Former MotoGP champion Nicky Hayden is in a medically induced coma after being hit by a car while cycling in Italy.

The American was cycling on the Rimini coastline on Wednesday, having raced in the World Superbike championship in Italy last Sunday.

The 35-year-old, who has been racing for Red Bull Honda's World Superbike team, is in intensive care in Cesena.

He won his only MotoGP championship in 2006, preventing Valentino Rossi from winning a sixth successive title.

"We would like to thank everyone for their messages of support and the assistance of emergency and medical services," said Red Bull Honda in a statement.

"Once an official statement regarding Nicky's condition is released by the hospital or Nicky's family, a further update from the team will be issued."

US-based motorcycling website Asphalt & Rubber are reporting that Hayden has received surgery and is now in a ‘medically induced coma’, a state in which he’s likely to remain for the next 24 hours.

Italian motorcycling website Moto.it have an update after Hayden spent the night in Cesena Hospital.

They are reporting that ‘the clinical picture of Nicky Hayden has not improved’ and that after examination by doctors this morning his prognosis hasn’t changed. 

There are still major concerns about his head trauma and further updates will be issued throughout the day.

The Police Commander of the district, Pierpaolo Marullo, announced some details of the incident,

“At 16:50, three hours after the accident, my men continue to gather evidence for the case, which we consider to be serious. When the officers arrived at the scene, the wounded man was still at the edge of the road, being stabilised by medical teams. He was then transferred to the Red Cross Hospital of Infermi di Rimini.

Our first study of the facts would appear to show that the blow has occurred with the right front tyre of the car and that the cyclist involved was separate from the group at the time of the collision.”

Photographs from local newspaper, Rimni today, show the full extent of the damage to both the Peugeot and to Hayden’s bicycle.

It was a week to forget for Honda Racing at the Vauxhall International North West 200 as their star rider John McGuinness was ruled out of action after a high-speed horror crash in Thursday’s qualifying session.

McGuinness sustained a nasty break to his right lower leg, four broken vertebrae and broken back ribs in the incident which will also rule him out of competition at the Isle of Man TT.

Following McGuinness’ crash, the Honda Racing team withdrew from the remainder of the event. Initially, the Louth-based squad only pulled road racer turned TV star Guy Martin out of Thursday’s Superstock race, but after they were unable to establish the cause of McGuinness’ accident they erred on the side of caution and withdrew from Saturday’s Superbike and remaining Superstock races on safety grounds.

The issue for Honda lies in that McGuinness has reported to the team that he feels the engine didn’t shut off when he rolled off the throttle into Primrose Hill and while they have been able to check the bike for mechanical problems – which it had none – they’ve yet been able to gain access to the ECU and datalogger to review the data from the time of the crash.

“While we got the bike back after John’s crash, we have been unable to get into the ECU and the datalogger to get the information as it’s taken a bit of a hit,” explains Jonny Twelvetrees, the man who replaces Neil Tuxworth at the helm of the factory outfit.

“That means we don’t know exactly what happened to the bike. John said the throttle stuck, or the engine didn’t cut off and we have no way of looking into that until we can get the bike back into the workshop.

“The bike is actually in quite good condition. Mechanically everything on it is as it should be other than the impact areas. All sensors and controls are working as they should, so we need to get the data to understand.”

Despite their North West withdrawal and still not knowing the cause of McGuinness’ crash, Honda have no plans to withdraw Guy Martin from the 2017 Isle of Man TT which gets underway next week.

“We will run at the TT, he explained. “That is our objective. Of course, we will go back, figure out what happened, make our counter measures and we will be there.”

The team wouldn’t be drawn on whether they’d replace 45-year-old McGuinness for the event, but with Guy Martin severely off the pace on both the new Fireblade and the CBR600RR at not only the North West 200 but also Tandragee, Cookstown and Scarborough it might bolster their chances. 

