International Dealer News IDN 142 April/May 2018 | Page 18

news ROOM
Michael Dunlop to ride for
Factory Paton SC-Project Team
The Northern Irish rider will compete
alongside Italian Stefano Bonetti on the
Factory S1-R Lightweight Paton at the
2018 Isle of Man TT.
Factory S1-R Paton won the
Lightweight TT Race in 2017, showing
a competitiveness that promptly
attracted the attention of several
privateer teams.
Michael Dunlop was the first rider in the
whole history of the Isle of Man TT to
have achieved a lap of the course in less
than 17 minutes, as well as being one
of the most successful TT riders. He is
extremely competitive in every class,
from the Supersport to the Superstock
and the Lightweights.
Speaking about the deal, SC-Project
Team owners Stefano Lavazza and
Marco De Rossi said: “We are extremely
happy that a champion like Michael is
joining our Paton SC-Project Reparto
Corse Team. Our collaboration with him
started last year just with the supply of
a SC-Project exhaust for the MD Racing
Yamaha R6 he won the Supersport TT
with.
“Michael was very satisfied with the
product and he wanted to carry on our
collaboration this year as well, with the
supply of SC-Project exhausts for the
S1000RR BMW and the CBR 600RR
Honda he will ride respectively in the
Superstock and Supersport races.
“His skills are well known to everyone,
and we are well aware that a rider like
Michael has victory as his sole focus. It
is an honour for us and for Paton to
have one of the fastest TT riders ever
riding for our team. We are ready for the
challenge of confirming Paton as the
bike to beat on the Isle of Man”.
Paton S1-R Lightweight Project
Managers Roberto Pattoni and Andrea
Realini added: “To have Michael
Dunlop onboard the purely Italian
Paton is an honour. Some top riders got
in touch with us, and this shows how
well we have worked in these past few
years, and now the acquisition by SC-
Project is taking us to another level.
BMW GS Trophy - Central Asia
The GS Trophy is heading to
Mongolia in June 2018 for what
BMW says “will be its biggest
challenge yet. With three new
teams joining the competition
(Australia, India and a second
International Female Team), and
now with eight days of
competition to allow for the
huge distances, the sixth BMW
Motorrad International GS
Trophy, held in Central Asia, is
set to break all records.
“For 2018, Mongolia will offer
much more in just the one
experience as the riders will
venture from mountains to the
desert via the vast Mongolian
Steppe (high-altitude
grasslands). The scale for this
edition is truly epic”.
Mongolia is both huge (at 1.5
million square kilometres it’s
about three times the size of
Germany) and sparsely
populated – with a population
“The Bonetti and Dunlop duo will be a
key element to improving our S1-R and
to confirm Paton as the fastest
Lightweight at the Isle of Man TT. We
are sure that even Pep (founder of the
Paton factory and Roberto’s father)
would have appreciated such a hot
blooded and passionate rider as
Michael Dunlop. We can’t wait to
start!”.
of just 3 million, you’d have to
travel to Antarctica to find a less
densely populated region.
From Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia’s
capital, to Munich (home of
BMW Motorrad) is about 8,250
km by road and track, a journey
that typically takes around three
weeks, or 13 hours by plane. “It
shares its southern border with
China, while Russia (essentially
Siberia) lies to the north. The
plateau sits at an altitude of
around 1,000-1,500 m above sea
level, and while this will keep
the temperatures cooler, the
participants should expect
anything between 0°C nights
through to about 25°C during the day. Conditions can be
extreme - high winds and dust
storms are not uncommon. And
while Mongolia is a surprisingly
sunny country (averaging
around 250 sunny days a year),
summer is the rainy season”.
The Central Asia 2018 event is
the sixth staging of the biennial
GS Trophy, the previous races
took place in South East Asia
(Thailand) in 2016, North
America (Canada) in 2014, South
America (Chile, Argentina) in
2012, South Africa (SA,
Swaziland, Mozambique) in 2010
and North Africa (Tunisia) in
2008. This edition will see 18
teams competing, comprising 54
riders. The event begins on June
1, 2018.
www.gstrophy.com
custom gold
tint with gold hubs.
Randall went on to say: “These are
one-of-a-kind pieces of art and we
really appreciate BST’s help. We’d also
like to thank our sponsor Vortex
Sprockets for the selection of
aluminium sprocket configurations
they have provided to run with the
BST wheels.”
The ZX-12R has been boosted by the
addition of a 1,270cc big bore kit from
Muzzy Performance. Much time has
been invested in dialling in the Power Commander 3 to
properly handle all the modifications,
and Randall has shared his fuel maps
with over a dozen other owners of ZX-
12Rs, which also have had the
1,270cc kit installed. A high flow fuel
pump ensures that fuel is always kept
up to the injectors. A Muzzy steering
damper helps keep the tracking
straight and combines with an Ohlins
shock and RaceTech modified forks,
which have been treated to a gold
nitriding to complete the look.
www.blackstonetek.com
200 mph wheels?
Noted Johannesburg, South Africa
based carbon fibre wheels specialist
Blackstone Tek (BST) recently supplied
a set of ‘specials’ for Canadian speed
freak Cliff Randall’s Muzzy Kawasaki
ZX1270, one of two bikes that he’ll be
campaigning this summer to be used
at ‘The Loring Mile’ in the United
States (Maine, New England), and
“both are now running on these
beautiful (and light) BSTs,” says Cliff.
A centre for record setters and
performance enthusiasts, the ECTA
(East Coast Timing Association) Loring
Mile is a demanding proving ground
where only the best engineered and
prepared race bikes survive, but where
some spec tacular times are possible.
Randall’s aim is to mount an assault
on the 200-mph mark (322 kph) and
described the wheels as “incredible,
18
absolutely incredible. We are so
pleased and thankful to BST for
coming up with these ‘specials’ for us.
Not only do they look amazing, but
their light weight, high strength and
the low- profile Dunlop Q3s, they
allow us to run [60 series on the front,
50s at rear] will definitely give us an
edge”.
The wheels are from BST’s new ‘Black
Mamba’ range of 7-spokers with
interchangeable rear wheel and
INTERNATIONAL DEALER NEWS - APRIL/MAY 2018