Dainese Superbike TT, the Padgetts Motorcycles’ rider was not a favorite to win this year’s Supersport races, though still considered a strong competitor. Instead eyes were on Michael Dunlop, Cameron Donald, and Gary Johnson, with Guy Martin always a crowd favorite.

With racing starting well enough, it sadly did not last long as the race was red flagged as the race leaders entered into Ramsey. Though several competitors had crashed in the first lap, news soon spread that Derek Brien had crashed and died on the extremely fast Gorse Lea section of the course, where speeds are in excess of 140 mph.

With the Isle of Man TT officials giving riders a chance to restart the race, several crashers were given a second opportunity to tackle the Mountain Course with their 600cc machinery, one of whom was local hero Guy Martin. Though off to a rocky start, find out how the restarted Monster Energy Supersport Race unfolded after the jump.

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Racing

IOMTT: Ryan Farquhar Out After Crash During Practice

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Popular KMR Kawasaki rider Ryan Farquhar has been ruled out of further 2011 Isle of Man TT participation, as the Irishman crashed at Keppel Gate during Friday’s practice sessions. Hitting a false neutral in the closing stages of the session, Farquhar managed to escape having any broken bones in the incident, but says he is too battered and bruised to compete this year in the TT. The event marks another blemish for the 2011 Kawasaki ZX-10R’s record here at the Isle of Man TT, which has more than a few competitors eying their green machines in leery ways.

“The final evening of practice was going well and we were certainly heading in the right way after the problems we’d had earlier in the week but it all went wrong when I went through Keppel Gate,” explained Farquhar. “I was back down for two gears for the right hander and then down one more gear for the left but I hit a false neutral in between the two corners and ran off the track. I managed to save the bike and was skirting the barriers but just when I thought I’d saved it, the final barrier came back out towards the course and I hit it head on and down I went.”

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Bikes

Up-Close with the 2011 MotoCzysz E1pc

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MotoCzysz was out at Jurby Airfield yesterday, turning a wheel for the first time on the Portland company’s 2011 MotoCzysz E1pc electric superbike. With TT Zero’s first practice session tonight on the Mountain Course, the team has been busy getting ready to field two bikes for riders Mark Miller and Michael Rutter.

While Miller will ride the updated 2010.5 MotoCzysz E1pc, Rutter will be on MotoCzysz’s new machine that features the 200+ hp MotoCzysz D1-11 VDR D1g1tal Dr1ve electric motor. With more power at the motor, more battery on-board, and a lighter overall package, MotoCzysz has its eyes on the 100 mph mark, and the £10,000 check the Isle of Man TT has put up as bounty for the milestone. Photos after the jump.

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2011 MotoCzysz E1pc Tests at Jurby

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We spent the today at the Jurby course, as teams for the Isle of Man TT came out to the short airfield race track to test their machines before the TT starts in earnest tomorrow with its first races. Among those teams in attendance was MotoCzysz, and the team debuted its 200+ hp 2011 MotoCzysz E1pc for the first time to the public (we brought you a sneak peek yesterday). With Michael Czysz and Michael Rutter both taking laps on the new electric superbike, today was the first time the new E1pc had ever turned a wheel. Photos and more after the jump.

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First Shot: 2011 MotoCzysz E1pc

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We’ll have to wait just a bit longer to get a better glimpse of MotoCzysz‘s new bike, but we do have a teaser photo of the 2011 MotoCzysz E1pc. Spending an hour or so in the MotoCzysz pit, we’ve gotten a good look at the electric motorcycle, though we’ve been sworn to secrecy about revealing the bike’s details.

We’ll have to wait a while longer before we can spill all the 2011 MotoCzysz E1pc’s secrets, but we can say that the                                      is all new and made out of                   , and is going to make the whole thing                    as hell. The                    has also been revised, and the                    is damn sexy, though what’s really going to blow your mind is the                                      you know what…you’ll see.

Source: MotoCzysz (Twitter)

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Racing

Ian Hutchinson Will Miss 2011 Isle of Man TT

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By last year’s account, Ian Hutchinson is the king of the Isle of Man TT, winning an historic five TT races in 2010. Unfortunately however, the English rider will have to sit out the 2011 IoMTT, as Shaun Muir Racing has confirmed that Hutchinson has not fully recovered from the injuries he sustained from during an incident in a BSB Supersport race, which was held at Silverstone in September 2010. From that incident, the 31 year-old Hutchinson has suffered from a compound fracture of the tibia and fibia, and has had 16 surgeries and skin grafts to treat his injuries.

Moving to the Shaun Muir Racing team, Hutchinson had hoped to defend his five TT wins in this year’s event, but instead will only be able to participate in the Arai Parade Lap with Mick Doohan, Nicky Hayden. and Cal Crutchlow. Hutchinson is now expecting a return to motorcycle racing later in the BSB Supersport season, due largely to his vigorous rehabilitation efforts.

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Trailer: Charge – The IoM TTXGP Movie Out in a Week

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Since we first heard about it, we’ve been less than patiently waiting for Mark Neale’s next opus Charge, a movie about the first zero-emissions motorcycle race, which was held during the 2009 Isle of Man TT. Now we get word from the movie’s Facebook page that Charge will be available in about a week’s time, and we’re downright giddy about it.

Check the DVD library of any die hard MotoGP fan, and you’ll find Neale’s Faster, an iconic movie about MotoGP’s shift from two-stroke to four-stroke motors — we imagine Charge will have this same point of reference appeal to electric motorcycle enthusiasts, and eventually motorcyclists as a whole.

We got an email from Neale the other day, saying that an advanced copy of Charge would be headed to our mailbox. With promises of death by ex-Navy SEAL (no, seriously) if it should land into the wrong hands, Asphalt & Rubber will be hosting the world premiere of Charge here in the San Francisco/Bay Area (location pending). Until then, check the video after the jump.

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Isle of Man TT Looking to Make a TT World Championship

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The Isle of Man TT has just confirmed that it has launched a feasibility study into whether TT-branded events could be held around the world, as a part of a larger TT Championship racing series. The study is to start soon, as the Isle of Man Government’s Department of Economic Development is considering whether taking the IOMTT global could help the event, with plans to implement the idea possibly occurring as early as 2014, should the study show favorable interest.

The Isle of Man TT lost its World Championship status in the 1976, when the FIM stopped sanctioning the event because of safety concerns, and an exodus of prominent riders. Despite that setback, the historic race just celebrated its 100th racing year anniversary (racing was interrupted during World War II), and has been at the forefront of pushing motorcycle advancement since its first race in 1907. The 99th running of the IOMTT was also the first sanctioned electric motorcycle race ever, another hat-tip to the series’ forward-thinking direction and prestige. Thanks for the tip Frank!

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Racing

Rumor: OEM Entering Electric Racing This Season

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There’s a quiet rumor going on in the electric racing circles that a major OEM of internal combustion motorcycles is poised to enter one of the electric racing series this season. Which manufacturer and which series is not being openly discussed, but judging from whom is talking about the possibility, and perhaps more importantly who is not talking about it, our best guess would be a Japanese manufacturer like Honda is at the center of the rumor. Honda has already been caught testing hybrid componentry at the 25hrs of Thunderhill, coincidentally with technology produced by electric motorcycle upstart Mission Motors.

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