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/128624
8 ~E1~ J Continued from page 2 ,....., mu st also have a ticket for that day' s <:» Grand N ati onal Champ ionsh ip ra ce. / ) Tic k e t s w ill b e availab le at t he fa ir- >=< I I U ~ CJ ground s during Fr id ay n ight's G rand N atio na l S ho rt Trac k and S at ur day ' s G rand N atio nal M ile . Fo r mo re info rma- DIRECT I NDUCTION tion, call 2 17/753 -8866 . On Saturday, Jul y 8 . the AMA and the Motorc ycl e Heritag e Foundatio n inducted 45 people int o the Motorcycl e Hall of Fam e in a ceremony at the Motorcycle Hall of Fam e Museum in Pick erington, Ohio . Th at ma y sound like a lot of folks to honor , but as Don Emd e, chairm an of the board of trustees. explains. "This is only our third year , and we knew we had a lot of cat ching up to do." Th e first year saw 124 ind uctees honored. and 72 were undu cted last year. Next year Emde expects the num ber to be in the 20s. More or less equal numbe rs of inductees were chosen from the categories of Motocross and Supercross, Motocross, Pioneers. Offroad. Road Racing, Dirt Track , Specia lties . and At Large. "We want to mak e the Hall of Fam e be somethi ng th at reall y in cludes all aspects of the spo rt," said Emd e. Approximately half of th e in du ct ees were on hand , incl udi ng six -time National MX Ch ampion Broc Glover , Davey and Rita Coo mbs (on behalf of deceased MX promoter Dave Coom bs) , the Japanese family of deceased legendary Honda roa ace tu ne r Pops' of deceas Race Tech tracksi de su pport w ill be available at the G rand Nationals in Pon ca City from A ugu st 1·5 and also at Lo rett a L y n n ' s f rom A u g u s t 7 -12 . S e rv ic e s including rebui lds, ins ta llations and sales w ill be availa ble during pract ice and race days. acco rding to Race Tech . o 8 o T he O v e r The Hill Gang held a be nefit ni ce at Gl en Helen Racewa y Par k in San B ernardino . Californ ia, on Jul y 23 , fo r inj ured rider Chet D yreson , who is para lyzed fro m the c hest down after a crash at Lo s A ngeles C ou nty Raceway in M ay . Abou t $1 9 .50 0 was raised . and J eff Emig came ou t to show his sup po rt. signing autographs and chatting with the fans . Emig also gave one of his last rac ing jerseys to C het' s son , C lint. A 2000 YZ 426F w as raffle d o ff. w ith all proceed s going to the Dyreso n family . The w inner was D a n L e ahe y of To r ranc e , Califomia. o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o ,..... By The Pro C ircuit race support tea m will be on hand at the 19th An nua l Loretta Lynn 's A mateu r National in H urricane M i ll s , T en n e s s e e . f ro m August 6 to A ugust 12 . Feel free to seek Pro C ircuit' s adv ice on jetting. motor and su spension setup. ALAN C A T H C A R T • • Ambitious Aprilia First Mota Guzzi. now Laverda. As revealed earlier in this co lumn. it has been confirmed by sources close to the deal that Aprilia has followed its purchase of Guzzi by agreeing to a deal to acquire the younger. smaller but of late equa lly historic Laverda marque located less than 60 miles from its Noale base. Founded in 1949, Mota Laverda was rescued from insolvency in 1995 by current Bimota boss Francesco Tognon. who today still owns 10 percent of the equity, with the controlling 65-percent shareholding in the hands of the Spezzapria family , and the remaining 25 percent held by the Brazzali broth ers of cheese-mak ing fam e. Aft er a deal agreed last October with financie r Georg e Soro s' Quantum Fund was scuppered by the refusal of one of the banks holdin g Laverda's line of credit to oka y the sale, the Spezzapr ias bought in ali the outstan ding debt , so were able to present Aprilia boss Ivano Beggio with a clean balance sheet - surely a key eleme nt in clinching th e deal, given Aprilia 's recent increased exposure to the banks in buy ing Moto Guzzi. No pri ce has yet been revealed for the Apr ilia tak eover, whic h rathe r surpris ingly does not inclu de the three-cylinder 1000cc J ota Super bike engi ne project revealed in public for the first time at the Milan Show last Septembe r. Thi s has definitely been acquired by the Brazzalis in a separate deal, though at this stage it is not known what they plan to accomplish with iL One thin g is for sure: they won 't be able to call it a Laverda! FM F Racing has sig ned o n as a sponsor of the Women's Motocross League, an d w ill be offeri ng su pport rides to all W ML race rs - one level for professionals , and ano t her for amateurs. Rounds one and two of the Nevada S t ate MX Champ ionship Serie s With many former Laverda employees among Aprilia's key engineering and management figures (and vice versa) , there is a degree of symbiosis in th is takeover not normally found in suc h deals, in turn lik ely heralding a benevolent approach on Aprili a's part to the question of what to do next. Almost certainly , Ap rilia 's main objective will be to have its Rotax eng ine par tne rs develop a more modern and mu ch more compact family of fuel-injected 12-valve thr ee-cylind er engines varying in capacity from 900 to 1200cc, to power a new generation of Laverda maxibikes which are unlikely to see t he light of day until 2003 at the earliest. Until then , informed betting is that Aprilia will opt to close down Laverda production - which is presently suspended, with the wor kforce at the Zane factory laid off - until the new triples come on line , and it may even sell off the stock of spares for the existing twin -cy lind er m od el rang e to an outside sourc e. Manufacture of the next generation of Laverdas will almost certainly be shifted , how ever, to Aprilia 's own fa ct ory at Scorze, to be built alongside the fir m's own range of RSY Ytwins. But at least another of Italy 's hi storic marques now appears set to end up in sympathetic hands. With Moto Guzzi already in his pocket, and Laverda about to foll ow it there, A pril ia boss lvano Beggio ha s go ne on reco rd as admitting that he plans to take his fam ily's co mpany publ ic "in the forseeable fut ure." Floa ting A prilia on the stock exchange wo ul d be an appealing op tion for th ose banks which have help ed fund his most recent acquisitions, as well as providing significant capital for furthe r expans ion. With informed sources insisting that the final missing link in Apri lia's range (a current lack of any off-road mo dels) may shortly be resol ved via a merger with KTM. a share issue ma y be needed to fund such a marriage. Given that the Beggio family firm's involvement wit h powered two-w heelers began back in 1968 wit h off- road and dua l-purpose motorcycles. th is would close the ci rcle, and present A prilia as the genuine fifth for ce in world m otor cy cl ing that t he company has increasingly promis ed to becom e. Aprilia has shown the ir engineering power with the quick rise of their RSV·1000 Mille Superbike. They may soon show their fin anc ial might and add Laverda to their family of moto-manufacturers. '-' r: c o o o o o o o To cast your v ote, log on to ht p:/ /www.cy clen ew s.cOln. cyclenews.com reader poll question of the week 90 Who will be th A. Colin Edwa rds II D. Pier-Francesco Ch~i~li::==~:!!HI..:J A UGUST 2 , 2000' cue • e n ~~~=:~~:'::'2=:":'::'~=-_ _- - - - eVIls will kick off in Fallon. N ev ada on Sat urday night . A ug ust 19 and Sund ay August 2 0_ T h e event will p o st a combi ne d $3000 pro pu rse for both da ys, and a fr ee style jum p contest on Saturday night w ill award $500 . For more information . call 775/623 -6888. CN