Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

~ o o o o o o o o o ~ Continued from page 3 M otorcyclist mag azin e associate editor G reg M c Quide. 30 . was killed Friday. Jun e 23 . in a tra ff ic acci den t w hile attending the Honda Ho ot in N orth C arolin a. Wi tnesses say that M cQuide wa s rid ing alone eastbo und on Interstate 40 . in the left lane. w hen a truck he wa s approaching moved suddenly into his path . Trying to avoid the tru ck . M cQuide cras hed into t he medi an stri p and st ruck a gua rdrail. He w as dead o n the sc ene. McQuide is survi ved by his parents . Mr. and M rs . S teve McQu ide o f D e lmar. New Yo rk . and a brother. Funeral services were held on June 30 . at the Applebee Funeral Home. 403 Kenwood Ave " D elmar . NY 12054. A memo rial is also being sc hed uled in So ut hern Californi a for Friday . J uly o o o o o (l L r \.....J r LJ C o C o '1 14. T h e locati o n ha s yet to be announ ced. The fam ily has requested that memorials be sent to the Nat ional M otorcycl e Saf ety Fund . 2 Jenner St ., Irv ine . CA 92618 . Advanstar Expo sitions has announced the dates & lo c ati o ns for t he 2000- 2001 Cycle World Internatio n al Motorcycle S ho w s . The sc hedule is as fo ll ow s : S an Franc isc o. C ali f orn ia (N ovembe r 10- 12): Seattl e. W ashingt o n (D ecember 1-3); Long Be ach. Ca liforn ia (De cembe r 8-10) ; D a ll a s. Te xas (Dec emb er 15 -17) ; New Yo r k . New York (J anuary 5-7); Philad elphia . Penn sy lvania (January 12-14); M inn eap ol is. M inn esota (Ja nuary 26 -28 ); C le vela nd . • MV's Bittersweet Success MY Agusta - the Manufactu rer Formerly Known as Cagiva • is currently experiencing both the best and the worst of problems as it struggles to satisfy overwhelming customer demand across its entire model range. from the 125cc Mito street stroker up to Massimo Tamburini's two -wheeled work of art. the F4. With the entire 2000 mod el-year production of around 15,000 Husqvarna off-road bikes sold out long ago, demand for Mitos exceeding expectations with 5000 dealer orders (but only 3500 bikes being buil t this year), and demand for the company's acclaimed new range of Suzuki TLJ OOOS v: twin powered Cagiva Raptor and Navigator models far outnumbering the 7500 ceiling imposed by Suzuki's engine su pp l y c ommitm ents. every Single model i n the MV/Cagiva /Hu sqvama catalog is back -ordered, as the fiv e production lin es at th e company's new Cassinetta factory struggle to keep up with demand . With more than 10,000 firm orders already in hand for the MY Agusta F4S. the 4500 bikes that will be produced during the 2000 model year ending in August will barely halve the existing backloq, All this in spite of double- shilt manufacture of the 750cc four-cylinder motor at the company 's newly-modernized Yarese engine shop , which however still permits only single -shift assembly of the complete bik es at Cassinetta . thanks to the engine supply bottleneck. MY Ag usta boss Claud io Castig lioni is pleased at the receptio n his born -again company's products are enjoying, but frustrated at the inability to keep up with dema nd, He adm its this is par tly due to problems wi th supp liers who . because of Cagiva 's past problems, disbelieved the success the com pany would enjoy and didn't gear up sufficiently, Moreover, there's a widespread suspicio n that MY Agusta is under-capitalized in terms of fueling the runaway success of its various existi ng mode ls - let alone introducing the new ones planned to debut at Intermot in September - and that it is stretched to carry the $52 mill ion debt currently held. Castiglioni reveals that he is engaged in negotiations to sell up to 15 percent of the equity in I'W Ag usta to a Brit ish- or Italian based investm ent house, in order to fund a step-up in exist ing productio n facili ties. ' We need to expand our ability to meet customer demand and sat isfy the build -up of o rders we ha ve fo r all three ranges," Castiglioni says. "And with the runaway grow th of the co m pany, it's im perative we hav e a stro ng financia l O hio (F eb ru ary 2 ·4) ; C hicago , Illi noi s (Fe bruary 9-1 l ): Atl anta . G eo rgia (Feb ruary 16 ·18) ; D aytona Beach , Florid a ( March 7-11) ; S I. L o u i s , M i s sour i ( M arc h 23 -25 ) . Fo r mo re informati on , call 800/854-31 12. The THQ U.S Open . sc hed ule d for October 14-15 at the MGM Grand in Las V ega s . N ev ad a . ha s an no unc e d t ha t C ann ond ale ' s Keit h Johnson has been invited to partic ipate in the race on the new MX400 fo ur-st roke and it is like Iy that both he and the bike will