Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/728976
IN THE WIND P48 TOBY PRICE TO RACE BAJA IN A TROPHY TRUCK! C urrent Dakar number one Toby Price will contest the 2016 SCORE Baja 1000 in a Trophy Truck! The Australian will team with Jesse Jones in a Geiser Brothers truck, driv- ing "about 300-350 miles of the track," he said to Australian publication, Transmoto. Price is no stranger to four wheels, hav- ing completed in Stadium Super Truck races and a historic double effort in the Finke Desert Race in Alice Springs, Australia, finish- ing second in a two-wheel-drive truck, and also winning the bike category on his factory KTM. "Having raced Finke this year in the truck, I had the best crew around me. Rick Geiser, who builds these trucks, also came to Australia for support and to help. Anyway, Jesse was looking for a driver to compete with him at this year's Baja 1000, and Rick said I would be a great fit." Price concedes he still wants to compete in the 1000 on a bike, but says, "I still have a fire inside that wants to take me back there on two wheels, but KTM doesn't have an official Baja team. And the 1000 is very close to Dakar, which is now my main event for the year. So a roll cage makes things as safe as possible to compete back in Baja, and still be ready for Dakar." CN YAMAHA TEASES WITH ALL NEW SPORTBIKE I t's that time of year again. That time when manu- facturers gear up for the annual European motor shows and this year the headline act is INTERMOT in Cologne this October, a place to watch if you're a Yamaha fan, because that's where a new Yama- ha sport bike will be shown to the world. If you are a betting individual, you'll have your cash down that this is the new Yamaha YZF-R6, a machine that's remained largely untouched since 2008. That's an archaic lifespan for a sport bike, albeit a very good one, so it's high time the R6 was bought into this decade. The sound of the video hints at a four-cylinder engine having the nuts revved off it, ala supers- port riding style, and those with an eagle eye will see the racetrack looks suspiciously like our own Chuckwalla Valley Raceway in Southern California, hinting the bike may already be here and Yamaha is keeping it very much under wraps. If it is the new R6, it'll be interesting to see how the world takes to it. Supersport sales are in the toilet and have been for a long time. England has seen a drop of 80 percent in sales compared to 10 years ago and it's not much better here, so hav- ing a new bike on the shelves, indeed a smaller version of its uber-popular and dramatically faster YZF-R1 will make for some tense times for the Yamaha bean counters. Hopefully it is a new Yamaha YZF-R6, and the world can, once again, learn to love the wonderful machine that is a supersport 600. CN