Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

. -. . . ... . • .... .... ....... • .,.,. .... _: -I.,.,.~ ~ Happenings In Motorcycling While laying out the course for the United Enduro Association's enduro in Lucerne Valley, California, Club President Jerry Grabow noticed that the Cougar Butte OHV area was in dire need of a general clean up. Grabow sent out a call for help, and he, along with other District clubs, organized a joint clean up effort Saturday, January 25, the day before the fltSt National Hare & Hound of the 2003 season, which was staged nearby. The weather was perfect for picking up trash. and approximately 50 people showed up to load up old mattresses, television sets, bed frames, tires and assorted household trash that had been dumped in the riding area. Participating clubs included the Hilltoppers, Viewfinders, 100s, UEA, Vikings, HBMC and Checkers M.e. along with OHV supporters who came out for the ongoing effort to keep our riding areas clean. "It really is up to us as a group who enjoy recreating and racing in the desert to keep it as clean as possible: John Thornton, president of the Viewfinders M.e., said. "Even though the majority of the trash cleaned up today is not from OHV riders, we cannot afford to give the environmentalists any more ammunition to shut down the few riding This year's annual Oakley-sponsored basketball game was won by the Asterisk team. featuring the likes of Ryan Hughes. Brock Sellards, Jeff Emig, David Pingree, Larry Ward and Denny Stephenson. The game, played at the Oakley headquarters in Foothill Ranch, California, is always a highlight - though the highlights from the game itself wUl never make SportsCenter. areas that remain open." Kandy Thornton By ALAN CATHCART • • Aprilia Plans to Get Dirty As revealed in this column more than a year ago, Aprilia boss lvano Beggio makes no secret of his desire to return to the off-road sector, which has been his first love ever since establishing his company as a small specialist manufacturer of enduro bikes back in 1975 and which yielded Aprilia a pair of World Trials Championships in the early '80s as well as a successful stint in motocross competition. "The decision to move from motocross to road racing was linked to the expansion of the company - it was a tacti<:al decision which, until now, has also explained my decision not to return - yeti" says Beggio. "It allowed us to present ourselves to the outside world as a mature company not only capable of winning Grand Prix road racing world titles with 125 and 250 two-strokes, but also able to design, develop and race a large-capacity l000cc four-stroke Superbike which was capable of challenging for the world title in only its second season. So the logic behind our retum to the motocross arena will be a tactical one. When • not ill - we decide to market an off-road range of products, we will undoubtedly return to motocross competition in order to promote them. just as we have done with the Superbike. From Aprilia's point of view as a young, dynamic company with a winning tradition, we cannot ignore the off-road sector as part of our continued expansion, as we develop a full range of products." Doubtless, the huge commercial success in a booming off-road and especially Supermoto market of Aprilia's Austrian near·neighbors KTM has reinforced this view, which makes the revelation all the more understandable that Aprilia made several attempts over the past year to acquire the Husqvama marque from present owner Claudio Castiglioni. after the collapse of his MY Agusta group's projected merger with Piaggio (which also badly needed the historic Swedish·bom dirt-bike marque to redress the absence of any off·road products from its cor· porate catalog). But, fortified by the support of the BCllntesa merchant bank, which owns the majority of MV debt and has agreed to fund the restart of production at the firm's Cassine.tta factory (see below), Castiglioni refused to sell - so Aprilia did the next best thing and cut a deal with the man who's been responsible for the past decade for overseeing Husqvama's product development, chief R&D engineer Ampelio Macchi. to headhunt him and 10 of his key engineers in order to produce a range of Aprilia off-roaders. Macchi and his men are now established in a separate R&D operation outside the Aprilia factory, in fact located not far from the JI\V Agusta plant in Varese they used to work in, and are understood to be working on a range of 250cc and 450cc four·stroke models powered by four-valve engine designs which they are developing themselves but which will be manufactured by Rotax, as are other Aprilia powerplants. The project leader in charge of overseeing the firm's off-road revival is believed to be Klaus Nennewitz, the German-born engineer responsible for developing first the Falco, then the Tuono and most recently the Toono Fighter V·twin four-stroke models. This is significant because, over a decade before joining Aprilia, Nennewitz worked for two years in the U.S.A. for off·road specialists ATK. as both a mechanic and II rider. Nennewitz refuses to conflrm or deny this presumption • but his experience in the American market, which Is likely to be Aprilia's key target for its forthcoming off·road range, makes him a likely contender for the job, which will involve Macchi's team of engineers developing a range of products running from full-on MX racers through competition enduro models. to dual-purpose street enduros and Supermoto racers. Expect to see the first fruits of this R&D in 2004. To cast your vote, log on to tlp:/ /www.cydenews.com. A. Eric Bostrom B. Ben Bostrom C. Miguel DuHamel Due I e n e "" s • FEBRUARY 26, 2003 3

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