Very impressed by the Moto2 wildcard of Lucas Mahias on the TransFIORmer last week-end at Le Mans.

The TransFIORmer is an artisanal bike, using a very unconventional fork design pioneered decades ago, and mostly made from bits and bobs of all sorts of former GP bikes. It's ran by a chronically underfunded team made of week-end warriors, and ridden by a 29 year-old guy who only started bike racing 5 years ago. And yet somehow they still find a way to show up at the odd race in GP and CEV, and be decently competitive too.

They had a great race at Le Mans, running 13th most of the race, and finishing 18th. Which is impressive as Moto2 is a very competitive class with quite a few former world champions. Just makes you wonder what their bike could do with proper development and a world class rider.

I watched a pretty good race today in Spain. Not sure if it was live or recorded, but I enjoyed watching it

Btw, Michael vd Mark an lfs license holder is leading the world supersport championship. Allready 2 wins and next year probably moving up to world superbikes with Ten Kate Honda. I think Framaris was or is his manager?

Quote from ChristijaNL :

Btw, Michael vd Mark an lfs license holder is leading the world supersport championship. Allready 2 wins and next year probably moving up to world superbikes with Ten Kate Honda. I think Framaris was or is his manager?

Absolutely right He is.

Quote from ChristijaNL :

Btw, Michael vd Mark an lfs license holder is leading the world supersport championship. Allready 2 wins and next year probably moving up to world superbikes with Ten Kate Honda. I think Framaris was or is his manager?

Crash.net had an nice interview with him a few months ago: http://www.crash.net/wss/inter ... hael-van-der-mark-qa.html

Not really following WSS but great to see him do well!

Also, brilliant MotoGP race last week-end. 4 insanely talented guys handle-bar to handle-bar for 45 minutes, what's not to like. And you even get Vale and Marc joking about it at the end

Quote from GreyBull [CHA] :

Also, brilliant MotoGP race last week-end. 4 insanely talented guys handle-bar to handle-bar for 45 minutes, what's not to like. And you even get Vale and Marc joking about it at the end

I must have held my breath the whole race, and then lol'ed at those two. MotoGP at its best.

Quote from TexasLTU :

Absolutely right He is.

Actually I am not his manager anymore, I gave the hand to a real manager with the necessary contacts for that job... His father (le Mans winner in 1984) is one of my best friend and he asked me to give them a hand when things went wrong a couples of years ago after his motogp 125cc experience... Michael was a bit pissed at first when I forced him to go to the 600cc in the European superstock championship, which he won in his second year, it now looks like his going to do the same in the world supersport champ this year. He's a great guy, bit shy, but with a great racing mentality. Superbike will probably be an option for next year, but he also won the 8h of Suzuka for Honda on a 1000cc superbike last year and they will ask him to defend his title this year, they seems to like him a lot...So I could see Honda opening some doors to moto2 too...I am sure we'll ear a lot about him in coming years!

Here is a link to watch all the SBK and WSS races (Michael won Malesia, Donington and Assen): http://www.motolink.info/sbk2014.htm

Here is the link for the MotoGP: http://www.motolink.info/motogp2014.htm

Quote from Framaris :

Actually I am not his manager anymore, I gave the hand to a real manager with the necessary contacts for that job... His father (le Mans winner in 1984) is one of my best friend and he asked me to give them a hand when things went wrong a couples of years ago after his motogp 125cc experience... Michael was a bit pissed at first when I forced him to go to the 600cc in the European superstock championship, which he won in his second year, it now looks like his going to do the same in the world supersport champ this year. He's a great guy, bit shy, but with a great racing mentality. Superbike will probably be an option for next year, but he also won the 8h of Suzuka for Honda on a 1000cc superbike last year and they will ask him to defend his title this year, they seems to like him a lot...So I could see Honda opening some doors to moto2 too...I am sure we'll ear a lot about him in coming years!

Here is a link to watch all the SBK and WSS races (Michael won Malesia, Donington and Assen): http://www.motolink.info/sbk2014.htm

Here is the link for the MotoGP: http://www.motolink.info/motogp2014.htm

Brilliant. Thanks for the update Framaris. Would be cool to see him in Moto2 at some point, Sam Lowes isn't doing too bad this year

Since some were interested, Michael also won Portimao last Sunday, he's now leading the champ with 53 points with 4 races to go (though one of those 4 isn't confirmed yet)....looks like we're on the way to get our first licensed lfs player who become world champion in real life racing...Lets see if he can keep his head together till the end!... They now have a long break till September, Michael was in Suzuka's first official training last Monday and Tuesday where he finished second on the board, the 8H race is on the 26th of Jully.


Small article about Portimao and some highlights (race can be watched from the link I posted above): http://www.worldsbk.com/en/new ... SS+fight+to+claim+victory

Wow...great stuff Fram. Good luck for those final races, my fingers are crossed.

