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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128145
A look at Corse Superbikes but it might be easy to question the shop's location in Saulkville - a community that has yet to fully shed its "farm town" status. According to Hansen, a Harley-Davidson dealer for 26 years who recently sold that business to concentrate on Corse Superbikes, the move was a calculated one. "We couldn't be happier with our location," Hansen said. "Saulkville is a growing community. Besides, if you look at the map, we're right near where 1-43 and I-57 come together. The majority of the traffic coming to Road America comes from the south or from the east, which means that they have to drive right by our shop." Like most Euro shops, Corse Superbikes offers its customers a variety of marques from which to choose, all of them Italian. "Ducati is our our main focus, but we also carry Aprilia, MV Agusta, Cagiva, and now we're going to be handling Husqvarna," Hansen said. "We're really going after the Supermotard market with Husqvama. That market is going to grow a lot in the next couple of years, especially with the new facility at Road America. A lot of people want something different and something that holds its resale value. With Ducati and some of the other European manufacturers, the resale value is pretty good, especially compared to the Japanese brands." Corse Superbikes started in business almost at the end of May 200 I, admittedly missing a considerable portion of the selling season in Wis- STORY AND PHOTOS BY SCOTT ROUSSEAU rl t's rather like an oasis in the desert tJ - that is, if the rain- and snowdrenched Midwestern State of Wisconsin could ever be considered a desert. But if you're an Italian bike fan, and you can bear with the analogy, then Corse Ducati is definitely your type of haven. Covering 38,000 square feet of space alongside Highway 43 some 18 miles north of Milwaukee, Corse Superbikes is not unlike some of the more swank boutique motorcycle shops that have emerged since the Euro-bike craze - especially for Italian machinery - kicked into high gear over the past decade. The showroom features the requisite quaint arhitecture, complete with historical photos and collector bikes (you read that right) adorning the walls or ceiling. Some of Italy's finest sport a highluster polish as they lie in wait for the day that they can hit the open road in the hands of some passionate enthusiast or Jap-bike convert. The topshelf accessory displays are all impressive, too, but there are a couple of things that set this particular shop apart, namely the fact that Corse Superbikes is also the home of the HMC Ducati factory Superbike squad that fields rider Pascal Piccotte. It is also home to the Ducati Cafe, the only licensed restaurant in North America. The entire works is the brainchild of partners Mitch Hansen, Virgil Kreder and Harrison Strother, consin, but Hansen says that the sales went phenomenally well. "We're really excited about the new season," Hansen said. "Tying in the cafe, a showroom with exciting bikes - and having a Superbike race team here doesn't hurt, either - it all brings in the people. Everything is clicking together, and it's working well. I think that we really have something special here." Special indeed, as Corse Superbikes is the current home of the AMA factory Ducati team. Known as HMC Ducati, the team took over the factory program in 200 1, and by all accounts, it had a terrible first season'. Pinning its championship hopes on team riders Scott Russell and Steve Rapp, the team suffered tragedy right out of the box at Daytona, where Russell suffered horrifying injuries in his now-infamous starting-grid crash. Rapp soldiered on to finish seventh in the final series standings, but wholesale changes and budget cutbacks mean that he is no longer with the team. Instead, the team has high hopes that it can contend for the 2002 AMA Superbike An outside view of Corse Superbikes. The 38,OOO-square-foot shop Is readily visible from Interstate 43, and It Is a popular stop-off point on the way to Road America. 48 MARCH 13, 2002' eye • e n e _ s Corse Superblkes' Mitch Hansen shows off his new facility, which is located in Saulkvllle, Wisconsin. The shop is home to both the HMC Ducatl factory Superbike effort and the unique Ducatl Cafe. Championship with a single rider Pascal Piccotte, the Canadian who struggled along with the ill-fated Harley-Davidson VR road race program for the past three years. Hansen said that he expects both the equipment - last year's Testastretta-powered Ducati World Superbike machines . and Piccotte to be up to the task. "Now we have new equipment and a new rider that is very hungry, very talented and still quite young," Hansen said. "Pascal has been around so long that people think he is an old man, but he is only 32. He is still in his prime yet. And we still have much of the crew from last year. I couldn't keep them all because we're only a one-rider team. I wish we could have had a two-rider team, but you look around and see that every· one else has cut their budget Kawasaki and Yamaha both have one-man teams - so I guess I can't feel too bad about that." Hansen is especially excited about the big Road America doubleheader scheduled for June 8-9, stating that