Prepare for True Adventure with the new Africa Twin

True Adventure. In the coming few months these two words, which aptly describe the new Honda Africa Twin, will take on a whole new meaning in the eyes of every single adventure motorcyclist when Quest-True Adventure is unveiled.

But what is Honda's Quest-True Adventure? It is the ultimate adventure motorcycling challenge, involving 20 carefully selected riders on 20 specially prepared Honda Africa Twin adventure motorcycles, culminating in a challenging 12 day, 2800 km event in a yet to be disclosed part of Namibia.

Honda opted for Quest as a dedicated marketing platform to perfectly illustrate the ruggedness, refinement and market leading capabilities of the Africa Twin.

People will be able to submit entry applications for Quest at their nearest Honda dealership in South Africa and Namibia, whereafter 40 semi-finalists will be chosen to attend a Boot Camp, or selection phase. Honda's strategic partner in Quest, is Specialised Adventures, a company with a proud track record of planning and executing extreme competitions of this nature.

"We aren't looking for enduro racers or the next Dakar winner," said Hardy de Kock, managing director of Specialised Adventures, "the decision on who will finally participate will be based on contestants' appetite for adventure, their willingness to learn and adapt, their ability to function in a team environment, as well as their psychological mettle under pressure."

At the end of the Boot Camp the 20 finalists will be announced. They will then be flown to Namibia at the beginning of September to participate in the much-awaited Quest-True Adventure on 20 specially prepared Honda Africa Twin motorcycles.

While the exact location will remain a secret until the Quest-True Adventure commences, the participants will be evaluated on skills such as their mechanical maintenance and recovery abilities; as well as how they cope with challenges such as observation skills, traversing challenging terrain, endurance riding, navigational exercises and tests designed to test their ability to improvise and adapt to adversity.

More information on the Honda Africa Twin Quest-True Adventure, will come shortly. Make sure you don't miss out on a chance to participate in this all-expenses-paid, once-in-a-lifetime adventure!

With Franco Caimi winning the first part of the two-day-long marathon stage and teammate Xavier de Soultrait placing as runner-up to increase his gap at the top of the provisional overall standings, Yamalube Yamaha Official Rally Team riders were in dominant form during today's stage four at the Afriquia Merzouga Rally 2017.

Going from strength-to-strength at this year's event, Yamaha's official representatives enjoyed a great day of racing in the Moroccan dunes. As the second rider to start the special stage, Yamalube Yamaha Official Rally Team rookie Franco Caimi was on top form throughout the day. Remaining fast while avoiding costly mistakes the Argentinean topped the day's standings to claim his first stage victory aboard Yamaha machinery.

Battling for the stage victory for a fourth consecutive day, Xavier de Soultrait finished a little less than two minutes behind his Yamalube Yamaha Official Rally Team partner, thus settling for the runner-up position on stage four of the rally. Continuing his impressive run aboard the latest edition of Yamaha's WR450F Rally machine, the Frenchman is now leading the provisional overall standings with a gap of more than six minutes to his closest challenger.

Successfully battling his way through a demanding stage four, Alessandro Botturi brought his Yamaha machine home in eighth position. With two stages remaining at this year's Merzouga Rally, the Yamaha Italy supported rider is currently placed fifth in the overall standings.

With all three Yamaha riders reaching the marathon bivouac without any issues, they had a limited amount of time to prepare their bikes for stage five. Taking riders back to Erfoud, tomorrow's stage will be the second and last part of this year's marathon stage at the Merzouga Rally.

