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/128093
8 o Continued from page 2 o o o c [ ties consistently lives up to its own slogan 'We support the sport.'" Sf)( Motor Sports vice president Mike Kidd said. "We're thrilled that Drag Specialties has elevated its participation with the Formula USA National Dirt Track Series. We're extremely proud to carry on the tradition of dirt track racing and thrilled to offer the National Dirt Track Series sanctioned by Formula USA to riders and fans across America for the second straight year. The second series is going to be bigger and even better. " replaced by countryman Mauro Sanchini, who will ride a Ducati for Team Pedercini. Dorna Off-Road, the company that now owns the rights to the World Motocross Championship and the Motocross des Nations, has opted to cancel both races that were slated to run at Arsago Seprio in Italy. The World MX round was slated to run at the Italian venue on June 24 with the Motocross des Nations also scheduled to run at Arsago Seprio on September 30. Doma says that both the Grand Prix and the MX des Nations will be rescheduled for another country. The new venues will be announced at the conference meetings in Geneva, February 23-26. c c c The FIM announced today that Italian Alessandro Gramigni has withdrawn from the World Superbike Championship for the 2001 season. His entry will be o o C r w C C f "I '-' r L r l..J C r -'\ L, C C J J J Genuine Suzuki Accessories, a division of American Suzuki Motor Corporation. has joined forces with AMA Pro Racing as title sponsor of the AMA 750cc Supersport Series for 2001. As part of the new sponsorship, Suzuki Genuine Accessories will be posting a $35,000 championship bonus fund. a 250-percent increase over previous years. Riders who compete in the series and comply with sponsor requirements, regardless of brand of motorcycle, will be eligible for this bonus. "Genuine Suzuki Accessories is very excited to be the sponsor of the Series for the next two years", said Ron Benfield, accessory sales and marketing manager. "This highly visible series has a great history of « • Ambitious Piaggio PIaggio's impencIng ~«Derbl(dIIc:IlSSed here In last week's issue) presents the JtaJieD company's manIIgemeI1t with an irnmedIal2 pRlbIem. whelIJer to re-bnIIld the Detbi OP raceno which took Japenese Jfder YouIchI Oi tD the runner-up slot in the 2000 125c:c World ChampIOnship, The decision must be made before the February closing date for entries for the 2001 Orand Prix season. DeJbrs comeback to QP racing came in 1999, after a SIX-year absence and exactly 10 years since the 1988 sell5On, when the company's batas rajas (red bullets) won both 125cc and 80cc World Championships in the hands of Jorge • Asper" Martinez. The return of Derbi (which had won nine OP World titles) raised the company's profile considerably in the race-mad Spanish home market. Now. wIth both SpanIsh (Pablo Nieto) and Italian (Manuel Poggiali) riders on the three-bike Oerbi team alongside ill, the foundations are there to go either way but the return of Gilera. a five-time winner of the 500cc World Championship and one of the legendary names of GP road racing, wh'ch has not been seen on race gnds since retinng from the 250cc GP class at the end of 1992, may perhaps be Irrestistible. That's especIally the case SInce the 125cc Oerbi, which won five GP races in 2000 and finished runner-up in the World Championship, is a true Euro-bike, with an Italian team manager in Giampiero Sacchi, Austrian engineer Harold Bartol responsible for the engine, and the chassis built in Britain by Team Roberts: there's no inherent Spanish heritage which would make the rebrandlng difficult. And with plans well advanced to relaunch OUera as a motorcycle marque, initially using bought-in Suzuki engines to create an instant 600cc Supersport contender the chance to bring the historic name back to public attention as something other than a scooter manufacturer via a race-winnmg GP racer, makes even more sense. This despite the fact that the last time Oilera competed in the 125cc GP class was back in 1956 with the world's first twin-cylinder 125 racer ridden to QP success by the brave and flamboyant RornoIo Ferri. GP promoter Doma is likely to actively campaign for Gilera's retwm to the GP grids in 2001 - if for no other reason than that the marque has already had a place reserved for a two-rider team on the acceptance list for the 2002 World Supersport Championship, run by Doma's arch-rival Octagon Motorspolt (ex-F1ammini), Getting Oliera to retum to competition one year eadIer in QP racing would be a coup that Dome would reIIsh... IitI part the IIICCeSSfu1 MOPE twmaroUnd plan for PlaggId Wbk:h has alreedy seen the company's products re!laln the number-one slot in its italian home market (not tD meRtIon maintaining its European volume leadership and relaunching the Vespa scooter in the USA), Plagglo m;anagemeat has approached MV Agusta boss Claudio Castigllon! wIlb a view to buying a slice of the world's most hIstone lnatorcyde marque. The fact that the Cagiva