Guess who won the 8H of Suzuka?....for the second time in the row!

What a year for Michael, he's in the zone!

Video finish+podium: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEaxEYfZJRE
Little article: http://www.mcnews.com.au/2014-suzuka-8-hours-results-1/

Superb.
Thanks for the links....could they not find a bigger trophy?

@ Framaris, do u know if these bikes are closer to world superbikes or Moto GP machines?

It's interesting to know cause Michael was so damn fast with this bike both last and this year.

Personally i think he would be very successful in WSB. Moto GP i'm not so sure, but i don't mean this in a negative way.

Quote from ChristijaNL :

@ Framaris, do u know if these bikes are closer to world superbikes or Moto GP machines?

It's interesting to know cause Michael was so damn fast with this bike both last and this year.

Personally i think he would be very successful in WSB. Moto GP i'm not so sure, but i don't mean this in a negative way.

The bike he rode is a 1000cc Superbike just like the ones that race in the top division of the World Superbikes.

Michael feels like 1000cc are easier to ride than the 600cc, he's also quite tall, so yeah I think he's ready for SBK...for the motogp I don't know, those bikes are very stiff so the learning curve is quite steep, maybe some moto2 could be advisable before it....that is if he decides to go there...but he's a big fan of the sbk tour, so he may stay there for another year or two (though to be ideal Honda should bring a new bike to the market, the one Ten Kate is running is a bit old tech now)...contract time is around the corner, so we'll know soon!

Quote from Framaris :

Michael feels like 1000cc are easier to ride than the 600cc, he's also quite tall, so yeah I think he's ready for SBK...for the motogp I don't know, those bikes are very stiff so the learning curve is quite steep, maybe some moto2 could be advisable before it....that is if he decides to go there...but he's a big fan of the sbk tour, so he may stay there for another year or two (though to be ideal Honda should bring a new bike to the market, the one Ten Kate is running is a bit old tech now)...contract time is around the corner, so we'll know soon!

Yeah I think to go from SBK to MotoGP, you should have a season in Moto 2 just for acclimatization, the bikes are very different in those two classes.

Quote from Framaris :

...for the motogp I don't know, those bikes are very stiff so the learning curve is quite steep, maybe some moto2 could be advisable before it....

The other young guy on the lower step of the podium beside him is Dominique Aegerter, riding quite successfully in Moto2 at the moment. He mentioned on Swiss TV that the bikes are quite different but it's not that big of a problem as long as he got one or two days in between switching from one to the other.

Good to see the young guns riding just as well as the "old"school riders in the endurance events.

Moto2 is often criticised for not being a worthy rung-below the MotoGP class. No carbon brakes (understandable, but often cited as a massive difference for riders entering the top class) but less power than WSS even. Whilst it is a "prototype" class, the only thing it really has in its favour is the standard of competitiveness which is immensely high.

Quote from troy :

The other young guy on the lower step of the podium beside him is Dominique Aegerter, riding quite successfully in Moto2 at the moment. He mentioned on Swiss TV that the bikes are quite different but it's not that big of a problem as long as he got one or two days in between switching from one to the other.

Good to see the young guns riding just as well as the "old"school riders in the endurance events.

Yeah Aegerter is probably another champion in the making, great fighting spirit in moto2 and a really good first showing in the 8h of Suzuka SBK.

Quote from troy :

Good to see the young guns riding just as well as the "old"school riders in the endurance events.

To be fair, Aegarter has shown some incredible consistency(and a very low crash record too) in Moto2. Especially on the Suter chassis which is known to be a bit harder to setup than the dominating Kalex.

Quote from Anthoop :

Superb.
Thanks for the links....could they not find a bigger trophy?

F1 should take note

Speaking of the devil(s), Aegarter and van der Mark are both candidates for a MotoGP ride at Forward according to Speedweek.

http://www.speedweek.com/motog ... r-Mark-Domi-Aegerter.html

Love this vid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gd3bW32Yht4

Quote from GreyBull [CHA] :

Speaking of the devil(s), Aegarter and van der Mark are both candidates for a MotoGP ride at Forward according to Speedweek.

http://www.speedweek.com/motog ... r-Mark-Domi-Aegerter.html

As usual in this period, there are a lot of speculations and rumours...I am also hearing that Honda could step in to SBK (probably with Ten Kate as background partner??)...that would include an Honda contract in SBK for Michael...I also know that a moto2 team has contacted him (can't say which one )...but like I said, many speculations and rumours, by the end of September we should know for sure!

some highsider that is.

If like me you consider that Lorenzo, Rossi, Pedrosa and Stoner are aliens, what should we call this guy? https://www.youtube.com/watch? ... -5jQ&feature=youtu.be