Aprilia RS125 - schoolboy dream machine
It will be available in South Africa at the end of April, at about R40 000. A radial master cylinder modulates deceleration via braided stainless-steel brake hoses. Race kit A non-street legal race kit will be available, including:
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 Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Gadson Reinforces Supersport Win in Georgia Irvine, Calif. – Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Rickey Gadson followed up his Supersport win from Valdosta, Ga. last month with another one in Commerce, Ga. during round two of the AMA Dragbike Series at Atlanta Dragway. In addition to his win, Gadson ran an unofficial record elapsed time (ET) of 9.001 in the class. |
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 Two for Two The AMA Dragbike Series is two rounds in and Gadson has proven his talents with the Ninja® ZX™-14 in the Supersport class. He set an unofficial record in the first round of eliminations, running an ET of 9.001. It will remain unofficial until Gadson claims the time with the series. “It was good to come out and back up my win from Valdosta,” said Gadson. “I wasn’t able to claim my record, but I hope that I can work it out so the record stands.” |
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 Reaction Time Pays Off During the semi-finals, Gadson faced another ZX-14 that was also an Adams Performance machine. When the bikes crossed the quarter mile the times and speeds were identical down to the hundredth. Since Gadson’s reaction time was a .085 to his competitors’ .107, Gadson took the win and moved to the finals. |
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 Pro Street Progress Gadson showed off his ZX-14 Pro Street machine for the first time in Commerce, but the team was still working out the newly built motorcycle. During their few passes over the weekend, the team saw improvement and will continue to step forward in a class that is new to them. “We haven’t been able to test much so this weekend was a good learning experience for us,” said Gadson. “The Pro Street class is very competitive, but I feel with the right improvements we can begin to prove that we belong in this class.” |
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 A Special Fan During the race weekend at the Atlanta Dragway, the AMA Pro Road Racing Series was just down the road in Braselton. Kawasaki road racer and drag racing fan Jamie Hacking made the trip to the drag strip on Saturday night to watch Gadson. |
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 Next Race Gadson looks to defend his win streak in the Supersport class at the next round on May 2-3 at Memphis Motorsports Park in Memphis, Tenn. The team will also look to the round in Memphis to continue to improve their Pro Street results. |
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 Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki’s Leandro Mercado Nails Down A Solid Second Place Sonoma, Calif.– Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki’s Leandro Mercado earned second overall in his third AMA Pro SuperSport race of the year during an exciting 18-lap, bar-to-bar battle at Infineon Raceway. The race temperature was in the mid-90s as the young riders raced fearlessly around the 11-turn course. In the AMA Pro Daytona SportBike race, both Jamie Hacking and Roger Hayden had small crashes. Hacking was able to come back for 13th, while Hayden was unable to continue. |
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 Another Podium for Tati With only three races in the books for Mercado in the AMA Pro SuperSport class, the Argentine nicknamed Tati, took his second podium. Throughout the 18-lap race, Mercado was on the rear tire of the first place rider, but was unable to find a time and place for a safe pass. “This was a tough race,” said Mercado. “I was battling the whole time and it was really hot out. It was still fun even though I didn’t get the win.” |
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 The Tough Get Going After a few laps of the AMA Pro Daytona SportBike race, Hacking was in a good position. A small mistake put his bike briefly on the ground, but a new AMA rule requires that all downed bikes come into the pits for a quick safety check before re-entering the race. After being a held up in the pits, Hacking was still able to come back for 13th overall. “The race was a little frustrating because I felt really good,” said Hacking. “After those first few laps, I didn’t feel like I was pushing too hard and I wasn’t getting tired. That’s racing and we’ll just have to hope that our next race is better.” |
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 Pushing it After a solid race on Saturday, Hayden made noticeable improvements during the Sunday warm-up prior to the race. He was running a fast pace during the race, but laid the bike down in turn two. When he came in for his safety check in the pits, he was unable to return to the race. “I was catching the rider in front of me after a mediocre start and pushing it pretty good,” said Hayden. “The track was a bit greasy with the heat and I think I just pushed it a little bit too hard. I’ll try and make up for my mistake at the next race.” |
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 Heat, Heat and More Heat The temperature in Sonoma, Calif. was a big factor in Sunday’s race. The riders did what they could to stay cool prior to the race. |
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 Still Talking During the autograph session on Sunday, Hacking only seemed to hear one thing from the fans; “That was the best save I have ever seen in my life.” The fans were referring to the near crash that Hacking displayed during race one at Barber Motorsports Park. “I heard that phrase all weekend and even though it seemed to be repetitive, I was very grateful for the fans and their enthusiasm,” said Hacking. |
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Background - The BMW K1300S
BMW announced updates to the K 1200 series at the 2008 Intermot show in Germany. They sent us 85 pages (!) of information covering the BMW K 1300 S, BMW K 1300 GT and BMW K 1300 R, with even a little S 1000 RR thrown in for good measure.
This much information means that BMW is counting on this as a major release. But...we can't help but wonder if this is a case of "too much, too late"?
With the global economic meltdown of 2008, worldwide extreme fuel prices and the difficult loan situation in many countries, a $20k bike with a 1300 cc engine may not be the best strategy. Meanwhile, at least in North America, dealers are completely sold out of smaller, fuel-efficient 125 cc to 500 cc motorcycles for the first time in decades, due to the new riders coming online and high fuel prices motivating buyers to look for MPG rather than HP.
In any case, the production schedule for the new K 1300 series was probably set several years ago, so there isn't much that BMW can do about it. And 1300 cc should be quite a kick...may as well go down in flames as the world comes to an end!
Here is an edited version of their information on the revised K 1300 S; we'll follow up with the rest of the new K 1300 series as soon as we can wade through the rest of the 85-page press release covering these new models.
