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Imagine you are going out on your motorcycle for a ride with the boys, minding your own business as you do 150+ mph down the two-lane road, popping wheelies as you please. It’s sunny out, the traffic is light, and  the snakes riding on your Suzuki GSX-R seems friendly enough. Wait what?! Yup, we would say that one Brazilian motorcyclist got quite the surprise as he did triple-digits down a rural road.

Slithering out from underneath the bike’s fairings, the sight of a fairly sizable yellow snake would probably scare the crap out of most riders, though our protagonist remained fairly calm during the whole ordeal. Considering how the history of snakes on forms of transportation goes, the rider in this video is pretty lucky, as things could have been much worse. Check out the video after the jump.

If you are a true MotoGP fan here in the United States, then you have surely dropped SPEED’s abysmal coverage of the premiere class for the vastly superior coverage on Dorna’s own web property: MotoGP.com. Having a monopoly on internet-based video coverage of Grand Prix racing, MotoGP.com certainly brings its euros-worth of MotoGP/Moto2/Moto3 news, interviews, and analysis to your computer screen.

However, there has always been a desire for something more, something free — now that day has come. Ladies and Gentlemen, let us introduce to you the MiniBikers web series. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll hate Alvin & The Chipmunks even more than you already do. Check out the Silverstone round re-cap after the jump.

John McGuinness, pictured here with brolly girl Bruce Anstey, is the undisputed King of the Mountain, having won 19 times on the Isle of Man TT Mountain Course. Even at 40-years-old and a bit thicker around the middle than his fellow racers, one would have a hard time arguing that McGuinness is not at the top of his game, as the man from Morecambe is well on his way to beating Joey Dunlop’s all-time TT race win record.

So how has McPint become the winningest living TT racer in history? With a massive amount of course knowledge, that’s how. Coupled to strong bike entries, and a team comprised of road racing’s top talent, it makes perfect sense why McGuinness is the favorite to win whenever a 1,000cc machine is involved, and you can’t count him out of the 600cc Supersport races either. Narrowly missing his chance to break the 20 race win barrier on an electric bike, McGuinness was also instrumental in the cancellation of the Senior TT at the 2012 Isle of Man TT, a race he likely would have won.

McGuinness and his team will be back next year though, as will his competitors who are eager to knock the King off his thrown. We imagine a few of them will be paying close attention to the course notes given in the video after the jump.

After seeing the production schedule of the Horex VR6 pushed back several times now (let’s not even mention the DOA-status of the supercharged version of the bike), it looks like the revival of the German brand is nearly ready for primetime, as Horex has released a video of the VR6 scooting about (sans its triple-pipe exhaust). The aptly named Horex VR6 features a 15° VR-shaped six-cylinder motor, which with its 1,218cc displacement produces a stout 161 bhp.

Built with classic roadster styling, Horex has been tight-lipped on the bike’s pricing, though we expect that it will be well north of $20,000 when it reaches American shores. While we’ve already heard the supercharged Horex testing on the company’s engine dyno, this is the first we’re heard from the naturally aspirated model. Check it out after the jump, and let us know if you think it was worth the wait.

John McGuinees, the King of the Mountain, could quit road racing today and go down in history as a legend of the sport. The thing is though, Mr. McPint is showing no signs of slowing down, and in reality McGuinness is at the top of his game — adding two more race wins from the 2012 Isle of Man TT to his impressive total. Nineteen wins to his name, McGuinness was favored to win his 20th in the Senior TT, after coming in second during the TT Zero competition.

There doesn’t seem to be any doubt in the TT paddock that McGuinness will break the twenty-win barrier, a feat only ever accomplish by one other man: Joey Dunlop. But, fate has a cruel way of changing our expectations. Three wins in a TT fortnight is no easy matter, and no one wants to win more than John McGuinness himself. So, it goes to show you a bit about the man when you learn that McGuinness was instrumental in the canceling of the Senior TT, since his voice hold some of the most weight with the riders and Race Control — even though his own racing interests would have been served best by the race’s continuation in adverse conditions.

On that Saturday’s Senior TT, no one wanted to make more history than McGuinness — of course he wanted to do so in an entirely different way than what occurred. It will now be a long wait before he can lay claim to that twentieth IOMTT victory trophy, but John McGuinness isn’t too worried about that I suspect, and I reckon he has his eyes leveled firmly on the horizon, staring at what would seem to be an impossible an impossible number that starts with three.

