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/830616
VOL. 54 ISSUE 21 MAY 31, 2017 P133 ers who would go on to become some of the most talented GP riders of the era. "I discovered Biaggi in '90," Pernat says. "I discovered Valentino in '95. I remember his father Graziano, who was a personal friend, called me every day and say, 'Carlo, you are my friend and you run Aprilia, come watch my son!' I went to Misano to watch Valentino on a Cagiva 125 produc- tion bike. I remember he made some unbelievable lines. He could treat a motorcycle like a bicycle and he reminded me of Kevin Schwantz. I immediately got with Graziano and we signed Valentino to a three-year contract. "At that time, I could imagine Valentino being a GP winner and perhaps even a world champion, but a nine-time champion? No, this I could not predict." Like any good Italian, the other passion in Per- nat's life was football (or soccer as we Americans like to call it). He'd grown up a fan of his home Genova club. He took a job in the sport, but found he did not like the business atmosphere of soccer and left the sport after only a couple of years. "That is when Loris (Capirossi) called me to ask if I would be his manager," Pernat said. "I said, 'okay, why not?' And I worked with Loris until the end of his career." Having great success as manager for Capirossi led to others calling to ask if he would manage them as well. One of those was Marco Simoncelli's father. Pernat worked with Simoncelli throughout his GP career. Today Pernat manages Andrea Ian- none. "I've worked with a lot of riders," Pernat said. "And each one of them had very different personali- ties. It is not easy to be a manager because you have to work a lot from a psychological point of view. For sure you must be an expert in everything. I manage in 360 degrees—I work with the riders on their contracts, with their sponsors, the press, their communication, their marketing. I attend every time they are on the circuit starting with the tests. "You must learn to understand the riders. It is not easy, but if you have a passion they can tell and you will become friends. If you are not friends, you cannot be their manager because you will make a mistake." Of all the things Pernat has accomplished in his career, he perhaps looks most fondly at his time as sport manager with Aprilia. "We start from zero and we decide every- thing," he says. "And then we start winning in 125 and 250. It was difficult because Honda was so strong, but finally we arrive at the top." But if he had to pick personalities who were his favorite to work with in the sport, it was without question the Castiglioni brothers. "They had such a passion for motorcycling," Pernat says. "I will tell you a story about the younger brother Claudio. When the new bike was finished by the racing team and the office was closed, he telephoned the police in Varese. They stopped the traffic and he tested the bike on the streets of Varese. Unbelievable." While Pernat marvels at how far motorcycle rac- ing as come in his lifetime, the one thing he does miss is the times when the owner of a company could make a decision in five minutes, based on passion for racing, and the company would go forward with that plan. "Today there is some brainstorming sessions and then there are endless meetings with finan- cial department, marketing department and the commercial department to get anything done. This is the reason back in those days Aprilia and Cagiva could win so quickly, because a decision could be made decisively by one owner." We are fortunate to still have a man like Per- nat, who remembers and was a part of a simpler and some would say, more colorful day of GP racing. CN Subscribe to nearly 50 years of Cycle News Archive issues: www.CycleNews.com/Archives