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/128333
World Supers At Laguna? th all is past weekend W;Mazdathe talk thlaguna Seca revolvatRaceway ing around whether or not the track would host a round of the MotoGP World Championship next year, the deal is not necessarily as complete as people have been led to believe, according to sources close to the deal . In fact, laguna World Superbike race promoter Dan Murphy says he is still in talks with the track regarding a return for World Superbike for next year. Murphy already has a deal in place with FGSport, the World Superbike Series rights holder, that gives him the rights to promote a U.S. round of the World Superbike Championship. "Rig ht now we have basically come to terms w ith World Superbike as far as what a potential agreement would be , but we have not come to terms w ith Laguna Seta as far as hosting that event," Murphy said on Sunday, July II , at laguna. "laguna is evaluating all of their options, and one of the options Laguna is looking at is a GP race. Claude Danis from the FIM is here this weekend , giving them a little more informa- tion of the requirements that would maybe be necessary to host a GP race. Those requirements mayor may not be more than what SCRAMP can financially afford ." If World Superbike is booted out of laguna in favor of hosting a MotoGP, Murphy does have the option of going somewhere else with the race . "We would look at other options," Murphy said. "O bvio usly, as you know, there are two, maybe three, other options. We love promoting out here because it is in California and it is laguna Seca , and that has so many benefits. It would have to be real ly the right track and the right deal for us to want to say yes to somewhere else. I think in 30 days it will be wrapped up in one way or another, but it won 't be a week." Paul Carruthers Gray Named Victorville Speedway Nat'l Grand Marshal Actor, motorcycle enthusiast, promoter, inventor and racer Billy Gray has been named Grand Marshal at round two of the Progressive Insurance AMA Speedway National Championship Series set to take place at Wheel to Wheel Raceway on the San Bernardino County Fairgrounds in Victorville, Californ ia, on August 7. ''I'm very pleased to be named Grand Marshal," Gray said. "I love speedway. It's the most exciting sport I have ever seen. Fast, methanol-powered motorcycles running on a tight tricky oval with no brakes how can you not love that scenario? It looks like madness, but it' s rea lly an art." Gray started acting in the early 1940s at the tender age of five. and over the years he's worked with many of the silver screen's legends , including Bob Hope in Seven lillie Fays, and Doris Day in On MoonlightBoyand Bythe light ofthe Silvery Moon. These are just three of the over 60 pictures Gray has been in. "I actually have a cult following from The Day the Earth Stood Still, that weird science fiction thriller from the '50s," Gray said. "Of course, most people know me as Bud, the mixed up teenager in the sitcom 'Father Knows Best' starring Robert Young." Gray has always ridden a motorcycle. "In 1953 I was drag-racing a 650 Triumph at Saugus," he said. "Th e only thing that stopped me from racing more than I did was the studio. They would have me do all these crazy things for the movies, but they thought motorcycles were dangerous. Go figure." Gray was a speedway motorcycle racing competitor during the '70s, 'BOsand '90s. "In 1969 I saw "Sliding Sonny " Nutter win the California State Championship at the L.A. Sports Arena, and I was hooked ," he said. "I've ridden with all the best. Legendary riders Rick Woods, 'Wild Bill' Cody and Alan Christian were my teammates when I rode for the Orange County Eagles Speedway Team. My best season was 1975, when I was the lSth-Iastest rider in the country. I was the Ascot Longtrack Champion in 1976." Gray was a natura! choice for Grand Marshal, according to Victorville event pro- []uc:ati Looking Good Regardle§§ Whether or not it is successful in its recent offer to purchase Aprilia, Ducat i is quie tly heading in the right direction financially, acco rding to the latest set of quarte rly acco unts just published by the public company listed on the New York Stock Exchange . Global revenues fo r the first three months of 2004 were up 23.4 percent over the same period a year ago, once foreign exchange factors had been taken into account (26. 