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/128097
n r r '- ,.. Continued from page 3 ers and sportbikes with all-day entertainment. live music, food and a bike contest - plus some 100 exhibits by major motorcycle and parts manufacturers and distributors. For more information, call 562/435-3511 . a 1916 Harley Twin that went for $32.000: a 1930 Indian Four that sold for $28.000: and a 1936 Brough SS80 that brought in $28,000. In addition. a Joey Dunlop helmet that was donated by Arai and signed by the top AMA road racers sold for $950 with all of the proceeds going to the late racer's family. Complete results and photographs from the auction can be found at Wood's website: www.jwoodandcompany.com. Glen Helen Raceway and Troy Lee Designs have again collaborated on the official poster for the AMA 125/250cc National Motocross Championship round scheduled for Glen Helen on May 13. This year's poster is currently available and can be ordered from Glen Helen's website at www.glenhelen.com or at Glen Helen Raceway Park in San Bemardino, California. For more information, call 909/880-3090. The White Brothers LA Calendar Motorcycle Show has expanded to a two-day format based on its popularity. The event will be held at the Queen Mary Event Park in Long Beach. Califomia, July 21-22. The show features customs, cruis- • Two new Supercross tracks are currently under construction in West Michigan and will be used in the Midwest Cycle Fest kickoff on April 22. The festival is a series of eight road racing and Supercross events to be held at the Grattan and Gingerman road courses. The roadracing events will be sanctioned by GLRRA/CCS and will featured the Metzler Supersport Challenge. The Supercross events will be part of the new Midwest MX series. For more information. call 619/458-5888. White Brothers will be offering a contingency program of over $5000 for the AMA Western Four-Stroke Series, with the money being put up for Pro riders who run an E Series or R-4 exhaust system. White Brothers is also offering an amateur support program through its dealers, and interested riders should have their shop contact a WB rep. In addition, White Brothers has been named title sponsor of the newly formed World Four-Stroke Series, which will take place from March through May in the states of California, Arizona. Nevada and Colorado. For more information, call 909/880-3090. And contrary to rumors, reigning Four-Stroke and Vet World Champion Doug Dubach has been resigned (along with Spud Walters) to the White Brothers team for the 2001 season . eN a More on Piaggio/Agusta Contrary to reports in some quarters, the Italian mega-deal of the Euro-bike decade isn't quite done yet. but as of March 10 it's practically certain that the merger (first revealed in this column back in January) between Piaggio - maker of the Vespa, and owner of the Gilera, Bianchi. Puch and now Derbi and Bultaco motorcycle marques - and MV Agusta (ditto Cagiva and Husqvama) will indeed happen: sources dose to discussions insist that the deal was to be signed on March 19. Some hard bargaining has been going on during the past two months between MV Agusta SpA owner ClaudIo Castlglioni and the Piaggio board. With 80 percent of Plagglo equity in the hands of the London-based MGPE investment house (which is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Germany's Deutsche Bank, and therefore is not in any way American-owned. contrary to statements elsewhere in the bike press) and just 10-percent owned by Texas-based TPG. the corporate faces on the other side of the negotiating table facing Castiglioni are effectively those he dealt with when he sold Ducati to the same two venture capitalist houses five years ago. This time, however, he's deallng from a position of relative strength, with orders backed up for all MV Group products, and the fruits of the S 100 million of capital investment Castiglioni has made in new models and the plant to buJld them, nearing fruition. But ongoing liquidity problems still result in stop/start production at MY's Cassinetta factory and, on a personal note, Castiglioni is tiring of the fuII·on day.to. day <:ornmitrnent in running the company that's fanen on his shoulders: He'd rather spend more time riding motorc:ycles, and dreaming up new models with his star progettisti Tambwini and Galluzzi. . Piaggio, on the other hand, badly needs to expand Its model range upward. to fend off the challenge in both home and export markets from Aprilia, and to do 50 with more purebred models than the Suzuki GSX-R600-engined Super· sport GlIera due to be l4unc:hed at the Milan Show in September. In addition. the combined group created by a marriage of MV and P1aggio. with a turnover of more than $800 m1Rion based on 2000 figures, would be a genuine fifth force in world motorcycling. chaftenging Suzuki for the number-three slot and arguably greater than all but Honda and Yamaha in terms of global two-wheeled production. Both sides therefore want this deal - but the sticking point has been how much, and in what form. Piagglo should pay for the privilege of uniting MV Agusta and Gilera. Cagiva and Vespa, Husqvama and Derbi, under one roof. Castiglioni has reportedly been looking for a fuli merger from day one, wittl him ending up owning 20 percent of the resultant combined group. Piaggio started out wanting to purchase just 20 per<:ent of MV Agusta right away, to give it an initiai stake in the Varese-based operation, but with an option to purchase a controlling interest within the next three years • this would ease cash flow, and permit a gradual takeover which would. cyclenews.com reader poll question of the weel< BO MARCH 28, 2001 • cue I • n _ ... sa however, block anyone else from gaining the MV prize before that took place. Though no official word has yet come out of the smokefilled rooms. it seems from sources close to the discussions that the P1aggio view of things has triumphed. but that Castiglioni has succeeded in raising the initial stake that the scooter manufacturer will take in his company to 30 percent. However, whether this wHI be paid in the form of cash or shares is unclear - though given that in acquiring Derbi last month, Piaggio did so in an all-share exchange. it seems unlikely the MV Agusta cIeaI wlIl be very different: There might be a mixture of the two. but with the deal heavily loaded toward a share swap. Expect an official announcement regarding the upcoming merger very soon.