Ducati Q1 2013 Sales Drop 5% – Audi Dishes the Details

Ducatisti: do you want the good news or the bad news first? The bad news is that the market for motorcycles 500cc and up is down 17% worldwide for the first quarter of this year, which means the “good” news is that Ducati is only down 5% for Q1 2013. Not exactly the start out of the gate that Audi was hoping for its newly acquired two-wheeled brand, but what are you going to do? Western Europe is a mess, with Spain and Italy continuing to go down like a…well, you know. While we don’t enjoy the misery of motorcycle brands, the fact that Ducati Motor Holding is now under the Audi AG umbrella means that we get far more detailed quarterly and yearly reports from the two-wheeled marque, and we’ve got the digits after the jump.

Mission Motorcycles: The Mission R Lives??!

Mission Motors tweeted out something interesting just a moment ago, a link to a new website for Mission Motorcycles. Teasing there a photo of the Mission R, it would seem that the electric superbike that does competitive AMA Supersport lap times at Laguna Seca, is finally set to come to production. It seems we won’t know everything about the new Mission Motorcycles project until June 3rd, though we can speculate pretty accurately on what the A&R Bothan spy network has been telling us. Expect to see the Mission R electric superbike in street legal trim, honed even further than when we rode the machine back in August last year.

Goodbye Husqvarna Nuda, We Hardly Knew Thee

Stefan Pierer’s acquisition of Husqvarna continues to baffle me. You will note I say Pierer, and not KTM, bought Husqvarna, since the Austrian CEO used Pierer Industrie AG in the transaction as a means to help side-step European antitrust issues. After all, we can’t have Europe’s largest dirt bike manufacturer, nay largest total motorcycle manufacturer, gobbling up even more brands in the two-wheeled world. But, I digress. Developing three road bikes (Husqvarna Nuda 900, Husqvarna Strada 650, & Husqvarna Terra 650), with three more concepts waiting in the wings (Husqvarna Moab, Husqvarna Baja, & Husqvarna E-G0), it is with even more confusion that we learn that Pierer & Co. intend to kill the Husqvarna Nuda project and its other street siblings.

Q&A: Yukio Kagayama Talks About the Upcoming Suzuka 8-Hour with Kevin Schwantz & Noriyuki Haga

In case you missed the story last week, Kevin Schwantz is preparing to race in this year’s Suzuka 8-Hour endurance race. For the race, Schwantz will be riding on a team formed by Yukio Kagayama, who in addition to having raced in the MotoGP, World Superbike, and British Superbike Championships, is also a previous Suzuka 8-Hour winner with the Suzuki Endurance Race Team (also joining the three-rider team Noriyuki “Nitro” Haga). Releasing a Q&A about his team’s Suzuka 8-Hour entry, Kagayama-san walks us through how the team came together, what equipment the riders will use, and his outlook on the team’s competitiveness.

KTM RC4 Concept by Luca Bar Design

A single-cylinder hooligan-maker, the KTM 690 Duke is 330 lbs (curbside without fuel) and 67hp of two-wheeled fun, and we hope that the Austrians bring the KTM 690 Duke R our way as well. While we are on the topic of things missing from KTM’s American line-up, a decent supersport is painfully obvious, yet we can’t see the folks at KTM following the paths of other brands. That’s where our friend Luca Bar comes to mind with his latest concept: the KTM RC4. Using the KTM 690 Duke platform and its LC4 engine, Bar has designed a super-single full-fairing sport bike that takes the Austrian company’s “Ready to Race” DNA and applies it to an idea that is not all that disimilar to the Ducati Supermono.

Q&A: Claudio Domenicali Talks Frameless Chassis, Sacred Cows, & The Future for Ducati

When I sat down with Claudio Domenicali at the Ducati 1199 Panigale R launch, the now-CEO of Ducati Motor Holding was still just the General Manager of the Italian motorcycle company. Four weeks after our interview though, Gabriele del Torchio would leave Ducati for Alitalia; and Domenicali, a 21-year veteran of both the racing and production departments of Ducati, would take his place at the top of Italy’s most prestigious motorcycle brand. After reading our interview from Austin, Texas after the jump, I think you will agree too.

Is Yamaha Using A Seamless Gearbox? The Data Says No

That Yamaha is working on a seamless gearbox is no secret, with Yamaha’s test riders currently racking up the kilometers around tracks in Japan. Recently, however, Spanish magazine SoloMoto published an article suggesting that Yamaha has already been using its new seamless gearbox since the beginning of the season. My own enquiries to check whether Yamaha was using a seamless gearbox or not always received the same answer: no, Yamaha is not using the seamless gearbox. To test this denial, I went out to the side of the track on Friday morning at Jerez to record the bikes as they went by.

OCC Coming Back to TV? — Universe Collapses in on Self

After a very public father/son break-up between Paul Teutul Sr. and Paul Teutul Jr., a steroid-ring scandal involving Paul Sr., and finally a bankruptcy proceeding, it appears that Orange County Choppers is the impossible to kill multi-headed hydra of doom that we all knew it was, as the custom chopper shop is once again headed to the small screen and recruiting some talent, on and off the show. Looking for “someone who will work alongside Paul Senior, running the shop and helping build some of the best custom motorcycles in the world,” OCC says it will be back on television with a new show later this month. Please for the love of god, will someone give this man the attention he craves so dearly??! Or, just shoot us in the face.

