Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Nicky Does New York wensboro, Kentucky: population 54,300. New York, New York: population 8, 100,000. Repsol Honda's Nicky Hayden got a quick taste of the big city on a whirlwind visit to New York City to promote the Red Bull U.5. Grand Prix last week. "It's actually pretty interesting," said Hayden, who'd been to New York before but had never seen much of the city. "I can see what people like about it." After five days of riding his Honda RC21 IV (the three-day French GP weekend followed by two days of testing at Le Mans), Hayden touched down in New York and hit the ground running, literally. Despite a packed schedule, Hayden was able to keep up his fitness with a run along the Hudson River on the west side of Manhattan. "I was on my way home from France, so I didn't really mind," Hayden said. "A lot of people have worked hard to make this thing happen, from Doma to the track, and all the work they've done on track safety, to Red Bull [Hayden's personal sponsor] stepping up. 50 I didn't mind taking a day out if it was going to promote it a bit," Dorna, Red Bull and Mazda Raceway O Laguna Seca all had representatives in New York to help with the race's promotion. Though ticket sales have been strong, the race is not sold out. "They've got a lot of seats available," Hayden said. "They don't want people to think that it is sold out. They did this to get that last little bit of people that they want to get to." The centerpiece of the visit was the Wednesday evening screening of Faster. the Movie for New York media, followed by 45 minutes of new footage on the 2003-2004 season. During an intermission, Hayden and director Mark Neale took part in a question and answer session. The other work of promoting the Red Bull U.S. GP was done on both Wednesday and Thursday. On Wednesday, Hayden met with Moxim magazine and Sports Illustrated (or Kids. He started Thursday at Vibe magazine before he moved on to Popular Science, which is interested in the technical side of MotoGp, and he ended the day at Sports lIIustroted. Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca media relations manager Ed Nichols, in town to promote the event, checked out a layout on the U.S. GP and Hayden in Cargo magazine that's scheduled for upcoming publication. Benelli on the Skids Again? A less-than-promising story is circulating about Italian trophy marque Benelli, which appears to be drinking at the "Last Chance Saloon" yet again. It was acquired in 1996 by Andrea Merloni, former Italian Supersport racer and the son of one of Italy's richest businessmen. The Pesaro-based Merloni family is the proprietor of Indesit and Ariston, Italy's largest white goods manufacturers and one of Europe's largest privately owned companies. Upon acquiring Benelli, Merloni Jr. fast-forwarded production of a range of scooters powered by bought-in engines in order to fund development of an all-new 900cc motor (then the threecylinder capacity limit for Superbike racing), built for him by Motori Franco Morini in Bologna. The 900 Tornado duly entered manufacture in 2000, with ongoing R&D provided by a singleton factory bike racing for two seasons in the World Superbike Championship in the hands of Aussie Peter Goddard. However, the industrywide scooter crisis at the start of the millennium wiped out Benelli's cash now, leaving the company dependent on slow-to-pick-up sales of its Tornado sportbike - not helped by an ongoing dispute with its putative American importer, Andrew Wright (who has since purchased the rival Mondial marque), which prevented Benelli threecylinder motorcycles ever being sold in the key U.S. market. In spite of the success of the acclaimed TnT 1130 street fighter, introduced a year ago, fitted with a long-stroke version of the Tornado motor which resolved its lack of midrange muscle, the turnaround that Merloni Jr. had hoped for - and which it's understood his father Vittorio has stipulated must happen in order to stem the outflow from family funds required to prop up his eldest son's ailing enterprise - has not occurred. Currently, the 60-man factory workforce is working only two weeks in every month under the unique Italian "cassa inte- 8 JUNE 1,2005 • CYCLE NEWS Nicky Hayden visited New Yark's Times Square last week. \ During his brief visit, Hayden saw the Statue of Liberty and Ground Zero, both in lower Manhattan; the trendy Tribeca neighborhood, where he stayed; and Times Square, home of MTV's Total Request Live (TRL), before heading home for a rare week off. He leaves for the June 4-S Italian GP at Mugello on Memorial Day, May 30. grazione" system, whereby the state pays them to stay at home while efforts are made to set the company which employs them straight, and Benelli is now understood to have been effectively put up for sale at a nominal price as a moreor-less going concern by the Merloni family. Potential buyers would certainly be free of development costs for the Tornado and TnT, but if a tight deadline to find a new owner by the end of July is not met, the company could close. However, sources within the factory reveal that Merloni Sr. has been persuaded to extend the marque's lease of life at least until the end of the year, thanks to encouraging demand for the TnT (the 2005 model-year production is sold out) and the imminent production of the cafe racer version launched at the end of last year, both styled by Italian-based Brit Adrian Morton. This would allow for the imminent arrival at the Milan Show in November of a three-cylinder Benelli competitor to the Ducati Multistrada, which is already undergoing testing in the hands of factory rider Gianluca Galasso and is likely to be fitted with a new semi-long-stroke 1000cc version of the Benelli DOHC 12-valve motor. That displacement is obtained by fitting a shorter-stroke crank than the 88x62mm 113lcc TnT engine to the Tornado's 88x49.2mm 898cc motor. This 1000cc version, thought to measure 88xS4.Smm for a capacity of 995cc, offers improved torque over the 900 triple motor but has an equal appetite for revs. It is known to have been under development in the Pesaro factory for the past year. With production of the 900 Tornado currently stalled and unsold stocks of the firm's sportbike model still piled up at the Pesaro factory, it's believed this will replaced by an outright 10000c high-spec superbike version with Ohlins suspension and radial braJkes, due also to be launched at Milan in November. It remains to be seen if this strategy will succeed in lifting Benelli out of the Last Chance Saloon, a place where the Italian marque appears to have been drinking for some time. Alan Cathcart "The next two or three or months is pretty busy," Hayden said by cell phone on his way to the airport. "We'll go home and regroup and go to Mugello stronger." The Catalunya Gp, north of Barcelona, is a week after Mugello, followed by two days of testing. Henny Ray Abrams Eric Bostrom for Supermoto? Ducati Austin's Eric Bostrom is close to finalizing a ride for much of this year's AMA Supermoto Championship. "I can say that we're actively pursuing it," Bostrom said during a break in practice at Pikes Peak International Raceway. "We're kind of working things out." Bostrom said the deal would have him campaigning a limited schedule aboard a KTM in the silver and blue colors of personal sponsor Red Bull, with backing from Parts Unlimited. At the moment, it appears he'd be able to do four events. The current AMA Supermoto schedule lists five events. "It's something to do for fun, and I want to be part of the deal," he said. "I've really been wanting to do it, and Ducati was gracious enough to let us do it. It's full steam ahead since we got the word." Bostrom said he'd been racing the KTM 450 SMR and had been testing it and the 525. "The bike's great. The bike's very competitive," he said. "It seems to make horsepower in a different spots. The KTM's fast, and it handled well." Riding the KTM means that Bostrom's eligible for some of the $289,275 in contingency money that KTM posted for the series. A win on a 2003 or newer model KTM in the 'ISO or Unlimited classes earns $5000. Henny Ray Abrams

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