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/128625
...J J ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ~ j SIL L Y SEASON It's that time of the y ear again and silly season is upon us. Here's a quick br eakdown of what's going on with th e AMA Superbike te ams - at least through th e Brainerd round of the series on July 30. American Honda Miguel DuHamel is si gne d for o ne more y ear. Who his teamma te will be remains unansw ered . Am erican Honda 's Gary Mathers said th at he'd been negotiating with Nicky Hayden 's manager Gary Howard since March and would like to keep him. The pair last spoke tw o weeks ago at Mid·Ohio. The hold -up is the 600cc Su persport class. Hayden doesn't want t o ri de , pr eferring to concentra te on the Superbike. Hond a feels differently. " O ur boss wants h im to ri de the 600 ," Mather s said . " Honda's em phas is is abou t 96% on the 6 00 and 4% on the Sup erb ik e. We'r e liable to lose him over it." And until Hayden' s situati on is resolved, th ey won 't kn ow what to do with Er ion Racing 's Kurtis Roberts who 's pro ved he d eserves a fac to ry sup erbike next year. " The y 're bo th managed by th e same gu y (Gary Howard ]. We ca n' t st art with him (Roberts] until we'r e done with Nicky: Math ers said. A s for eq u ip m ent, th e RC-51 continues to ev o lve with m ore parts ex pect ed in th e coming weeks, leading t o a much-improved machine for the start of next season. Th e F 4 is only two years old and Mathers said that it wou ld be upd ated , but not replaced. Yoshim ura Suzuki AMA Superbike Champion Mat Mladin is contra cted through 2001 , as is his teammate Aaron Yates. Jason Pridmore's co ntr act is up at the end of this season and no decision has been made on hi s status, according to team manag er Don Sakakura. "Nothing's confirmed : Sakakura said. "Mo re than likely we'll keep a tbree-rider team.' • • Manic Mondial Wi t h MV Agusta working flat-out to produce enough examples of its acclaimed F4 to satisfy pent-up demand. the rebi rth of Benelli trumpeted by th e unique engine note of its high -tech big -bang Tomado triple, and Moto Guzzi abo ut to be joined by Laverda as the trad itional je wels in the crown of the upstart Aprilia em pire, Italy's historic troph y marques are rid ing the tw o -wheeled co meback wave to maxim um effect, on the bac k of the worldwide m oto rcycl e boom. Th at leaves ju st two more legendary nam es from the glory days of Itali an bi kin g in the Fun '50s still to resurface - but with a little help from Suzuki, engine manufacturers to the wo rld. that bomagain moment is very close for each of them: Mo ndia l, and Gilera. Mond ial comes fi rst, with a plan ned relaunch at the Intermot Show opening in Mun ic h on September 13, according to Roberto Ziletti, the Brescia -based businessman at the head of the group of inves to rs who have so far committed a to tal of $10 million to esta blishing the newly reformed Mond ial Moto co m pa ny. One of th e ma ny sm all m otorcycl e m anufacturers wh ich fl ourish ed in pos t- WWII Italy, Mon d ial distinguished itse lf fro m its dozens of riva ls by winni ng five Worl d champ ionships in the 125cc and 250cc Gran d Prix cl asses between 1949 and 1957. So ad v an ced was the design o f its litt le DOHC single that the company went three seasons without being beaten in the 12 5 c c cla ss , a nd in 1957 M ond ia l The team will hav e the new GSX-R750 at th e start of next season and po ssib ly earli er. They're due to test it at a Du nlo p tire test at Dayt ona in mid-A ug ust and may race it at th e season finale at Willow Sprin gs. " It depends on how the test goes: Saka kura said, adding tha t th e bik e wou ld be coming from th e factory tha t has been working on it since Febru ary of th is year . " I'm anxiou s to see how it goe s: he added. Th e team will also have an all- new GSX -R600s for 2001. Harley-David son Harley-Davidson 's Steve Sch eibe said it was a little too early to ta lk about the 2001 season . "After Pike 's Peak [on Au gust 12-13 ], a lot mo re of what we're goi ng to be do ing will be clear: Scheibe said. ... Preston sai d he'd expected Bostrom to tak e longer to get up to speed on the Kawasak is, but he " m atured right off the bal." Preston said th ere wou ldn't be a decisio n on m ach inery for abo ut two weeks afte r thi s week end 's Suzuka 8 -H ou r. Wha t Preston would like to see is anoth er rider for the 600cc Sup ersport clas s. " We' re talkin g ab o ut maybe a 6 0 0 guy: Preston sai d. "That's what I wou ld like.' Preston also sai d he und erstood and agr eed wi th Chan dler's Superbike-only position . Yamaha Yamaha 's Larry Gri ffis said the team wou ldn 't be making any decisions o n the 2001 team until next m on th . ........ T.......