Merzouga Rally 2017 - Stage 4 - Provisional Classification
1. Franco Caimi (ARG), Yamaha, 03:16:26
2. Xavier de Soultrait (FRA), Yamaha, 03:18:23, +01:57
3. Gerard Farrés (ESP), KTM, 03:19:49, +03:23
4. Juan Pedrero (ESP), Sherco, 03:20:50, +04:24
5. Joaquim Rodrigues (POR), Hero, 03:24:46, +08:20
6. Mario Patrao (POR), KTM, 03:25:52, +09:26
8. Alessandro Botturi (ITA), Yamaha, 03:29:13, +12:47

Merzouga Rally 2017 - Overall Classification [After Stage 4]
1. Xavier de Soultrait (FRA), Yamaha, 10:36:18
2. Gerard Farres (ESP), KTM, 10:42:25, +06:07
3. Franco Caimi (ARG), Yamaha, 10:54:29, +18:11
4. Juan Pedrero (ESP), Sherco, 111:11:11, +34:53
5. Alessandro Botturi (ITA), Yamaha, 11:15:02, +38:44
6. Jacopo Cerutti (ITA), Husqvarna, 11:24:04, +47:46

Springbok Multiple MX champion Ryan Hunt with 4 decades of national championships to his name and a selected team of SA Motocross riders, will tackle the tough International MXDN World Veteran event at Farleigh Castle in the UK. This year’s team comprises German based motocross legend, multiple SA National Champion and international GP rider Colin Dugmore, Springbok and SA National Champion Tony Riddell and Andre David, who spent many years racing in the UK competing in the British MX2 and MX1 Championship, the British 2 stroke series. The team will again take on the world’s top veteran riders at this year’s event. Except for Colin Dugmore all 3 riders have represented South Africa in last year’s event and past events at Farleigh Castle.

Gavin Williams of Global ASP Limited will again be supplying and sponsoring the pre-1989 machines from his huge collection of outstanding rebuilt Motocross machines. “The team owe a big thanks to Gavin Williams of Global ASP Limited who has a fabulous collection of superb MX machinery, and for all his motorcycle preparation and fantastic team support, this is the second year the team have had this great support and backing from Gavin.”

“This event is a costly program for the team who pay a lot of the costs themselves, but this year we need help with, airfares, accommodation and shipping the bikes and parts to the UK. In return for this assistance the sponsors will be a full co-sponsor for the four-man team, with branding on all riders and their motorcycles, we will also enter under the sponsors name, give them a full pre-and post-PR program and the TV coverage we bring back every year for local flighting, this is really a great deal for a sponsor as the returns in coverage are huge compared to any financial outlay the sponsor puts in,” said Hunt.

“This is the toughest International veteran event for most riders, mainly due to the older machinery they have to ride, any rider entering this event has to get used to riding this machinery again,” said Gavin Williams.  Which is very different to anything that they are used to riding, the motorcycles are much heavier, handling is a challenge as they have far less suspension, also they certainly don’t stop as well as the latest stuff and one must be super fit to ride these older heavyweights, on what is considered as one of the most demanding circuits in the UK. We can also expect the same weather conditions that we always have at Farleigh Castle this is always guaranteed at this circuit.” said Williams

Interested sponsors can contact

Gavin Williams on 021 702 9300, Mobile 0825513263 or e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Ryan Hunt 011 314 7711, mobile 083 252 9805 or e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Digby Wesson on 011 476 9350 mobile 083 449 5589 or e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

The GMT94 Yamaha Official EWC Team and YART Yamaha Official EWC Team delivered a masterclass in Endurance racing over the last 24 hours. The two Official Yamaha Endurance teams took first and second on the podium respectively for the 2017 FIM 24 Heures Motos at the Bugatti circuit in Le Mans, turning the event into a two-horse race as they fought less than a minute apart, over the entire race, ending 11 laps ahead of the rest of the field in their own class.

