The second round of the National Traditional Enduro Championship took riders to thehot and dusty trails of Nyala pans in Richmond, where no stone was left unturned by the Brother Leader Tread KTM team. The team put on an exhilarating display of skill and determination and came back with great results. 

In the fiercely contested E2 class, Will Slater exhibited his exceptional riding capabilities and steered his KTM 300 XC-W to an impressive second-place finish, even after having a crash and helping out a fellow rider who also had a very serious crash. Slater commented, “I had a bit of a crash today that caused me to lose a bit of time, luckily the guys in the pits were quick to help me fix up my bike and get back on track.” 

He went on to say, “It was a very cool and high-speed track. Quite dusty but nothing we can do about that. The organizer put on a really good event and all in all, I just had a good day.” 

The E1 class bore witness to a sensational class victory by Dylan Jones, whose relentless pursuit of victory led him to the top step of the E1 class. Jones’ outstanding riding skills and strategic approach solidified his position as a formidable competitor in the National Enduro Championship. 

Jones commented on the day saying, “I had a great day out on the bike, it was very dusty conditions, and the track wasn’t too technical but was nice and flowy. The river was just a bit rough, and the rocks were extremely slippery, it was difficult staying on track but that’s all part of it and I enjoyed every minute of it.” 

He continued, “I had a bit of a dice with William throughout the day and on the last lap we finished together which was really fun. It was cool to ride with my team-mate and see what the level is. Now we’re off to round 3 first in the E1 class and I’m super excited.” 

Rounding off the team is young gun, Matthew Stevens in the high school class, securing a commendable fourth-place finish. “Overall, a tough, but good day for me. The conditions were very fast and by the end of the day there were a few breaking bumps by the river. I was struggling a bit through the river, it was really tough especially with harder compound tires it was quite slick and getting through there with shorter legs but I managed”. He finished off with saying, “I really enjoyed the day, and I am definitely going to come back stronger.” 

After the pole position in the rain, the rider of the Mooney VR46 Racing Team conquers another podium and the second place in the general standings. 11th Luca Marini

Silverstone (Great Britain), August 5th 2023 – Eighth podium of the 2023 season – fourth in the Sprint - for Marco Bezzecchi who, on the Ducati Desmosedici GP of the Mooney VR46 Racing Team, conquers the second place in the Saturday race at Silverstone and moved up to the second place in the general classification with 167 points (P2 also among the Teams with 265 points). 11th after a good qualifying, despite the particularly challenging weather and heavy rain during the day, Luca Marini.
Started from the pole position in mixed track conditions, Marco immediately takes the pace of the very first guys in second place. In the slip stream of the P1 (A. Marquez) during the last lap, he crosses the finishing line confirming the second place.
More complicated race for Luca, who started from the sixth box on the grid. After a good start, he has struggled to interpret the treacherous track conditions and finished just outside the Top10 (sixth in the overall classification with 98 points).

WASHOUGAL, Wash. – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Aaron Plessinger raced his way to fifth overall in the 450MX Class at Round 8 of the 2023 Pro Motocross Championship, with 250MX Class contender Maximus Vohland taking an eighth-place finish at Washougal.

Plessinger opened the weekend by powering his KTM 450 SX-F FACTORY EDITION to the seventh-fastest time in qualifying, as riders navigated their way through the shadows of the notoriously slick track layout, which would become increasingly challenging as the day progressed.

A top-10 start in moto one resulted in a difficult outing of sorts for Plessinger, who claimed a seventh-place result by race's end. For moto two, the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing pilot launched out of the gates to grab the all-important holeshot, holding onto the lead for the opening laps and setting a strong pace at the front of the pack.
Battling hard throughout the race, Plessinger would charge all moto long, and ride to a hard-fought third-place moto finish, which resulted in him climbing to fifth overall for the round and sees him maintain third in the 450MX Class points chase.

Aaron Plessinger: “I was very mad at myself after the first moto – I'm not sure what I was doing! Then I came back, thought about what it was that I did wrong, and how I could fix it, which started with a holeshot in the second moto. It was a really, really good second moto, I led a few laps, then tried to latch on to Chase [Sexton] and Jett [Lawrence] there, but they're riding fast at the moment. I was able to hold on for third, and my final few laps were strong, which was a really good end to my day."

In 250MX, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Vohland continued his consistent streak in the class, setting the sixth-fastest lap-time in the morning's qualifying session. A quick start in the opening moto saw him in the fight among the leaders, as he charged his way to an eventual fifth-place score. An eighth in moto two would secure Vohland P8 overall for the round.

National Motocross Championship - Port Elizabeth - Round 6 & 7

It was a weekend of guts, grit, and glory for the Red Bull KTM team as they left everyone in a trail of orange roost in Port Elizabeth. Reigning supreme in the MX1, MX2 and Highschool classes, it was star riders Cameron Durow and Luke Grundy who came to steal the show snatching up the top step in their respective classes.

