VOL. 52 ISSUE 17 APRIL 28, 2015 P47
RYP/SHERCO PODIUM SWEEP
P
atrick Smage continued his
winning ways at the Hualapai
Mountain Park near Kingman,
Arizona for rounds three and four
of the Aires National MotoTrials
Championship on April 18-19.
Smage started the weekend
off with a clean first loop, scor-
ing a perfect zero. His second
loop netted him six points and
the third and final loop another
perfect score.
"Actually, the first loop went
well, but I really didn't feel like
I was riding well," Smage said.
"I had a lot of good saves, but
I felt like I wasn't solid. I was
riding all over the place, bounc-
ing around a little too much. All
of the saves wore me out a little
bit, and I was a bit tired from
then on. I had two mistakes, but
other than that, I rode pretty well
and was really happy to keep
it together all day and to finish
strong on the last loop."
Local hopeful Bryan Roper,
fighting off a fever, put together
a solid three loops for second
overall with a total of 25 points.
Youngster Andrew Putt finished
third with 35 points making it an
all Sherco/RYP podium.
Current EnduroCross Na-
tional Champion and former
MotoTrials National Champion
continued on page 50
HARLEY STOCKS TAKE A TUMBLE
H
arley-Davidson shares took a 9.7 percent hit
on Tuesday April 21. The strong U.S. dollar
and Harley's refusal to enter a price war is being
named the culprit for the share tumble, as com-
petitors engage in a price war by slashing the
sticker cost of new machines. A strong U.S. dollar
makes it easier for international competitors to
reduce their prices and still recover their costs.
As Cycle News closed for press following the
announcement, Harley stocks were beginning to
stabilize, however following the share announce-
ment, Harley-Davidson indicated they would be
shipping between 83,000-88,000 machines for
the 2015 second quarter, a drop of between 4.5
to 10 percent over the same period in 2014. In
the first quarter of 2015, worldwide retail sales of
new Harley-Davidson motorcycles decreased 1.3
percent compared to last year's first quarter. Deal-
ers worldwide sold 56,661 new Harley-Davidsons
in the first quarter of 2015 compared to 57,415
motorcycles in the year-ago quarter. In the U.S.,
dealers sold 35,488 new bikes.
In the first quarter of 2015, Harley recorded
a total revenue decline of 3.8 percent to $1.51
billion, however net profit rose by 1.5 percent to
$269.9 million, so it's not all bad news. Harley's
refusal to engage in a price war is part of a con-
certed effort to protect the premium brand image,
and the company has been here before, with
H-D losing market share in both 2000 and 2008
thanks to price undercutting from competitors.
Both times the company weathered the storm,
so you can expect them to do the same this time.
Part of this optimism comes from Harley's increas-
ing market share in markets like India and Asia,
with new models like the Street 500 helping to
establish the American brand in these developing
markets.
Rennie Scaysbrook