Alstare Superbike Concept by Team Alstare

We love us some concept bikes here at Asphalt & Rubber, and we have featured more than a few pieces of stunning design and imagination on our pages. Though, we can’t remember the last time one of these works of art were brought to us by a legitimate racing team, but that is what we have here with the Team Alstare Superbike Concept. A nod to the former Suzuki team’s return to the World Superbike Championship as the Ducati factory squad with Carlos Checa and Ayrton Badovini, Alstare has enlisted the help of designer Serge Rusak of Rusak Kreaktive Designworks to ink the shape of its futuristic Superbike concept, while Tryptik Studios handled the 3D modeling prowess.

Transcript: The Gay Question at Jerez

If you didn’t watch Thursday’s pre-event press conference for MotoGP at Jerez, it is worth a viewing right to the end (assuming you have a MotoGP.com account). Building off the news about the NBA’s Jason Collins coming out as gay in a self-written feature in Sport Illustrated, my good colleague David Emmett had the courage to inquire about the culture and acceptance of the MotoGP paddock for homosexual riders. For the sake of accuracy, after the jump is a full transcript of David’s question, as put to riders Cal Crutchlow, Jorge Lorenzo, Marc Marquez, Andrea Dovizioso, Stefan Bradl, and Scott Redding, as well as those riders’ responses to David’s inquiry.

MotoGP: Dominant Victory Overshadowed by Close Racing for Third During the French GP

05/23/2010 @ 5:25 pm, by Jensen Beeler2 COMMENTS

MotoGP action was back this weekend, with racing for the French GP coming from Le Mans, France. Fiat-Yamaha looked very strong coming into Sunday’s race, with a 1-2 qualifying session. Casey Stoner also looked like he had the French track’s number, as the Australian was the fastest rider in the warm-up session. Not to be counted out though, the Repsol Honda’s were sporting new frame configurations, which they were hoping would be the remedy to a lackluster start to the season. Read after the jump to see how it all panned out.

Although Valentino Rossi was first into Turn 1 at Le Mans, the Italian rider found several riders in-tow behind him. With Dani Pedrosa, Jorge Lorenzo, Nicky Hayden, and Casey Stoner all within striking distance, it took several laps for things to settle down and to get riders vetted into position.

Lorenzo was quick to get around Pedrosa, and it only took him a few more laps to chase down his Fiat-Yamaha teammate. A few close laps later Lorenzo was past the Fiat-Yamaha of Rossi, and once Lorenzo was around Rossi, it didn’t long for the Spaniard to put a comfortable gap on the Italian. From here, the race for first and second was essentially over, as both riders put substantial gaps back to their pursuers.

While the Fiat-Yamaha duo rode off into the French sunset, a battle raged on for who would take the final podium step. Dani Pedrosa was the man to beat, but Andrea Dovizioso put down some solid laps, and was soon on the tail of the other HRC Honda. While the two teammates battled for supremacy, Nicky Hayden slowly caught up to the pair. Pedrosa would see himself get passed both by Dovi and Hayden in the final moments of the race, finishing a disappointing 5th for the day.

Other disappointments came in the form of Casey Stoner, who as you may have noticed in this report, has not been mentioned at length. This is because the Ducati rider lost the rear-end (after saving the front-end) of his bike just moments after passing his teammate Nicky Hayden. Crashing only a few laps into the French GP, this is another disappointing weekend for Stoner, who was visibly distraught in the team paddock.

Also crashing out were both Ben Spies and Loris Capirossi, who found themselves in the gravel in the same spot on the track.

MotoGP action will be back at the track, when MotoGP heads to Mugello on June 6th. Stay tuned race fans.

Race Results from MotoGP at the French GP:

Pos.	No.	Rider	Manufacturer	Time	Diff
1	99	Jorge LORENZO	YAMAHA	44’29.114	-
2	46	Valentino ROSSI	YAMAHA	44’34.786	5.672
3	4	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	HONDA	44’36.986	7.872
4	69	Nicky HAYDEN	DUCATI	44’38.460	9.346
5	26	Dani PEDROSA	HONDA	44’41.727	12.613
6	33	Marco MELANDRI	HONDA	44’51.032	21.918
7	14	Randy DE PUNIET	HONDA	44’58.402	29.288
8	40	Hector BARBERA	DUCATI	45’02.242	33.128
9	41	Aleix ESPARGARO	DUCATI	45’02.607	33.493
10	58	Marco SIMONCELLI	HONDA	45’02.919	33.805
11	7	Hiroshi AOYAMA	HONDA	45’03.460	34.346
12	5	Colin EDWARDS	YAMAHA	45’06.237	37.123
13	36	Mika KALLIO	DUCATI	45’24.175	55.061
Not Classified
	65	Loris CAPIROSSI	SUZUKI	9’44.122	22 laps
	11	Ben SPIES	YAMAHA	9’47.284	22 laps
	27	Casey STONER	DUCATI	3’18.638	26 laps

Tagged under: Andrea Dovizioso, Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa, Fiat Yamaha, France, French GP, Le Mans, MotoGP, Nicky Hayden, race results, Valentino Rossi

Comment:

Kevin White says:
May 23, 2010 at 8:05 PM
“Dominant?”
A decent race but not a great one. I still have hope that Spies will be one of those challenging for third or fourth in at least one or two races this season.
Asphalt_Rubber says:
May 24, 2010 at 12:25 AM
MotoGP: Dominate Victory Overshadowed by Close Racing for Third During the French GP – http://aspha.lt/117 #motorcycle

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