-:'W ~~.L,,~ team s . Kawasaki Doug Chandler is contracted with Kawasaki th rough 2001 with Kawasaki holding an opti on year on Eri c Bostrom. "The indicati ons are now we would like to k eep him ," team manager Mike Preston said. "You don 't say you have somebody unti l you do. Defini t ely , his phone's ring ing." no connection . Now Ziletti has ac quired th e Mond ia l name from the Boselli family . and laid plans for the m arque's revival with a sophisticated , limited -edition 1oo0cc V-twin sportbike to be kn own as the Piega , des igned by little -known progetlista Nicola B rag agno lo . Utilizing an alum in um tubular sp ace frame wrapped around a Suzu ki TLJ OOOR engine (su pplies of whi ch Ziletti says the Japanese m an ufact urer has co mmitted to the proj ect ). the Piega will be built in an initial batch of ju st 250 bikes, retai lin g at aroun d $25 .000 in homol ogated st reet guise when deliveries beg in as earl y as the date of May 200 1 projected by th e co m pany. Ziletti states tha t he also int ends to develo p a Sup erb ike race version ready fo r t he 2002 season , thoug h he's also go ne on record as claimi ng that Mondi al plans to enter GP racing 's pr oject ed new four-stroke cl ass further on down the line - though of co urse , not with a tw incy linder motorcycle, as th ese are presently ban ned from the projected diesel class. The na me Piega is a play on words, since in Itali an th e word m eans fold, as In the Mond ials sharp-edged neo -M V Agusta F4 styling. and leans. as in c rank ed over into a t urn. and amongst th e Fo rm ula I -derived technology that Ziletti says the new Mo ndial V-twin Superbike will incorporate is a sophisticated engine-management system which will be pa rtly govemed by sensors m on itoring the bike's lean ang le in turns, li nked to a system of traction control. The Piega's specially-developed fue l-injection system , using la rge 6 0 mm throttle bodies, will be unique to the marque, unlike the rival Bi mota SB 8 K similarly fitted with the S uzuki T LI ODOR engi ne. which employs an off-the-shelf Marelli EFl: the new Mondial is promised to establish a new concept in motorcycle technol ogy, in terms of electronic and mechanica l design featur es. Production of the Plega , wh ich is projected to deliver 130 ho rsepower at 9800 rpm in st reet -legal guise and weigh a targeted 407 pounds, Is intended to take pla ce at the company's new headquarters in Milan. but Mondial will take a leaf fro m Aprilia's book in sub-contracting ma nufactu re of all components to o uts ide sup pliers, leaving only final assem bly to be co mpleted in -ho use. Commercia lly, the company will follow instead in the MH900e Du cat i' s tire trac ks by ma rket ing the Plega uni quely vi a the Intemet, on website www.mon dial moto.it. The first do t.com m ot or cycl e ma nufacturer of th e internet era is ab out to log on. cyclenews.com reader poll question of the week ever produce a street-legal ve rsion a VR IDDD'?------~ 80 A UGUST 9 . 2000 ' c u e • e n e vv s • "T hat m eetin g is in the m idd le of Au gust and that's when we get direct ion on rid ers and bikes, total directi on : he said . " We j ust look at what's best for ma rk eting and product." Th e co ntr acts of both Jamie Hacking and Tommy Hayden both expire at th e end of th e 2000 season. Vance & Hines Du cat i With Terry Van ce absent from th e Brainerd race and crew chief Jim Leonard not willing to comment without the boss man's o k ay. very little is know about the t eam's plans for next season. It i s know that Vance 's relati onship with Du cati remains strong and th ere is no reason to beli eve that he and th e team won 't be back for next season . It' s doubtful that John Kocinski wi ll be part of the Van ce f, Hines team in 2001 and Steve Rapp is also only on a one -year deal. Hen ny Ray Abrams Pascal Picotte is completing the firs t year of a four -yea r co ntr act with th e tea m . He'll be back. As for Scott Russell , by mutual con sent he has as much ch ance of riding th e VR1000 nex t y ea r as Kurt Ru ssel l. Or K eri Russell. Rus sell h as become incre asingly un hap py with th e te am and the feeli ng is mutual. The Geor gi an wan ts to co nt inue rac ing , but his price tag and rece nt performances will scare off many of the scooped bot h th e 125 and 250 crowns in the sa me year , th anks to flamboyant Italian T a rq u in io Provini ( 125) and British ace Cec il Sandford (250 ) . But at the end of t hat season . Co unt Gius eppe Bosell i - who foun ded the Mond ial co mpany in co llaboration with his three brothers (h ence the ma rque's correct title of F.B . Mondial , standing for Fratell i Boselli) , pulled Mondial out of GP racing in co njuncti o n with Moto Guzzi and Gil era . in a secret deal which saw the three do mi nant racing com panies withdraw from racing in the face of falling streetbike sal es. Though it continued to rem ain a bit player in the Italian bike m arket - Mondial was only ever a hobby for the aristocratic Boselli family . whose main incom e came from hu ge esta tes in t he country sid e sou th of Mi lan - the c o m p any never built any motorcycle larger t han 250cc, and its sporadic existence wound down in the late '60s with a range of 50cc mopeds . A decade ago it resurfa ced . tha nks to the enthusi asm of Count Boselli 's eldest son Pierluigi, who developed a very com petitive KTM -eng ined Mondial Supermono race r, which enjoyed some track success, as well as a proto type range of I 25 cc tw o -stroke streetbikes that never made it into vol ume pr oduction. The Argentine co m pany of the same name producing scooters in some quantity to day has __ Stay tun ed for an upd at e on Gil era.