EWC GP OF ITALY – DAILY DIARY

It’s hot and sticky in Lumezzane where the question on everyone’s lips is ‘will it rain, or won’t it?’. Italy’s had more of the wet stuff during July 2014 than they have during the last 99 years, so everyone’s wanting to know what the weekend’s going to bring. Right now the forecast is saying rain Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Either way it’s going to be a tough race…

Not happy simply organising just one event, the sixth round of the 2014 EWC series is doubled up with Extreme Lumezzane. The eighth edition of what the organisers are billing as ‘the best, the richest and hardest motorcycle race in the world’ starts on Sunday night after the world championship event. More on that a little later.

KNIGHTER’S BACK

Former EWC champion David Knight made a very last minute decision to race in Italy. His 300cc KTM officially weighed in at 116.5kg.  All bikes were weighed before being placed in the parc ferme. DK weighed in at 105kg!

RIDER MARKET

As the penultimate round of this year’s EWC series there’s a lot of talk surrounding who’ll be racing for what team in 2015. The biggest news is that both KTM and Husqvarna will likely reduce the size of their official EWC teams. Not the kind of news anyone wants to hear, it’s rumoured that the EWC’s ‘reduced’ visibility is the reason for the downsizing. Who’ll be staying and who’ll be going isn’t yet clear.

RETRO TM

Italian manufacturer TM as abandoned their familiar blue colour scheme for their home GP, opting instead for a retro look. Opting for a red and blue plastics the bikes are styled like the first TMs produced 30 odd years ago.

2015 IS HERE

Husqvarna’s factory team are all out on 2015 model machines… and we have to say they look great. Pela Renet’s #2 machine looks the absolute business…

WET, WET, WET?

All teams have been working hard prepping their machines for the expected bad weather. Even if it doesn’t rain there’s going to be plenty of mud and water. We particularly like the way Sherco neatly used five goggle lenses to give a little extra width to one of their fenders.

NIGHT VISION

With the Extreme Lumezzane event ending in darkness a number of teams were preparing their lights ready for Sunday night. Two tough days to get through first…