GMT94 Yamaha?s David Checa enjoyed a strong start, fighting in the front pack from fifth at the first corner to rise back to fourth, before handing over to teammate Niccolò Canepa who came back out to third position. Canepa was able to increase the pressure before handing over to third rider Mike Di Meglio who continued on the same form to get the race into play. It wasn't long before the French team were up in to second position in their rhythm and chasing race leaders YART Yamaha Official, the two soon leaving the rest of the field behind. The early hours of the morning saw committed riding close the gap down to around 15 seconds, before YART began to again stretch it out. As morning broke over the circuit GMT94 raised the game again, cutting the lead back down to around 20 seconds as the two Yamahas continued their duel for the win.With just over four hours remaining Mike Di Meglio was on fast form, dropping the gap quickly to Nozane in front. An unfortunate contact with a back marker caused him to crash out, but Di Meglio himself was not slowed and with just under four hours to go he was able to catch Nozane, fighting closely through the first three turns for the lead that would become the overtake that secured the race victory.

From that point the GMT94 Yamaha Official riders were able to slowly stretch out the margin to the final lap, wrapping up the race after an exhausting 860 laps and 24 hours. Adding to the drama, Canepa fell ill with fever during the night, continuing to ride until 9am in the morning through fever and sickness before retiring to allow his two teammates to complete the final seven hours between them.It proved to be a great start for Broc Parkes on the no.7 YART machine from second on the grid, fighting to secure an early lead and immediately dropping into the 1?36s lap times. The Australian led until lap eight when a safety car came out for a couple of laps, bunching the competitors and bringing the competition in. He fought with the group until handing over to Marvin Fritz, who came out to lead the pack again. Fritz kept the pace up, maintaining the lead for his stint before passing on to young Japanese talent, Kohta Nozane. Nozane ensured the team?s race leading pace was respected, keeping the YART YZF-R1 at the front of the pack whilst displaying incredible corner lean angles as he powered around the Bugatti circuit.The three worked hard to keep and grow their lead as day turned to night, the riders taking repeated faultless turns on their R1. As the night turned to early morning, fellow Yamaha riders GMT94 Official had worked hard to close the gap to just over 15 seconds by 5am in the morning. The YART Yamaha trio then picked up the pace again, growing the gap to nearly 50 seconds just over an hour later. After leading the race for an incredible 20 hours, the gap wasn't to last, as the daylight brought with it an unexplained loss of pace. GMT94 were gradually able to regain the time creating a tense, exciting atmosphere as Yamaha hunted Yamaha on the Bugatti circuit. The winning pass was made with Di Meglio passing Nozane with just under four hours to go. YART kept their pace high as the clock counted down, discovering at the final riding stint of Parkes that the bike had been accidentally switched to wet map resulting in a lower bottom end power. As a result they crossed the line in second place 19.819 seconds behind GMT94 to secure second.Yamaha Viltaïs Experience enjoyed a great start to their Le Mans weekend, riders Axel Maurin, Bastien Mackels and Florian Alt working hard to secure the Superstock pole position. A great start to the race saw them quickly in sixth position, climbing to fifth after the first pit stop. From there their pace continued to increase, as they climbing to a highest of fourth as they battled for the Superstock victory. Without doubt the most competitive stock team on the track, an unfortunate technical issue with an oil filter plagued them twice, costing valuable time. Despite this they kept coming back and working even harder, and had regained second position in the Superstock class when an unfortunate crash in the final hours again set the clock back. They eventually brought their YZF-R1 home in a hard fought third position, ninth overall.

The Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Team gave an astounding performance in today’s Gran Premio Motul de la República Argentina, securing an immaculate 1-2 finish. Maverick Viñales was in a league of his own in the 25-lap sprint, as he flew from sixth on the grid to first place. Valentino Rossi was a man with a plan for his 350th Grand Prix start and was in hot pursuit, to ultimately secure a brilliant second place.

Viñales stormed off the line from the second row and soon muscled his way to third place, putting pressure on Cal Crutchlow in second. He attacked in turn 7 on lap 3 and soon after took over the lead as Marc Marquez crashed out of the race.

Now at the front, with a clear track as far as the eye could see, the Spaniard put his head down and pulled away from the field. He was completely in his element and rode a faultless race, steadily increasing the gap to the pursuing riders. The 22-year-old crossed the line with a healthy 2.915s lead, securing his second consecutive victory on the Yamaha with ease.This amazing achievement not only makes Viñales the first Yamaha rider since Wayne Rainey in 1990 to win the first two races of the season, but it also brings Yamaha’s Grand Prix win tally up to 499 victories in total.

