Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Hines Hogs Another NHRA Win f Screamin' Eagle Harley-Davidson's Andrew Hines should hold on to win the 2004 NHRA Powerade Pro Stock Bike championship , he will likely look back on I the Pontiac Excitement Nationals in Columbus, Ohio, held june 13, and remember it as one of the highlights of his year. Hines became the first repeat winner of the 2004 season when he defeated K&N Filters Suzuki's Steve johnson in the final round to extend his points lead to I 18 over second place Shawn Gann. "We really needed this win," Hines said. "We've had the best bike all year but had only won once until this weekend. It was a real boost for our team. We've been trying really hard to make these bikes quicker, and it's starting to payoff. My riding has also been pretty good lately." Once again, Hines had the dominant bike as the Vance & Hines team claimed the top spot in qualifying with a track record 7.08, opening up a lead of more than fourhundredths of a second on the rest of the field. Hines also plowed through eliminations with relative ease, scoring a first-round decision of Redell Harris with a 7.12 and a 7.13 in his semifinal win over reigning NHRA champ Geno Scali. Hines' only tough match came in round two against U.S. Army's Antron Brown . Hines slipped to a 7.21 in that heat, but it was still enough to hold off Brown , who was close behind with a 7.2S. johnson, who is celebrating his 20th year of NHRA Pro Stock Bike competition, reached the final round for the sixth time in his career with recent wins over Michael Phillips, Keith Dennis and a surprise victory against U.S. Army's Angelle Savoie. johnson has yet to win a race in 186 starts, but he has never been more competitive than he has this season . Hines and his Screamin' Eagle Teammate, GT Tonglet weren't the only qualifiers riding V-Twins, as team owner George Bryce and rider Fred Collis finally made the long-awaited debut of their S&S Buell in Columbus. As many had expected, the new bike was immediately competitive, as Collis qualified second with a 7.12, one of the quickest runs of his career. Although a mechanical problem cost Collis his round one race against Dennis, the team didn't walk away empty handed, as Collis won the Best Engineered Vehicle award for the race . While it will be remembered as a highlight for Hines and Johnson , the Columbus round will not be memorable for three riders , who Duc:ati After Aprilia - All Of It! Informed Italian opinion originally had the fight for control of the financially troubled Aprilia, Italy's second-largest two-wheeled operation (afte r Piaggio), en ding up as a straight shoo to ut between Bombard ier and Piaggio. However, Ducat i chairman/CEO Federico Minoli had also stated pub liclyon April 22 that his company - in wh ich American eq uity fund TPG still owns a 33.53-percent controlling inter est - was in the process of cond ucting due diligence on Moto Guzzi and intended to "formally make an offer w ithin a few weeks" for the marque, which Beggio and Aprilia outbid it to purchase for Euro 70 million ($84 .388 million) in 2000 . Impeccable inside sources now reveal that the Bologna-based sport bike manufacturer has since indeed done this - but , quite distinct from target ing only Moto Guzzi, Ducati has now made an offer (or the whole of the Aprilia Group! As a cash-rich company w ith the massive resources of one of the w orld's leading ventu re capitalists, Texas Pacific, beh ind it - even if Fede rico Minoli caut ions that "We won't be paying any crazy prices!" - the objective for Ducat i in seek ing to acquire the who le of Aprilia isn't hard to decipher. Not only would Moto Guzzi provide an ideal e ntry into the vital custom market Ducati currently missesout on, but after twice trying unsuccessfully to prize Husqvarna away from Claudio Castiglioni's MVAgusta Group in order to provide Ducati dea lers - especially in the USA - with the off-road product it presently lacks, Minoli has targeted the series of new 77-degree V-twin Enduro , MX and Supermoto models ranging in capacity from 449cc to 550cc, which are currently being developed (or Aprilia by ex-HVA chief engineer Ampe lio Macchi. Such a move could be an ideal solution to Ducati's present lack of a dirt bike range particu larly as it's a V-twin! Coincidentally, in the same week as Ducati tabled a formal offer for the whole of Aprilia, on May 24 the prototype MXV450 Aprilia motocrosser made its competition debut in the second round of the Italian MX Championship at Castiglione del Lago, finishing in a highly promisingfourth place in the second moto, in