2003 has been a pretty monumentous year for
us here at MBT. This year has seen us expand from a small, almost
hobby site with around 30,000 hits a month to a fully fledged
online magazine approaching 2 million hits each month. As we haven't
really advertised anywhere, that's all down to you, the readers,
telling people about us and keeping on coming back. So take a
bow, all of you, and accept our appreciation.
Outside in the real world there have been a
few developments as well. As seems traditional at this time of
year, we came up with a few categories to vote on, so we could
foist our opinions on you of what was great and good this year.
Categories and nominations are, in no particular
order:
Bike of the year
Husaberg FS450E
Triumph Daytona 600
Ducati Multistrada
Yamaha Warrior
Ducati 1000DS
Biking product of the year
Oxford Hotgrips
Rainbow Tyres
The MotorbikesToday shop
Bikesafe
Biking person of the year
Barry Sheene
Shane Byrne
Neil Hodgson
Sete Gibernau
Dave Jefferies
Bike related event
of the year
Harley Davidson 100th Birthday
The National Rally
European Supermoto at Lydden Hill
World Superbikes, Magny-Cours
Bike we're most looking forward to in 2004
Yamaha R1
Suzuki GSX-R 750
Kawasaki ZX-10
Peugeot Jetforce 125
MZ 1000DS
But
before we announce the winners, let's look at some of the other
events of the year.
We saw British world champions in World Superbikes,
Trials and Sidecars. We saw British Superbikes truly come of age
as the championship showed what the World series could be with
an even playing field. Shane Byrne's eventual victory over the
big Suzuki of John Reynolds was well earned and emphatic but by
no means easy. Shakey's astounding performance at the World Superbikes
round at Brands, where the wildcard rider swept the board, shows
just how good our local talent really is.
We had some good results on the legislative
front as it was decided that it was OK to ride a BMW C1 without
a helmet, most councils agreed to let bikes use bus lanes and
many local authorities introduced pro-bike measures into their
strategic plans. Not London, though, where bike parking is reduced,
bus lanes are still off limits and no improvement is in sight.
The NEC show was well attended and introduced
us to some of the most exciting new metal we have seen for a long
time. 2004 is going to be quite something.
2003
was not without it's sadness, though. We said goodby to Daijiro
Kato, a real rising star in MotoGP, who died at the opening
round of the championship at Suzuka. Hopefully his death will
not have been in vain, as the circuit has finally been closed
to allow safety improvements to be made that may prevent a similar
tragedy in the future. Team honour was maintained in great style
by Sete Gibernau, who suggested on a number of occasions that
Dai was still helping him along.
Barry
Sheene, hero to many and familiar figure to all, lost
his long battle with cancer and left the bike world an emptier
and less interesting place. It is a measure of a man, they say,
how he is missed. That makes Barry Sheene one hell of a great
man. His impact on racing, and on biking in general, cannot ever
be overestimated. He brought motorcycling from being a dirty,
socially unpopular subculture into people's living rooms. He was
the first to embrace commercial advertising, the first to show
the world that we could be articulate, charming and attractive,
the first real superstar we had ever seen. He was also a bloody
nice bloke, a real laugh and a fighter to the end. You can read
our obituary here.
Dave
Jefferies died in practice for the F1 TT having alrady
lapped the island faster than anyone else. A mark of the man's
talent is that the fastest laps during the week were still nowhere
near his outright record. Personally I don't think it will ever
be beaten. His team-mate, Ian Archibald, went on to take many
of the trophies on his TAS Suzuki GSX-R 1000. DJ was a remarkable
man, apparently unaware of his enormous talent and certainly unencumbered
by the ego we so often see with very skilled racers. You can read
more about DJ here.
And
finally we lost the great, flawed genius that was Steve
Hislop in a helicopter crash. One of the nicest, most
honest men in racing, Steve was probably also one of the unluckiest.
Steve's outspoken nature sometimes worked against him in the cut
and thrust of racing politics, but on the track when he was on
form there was simply nobody who could touch him. His incredible
qualifying lap at Donnington where he beat Rossi's GP lap on a
standard British Superbike summed up his abilities to a tee. And
his failure to capitalise on the pole position summed up his luck. Here's our full obituary.
Less
tragically on a human scale but equally sadly in bike terms, we
also said a final smoky farewell to two stroke 500cc race bikes.