Rossi had a brilliant start from seventh, entering the first corner side by side with Viñales to exit it in sixth place. He soon flew past Dani Pedrosa and Karel Abraham with the intention to stick to the rear wheel of his teammate. With Marquez out of the race on lap 4, the Italian moved up to third and felt the lure of a second place.With sixteen laps to go he dipped under the 1?40s mark and closed right up to Crutchlow. As the riders behind them got involved in a scrap and were unable to match the pace of the three riders at the front, the Doctor had a comfortable margin of close to 5 seconds, allowing him to focus on the battle to come. The nine-time World Champion sized up the Brit carefully, choosing the best place and time to make a move.

With seven laps remaining, Rossi made a pass in turn 5 and made it stick. He followed it up with a couple of low 1?40s laps to inch away from Crutchlow, making it a perfect Yamaha 1-2, the first since the Grand Prix of Le Mans in 2016, when he took the chequered flag 2.915s behind his teammate.

Today’s dream results see Viñales hold the lead in the championship standings with 50 points, closely followed by Rossi in second position with 36 points. Yamaha remains in the lead in the Constructors? Championship with a maximum of 50 points, while the Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Team lead the way in the Team Championship with 86 points, 59 points ahead of Monster Yamaha Tech3 in second place.

The Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Team will be back in action in two weeks' time at the Circuit Of The Americas in Austin, Texas, in the United States.

Massimo Meregalli

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP - Team Director

I love Argentina more and more?! Today the team can be really proud of the show they put on. Maverick delivered again! He gave an incredible performance, from the start all the way to the end and was in complete control of the race. Looking at the timesheet, you understand that he managed the race in a perfect way, never giving his rivals the chance to close the gap. Valentino really brought things around this afternoon. He had another strong ride, from further back on the grid, and showed he can always ride over the difficulties on race day. It hasn’t been an easy weekend for him, but he always worked hard to find solutions and his efforts speak for themselves when you see today’s results. We have capitalised on our major competitors' misfortunes with this amazing 1-2 podium. It was another demonstration of power by Maverick; a great end to Valentino’s 350th Grand Prix start and this 1-2 finish also brings Yamaha its 499th victory. We are already looking forward to the next round in Austin!

KTM’s two factory riders, Pol Espargaro (ESP) and Bradley Smith (GBR) brought the brand new KTM RC16 machine home in 16-17th place in a race that represented another important step in the Austrian brand’s impressive, and still relatively short development program. Smith also improved his lap time (1:57:365) in the race compared to his 1:57.654 in the third free practice session.

Espargaro: “We always want more and more but it’s the first race and we need to know what is our position, and where we are right now. We need to understand that the 33 seconds (off the lead time) we were today is good. Honestly, we need to be happy because we did a good job and for sure this track was tough for us. During the pre-season, we were at other circuits and this was the hardest of them all for us.” Smith: “The lap times and the gap to the front guys were better than we expected, and in those conditions, we saw a lot of guys making mistakes so we’re very pleased with what we were able to do today. In general, we did the best we could, and a big thanks to the KTM and we’ll see what happens in Argentina.” Smith also underlined that the weekend had produced a lot of important data for the team and this would be studied intensively and used to make improvements before the next race. 

