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Ever since it was confirmed that Valentino Rossi would be heading to Ducati for the 2011 & 2012 seasons, speculation began to swell about whether famed Crew Chief Jeremy Burgess would join the Italian rider at his new squad. The man behind Wayne Gardner, Mick Doohan, and of course Rossi, Burgess’ talents in the pit box are confirmed by the number of race victories and series championships he’s been a part of in GP racing. With many believing Rossi could not be successful on the Ducati without Burgess by his side, the Australian crew chief’s decision to follow Rossi to Ducati is an integral piece to the team’s success in the coming years, especially as Ducati prepares a new 1000cc machine for the rule changes scheduled in 2012.

With speculation rife that Burgess might stay at Yamaha (presumably to help Rookie of the Year Ben Spies), or even retire at the end of this season (Rossi said at Laguna Seca he wasn’t sure if Burgess would continue after this season), Burgess’ move to Ducati was anything but a sure thing. However this weekend at his home venue of Phillip Island and during the Australian GP, Burgess officially announced his intention to SportRider magazine that he would be following Rossi to Ducati, and continuing the pair’s successful history together.

After announcing his retirement from AMA Pro Racing, and what many assumed meant motorcycle racing in general, it didn’t take long for Mat Mladin to wind back up in the racing spot-light, this time with World Superbike aires around him. It would seem the recently retired Australian  rider is at least musing over a possible World Superbike ride this week, as was revealed in a post on twitter earlier today. Citing a couple of offers, Mladin seems to be at least interested in one of them. More after the jump.

sanfranciscoskyline

If you weren’t too busy BBQ’ing it up this past Memorial Day weekend, you may have noticed that things around here at A&R were a little slow. Never fear, the rumors of our death were overly exaggerated.

We apologize for the lack of news as over the course of the weekend, A&R moved from the East Coast to the Left Coast, trekking through 10 of our Nation’s fine states. As of now, Asphalt & Rubber is coming to you live from San Francisco, a city with 3 major tracks and some of the best roads within sticking distance.

With an 11 month riding season, we have a feeling we’ll take well to the California coast, and the many, many roads it has to offer us. Look for us on the PCH and at the Sunday Morning Ride, and be sure to say hi.

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Husqvarna (which BMW bought in 2007) will be moving to its new headquarters in Italy by the end of May this year. The move is part of BMW’s plan to have all the Husqvarna business units in one facility. This means that all the engine, testing, development, styling, and racing divisions of Husqvarna will exist under one roof at the Cassinetta di Biandronno facility, in the Varese district of Italy.

Part of BMW’s motivation behind the move is to reduce costs and to sort out Husqvarna’s problems with quality control and supplies of spare parts. While Husqvarna only sold 12,000 bikes in 2007, BMW hopes to increase sales by over three times the current levels over the next 2 to 3 years. In fact, the new manufacturing facility will have the capacity to produce up to 40,000 Husqvarna motorcycles every year.

BMW intends to keep Husqvarna as an off-road specialist brand and use R&D inputs from the company to improve/develop its own dual-purpose and off-road machines.

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