part of the MV Agusta corporate equation is largely powered by Siuzuki engines - just as Piaggio's existing motorcycle marque, Qllera, soon will be - makes any potential merger all the more lIttnlctlve. For Piagglo, the advantages of a marriage with MV Agusta, on whatever terms, are that in one swoop the company'~ model range wouid be expanded upwards, to include everything from 50tc single-speed scooters up to fuel-injected lOOOcc V-twins and 750cc m-line fours - soon to be joined by a 970cc large-cube four-cyhnder sport bike range. The addition of Husqvama would mean that Piaggio's present lack of an off-road marque would be redressed, whtle the well-priced Cagiva models would deliver a volume-production range linking well with Piagglo's current scooter lineup. At the top end of the market, linkIng two of the three most historic marques in Italian motorcycle history lIke MV Agusta (which has no 600 Supersport model, even under development) with OUera (which does) would deliver great prestige as well as serious sport bike credentials to a company which is at present only recognized for its high-volume, low-cost 8 o o o o A, I=dc..gollifOlI8"'O(aWI...lliJ----F:--llickrl•••~·Im'{Hondaf---_K~,..s.e!veJllep~ B. !hn:ftJ"leMndter1'1hnIn!:akf'---1t.-1=omnnr....ttd'm-f¥1Jrlt8t1~. c. Miguel Duhamel (Hondl~a~I -I:I-IIat.. .~H1.l¥ilHhilR,III.1o'5l1lZ1 IYa:~~~~~~~;~;;~~;~~:~Dn'!I-~~;~~~~~~ D. Jamie Hacking E. Anthony Gobert (Yoshimura Suzuki! 98 FEBRUARY 28. 2001 • cue • .. n .. _ s close racing and for being a stepping stone to the premier class for up-andcoming road racers. We feel the exposure for Suzuki Accessories will be tremendous with the help of AMA Pro Racing's marketing capabilities." Road racer Steve Rapp had a huge lump on the back of his left hand during the recent Superbike test at Willow Springs, but that was a good thing. Five weeks ago, famed surgeon Dr. Arthur Ting implanted a metal plate across the back of Rapp's hand to stabilize the bones dislocated in an incident at Sears Point last year, and the lump was simply the result of swelling. "I wasn't going to -------Continued on page 100 YTW pit:lcU:ts, And It would provide Piagglo wIlb a potlIlnt. respomte to ~ growing threat posed by its AprlIIa rIYal. whose Feeent takeover of Mota Guzzi and Laverda. allied wIlb its inasslve peuebatlon of PiaggIo's key scooter market and successfuJ launch of the RSVl000 Mille large-apodty V-twiR range, has achieved the global brand positioning and fullrange model lineup which has turned It into PIaggIo S DUmber-one European rlval_ From MV Agusta owner Claudio CastIg/IonI's viewpoint, the advantages of a deal with Piagglo that would allow M1CiPE to take a minority holding in his company (the most Ukely initial step), would be numerous. FIrstly, it would allow him tD focus more on what he personally excels at, which is woddng with designers like Tamburini and Galluzzi to create exciting new products and bring them to market - while at the same time taking a back seat in corporate govemance and the day-tO-day running of the company, whIch is not so much his forte. Secondly, a partial merger would not only unlock some of the built-in value of MV Agusta, but also provide a source of the needed capital to continue its comeback expansion and to start making inroads into the backordered waiting lists for all jts products, as well as to fuel ongoing development of new models and, especially, new engines. Thirdly, it would provide access to Piaggio's extensive R&D engineenng facilities, alongside the unparalleled design capability of CRC. represented by Tamburini and Galluzzi. And finally, it would assure the long-tenn health of the MV Agusta marque - a fact which would disappoint the several corporate vultures that have circled the company's Varese base ever since Castiglioru sold Ducati to TPG and, soon after, announced the revival of the prestigious MV marque with the acclaimed Tamburini-designeastiglioni. "While we're discussing the possibility of combining operations with them in some way," Castiglloni said, "nothing has yet been decided, and thIs is only one of the strategic options we at MV Agusta are investigating. It's not true to say that we need Piaggio on board to be able to make the necessary investments to safeguard our company's future - these have already been made from our own resources, so that we now have a brand-new manufacturing operation building a range of motorcycles of unri'(alled appeal. But MV Agusta would benefit, it's true, from the reduced costs and consolidated purchasing power which a joint venture with Piaggio would provide, as well as the opportunity to make a greater impact on the market. through a combined range. Our two companies do have good synergy, because since our decision st MV Agosta two years ago to focus on larger-capacity products, we have practically no conflict in product terms with Piaggio, But I emphasize that this course is only one possible option we're considering, and within the next two months I expect to make a decision which to choose," P. Aaron Yates (Yoshimura Suzuki!