Honda Road Racerhead #42

The period since the September 6 season finale for AMA Pro’s American Superbike and Daytona SportBike classes has been a quiet one, with the single exception being a big one: Honda’s announcement two weeks later that it was withdrawing from the series. Now—as we head into this weekend’s 8 Hours of Daytona (the finale for the SuperSport and Moto-GT classes)—comes the second shoe to drop, and it’s at least as big: yesterday’s announcement that Harley-Davidson is discontinuing the Buell line.

The word came tucked into a press release titled “Harley-Davidson To Divest MV Agusta,” a title referring to what would have been a big enough bombshell on its own, considering that the proud Italian marque had only been purchased a little over a year ago (that announcement had come on July 11 of last year). That’s an incredibly abbreviated dalliance—Harley’s majority ownership of Aermacchi (another Italian company) lasted from 1960 to 1978—and its premature ending is aimed at sharpening the company’s focus.

“Our objective in acquiring MV Agusta last year was primarily to expand our presence in Europe, and was a recognition of MV Agusta’s proud legacy,” said H-D president/CEO Matt Levatich in the release. “While growth in Europe and other global markets remains highly important to us, we believe that focusing our efforts on the Harley-Davidson brand is the optimal path to sustainable growth.”

The Buell news was limited to half a sentence, but the fact that the line is being discontinued and not sold would seem to indicate that it’s losing significant money. A separate press release revealed Harley’s financials, and they aren’t good: worldwide, the company’s retail sales declined 21.3 percent compared to last year’s third quarter, which follows a 30.1 percent decline during the second quarter, and net income is down 84.1 percent compared to last year.

Say what you will about “America’s little sport bike company,” the manufacturer was ambitious and absolutely unafraid to think outside the box, as founder, chairman, and chief technical officer Erik Buell alluded to in an emotional farewell video: “It has truly been an honor for me to work with the other employees at Buell, as well as with our suppliers,” he said while choking back tears. “We’ve introduced many industry firsts, like dedicated mass centralization, ZTL brakes, under-slung mufflers, and fuel in the frame, and this September, at the close of our first year at competition at the highest level, the GEICO/Rossmeyer Buell privateer team took the 2009 AMA Pro Racing SportBike championship, competing against the much-larger factory backed teams from Japan and Europe.”

That the high of Danny Eslick’s title should be followed by this announcement is an amazing fall from grace for the company, which was started in 1983 and taken over by Harley twenty years later, and which shipped its 200,000th motorcycle three years ago. According to the company’s FAQ list, Buell will sell its remaining inventory and honor warranties, and “Harley-Davidson expects to be providing replacement parts and service for as many years as required by market.”

Buell has always been a racing company. Erik was a privateer racer himself in the late ’70s and early ’80s, and the first bike to bear his name—the RW750—was built for the AMA’s Formula 1 class. The company backed the Buell Lightning spec series from 1996 to 2002, and Buells competed in the AMA Pro Thunder class for a couple of years at the beginning of the millennium. Buell racers dominated the Formula USA Thunderbike series since its 2001 beginning, while the controversial, limited-edition XBRR met with much less success when it was entered in the 2006 Daytona 200 and several other AMA races that season.

This year’s AMA Pro efforts with the 1125R were by far the manufacturer’s most serious and high-profile, though they were marred somewhat by complaints that such a large motorcycle shouldn’t be allowed to compete against the four-cylinder 600cc competition from Japan. Many were looking forward to seeing how the new 1125RR—another controversial model that, like the XBRR, was homologated despite not appearing to fit the official rulebook—would fare against more mechanically equal competition in the American Superbike class next year, but it’s hard to imagine that happening now (perhaps its sole claim to fame will be this week’s testing crash by motojournalist Alan Cathcart).

In another strange twist, Eslick recently re-signed with the Richie Morris Racing team for next year, and he told Cycle News’ Paul Carruthers that he “think[s] there’s a real possibility that [they’ll] be on Buells,” but that seems unlikely, judging by this item on the aforementioned FAQ list:  “Buell will continue to supply parts to dealers to support racers who want to go racing next season. However, the racing support program and contingency will be discontinued.” RMR—whose year has been even more emotional than Buell’s, with the July 30 motorcycle-accident death of sponsor Bruce Rossmeyer—does have backing from GEICO, so perhaps they’ll go racing with another brand.

Whatever the case, Buell’s closing will mean more lost motorcycle-industry jobs for more good people, as the rest of us try to weather this brutal economy. It also means bad news for AMA Pro, which had a close relationship with the manufacturer, including using its models as its pace bikes. There’s obviously not much in the way of good news in all that, but we can offer a chance to put your knowledge of Buell history to good use: answer the following question correctly, and you’ll be entered to win one of five copies of Sledneck’s Blood, Sweat & Tires: Life on the AMA Superbike Series DVD.

What company name was Erik Buell’s first motorcycle designed and built under?

If you know the answer, put it in an email and send it to letters@roadracerx.com. Be sure to include your full name and mailing address, and put “Buell Trivia” in the subject line.

Speaking of AMA Pro Road Racing, it’s finishing up its season this weekend at its home track, where the two SuperSport regions will go head-to-head to determine the overall champion. Of course, due to riders visiting regions other than theirs this year, many of the riders have already faced off: East champ Josh Day bested West champ Ricky Parker after an amazing, race-long battle in New Jersey, for example.

