Time may be running out but there’s no doubt Noriyuki Haga deserves to win a World Superbike championship.The 1997 Japanese Superbike champion burst onto the world scene in 1998, winning three of the first four races. But ten years on a championship

With 130mph tree-lined avenues, a heavily banked hairpin and a start finish straight that is actually one long corner, Oulton Park is as special as they come. There’s nothing more spectacular than standing by the exit of Deers Leap when thirty

lies second in the championship.  He also took victory on the Gixer in the only race run at the North West 200 last month and was looking like the runaway winner last Sunday at Thruxton until electrical gremlins struck after opening up a seven second

; one click on the side pods and it’s off, a gentle push and it’s back in place.  It seems good value at £159.99 so I’ll keep you posted on how it stands up to the relentless everyday abuse in Mackenzie world.   

championship and the relentless hard work that comes along with it is a different ball game altogether.I know a 38 and after 11 years of retirement Mike Hailwood made an incredible comeback to win the Isle of Man in 1978, but even riders from that era believe

I’m biased of course, but the best one make road race championship has to be the Yamaha RD 350LC Pro Am series. Back in the days when manufacturers had spare cash (1980 to be precise), Mitsui Yamaha organised this televised championship at major

.Lion in winterThere is another rider who may well be a dark horse for success in 2005: Leon Haslam, who will be riding a competitive Ducati with Dunlop tyres. He's already made history by winning a race in the UK on Pirellis in 2004, albeit in strange weather

at a track he knows well was a foregone conclusion? I wanted him to stand on that rostrum as much as anyone, not least because he is a genuine human being and a dedicated sportsman that has risen to the top of his game from an unlikely background. I

have to lend a hand when it comes to fettling the little 125cc KTM GP machines; a scary prospect when the last race bike I prepped was a ratty  350LC Yamaha back in 1981. Anyhow, as I was standing in the queue for race fuel during the Assen round I

I have to confess, when I first saw the press pictures of the 2009 Yamaha YZF-R1 I was hugely disappointed. The new model image I had been building in my head was of a smaller, sharper machine with no underseat pipes or bug-eyed headlights. I truly