DUCATI LEAVES AMA SUPERBIKE SERIES
DUCATI ANNOUNCES CHANGES TO USA RACING STRATEGY FOR 2007
Cupertino, CA (August 22, 2006) - Ducati
North America and Ducati Corse today announce that their participation
in the AMA Superbike Championship with a factory team will cease at the
end of the 2006 season.
The Parts Unlimited Ducati Team has successfully raced with the 999
Superbike in each of the last three seasons (winning five races as of
today) and the American based Ducati subsidiary will now take a year to
consider its future options.
“Our primary objective of raising the
profile of our brand and of the 999 Superbike has been achieved", said
Michael Lock, CEO of Ducati North America. "We have increased our sales
over 60% since 2003 and the USA has become a powerful export market for
our parent Italian factory. There are a lot of exciting developments
coming to our business in the next couple of years and we have decided
to take a step back in 2007 in order to plan most effectively for our
long term future. Hopefully in the meantime the AMA technical rules,
which currently force twin-cylinder bikes to have more standard parts
than in World Superbikes, thus making it really difficult for Ducati to
compete with the best four-cylinder machines, will be revised for the
future.
We remain a very strong and committed supporter of the AMA and,
when our bikes will be allowed to participate with a fair chance of
challenging for the final championship win, we expect to be racing
competitively again very soon in the AMA Superbike series. I would
personally like to thank the team, the riders and our sponsors,
particularly Parts Unlimited, for their role in the resurgence of
Ducati's success in the USA."
Paolo Ciabatti, Ducati Corse Superbike
Director added “We have enjoyed a very good relationship with Terry
Gregoricka and his team and are very proud of the results achieved
together with them. It is always a difficult decision to end a
successful partnership, but we respect the reasons behind Ducati North
America’s change of strategy. A special thanks to Terry, Tom, Gabry,
Gary, Ben and Neil and all the boys at Parts Unlimited Ducati Team for
their hard and professional work. We are sure that they will do their
best to finish the racing season on a high note”.
Ducati North America will remain
committed to racing in the United States through the continuation of a
national and regional Contingency program as well as various other
racing support programs.
|