Pit Beirer (KTM Motorsport Director), speaking to the team after the race said it had been a historic moment for the company: “Today we are here in three classes. We participated in MotoGP with two riders and it was such a unique moment for our company. This team is so amazing. We have been together for such a short time. We started from zero, with a blank piece of paper, and everyone has done an amazing job.”Mike Leitner (KTM MotoGP Team Manager): “We are super happy. It was very important that both riders finished this race. We showed what a big step this is for our company. Everyone has been working very hard and this is the result. We had no technical problems or issues in any of the sessions, or in the race and this is super good. The lap times in the race were really impressive and we didn’t expect that.” Leitner said the team would now work hard ahead of the next two races in Argentina and Austin, Texas, which were two new circuits for them. “We can only do our best and as long as everyone sticks to the plan, sooner or later we will be getting the points,” he added. 
 The MotoGP race went to Maverick Vinales with Andrea Dovizioso and Valentino Rossi picking up the minor podium places. 

Moto2 – Miguel Oliveira fourth in KTM’s first ever race
Red Bull KTM Ajo rider Miguel Oliveira (POR) gave the factory team a strong fourth place in its first ever Moto2 race to finish behind Franco Morbidelli, Tom Luthi and Takaaki Nakagami in the season opener. Oliveira got away at seventh at the start and quickly advanced two places in the early laps on his KTM Moto2. As the race progressed he settled into a two-way battle with Nakagami when Alex Marquez dropped out of contention. As riders went into the final laps Oliveira close down on the Japanese rider in a bid to take a podium place but was unable to get close enough to make the pass. KTM factory teammate Brad Binder, the 2016 Moto3 world champion continued his learning experience in the new class, rode out the race at around 20th. Oliveira and the team can leave confident that their first race in the class has positioned Oliveira as a podium contender in 2017.

Oliveira: "It was a very tough race. My start was not very good, but when I started to overtake riders I found a good pace. As the race progressed, I was prepared to follow Nakagami, and sometimes I felt stronger than him, but I knew that if I tried to overtake him, we would lose Tom Luthi and I preferred to wait until later. On the last laps I gave everything, but it was difficult because Nakagami defended very well. We would not have imagined that working with this brand new KTM, with all the team gaining experience, we would be prepared to be fighting for the podium here in Qatar at the first event of the year. I am very happy to have achieved this, and I want to thank the team for the opportunity they have given me to return to this structure. Also I thank Red Bull, KTM and the whole Ajo Motorsport team for the work they have done this weekend."

Moto3 – KTM riders finish 6-7 in season opener
Moto3 riders launched their season at Qatar in a tight race that saw Joan Mir (ESP), John McPhee (GBR) and Jorge Martin (ESP) take the prizes. Top KTM rider was Andrea Migno (ITA) of Sky Racing Team VR46 in sixth with Red Bull KTM Ajo’s new recruit Niccolo Antonelli (ITA) in seventh place. Both Migno and Antonelli were major players in the first half of the race where 13 riders duked it out in a tight group. The top eight riders were separated by just eight tenths of a second at the flag. Unlucky on the night was Red Bull KTM rider Bo Bendsneyder (NED) who had a strong start but was tagged by another rider in lap three and was finally classified at 26th. 

Antonelli: "I remained in the front group throughout the race, but I wasn't able to get into the battle for the podium. In some moments of the race I didn't feel completely comfortable with the front end, and on more than one occasion I had a scare. But I gave my all and in the end we were competitive, taking seventh place and the first points of the season. Personally, this race has been important because I had not ridden in the front group since the first half of last season. It was not easy. We will do our best to be among the best riders at the next race."

Rain at the circuit over the weekend led to the cancelation of qualifying on Saturday and Sunday’s grid order was decided according to the results of the free practice sessions. While the Moto3 and Moto2 races got away according to schedule on Sunday night, the MotoGP race was delayed by more than an hour due to more rain.
Next Race: April 9, 2017 – Termas de Río Hondo (ARG)

Results/Standings MotoGP Losail International Circuit 2017 after 1 of 18 rounds
1. Maverick Viñales (ESP), Yamaha, 38:59.999 min, 25 points (20 laps)
2. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA), Ducati, +0.461 sec, 20
3. Valentino Rossi (ITA), Yamaha, +1.928, 16
4. Marc Marquez (ESP), Honda, +6.745, 13
5. Dani Pedrosa (ESP), Honda, +7.128, 11
Other KTM
16. Pol Espargaro (ESP), KTM, +33.601
17. Bradley Smith (GBR), KTM, +39.704

