Cycle News

Cycle News Issue 48 December 5, 2017

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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P90 CN III IN THE PADDOCK BY MICHAEL SCOTT N ot sure how factory Yamaha Superbike racer Michael van der Mark must feel. Twenty-five years old, the Dutchman was disap- pointed when a plan for him to race Rossi's M-1 at Aragon fell through when Rossi came back early from injury. He was prom- ised an outing at post-season tests, but instead got a real taste of proper MotoGP racing, riding Jonas Folger's vacant Tech 3 Yamaha for two races at the end of last season. Van der Mark didn't acquit himself badly. It wasn't a blazing start and he didn't score any points, but he was only one place out of them at Sepang, and two at Valencia, on the most powerful and electronical- ly complex bike he's ever rid- den, on tires he's never used, in a field of race-hardened MotoGP veterans. Once upon a time, this might have constituted an entry ticket to the senior world champion- ship. No longer. It is more dif- ficult than ever now, for riders as well as teams. Only a couple of months before, there'd been another strike in the death knell of GP ambitions for him and others of his ilk, nursing vain hopes in FIM World or British Super- bikes. GROWING UP FAST

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