Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

1.1_:.-1••• .... .f'I~ ...".'-- ... ~ • •• 1- Happenings In Motorcycling MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi spent the afternoon meeting his fans and supporters in the heart of London's West End. Following a Thames boat ride with the media, Rossi jumped onto a Honda Gold Wing and rode to Leicester Square to meet with the 4500 MotoGP race fans packed into the capital's famous square. A resident in London for the last two years, Rossi will make his sale 2003 race appearance in his adopted England at the British Grand Prix at Donington Park on Sunday. The intense competition in this season's MotoGP class has attracted spectators in everincreasing numbers, with race crowds averaging well over 100,000. Donington Park is expecting the largest grand prix attendance ever with over 45,000 tickets already sold. "This is the second time I've met the fans in Leicester Square, and the response this time has been amazing," revealed 24-year-old Rossi. "I live in London a lot of the time, and so the race on Sunday is like a second home grand prix for me." Four-time World Champion Rossi spent over an hour in the square answering fans' questions, signing autographs and handing out prizes. "I love Donington. and I love racing in England," explained Rossi, who's already won 53 grands prix and who leads this year's World Championship by 38 points. "It's a fantastic circuit, and I really like the special atmosphere at British races. I'm chasing a hat trick this year, and I want to say thank you to all the fans who turned up in Leicester Square by winning the race for them on Sunday." By ALAN CATHCART . • - Ducati At Work on V4 Supersport? Ducat!'s 749 Testastretta can't compete in World Supersport racing with the new generation of 600cc four-cylinder Japanese race replicas, because the rules are now loaded against European V-twins, says company boss Federico Minoli. Rumors abound in Italy that the Bologna .company is therefore working on a 600cc desmosedici V4 Supersport contender, using the technology derived from its stunning 990cc MotoGP racer. Might even be true! Mere certain is the fact that Ducati's design department (rather than the engineers. who consistently scom the single-cylinder concept) is working on a prototype 630cc Supermono Strada streetbike employing the cylinder head off a 999 Testastretta, rather than the desmoquattro employed on the 570cc Supermono road racer, of which 70 examples were built in 1993-95. 'The idea is to place the result in both trailbike and tarmac chassis applications, especially with an eye on the burgeoning Supermoto market. They've still got to get it past the boss, though - CEO Federico Mincli remains to be convinced of the viability of a singlecylinder motorcycle with the Ducati badge on the tank. "From my point of view, this is a matter of priorities," he says. "We are a small company, To cast your vote, log on to http://www.cyclenews.com. The Cycle News/Mota Kids staff was recently at Ken Maely's ranch in Corona, California, doing a photo shoot for the cover of the kids' publication on speedway racing. None other than Travis Pastrana randomly showed up to check out the action. Needless to say, the group of young aspiring speedway stars were really excited to meet Pastrana. After checking out the kids sliding their way around Maely's dirt-track oval, Pastrana posed with the kids for this photo. so we have to choose what's most important. Do we develop a single? Do we make a four? Do we produce a three-valve air-cooled twin? Or how about a triple? I don't think we can afford to bring too many kinds of engines through to production, because although we've done all the hard work in actually designing a prototype Supermono, from there to actually rolling the first engine off the production line will cost us approximately five million Euros ($5.6 million). Can we really expect to turn that much profit from such a product? That's what we have to ask ourselves." Maybe Pierre Terblanche, creator of the Multistrada which has proved such a smaSh sue· cess in the showrooms in spite of being initially dismissed .by many in the company, can convince his boss otherwise with the prototype Testastretta Supermono... Finally on the Ducati front, Piero Ferrari (as in, son oL) is reportedly miffed that his Ferrari Engineering design consultancy, which designed the engine of the MV Agusta F4 and has always been credited for this in public by MV boss Claudio Castiglioni. hasn't had a similar accolade and the spinoff kudos for the work it allegedly did on the deeply impressive Ducati desmosedici MotoGP bike. Rumor has it that he's so displeased at the lack of recognition for his efforts that he's designing a similar engine from the ground up for another bike manufacturer - but with pneumatic valves replacing Ducati's mechnical desmodromic system, which has the same effect. The same rumors hold that BMW is now planning to enter MetoGP after three years sitting on the sidelines trying to make up its mind whether to be in or out - and that with the departure of previous BMW Motorrad president Marco von Maltzan, the pendu· lum has now swung in the "In" direction. Could Piero Ferrari be the man they're working with toward that objective?

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