11 / N20
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NEWS
BRIEFS
Yamaha Motor Europe has announced that Dominique Aegerter will remain with Yamaha in the FIM Superbike World Championship until the end of the 2024 season , after agreeing terms with the 32-year-old Swiss rider to extend the existing contract for an additional year . At the end of this season , Jonathen Rae will leave Kawasaki to join Yamaha ' s WSBK efforts .
Yamaha is mourning the loss of GRT Yamaha ' s Mirko Giansanti who has passed away after a long battle with a serious illness . Giansanti ' s career saw him make the move from racer to team owner as the founder and Sporting Director of the Giansanti Racing Team .
Silicon Valley , California based Sibros Technologies , Inc . has been selected by PIERER Mobility to power a Connected Vehicle Ecosystem for its motorcycles - deploying Sibros ' ' Deep Connected Platform ', a holistic suite of " safe and secure in-vehicle and cloud applications , purpose-built for managing software and data across the full mobility product lifecycle ". The platform will allow PIERER to collect live microcontroller and sensor data , deploy over-the-air updates ( OTA ) of mixed criticality , and dispatch remote diagnostic and enduser commands .
Honda Racing Corporation ( HRC ) in Sakura , Japan , and Honda Performance Development ( HPD ) in Santa Clarita , CA , have announced that HPD will formally become Honda Racing Corporation USA ( HRC US ) starting with the 2024 motorsports season . With this change , HRC US will play an integral role in Honda ' s global motorsports activities , which includes contributing to the company ' s Formula One ( F1 ) programme . HRC was established in Japan in 1982 as Honda ' s motorcycle racing arm , and is recognised for more than 40 years of championship racing heritage in pinnacle global racing categories such as WGP / MotoGP , Superbike , Motocross , World Trial and the Paris Dakar Rally . In 2022 , HRC added auto racing , including Honda ' s F1 programme to its responsibilities , with the Sakura Centre dedicated to auto racing and Asaka Centre focused on motorcycle racing . HPD was established by American Honda Motor Co ., Inc . in 1993 , as a separate racing arm to compete in the IndyCar series .
Another ' champion ' for Vertex ' champions
Following another hugely successful race season , Italian MX performance specialist Vertex will bet at EICMA to present piston and kit options for the updated 2024 motocross , enduro and supermoto models - plus its evergrowing range of vintage bike replacement and upgrade options . There will be guest appearances by several of the factory riders that have taken Vertex to off-road championship podiums this year - including from the MX World Championship . In addition to the MX2 vice championship title obtained by Yamaha Monster Energy rider Jago Geerts and the Kemea team , Vertex pistons placed in four of the top five positions in the MXGP class with Romain Febvre ( Kawasaki KRT ) who finished 2nd , Jeremy Seewer ( Yamaha Monster Energy Wilvo ) in 3rd , Glenn
Coldenhoff ( Yamaha Monster Energy Wilvo ) in 4th and Ruben Fernandez ( Honda HRC ) in 5th . Vertex also secured the EMX125 title with the Estonian Janis Reisulis ( Yamaha MJC ) and saw its pistons again being taken to the top of the rankings in the
EXHIBITOR
11 / N20
Norton pensions fraud saga still ongoing
A British newspaper has reported that Members of the UK Parliament are to launch an inquiry into the pension fraud prosecution of former Norton Motorcycles owner Stuart Garner . The inquiry will seek to establish if the prosecution of Garner was influenced by the prior support that he had received from local , regional and national government officials and business agencies - including multimillionaire former British Finance Minister George Osborne . The Guardian newspaper reports that MPs will ask UK pension regulators about how the £ 10m scam was investigated . Financial regulators are to be summoned to parliament to explain how they prosecuted a fraud case that has not led to anyone serving prison time . During the period of his ownership , Garner and his iteration of Norton received a series of publicly funded grants and business incentives , along with tributes from the likes of George Osborne . Garner even managed to use Norton ' s brand to secure himself a
Former Norton owner Stuart Garner ( left ) seen with then UK Finance Minister George Osborn on a visit to the Donington Park Norton HQ in July 2015 .
cameo role in the 2015 Bond film Spectre and travelled with a government trade mission to China on Theresa May ' s jet when she was UK Premier . Garner received an eight-month suspended prison sentence in 2022 , with the judge saying that the former gamekeeper turned businessman would probably have been locked up if the Pensions Regulator , which was prosecuting the case , had alleged dishonesty - which , controversially , it did not do .
Enduro World Championship by accompanied champions such as Steve Holcombe ( Beta Racing ) and Mikael Persson ( KTM Pro Racing Sport ), and by Marc Reiner Schmidt ( L30 Racing TM ) in the Supermoto S1GP . gb . vertexpistons . com
New findings include allegations Garner forged the signatures of business partners in order to allow him to more easily raise Norton funds ; tapped sources of public money after making seemingly inaccurate claims to government bodies ; oversaw a business where motorbikes returned to Norton for servicing were stripped of parts - which were then used to build bikes needed for new orders ; owned an additional ( fireworks ) business where about £ 1m of assets appear to have been transferred from Norton just prior to the company being placed into administration in early 2022 . Another UK Pensions oversight body , the Pensions Ombudsman - which is separate from the Pensions Regulator - ruled that Garner had indeed acted " dishonestly ". Norton was acquired out of administration by Indian conglomerate TVS in April 2020 and has since begun marketing new bikes as a separate business from the one owned by Garner .
16 INTERNATIONAL DEALER NEWS - OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2023 www . idnmag . com