The KTM Freeride E is quite the buzz in the electric world, as it is the first proper electric motorcycle to be announced by an OEM. As it did with its street-bike debut with the RC8, KTM is set to test the market’s waters first with a limited production run of 100 units in 2012, likely to pre-select KTM owners/dealers. Assuming a favorable review, the Austrian brand would then presumably ramp-up production of its €10,000 electric dirt bike.

With 30hp peak & 10hp continuous, the KTM Freeride E boasts four-stroke 125cc specs, albeit on the heavy side with a 204 lbs curb weight. Running time is said to have a 20 minute ride time in the hands of a professional, the KTM Freeride E is rated to last 45 minutes in the hands of an amateur…whatever that means. While the world at large will likely have to wait another year before it can truly asses the KTM Freeride E, we do have at least our first glimpse in the bike’s performance.

Is it possible that there a better TT video than the hit-flick TT3D: Closer to the Edge? That might just be the case we have here, based off this trailer of Isle of Nan TT: Closer to the Hedge. Beautifully shot and edited, this epic thriller is sure to keep you on the edge of your seat, and find a permanent spot on your motorsport DVD bookshelf. Set on the historic Manx course, this documentary of the Isle of Nan TT brings you the riders, the blood, and the glory. Check out all the hedge-clipping action, after the jump.

The official charity of MotoGP, and an example of motorcycles making the world a better place, Riders for Health is an organization Asphalt & Rubber truly enjoys supporting. For those still not familiar with the work being done by Riders for Health, the charity was founded by Andrea & Barry Coleman, along with some guy named Randy Mamola. Providing motorcycles to health workers in Africa, Riders for Health has helped bring vital and reliable (this point being key) medical care to remote locations in DRC, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Nigeria, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Being here in Silverstone for MotoGP’s British GP has meant the unique opportunity to participate in the Day of Champions, the trackside Thursday event that helps raise money for Riders for Health. The event is perhaps most well known for its rider auction, which has forever been immortalized with of then teammates Cal Cructhlow and Colin Edwards.

For an added bonus this year, the British government has graciously agreed to match any funds raised by Rider for Health at the Day of Champions, which means yesterday’s event helped raise in total £254,989 for the organization. British readers, if you want to help support Riders (and get a gold star in our book), you can donate 3 by texting the letters “RFH” to  70303 (your donation will also be doubled by the Crown). US readers, you can go to Riders.org to make a donation (I’m told the text message donation system doesn’t work abroad).

Whether your Sunday mornings are spent watching the AMA, BSB, WSBK, or MotoGP Championships (bonus points if nodded for each one of those), the image of watching a motorcycle lift its rear-wheel off the ground under heavy braking is surely a common occurrence to you. For amateur racers, the experience can be a bit unnerving at first, and even the professionals sometimes miscalculate the available traction, braking distance, and entry speed associated with such a maneuverer.

Such was the case with one Brazilian Superbike racer, who found himself on the wrong side of an endo, and headed into slower traffic at a corner’s entry point. With his rear-wheel lifted well off the ground, our protagonist makes perhaps the worst decision for the situation: he grabs more front brake. The rest writes itself, and we again thank the proliferation of on-board cameras in modern motorcycle racing for bringing us another tasty clip. Video after the jump.

In case you haven’t done the 14 turns of Wisconsin’s 4.048 mile track, we have got a video of some guy named Josh putting in a very tidy lap on his Yamaha YZF-R1 at Road America this past weekend. Setting off from pit lane, he gives a wave to his friend Geoff before entering the course on this nice Sunday morning ride. From what we understand in the YouTube comments of this video, Josh is quite the motorcycle enthusiast…even his wife rides!

We probably would have posted this video out of sheer Star Wars geekdom, but a 7min 10sec lap around the Nürburgring Nordschleife (BTG) is also nothing to scuff at as well. Such is the accomplishment of Andy Carlile, a 33-year-old Englishman living in Germany who was on a mission to be the fastest on two-wheels around the ‘Ring.

Setting the record on street-legal Dunlop rubber, perhaps the only thing more impressive than Carlile’s lap time is his feat of keeping the squirrely but otherwise mostly stock and street-legal 2005 Yamaha YZF-R1 at bay, as the video shows the massive movement of the bike on braking and acceleration. Jedi mind trick for sure.