ahead of Jonass, followed by
Jonass' teammate Jorge Prado
Garcia, Husqvarna's Thomas
Kjer Olsen and Suzuki's Seewer.
A first-lap fall ended Coving-
ton's chances for the overall, but
he still climbed up to 10th in the
moto for a spot on the podium
in third.
Jonass passed Garcia for the
lead early in the race and went
on to win, finishing just ahead
of Seewer, Yamaha's Benoit
Paturel and KTM rider Brian Bo-
gers while Garcia slipped back
to sixth.
Jonass stood on the top step
of the podium at the end of the
day, joined by Seewer in second
and Covington in third. Paturel
was fourth overall and Garcia
fifth overall. CN
MXGP
1. Antonio Cairoli (KTM) 3-1
2. Clement Desalle (Kaw) 2-2
3. Tim Gajser (Hon) 1-4
4. Jeffrey Herlings (KTM) 5-3
5. Gautier Paulin (Hus) 4-5
MX2
1. Pauls Jonass (KTM) 2-1
2. Jeremy Seewer (Suz) 5-2
3. Thomas Covington (Hus) 1-10
4. Benoit Paturel (Yam) 6-3
5. Jorge Prado Garcia (KTM) 3-6
IN
THE
WIND
P38
COMPANIES LINE UP TO BUY DUCATI
T
he line of possible buyers for
Italian manufacturer Ducati
just got a little longer, with Italy's
Benetton family the latest to
express interest in the iconic
motorcycle brand.
Ducati's parent company,
Volkswagen AG, is taking ex-
pressions of interest in Ducati
as part of a wider asset sell-off
to recoup billions of dollars in
fines leveled at the Volkswagen
Group—Europe's largest carmak-
er and one of the largest corpo-
rations in the world—following
the Diesel-gate scandal of 2015,
where the company was found
to be cheating on vehicle emis-
sions testing.
According to a Reuters report
published on July 20, the Benet-
ton family—which has business
interests in a wide range of
industries including fashion,
transport and hospitality—has
valued Ducati at $1.2 billion via
the family's investment vehicle,
Edizione Holding, after Ducati's
2016 revenues totaled 731 mil-
lion euros.
The Benetton family might be
a romantic place for Ducati to
eventually land, but there are
plenty of other companies vying
for Ducati's hand in financial
marriage. The most publicized
of which has been Harley-David-
son, however, according to the
Reuters report, they have pulled
out of the race to own Ducati
after balking at the valuation,
which Reuters sources say has
reached $1.4 billion in some
buyout funds.
There's still U.S. interest in
Ducati, with Polaris reported
to be keen in picking up the
brand after winding down their
in-house-owned Victory Mo-
torcycles earlier this year. U.S.
buyout fund Bain Capital, who
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
JUAN
PABLO
ACEVEDO/HUSQVARNA
IMAGES
American Thomas Covington
won the first MX2 moto.
