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RACE WATCH
Aprilia introduces its GP giant-killer
Aprilia, which manufactures high end race replicas and has become a force in 250 grand prix racing, has introduced the ultimate Aprilia.
Called the RSV 500, it is designed to do what 500 GP bikes of the more established makers can't do-be especially light and nimble, and therefore excel at small, tight tracks.
How light, how nimble? Aprilia claims a dry weight of 231 pounds for the RSV 500-56 pounds less than the minimum for 500cc fours-and says the bike rolls on a 52.9-inch wheelbase.
In spite of its model designation, the RSV 500 displaces 400cc, and uses a liquid-cooled V-Twin with two counter rotating crankshafts. With its twin 39mm Dell'Orto carbs, 16:1 compres sion ratio and electronic exhaust valve, the engine is said to develop 110 horsepower at 12,000 rpm. By com parison, the 500 Fours develop up to 180 horsepower.
Will this newest Aprilia have the bite to scoot pilot Loris Reggiani to under dog 500 GP glory? We'll see. Aprilia also plans to contest the `95 World Su perbike series. Should be interesting.
GP points scramble
Just when you thought John Kocinski and his Cagiva V594 could do no wrong and that world champion Kevin Schwantz could do no right, the grand prix tables turned. Schwantz, racing at the Japanese GP, pulled from his bag of tricks a convincing win that saw him blitz the existing track record, which he held, by four-tenths of a second while Kocinski could manage no better than a ninth-place finish.
Interesting, sure. But even more interesting is that the only 1994 factory bike at this event came from Cagiva, and was held to a mid-pack finish, carbon-fiber frame and all, by clutch slippage. Suzuki’s ’94 frames did not match the ’94 prototype that tested so well-this, engineers said, because of production-tolerance problems. Schwantz and teammate Alex Barros raced ’93 chassis. Over at Yamaha, Luca Cadalora and Daryl Beattie hung in with ’92 ROC frames, which are modeled closely after ’91 Yamaha GP frames. And Michael Doohan’s Honda mechanics were kept busy wrenching Doohan’s machine back to ’92 GP specs. Whatever the mechanics did must have worked, as Doohan finished second in Japan and won the next race, the Spanish GP. Following that event he lead the points standings with 86 to Schwantz’s 68 and Kocinski’s 67.
More GP questions
A story in the July edition of Cycle World (see "Grand Prix Crossroads") noted that problems at Spain’s Banesto Bank could significantly impact the sport-this since the bank owns Dorna, the company that controls GP racing.
It now seems that Banesto’s assets recently were sold, in a sealed-bid auction, to Banco Santander, also of Spain. Banco Santander initially said it would sell Dorna, but now apparently feels Dorna’s potential as a profit-maker makes the company worth holding on to.
Dorna management apparently has first option to buy Dorna shares if the bank eventually decides to sell.
Add to all this the sudden departure of Dorna Managing Director Richard Golding, and the Dorna board’s apparent intent to get rid of the company’s interest in basketball and soccer, and what you get is an extremely murky picture. Whatever finally develops, fallout affecting this year’s GP series is unlikely. As for the 1995 racing year, however, any number of wild scenarios are possible.
Parker back on track in Sacramento
The last two years have been less than wonderful for four-time AMA Grand National champion Scott Parker, but the past didn’t matter at this year’s 25-lap Sacramento Mile. Parker, after convincingly winning his heat race, overcame a poor start to score his first win in more than a year.
Said Parker afterward, “I swear, I never saw the halfway flags. I just saw the five-to-go sign and said, ‘Okay, it’s time to rock and roll. Let’s get it on.’ Man, it’s been a long, long time.”
Both Parker and teammate Chris Carr, who finished second, raced the Harley-Davidson team’s new monoshock chassis, which nevertheless failed to show a clear-cut advantage over the older twin-shock chassis.
Meanwhile, the race season of Ricky Graham, reunited with Johnny Goad, who tuned Graham’s 1993 championship-winning Hondas, is foundering. Graham, who claimed his ankles were too sore and swollen to allow him to compete in Sacramento, said he’s changing physicians and will be back aboard his Honda as soon as his ankles will let him. Larry Pegram rode the bike at Pomona-the next event after Sacramento-with Graham apparently in seclusion, even from Honda officials.
