P26
WIND
was ever closer to
the Aspar team, with
its own close Aprilia
links. Now the top
independent team's
hopes of support and
a serious technical
upgrade have been
dashed, and they
have been forced
into a drastic rethink.
Tenuous discussions
with Honda about the new production-racer have become an
urgent reality, with HRC demanding a firm answer by the end of
the Malaysian GP weekend.
Another option would be Ducati, which plans to offer this year's
machine to satellite teams while
forging ahead with an all-new ma-
PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
IN
THE
Will Gigi Dall'Igna's departure
from Aprilia force Nicky Hayden
down a different path for the
2014 MotoGP season?
chine for the factory squad. This
would be the supreme irony for
Hayden, for whom the bright side
of being sacked by Ducati was
to escape from the ever-troubled
Desmosedici.
"Ducati aren't doing me any favors. Not
only have they fired me,
they've taken the guy
who was going to be my
new engineer," Hayden
said.
Hayden also said: "I
was very close to a deal,
so I was very shocked to
see him leave. I need to
understand what Aprilia is
going to do without Gigi. He has
achieved a lot, and that is why the
Aprilia option was looking so good."
Hayden "hadn't signed anything yet," and admitted that
"the Honda thing came back up.
There is a lot to sort out, like bike
prices and sponsors."
Michael Scott
T
he AMA Pro Hillclimb Series
crowned Jay Sallstrom, John
Koester, and Nick Bleau as the
2013 Champions in Unlimited,
Xtreme, and Pro Sport classes,
respectively, at the final round
on the Devil's Staircase hill at Oregonia, Ohio, on Sunday.
Sallstrom came into the final
round as the Unlimited class
heir-apparent after points leader
Vinny Nuzzolilli's round-seven injury knocked him out of the title
chase. Sallstrom's ninth-place
finish on the day was enough to
keep him ahead of rivals Koester
and Phil Libhart, the pair finishing second and third in the series, respectively.
continued on page 28
Phil Libhart won
the Xtreme Class
hillclimb finale with
one perfect ride.
PHOTOGPAPHY BY JEFF WHITEHEAD
HILLCLIMBERS CROWNED!