3 percent without doing so), with revenues from the sale of Ducati motorcycles (as opposed to apparel , spare parts , etc.) up by 22.1 pe rce nt to Euro BO million ($99.2 million) , equaling 79.8 percent of total reve nues. Unofficial Ducat i worldwide reg istrations, a mar k of dealer sales, were up by I I percent against the first quarter of 2003 , in a market that grew by 3 percent globa lly according to Ducat i. Registrat ions , were up by 39 percent in the USA, a most encouraging turnaround in a market w hich had hitherto been Ducati's weakest area, and by 26 percent in the Italian home mar ket as well as by 7 percent in the UK - though drops of 7 percent in France , 10 percent in Germany and a disconcerting 18 percent in Japan were also recorded . The company's accumulat- ed net debt was down 2 percent at Euro 121.2 million ($ 150.3 million) as of March 3 I, compared to a year earlier. "2004 has got off to a great start," said Ducatl chairmarVCEO Federico Minali. ':till key indicators are pos itive - unit sales, registra tions, profitability and cash are going in the 10 JULY 21 , 2004 • CYCLE NEWS right direction . Our products are meeting with enthusiasm in the market, and momentum is building." Coming off the back of such a positive first quarte r, Ducat l's formal announcement at the hugely successfu l W DW World Ducati Week 2004 at Misano in May, attended by 23,000 ducatlsti, that it plans to build a street-legal ve rsion of the V4 Desmosedici Mo to GP racer in 2006 is an added meas ure of the marque 's self-con fidence. Also revealed, albeit this time unofficially, were two othe r future new models in the Sport Classic range , joining the th ree ret ro desmos launched in prototype fo rm at the Tokyo Show last October, each the product of house designer Pierre Terblanche's fertile pe n, and all but one powered by the 1000DS desmodue twin-spark motor. The first of these, the half-faired limited-edition Paul Smart Replica 1000 , w ill enter production in November next year, followed by the naked Sport 1000 cafe racer in March, 2006 , and the GT I000 classic sports tourer in October that year. After th is trio of models inspired by Ducati's bevel-drive V-twi n models of the I970s , it'll be the turn next of the two new bikes likely to appear in prototype form at next February's Osaka Show in Japan - one of them this time paying homage to a belt -drive Pantah-based model, the "trico tore"-liveried 7S0 F I World EnduranceITT F I racer of the mid-'80 s, the other a somewhat distant tribute to what is arguably Ducati 's best-loved single from the classic era, the 40th Anniversary mater Harald Zechner. "He was very fast a few years ago, Zechner said. "He has been a first-division speedway rider for the last 30+ years. He 's also been a speedway promoter. All the riders respect and admire him because of his love affair with the sport. We are very pleased that he will honor us by being the event Grand Marshal." The three-race AMA National Championship Speedway Series will pay almost $40,000 in prize money and is considered America's top speedway title . Tickets for the Victorville round are available at Victorville Harley Davidson or online at www.fastfridays.com. Gates open at 6 p.m. Racing starts at 7:30 p.m. 3S0 Scrambler. This is likely to be powered by the 800cc ver sion of Ducatl 's desmodue motor, and to enter production in 2007 . Start saving... Of more immed iate impo rta nce will be the new Ducati 200 S models scheduled to be launched at Munich's Intermot Show in September and to enter production sho rt ly afterward. Alongside a slight restyle of the 999 aimed at improving high-speed stability on the racetrack in Superbike guise (and of its companion 749 range , with a customer race version due to be intr oduced of the Bre il-spon so red works 749 R be ing raced this season by Lorenzo Lanzi in Wo rld Supersport), and the inevitable 620 ie and BOOie versions of the good-selling Multistrada which until now has on ly been available in 1000 DS fo rm , expect a major revamp of the Monster range to allow it to keep pace with rivals like the Kawasaki Z750rz I000, Benelli TNT I 130, Suzuki SVI000 and Aprilia Tuono, as well as smalle r-capacity rivals like the Honda Hornet 600 and Yamaha FZ6 Fazer. It's also likely the SuperSport range of SS models will be face-lifted, too, which since they' ve bare ly changed since Terblanche restyled them back in 199B as his first jo b for Ducati in the wake of the American takeover, is now overdue. It's not clear, however, wh ether this will happen th is time around o r more likely at the Milan Show 2005 . Either way, Ducat i is certain to have lots to keep th e momentu m of w hich Minoli speaks going strong. Alan Cathc a rt