As a favourite on the calendar, the Rover MX track served nothing but quality racing over the two rounds. With a comfortable lead and one hand on both the MX1 and MX2 Championships, Durow put on one of his best performances of the season to secure the prestigious MX1 title for the very first time and claim the MX2 title for the second consecutive year. A visibly stoked Durow commented: “My very first MX1 title and a back-to-back MX2 title! I am so excited and can’t be happier with how the weekend went.” He went on to say, “I managed to get 7 out of 8 wins for the two rounds coming close to a perfect double-header weekend. I’m so excited for the last round and to end this year off on a high note.” 

In yet another stellar performance, Luke Grundy took a clean sweep to win the High School Championship. All the rider had to do was put the finishing touches on the 54 point lead that he’d established at the double header. With yet another double win, Grundy takes the honoured title for the second year in a row.

“I had such an amazing weekend! Even though I didn’t have perfect starts this weekend and I had to work myself back up from being stone last in the second heat in round 7, I still managed to fight for my championship and climb onto that top step for myself and the team. It was absolutely unreal, and I am back-to-back 125 Highschool class champion for 2023.”

Rounding out the squad was Jono Mlimi, who had another tough day in the saddle. The rider found himself having yet again a couple of mechanical issues. “My results weren’t great, but the track was so nice in the 6th round and quite rough in the 7th round which I also really enjoyed. I just tried to get out of the weekend safe and will give it my all in the last round to wrap up the year positively.” 

Group manager Grant Frerichs had the following to say about the team’s remarkable performance,

“It’s a great feeling wrapping up these championships with the team knowing the pressure is off completely for the final round. At the end of the day, we race to win and Cameron and Luke have done a lot of winning this year and they deserve everything that comes along with these championships. I am proud of both and their work ethic and dedication towards their craft.”

Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK riders Toprak Razgatlıoğlu and Andrea Locatelli took their second team 1-2 qualifying result of 2023, followed by a thrilling performance in Race 1 at the seventh round of the 2023 FIM Superbike World Championship in Italy. 

After some confusion following Superpole this morning, where Locatelli initially had his fastest lap cancelled, the Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK squad lined up first and second on the grid for the first points-paying race at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari in WorldSBK since 2019.It was “Loka” who got the hole-shot to lead the field into Turn 1, holding off attacks from Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Ducati) and his teammate Razgatlıoğlu until the Turkish ace hit the front on Lap 4. An opening set of laps that has audiences – and team management – equal parts thrilled and apprehensive!The dream of a team 1-2 was shortly dispatched as main championship rivals Alvaro Bautista (Ducati) and Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki) made a charge for the podium as the race settled in. Razgatlıoğlu held off Bautista until Lap 12 this time out, taking a hard-fought second place podium position once again at the end of Lap 19. The silver lining was in the #54 rider achieving a special career milestone of 100 WorldSBK podiums with the result.

Locatelli also battled hard in the extreme Imola heat, crossing the line in fourth position with hopes of fine tuning his R1 WorldSBK set-up to battle for the podium for the full race distance.

The historic and popular Goodwood Festival of Speed, one of the UK’s busiest gatherings of iconic motorsport machinery and heroes, will count on an enlarged MotoGP presence for the 30th edition of the show in mid-July and Red Bull KTM Factory Racing will be adding some ‘orange’ to proceedings.

Established in 1993 by the Duke of Richmond at the Goodwood Estate in southern England, the Festival of Speed has developed into an immensely revered annual event where legends of motorsport past and present have lined up to meet fans and also make the famous hill climb run. The 2023 incarnation has almost sold-out across the four days from Thursday 13th July to Sunday 16th.

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing will join the festivities with Mika Kallio throwing his leg over the KTM RC16 on Thursday and Friday and then Brad Binder, currently 4th in the 2023 MotoGP world championship standings, appearing on the bike through Saturday and Sunday.

The appeal of the Festival of Speed means over 200,000 visitors are expected to walk through the doors of the site for the duration. The expanded focus on MotoGP serves as a tantalising appetiser for the British public only three weeks before the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on August 4-6th that will constitute round nine of the season.

The second and third rounds of the National Hard Enduro took the Husqvarna Racing riders to the chilly surroundings of the Drakensberg mountains for the IMPI Hard Enduro. It was a noteworthy weekend for the team as power duo Travis Teasdale and Heinrich Aust were firing on all cylinders throughout the race weekend.

Teasdale onboard his Husqvarna TE 300 described time trial as always being his favorite to get his eye in and to get used to the conditions for the weekend ahead. He stormed to victory on day one of the race weekend leaving no stone unturned. Unfortunately, due to mechanical issues caused by treacherous rocky conditions left Teasdale fighting for valuable championship points on the second day ending up in P8 overall for the IMPI event.

Teasdale commented on the race saying, “It was a cold and early start to the first day. There was a big train of us just trying to navigate our way through the new terrain. I broke away from the pack in the gold loop and onto bronze home I broke away from William and pulled a decent size gap on the way home to take the win.” 