As you know if you read this week’s Between the Races interview with Josh Hayes, the factory Yamaha rider was considering another return to his endurance-racing roots (following other recent forays at VIR and Magny-Cours) by making a Moto-GT appearance with the Westby Racing team, and this morning he confirmed that he’s in.

This weekend also finds the MotoGP series in action, with the fifteenth round taking place in Phillip Island, Australia. That country is just leaving its winter, and the weather is appropriately (and typically) ugly, prompting this Skype message yesterday from Rizla Suzuki press officer Tim Walpole: “It’s 11 degrees [52 degrees Fahrenheit] raining and very windy, with floods. Other than that, lovely.”

Today’s single practice session took place in relatively decent conditions, with officially dry skies (there were a few spatters, but not enough for riders to remove the dual-compound slicks that they’re using at this track), 56 percent humidity, and 63 degree temperatures.

The fastest rider was Valentino Rossi, who saw his lead cut to eighteen points following a bad-setup-induced fourth-place finish at the last round in Estoril. Vale typically bounces back quite well from such performances, and he’s always strong at Phillip Island, where he has finished on the podium eleven times in twelve visits (the only exception is his first time, in 1997 on a 125, when he was sixth). He also has a total of seven wins there—although the last was back in 2005, and it’s one of two circuits at which he’s never started from pole on a Yamaha (Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca is the only other).

Rossi also typically goes well at Sepang (the next round), although he struggles at Valencia (the finale), where he lost the 2006 title to Nicky Hayden after a crash.

The atmosphere in the Fiat Yamaha garage must be rather delicate, and not only because of the friction between Rossi and second-in-points Jorge Lorenzo, who won the last round. There’s also the fact — broken yesterday by GP One — that his team manager, Daniele Romagnoli, will not be back next season.

“I was born a technician, and I was a data engineer,” the Italian said in the story, “and I still have the passion to work inside the garage.” Romagnoli, who used to be the crew chief of Colin Edwards, can’t take that slot back with Jorge since its occupied by Ramon Forcada, so he’s leaving the team at season’s end.

(Remember that Yamaha’s factory team has a unique arrangement with two managers—Davide Brivio manages Rossi’s half of the garage—a setup that was necessitated last year when it had two different tire sponsors.)

There’s no mention of bad blood between Lorenzo and Romagnoli, but it must be said that the Spaniard has a somewhat spotty history with mentors. He broke off his relationship with his father at one point (though they’re back on speaking terms now), and he split with business manager Dani Amatriain as well.

Interestingly, Romagnoli won’t be the only talented technician on the market this winter, as Pete Benson is reportedly splitting with Andrea Dovizioso at the behest of the Italian rider. Interestingly, Benson was brought on as a crew chief at Repsol Honda when Nicky Hayden was unsatisfied with his predecessor.

Lorenzo—who was feeling ill today, perhaps due to food-poisoning—says he has to win two of the three remaining races in order to have a chance at the title, and although he has won twice in Oz in the 250cc class (he was fourth last year in his premier-class debut), he was only sixth-quickest today, over a second slower than the 1:31.032 of his teammate. That’s due in part to a lack of rear grip, the same problem that afflicted Rossi in Portugal, though his crash today came when he lost the front.

The second-quickest rider today was Casey Stoner, celebrating his 24th birthday with a best time that was .135 secs. off that of The Doctor. In his second race back following a three-race, illness-induced hiatus, #27 has dominated his home race for each of the past two years, and he’s armed with the new, crosswind-proof fairing that was introduced in Estoril but should be more of a benefit in Oz. Neither Stoner nor Dani Pedrosa (third-quickest today) have a chance at the title anymore, but they could very well play a role in who does get it. Sporting a special helmet for his home round (just as teammate Nicky did at each of his two home-country races), Stoner is confident that his illness is gone and that even if it does flare up, he’ll recognize it quicker and be prepared to deal with it.

The other rider in his home MotoGP race—and his last, as he’ll be moving to World Superbike next year—is Chris Vermeulen, who like Suzuki teammate Loris Capirossi is riding without Rizla branding at this round. That’s because Australia, like France, has a very strict interpretation of the tobacco-advertising ban, and even though Rizla only makes rolling papers, the brand won’t appear on the bikes or leathers this weekend.

I mentioned Nicky a couple of lines up, and the Kentucky Kid likes this track, having challenged Casey for the win in Australia last year before his Honda broke down. Today, however, he was just eleventh-quickest, having barely survived a scary loss of rear traction entering a high-speed right.

The other American—Colin Edwards—was fifth-quickest today, three spots ahead of Dovizioso (who he’s chasing in the standings) but one behind San Carlo Honda Gresini rider Alex de Angelis (desperate to impress to land a ride for next year).

Finally, have you followed the news about Donington Park’s struggles to prepare for Formula One next year? MotoGP was dropped by the UK track as the F1 series was to move there from Silverstone, but they haven’t been able to keep up with the agreed-upon schedule. F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone doesn’t seem to be in a flexible mood, and it appears very possible that Donington could end up with neither MotoGP nor F1 next season.

Okay, I’ve got to jump in a car and drive up to Sequoia National Park today, so let’s call this good for this week. Thanks for reading.