The Proton, camapigned by Jeremy McWilliams, ring-a-dinged it's
last and was consigned to the history books. While any tears shed
were as a reult of the Castrol-R fumes, of course, it has to be
said that the passing of an era brought a lump to many a throat.
Read more here if you wish.
On to the winners, then.
The 2003 MotorbikesToday Bike of the year
is:
The Ducati 1000DS
'The Ducati 1000DS is the best,
most rounded, most fun bike I have ever ridden straight out of
the box. It flatters mediocrity and rewards skill and smoothness
like nothing else. And it's comfortable as well.'
'The Ducati 1000DS is the bike
of the year for me. Why? Because I don't like Ducatis and this
one changed my mind. For years to me Ducatis have always been
so pretentious that I really haven't warmed to them. Always ridden
by weekend bike poseurs who want to be something they're not.
A harsh comment to make when one has never ridden one, but that
was how it was for me. Why did I like the 1000DS? It made me grin
loads and was so easy to ride. I found myself entering a corner
15 mph faster than on my own bike and it wasn't a problem. In
fact, it was effortless. Not only that, it's the only bike I've
ever ridden where people stopped and looked at it. Now how cool
is that? Ah yes, forget what I said about poseurs...'
The 2003 MotorbikesToday
product of the year is:
Rainbow Tyres
'Tomahawk Coloured Tyres - So daring and crazy that it actually
might be a paradigm shift, or it's the naffest fashion fly ever,
but still a good laugh!'
The 2003 MotorbikesToday
event of the year is
The Harley Davidson 100th
Birthday celebration
'For the sheer scale of the
thing, Harley Davidson's 100th birthday party had to be the event
of 2003. A worldwide happening with participants numbering in
the many tens of thousands has got to be just that little bit
special by anybody's standards. And let's face it, it's just not
going to happen again! '
The 2003 MotorbikesToday
biking person of the year is:
Shane Byrne
'Shakey - no question about it. From being an underdog to God
in one season!'
'National championship contender
does the double at World Superbikes at Brands on last year's bike.
How could it possibly be anyone else? He's remained a bloody nice
bloke as well - down to earth and as friendly as you like. A more
deserving winner I cannot imagine. MotoGP will be a better place
with him there, and good luck to him.'
And the bike we are most
looking forward to in 2004 is:
A tie. We can't decide.
We want to see them all, right now.
Some reviewers comments:
'My bike of the year has to be
the Ducati Multistrada. For a company that has built itself around
competition and racetracks to produce a bike that is so non-race
orientated is a major act of faith; to do it in such an avant-garde
style and with such a controversial design is pure Italian. But
there's no doubt that with the Multistrada, Ducati has produced
an extremely competent machine that can do just about anything,
and do it with flair. Could this be another "Monster"
for the Italian company?'
'As far as new bikes for 2004 are concerned, the Peugeot Jetforce
has got to be worth a look. A supercharged 125cc 4-stroke scooter
is going to be about the coolest thing out there at the traffic-light
GP. And the MZ 1000DS is a bold statement of intent from a company
that may have at last shaken off the shackles of the "socialist
state".'
'My award for the biking person of the year goes to Neil Hodgson
for taking the World Superbike title and showing everyone the
way on the Ducati 999. He had a fantastic start to the season
and was pretty unbeatable all year, I wish him all the best for
MotoGP in 2004 and would love to see Neil up there with the front
runners next season.'
'The event award has to go to the National Rally, what a task
to organise that! MBT competed in this years event and achieved
a Gold Award for over 500miles in the course of the event. Riding
from 2pm to 9am the following day, the team collected various
checkpoints around the country and kept to the schedule almost
by the minute for most of it. Compulsory stops were always welcomed
with hot drinks, biscuits and a smile, even at 4am in the middle
of nowhere in Wales!!'
'Yamaha Warrior - Power Cruisers are here to stay; Style, Speed,
Handling means fun. And it does annoy sportsbike riders.'
'Bike I'm most looking forward to in 2004? R1 or, ZX10, time
will tell - There can be only one SuperBike of the year, and my
money is on one of those. But which one.... Arrrgh, stop it, it's
cold outside, it's dark outside... Where's my Xbox MotoGP disc...?!
'
'Bike of 2004: This may sound naff but it will be my next bike.
Why? Because whatever I get next will inspire me to ride better
and ride more often!'
