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Trackside Tuesday: The Silly Suzuki Season

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As Randy de Puniet heads to Japan to test Suzuki’s 2014 MotoGP bike, the possible availability (some won’t be convinced it’s a reality until a pair of Suzuki motorcycles appear on the grid in Qatar next April) of two new factory seats has spawned a Silly Season unto itself.

If that possibility entailed another satellite prototype team, the furor would be considerable, but that it’s a new factory team means reason and rationality are running for their lives.

So once again we have the chance to observe the unique mindset of the top level motorbike racer. To that mindset, at least in this modern era, the factory ride is the Holy Grail of motorcycle racing. It’s easy to see why this has happened.

After the days of the 500cc two-strokes, when a highly-developed formula meant a privateer team could compete with the deep-pocket teams, the four-stroke era has seen costs skyrocket, and factory-deep pockets dominate the win column. It’s for very good reasons that riders feel you have to be on a factory bike to win races. But the thing is, not all factories are equal.

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MotoGP: Randy de Puniet Testing with Suzuki in Japan

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Suzuki’s return to MotoGP takes another step closer to being realized this week. Frenchman Randy de Puniet is flying to Japan today to test Suzuki’s inline four MotoGP machine at Motegi, as part of the testing program to develop the bike ready for its return in 2014.

In an interview with the official MotoGP.com website, De Puniet said he would be departing on Monday. “We leave tomorrow to go to Japan to test at Motegi with Suzuki,” he told MotoGP.com. “It will be a good experience for me, and I hope to do a great job.” After testing at Motegi, De Puniet will fly back to Europe to take part in the next round of MotoGP with the Power Electronics Aspar team at Mugello, where he will ride the team’s Aprilia ART machine.

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

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In case you missed the story last week, Kevin Schwantz is preparing to race in this year’s Suzuka 8-Hour endurance race. The blue ribbon event in Japanese motorcycle racing, a Suzuka 8-Hour win is perhaps the most covetted trophy to have if you are a Japanese motorcycle OEM.

The Japanese manufacturers take the Suzuka 8-Hour so seriously, it is not uncommon to see them stack their endurance teams with top-talent from other World and national series, like MotoGP, WSBK, BSB, and AMA Pro Racing. With rumors circulating about a very factory Yamaha team in the works, right now our attention however is on Team Kagayama.

Formed by Japanese rider 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. Joining Kagayama and Schwatnz on the three-rider team is Noriyuki Haga, also of MotoGP, WSBK, and BSB fame.

Releasing a Q&A about his team’s Suzuka 8-Hour entry, Yukio Kagayama walks us through how the team came together, what equipment the riders will use, and his outlook on the team’s competitiveness. It’s a pretty interesting read.

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2014 Suzuki GSV-R Spotted Again

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News that Suzuki plans on returning to the MotoGP Championship in 2014 should be old information for dedicated Asphalt & Rubber readers, and the Japanese company’s inline-four race bike was already spotted doing test laps last year by the eager eyes at Cycle World.

Well the American print-mag has another set of eyebrow-raising high-quality photos of the 2014 Suzuki GSV-R to mull over from the Motegi race track, along with some technical insights provided by the venerable Kevin Cameron.

Head over to Cycleworld.com to read Cameron’s analysis (and see the bevy of great photos the magazine has published), but understand that while the secrets revealed may be fewer than last time’s inline-four revelation, one thing is for certain: Suzuki’s MotoGP package looks to be very well polished in its design.

It is clear that the Japanese manufacturer has clearly taken some notes from the work produced by its fellow countrymen. Expect to see the new Suzuki GSV-R (or whatever the boys at Hamamatsu end up calling it) in a few formal GP tests later this summer, with Randy de Puniet heavily tipped to be Suzuki’s test rider.

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Kevin Schwantz Returns to Motorcycle Racing – Enters the Suzuka 8-Hours with Team Kagayama

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Former 500cc World Champion Kevin Schwantz has certainly been in the news a bit these past few months, mostly for his involvement and falling out with the Circuit of the Americas and the Americas GP, but also more recently for his comments regarding Dani Pedrosa — we also sat down with Mr. Schwantz in Austin, and the Texan gave us some sobering insight into the future of American road racing.