He went on to say, “I pushed to break through the group on the second day, unfortunately, I heard a leak in my radiator which had the mechanics at DSP sorting it out super quick for me. Coming down the big pass I dropped off a step and the wall collapsed, bending my sprocket after losing about 2 hours it was a matter of bringing it home safe and steady to get some good points in the bag for the National Championship.” Young prodigy Heinrich Aust started the weekend off on a good note on his Husqvarna TE 250 and gave an impressive performance ending well in the top 5 gold classifications on the first day of the IMPI. Staying focused on the end goal and leaving it all out on the field, Aust went on to snatch up second place on day 2 giving him second place overall for the IMPI event

Aust said, “I started off fairly slow on day one but I managed to do what I needed to do in order to stay in contention and then I pushed hard on day 2 to bring home second overall which I am really happy about. I am now looking ahead to the next round of enduro which is back to the traditional series.”

Grant Frerichs, group manager commented on the teams performance saying, “It was a bittersweet weekend for the team with Travis winning day one and then having numerous issues on day 2 while Heinrich showed great progression confirming his abilities as a hard enduro rider.

MURRIETA, Calif. – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing would like to thank Cooper Webb for his achievements, commitment and determination following a highly-successful five seasons together. At this time, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing and the 27-year-old Webb have mutually agreed to part ways with immediate effect.

Ian Harrison, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team Manager: “On behalf of the team, I would like to thank Cooper for the years of successes we have had together. Over the past five years, we have been on the 450SX podium 52 times and of those, 21 were victories. We won the 450SX titles in 2019 and 2021, had a strong runner-up season in 2020 and finished third this year despite an unfortunate season-ending crash in Nashville.

Cooper had the option in his contract as to whether he wanted to race outdoors and he decided at Daytona that he would not compete in AMA Pro Motocross in 2023. However, following his SX season-ending crash in Nashville, Cooper reached out about racing MX and KTM agreed to support him for the summer. Both sides came into the series somewhat underprepared and a practice crash before RedBud sidelined Cooper once again.

Both Cooper and the team have decided to part ways, this will give him time to recover and then move on to the next chapter of his racing career. The team and myself wish him all the best. I will always be reminded of the success we have had together because Cooper’s championship bikes and trophies stand proudly in the KTM race shop lobby.”

Webb joined Red Bull KTM Factory Racing in 2019 and went on to clinch a first-career 450SX Championship in that inaugural campaign, before again claiming the premier class crown in 2021 onboard the KTM 450 SX-F FACTORY EDITION.

Collectively, between 2019-2023, Webb and Red Bull KTM Factory Racing amassed a total of 21 Main Event wins together in the 450SX division of the AMA Supercross Championship, as well as a single AMA Pro Motocross Championship 450MX round victory in 2019. The entire team wishes Cooper well in his future endeavors.

The rider of the Mooney VR46 Racing Team sets ambitious goals for the second half of the season. Currently sixth in the standings, he is aiming for the maximum result and the Team title

Tavullia (Italy), July 6th 2023 – Luca Marini doesn't stop and already has his eyes fixed on the second half of the season. Eight races behind him and a more than positive balance for the rider of the Mooney VR46 Racing Team, in his third year in MotoGP on the Ducati Desmosedici GP, and working to get back on the Top class podium.Second in America (first MotoGP podium of his career), third in Argentina in the Sprint and four times starting from the front row (Americas GP, French GP, German GP, Dutch GP), Luca is currently sixth in the general standings with 98 points and consistently in the Top5.

Solid and fast in all conditions, he sets a new goal for the end of the season: more podiums, together with Marco the Team title (P2, 256 points) and a victory.

Podium positions in two of the three categories and healthy support presence in the paddock of the 2023 FIM Junior Motocross World Championship meant that KTM emphasized their role and enthusiasm for the foundation stages of the sport and the first steps towards MXGP.

The latest edition of the one-day world championship meet took place across the hard-packed sand of the TCS Racing Park near Bucharest, Romania. The 65, 85 and 125 classes were home to a wide spread of KTM SX technology and raced by hopeful youngsters from across the globe. Riders from the USA, South Africa, Australia, Africa and Israel and from a wide spread of countries in Europe gathered for the practice, qualifying and racing program across the weekend.KTM offered ample support with a technical structure in Romania that provided guidance and assistance for the aspiring kids and teenagers as well as their families.

From the formative 65s, American Easton Graves walked the second step as overall runner-up with his KTM 65 SX. South Africa’s Evan Frost and Germany’s Jamiro Peters managed 6th and 7th. Jarne Bervoets – son of multiple Grand Prix winner Marnicq – was the first of four KTM 85 SX riders in the top five of the 85cc contest. The Belgian won the second moto. He placed ahead of Holland’s Dean Gregoire, Italy’s Riccardo Pini and Switzerland’s Ryan Oppliger. 19 of the 38 runners rode the same machinery.KTM had two riders in the final top ten of the 125cc division. Denmark’s Mads Fredsoe and Hungary’s Noel Zanocz rode their KTM 125 SX to 9th and 10th respectively.

The FIM Junior Motocross World Championship has been the launchpad for some of the biggest names in the sport and is seen as a key springboard for the brightest and best talent to put their name into the reckoning of factory teams and official backing.