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/595371
IN THE WIND P34 TORROT OFFERS HIGHEST BID FOR GAS GAS T he Commercial Court of Gi- rona—the court handling the liquidation of Gas Gas Motos in Spain—publicized the three bids submitted for the purchase of the Spanish motorcycle fac- tory on Wednesday, October 28. The electric motorcycle company Torrot, it seems, has submitted the highest bid of 9.66 million Euros. According to the "Salvemos A Gas Gas" website, updated by the Gas Gas staff committee (salvemo- sagasgas.webnode.es), the two other companies—IRG (invest- ment fund) and Sherco (French motorcycle manufacturer)—have submitted bids of 7.02 million and 2.66 million, respectively. The Catalan company Torrot has offered its bid to buy the production unit and assume part of the debt surrounding Gas Gas, and has also revealed its ambitious three-year investment plan to restore the company. IRG has come forward with a proposal to pay a half-million in cash after liquidation, and use the remaining 6.5 million to revive the company. Their plan also promises that the factory in Salt will continue with hiring priority given to former employ- ees, who will retain their rights and seniority. Sherco has offered the lowest price, with the manufacturing plant valued 1.16 million—the remainder of their 2.66 million Euro bid going to cover com- pensation to workers and debt owed to Social Security. The Commercial Court may offer the three bidders an opportunity to improve their proposals before the judge decides who will be the new owners of Gas Gas, but the decision should come rather quickly. The dedicated Gas Gas workers—who report to have used up about 60% of their unemployment benefit at this point—continue to press for a speedy decision from the court, and hope to retain as many jobs as possible. Jean Turner BRAYTON CROWNED KING OF SOFIA B ulgaria is looking to put itself on the map in the world of Su- percross, and did so by bringing some of the world's best together for the 2015 Supercross Sofia, October 31 - November 1. The Hal- loween weekend saw riders such as Justin Brayton, Weston Peick, Malcolm Stewart, Phil Nicoletti and Mike Brown lining up for the Monster Energy-backed event. In the end, BTOSports.com rider Justin Brayton was crowned the very first "King of Sofia." The small arena-style track was the setting for the inaugu- ral race, which counted points from two nights of racing plus added points for qualifying and hot laps to determine the winner. Brayton's third place on Saturday night and first place on Sunday night combined with his hot lap and qualifying points earned him the crown in Sofia. Peick was the winner of night one, as he took the main event victory ahead of Malcolm Stew- art and Brayton. Josh Hansen finished fourth ahead of Brian Hsu. Peick got out to a strong start right behind Phil Nicoletti, but soon moved into the lead when Nicoletti had a mishap that resulted in an injured ankle. For the first half of the main event, Brayton wasn't far off, Peick never yielded the lead. Brayton, on the other hand, couldn't fend off the hard charging Honda of Stewart, and gave up the runner-up posi- tion just after the halfway point. Nicoletti returned to action on Sunday, but didn't have as strong a night. He got out to a midpack start and only made his way up to fourth place. Meanwhile it was Brayton's turn to run out front. Peick tried in earnest to run down Brayton, but couldn't close the gap. Stewart followed in third, but not close enough to challenge Peick. Stewart collected second over- all at the event while Peick round- ed out the podium in third. CN