As if all that wasn’t enough, Schwantz is making a return to two-wheeled racing, and has entered the prestigious Suzuka 8-Hours endurance race with Team Kagayama. One of three riders on the team’s Suzuki GSX-R1000, Schwantz will race with Noriyuki Haga and team owner Yukio Kagayama during the eight-hour event.

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ASMC Dissolved — Long Live Suzuki Motor of America

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Following its decision to leave the car-selling business and finishing its bankruptcy metamorphosis, American Suzuki Motor Corporation is now a defunct company, with Suzuki Motor of America officially taking over as Suzuki Motor Corporations’s wholly owned sole-distributor of Suzuki motorcycles, ATVs, marine engines, and automotive parts in the continental United States.

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Suzuki Will Drop 98 Under-Performing Dealers

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Last week we reported to you that Suzuki Motor of America was set to cut 10% to 20% of its powersports dealerships, as a part of its corporate restructuring and bankruptcy of the now defunct American Suzuki Motor Corporation. Clarifying that news, Suzuki has given a clearer figure, saying that 98 of the company’s 930 dealers will be getting the axe.

According to Suzuki, the roughly 10% of dealerships that did not see their contract assumed by Suzuki Motor of America accounted for only 2.5% of the company’s retail sales in the past 12 months (2.8% of retails sales in the past three years), making Suzuki’s actions more of a culling of the herd than anything else.

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Suzuki to Cut 10% to 20% of Its Motorcycle Dealerships

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When news came that American Suzuki Motor Corporation was to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the news was pitched that it would benefit the company’s motorcycle interests, as Suzuki would no longer be tied-down with its ailing automotive division in the USA, and instead would be left to focus on its powersports offerings.

While that general statement may remain true, Powersports Business has learned that the Japanese OEM plans on closing 100 to 200 of its roughly 930 powersports dealerships. This would mean a roughly 10% to 20% reduction in Suzuki dealerships nationwide — a decision that has more than a few dealers feeling a bitter taste in their mouths.

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Court Approves American Suzuki’s Chapter 11 Plan

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From the desk of the Honorable Scott C. Clarkson of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California in Santa Ana, American Suzuki Motor Corporation’s plan for Chapter 11 bankruptcy has been approved. Overwhelmingly supported by the company’s creditors, American Suzuki can begin restructuring its business operations in the United States, which will include shutting down the company’s automotive endeavors.

In turn, American Suzuki’s new business focuses on the company’s motorcycle, ATV, marine, automotive parts divisions, and will consist of a new wholy-owned subsidiary of Suzuki Motor Corporation. This new company will operate under in the United States under the new name: Suzuki Motor of America.

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Suzuki Gets Closer to Rejoining MotoGP — Will Ride at the Catalunya Mid-Season Test

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Suzuki’s MotoGP return is drawing closer. Speaking to Crash.net‘s Peter McLaren, Suzuki test rider Nobuatsu Aoki confirmed that testing on the brand new bike – an inline-four with a big-bang firing order – was progressing well and that the bike would make its first public outing at the post-race test at Barcelona, after the MotoGP round there in mid-June. Aoki himself would be riding at the test, he said, alongside ‘one European rider’. That is widely expected to be Randy de Puniet, though Aoki refused to name the rider.

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2013 Fixi Crescent Suzuki GSX-R1000 Debuts with Less Engine-Building Support from Yoshimura

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We must be getting close to the 2013 World Superbike season-opener at Phillip Island, because a bevy of teams are debuting their 2013 bikes and riders for the media this week. Returning for the 2013 season, Paul Denning’s Fixi Crescent Suzuki team is ready to race its venerable stead against the other factory teams. For Fixi Crescent though, the battle will be tough-fought, with little support coming in from Suzuki Motor Co., and also with the news that Yoshimura will not be building the team’s GSX-R1000 race engines.

Instead, riders Leon Camier and Jules Cluzel will ride machines whose engines have been built in-house by the Crescent Racing crew, while Yoshimura continues its R&D with the GSX-R1000 and does long-term development for the team. Taking a private test at Phillip Island February 14-15th, and then having the official WSBK test at the same venue later that week on February 18th and 19th, Fixi Crescent Suzuki’s mettle will finally be tested with World Superbike’s first race on Sunday, February 24th.

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