the hands of works rider Tho mas Traversini. The light, compact, high-rewing four-valve engine would also provide Ducat i with a valuable entry-level product for the street (with reduced man ufacturing costs and better performance than the current desmodue 620 Spo rt two-valver), when put in a road chassisas Apriliaitself intend (ed) doing to create an RS550 four-stroke middleweight sportbike rep lacement for the late, lamented RS250 two- stroke rep li-race r. In the event that Ducati does succeed in acquiring Aprilia, one thing is certain - it has no interest in the scooter division, which would immedi ately be sold off to a specialist in that sector. In that case , the prime cand idate to ta ke this over wou ld be Piaggio, which already acts as a supplier to Aprilia by providing the engines for the Scarabee 500 (wonder if it' s been paid 10 JUNE 23, 2004 • CYCLE NEWS were in separate on-track incidents during qualifying. Karen Stoffer, lloyd Straus and Wesley Wells all hit the pavement after the finish line while struggling to stop their bikes in Columbus' notoriously short shut-down area . Stoffer was the first to have a problem, as she came off her Cycle Guard Suzuki Friday afternoon . The team borrowed a second bike from the U.S. Army team but were unable to qualify for Sunday's eliminations. Straus and Wells had their problems on Saturday afternoon. Like Stoffer, they were not seriously injured, but neither rider made the field. All three riders expect to be back in action next weekend in Englishtown , New jersey. Kevin McKenna recent ly?!). Colanino isn't interested in buying just a part of Aprilia, although he would sure ly welco me the opportunity not only to rem ove one of his key com petito rs in the hom e market by absorbing it, but also to expand Piaggio's presence in the growing Indian market via Beggio's signing of an agreement at the end of last year with loca l giant Hero Motors to manufactu re a range of Aprilia scooters for worldwide sale. It is also quite probable that Ducati wou ld sell Piaggio the rights to the RSVlOOO range large-capacity V-twin models, as we ll as the Scorze factory, wh ich assembles the m alongside the scooter range , thus providing Piaggio with the motorcycle manufacturing capab ility it presently lacks, and which was the reason for its abortive bid to acquire MVAgusta three years ago. Should that happen, expect the current range of Aprilia motorcycles to be reb randed as Gileras , thus allowing Piaggio at last to unlock the inhe rent but so far unrea lized value of its historic Gilera marque . The prospect of that Gilera RSV I OOOR as the star of the 2005 Milan Show starts to loo k ever more likely - not only because this would suit Piaggio, in differentiat ing its Aprilia scooter range from its Gilera motorcycle products, but also because Minoli is on record as supportin g the existence of a strong Italian motorcycle industry w ith a range of contrast ing products and competitive marques, so quite apart from the financial benefits of offloading Aprilia's existing V-tw in motorcycle to Piaggio, it's not cons idered to be in Ducatl's own interests to kill off a compatriot competitor. This will provide reassurance for Aprilia' s existing customers , for whatever the future may hold for the Aprilia Grou p as a who le, it seems that the future of Aprilia's motorcycle range is secure. However, the badge on the tank might change for one with a longer, more glorious, (our-stroke sporting history! Though circumstances presently seem to favor a Ducati takeover of Aprilia, nothing is cer tain, espec iallyas Bombard ier has deep pockets, too . Colaninno would have no trouble in raising the necessary money, either, but see ms to be hedging his bets , judging by a statement he made in early May when the Chinese prime minister, Wen Jiabao, visited the Piaggio factory at Pontedera. "We 're inte rested in Aprilia, but just in the context of the only possible strategy - a rescue plan in which everyone should participate: banks, creditors, management, stockholders and unions," he said. In other words, Piaggio II... "We're not interested in buying just a part of Aprilia, or in participating in any auctions, but my objective is to create a large Italian group in the transport and personal mob ilitysector, which will allow us to compete with the Japanese ." Not the Chinese, of course - given Piaggio's rece nt deal with the Zongshen Group! Stay tu ned (or the next stages in this fast-changing story, which seems likely to be reso lved in the next few weeks. Alan Cathcart 40th Anniversary

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