be there . Tic kets for the U .S . Open c an be purc has e d through Ti cketm a s ter at 702 /474-40 00. at the MGM Grand Box Office , and at Ch aparral M otorsports at direction whi ch will allow me to concentrate personally on what I'm good at - working with our design teams led by such geniuses as Tamburini. Galluzzi and Parenti to develop a flow of new mode ls. which will fuel the continued success of our comp any." The first of these new bikes is set to debut at the Intermot Show opening in Munich on September 15. headed by the F4 -based Brutal e 750 naked roadster which has been completely redesigned by l"assimo Tamburini from its original format of thr ee years ago. when it was largely the work of British designer Adrian Morton. Alongside th e Brutale at Munich will appear MY's response to the new Suzuki GSXR750. in the form of the limited-edition F140. It' s a costlier power -up version of the current model developed by engine chief Andrea Goggi's R&D team to produce a clai med 140 horsepower at the gearbox in street-legal guise. with uprated chassis parts incl uding lots of titanium and carbon fiber to help slash dry weight by at least 22 pounds still not as light as the Suzuki , but closi ng right up, say MY engineers. The F140 is not Intended as the basis for MY Agusta 's return to world -class road racing in 2001 by entering a factory team in the World Superbike Championship. even though Castiglioni is wid ely rumored to have approached Belgian A lstare Coron a team owner Francis Batta, currently running Suzuk i's su cc essful factory backed SBK operation. Th e two last enjoyed links back in 1987 , when Batt a r an th e works Cagiva 500 cc GP team with Bastos sponsorship and Raymond Roche and Didier de Radig ues as riders . in what was the Italian factory's first truly competitive seaso n in 500cc GP racing . "It' s true I speak frequently with Batta and admire his ach ievements in Superbike racing, as well as his very pro fessional R&D op eration .' says Cast iglioni. "But I must underline that MY Agusta will not take part in the World Superb ike series on an official basis, and while our American importers Ferracci will most p robab ly enter the AMA Superbike series in the future , this will be with F4 racebikes they will develop themsel ves not us. The reason is that MY Agusta does n ot h av e a The Cagiva Milo 125 • just » 80 ,JULY 12, 200 0 ' c ue • e ne""s WWW.ussx.co m . Spo rt Bike Night at In Cahoots in Sacra mento. Ca liforn ia. will fe atu re 1993 500cc World Champion Kevin S c hw a ntz and fo rmer AMA and W orld Superbike C hampion Troy Corser on Monday, J uly 10 the day afte r th e W orld S uperbike round at Lag una S eca . Fo r more info rm at ion , call 916/373-1557. Gerald Jerry" Llamas was killed in a motorcycl e accident on J une 23 in Los A ng e l e s . Cal iforn ia . Llama s was e mploye d at C al C o ast M oto rspo rt s in Oxnard, C alifo rnia. eN M Superb ike heritage, but a Grand Prix one . and with th e advent of four-stroke GP r acing - a formula whic h I'm proud to say I had a leading hand in developing, as President of the GPMA - it's clear where MY Agusta's destiny lies. We mu st be there on the grid when this lak es off - and fully intend to be competiti ve from the very beginn ing: Word is that work has already begun in-house at Varese on a fuel-injected four-cylinder 990cc MY Agu sta GP engine, which is in no way deriv ed from the current F4 . but which like its Superbike sister may well receive help fro m Ferrari in its development - Piero Ferrari and the Castig lioni brothers remain on the best of terms. The need to find the budget for the Grand Prix project's R&D , even without funding a race team which would inevitably be fully spo nsored, is surely another factor in Castiglioni's decisio n to sell a minority slice of MY equity to a venture-capitalist partner, who would then be charged with day-to-day financial and even operational control of the company. leaving hi m free to focus on new projects such as this. However, whether such an investment house would be satisfied with just a 15-percent slice of the equity is open to question. and in any case t his would inevitably imp ly that MY Agusta will end up being floated on the stock market - an investment opportunity that is likely to be heavil y oversubscribed. one of many MY Aguata models that Is In demand. To cast your vote, lag an 0 hftp:/ / www.cyclenews.com. - cyc lenews .com reader poll question of the week 800/841 -2960 . Fo r more info rma tion, see t h e U . S. Open w eb site a t 1EIII•

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