Results/Standings Moto2 Losail International Circuit 2017 after 1 of 18
1. Franco Morbidelli (ITA), Kalex, 40:18.480 min, 25 points (20 laps)
2. Thomas Luthi (SUI), Kalex, +2.681 sec, 20
3. Takaaki Nakagami (JPN), Kalex, +3.304, 16
4. Miguel Oliveira (POR), KTM, +3.584, 13
5. Alex Marquez (ESP), Kalex, +11.226, 11
Other KTM
20. Brad Binder (RSA), KTM, +34.046

During the two-day test for the 2017 Le Mans 24 Heures Motos this week the YART Yamaha Official EWC Team dominated the time sheets with their four official riders on track.
The focus of the Austrian team was to get to grips with the resurfaced Bugatti circuit as well as the development of the partnership with Bridgestone - the official tyre supplier in 2017.

Aboard their YZF-R1 machine with Bridgestone tyres the riders Broc Parkes, Kohta Nozane, Marvin Fritz and Max Neukirchner put in several racing simulations as well as shorter stints to focus on outright performance.
The dry conditions during the test helped the team set the overall fastest time on the second day of 1'36.866. A clear indication that the efforts of the team and its partners are working towards even faster times during the qualifying sessions.

GMT94 Yamaha Official EWC Team with Mike Di Meglio, Niccolò Canepa and David Checa enjoyed a positive test overall. The double World Championship winning squad have been further developing the YZF-R1 from the Bol d'Or in 2016 and have worked on the overall performance and endurance.
With the focus on race simulation and the challenging conditions the Le Mans 24HR faces, the team tested the various new parts and Dunlop tyres brought to the test.  

Testing from 9am onwards proved to be the ideal setting to test the various track temperatures and find the right compounds for the race. With all riders putting in various race simulation stints both teams managed to complete a significant number of laps in total.
The 24 Hours Motos race will start on Saturday 15th of April at 15:00 CET with on-track activities getting underway from Thursday April 13th onwards.

The Austrian manufacturer is well known for its revolutionary advancements in technology and now the game-changer is finally here, with 2-stroke fuel injection Enduro models being launched as part of the 2018 EXC range. With KTM’s unwavering commitment to being at the very forefront of offroad motorcycle sport, in which the orange brand has achieved many championship wins over the years, the latest, exciting development in technology has come to fruition.

It has been no secret that KTM’s Research and Development department in Mattighofen, Austria has been developing this technology, which offers considerable benefits over carbureted models including drastically reduced fuel consumption while also no-longer having the need to pre-mix fuel or alter the machines’ jetting. Not only that, the new 2-stroke TPI models offer a completely new experience in terms of power delivery and rideability, which once again demonstrates KTM’s commitment to its offroad roots, following on from the all-new generation of Enduro machines released last year. As market leaders in this segment, KTM believes the new 2-stroke fuel injection technology, known as TPI (Transfer Port Injection), is revolutionary. More information will be available during the international media launch, which begins on May 15, 2017.

“This is an incredibly exciting development for KTM. We have been developing 2-stroke fuel injection for some time, and our goal was to create competitive motorcycles with all the benefits of fuel injection, while fitting into our READY TO RACE mantra. There has been extensive testing and considerations for our Research and Development team to take into account during this process, so we are very motivated by this next step and world first in technology, as we take a major step forward in this segment. We are certainly looking forward to unveiling the new 2018 KTM 250 EXC TPI and KTM 300 EXC TPI machines in May. In Europe the bikes will arrive at the dealer floors in early summer. In the USA and Canada, the new 2018 KTM 250 XC-W TPI will be available in very limited quantities in late fall,” said Joachim Sauer, KTM Product Marketing Manager.