With Troy Corser’s dominance at the opening round of the WSB championship this year, held in Valencia, Spain, already in the books, Aprilia has completed an incredible ascent in the four-stroke racing world that began just two years ago.
As we have written before, Aprilia is the “giant killer” of motorcycle racing. Already successful many times at two-stroke GP racing (particularly, in the 250cc class), Aprilia took on the four-stroke world with the introduction of its homologated Mille sportbike, entered in WSB competition two seasons ago. In only its second year, Troy Corser won races on the machine, and now he looks ready to possibly dominate the series.
It is hard to explain just how amazing this achievement is. The racing budget of the large manufacturers dwarfs that of Aprilia. Moreover, the R&D muscle of those same manufacturers dwarfs that of Aprilia.
The only possible explanation is the existence of a few, brilliant Aprilia racing engineers and strategists. Aprilia’s record in racing is so strong that there is no “luck” or coincidence involved — Aprilia earns its success with brains, not financial muscle. One has to wonder how Ducati feels at this point. Surely, Ducati viewed Honda as its v-twin racing rival at the beginning of last year, but now must have the fellow Italian firm squarely on its mind. Ducati is the racing, four-stroke, v-twin powerhouse with Italian history and heritage behind it. Aprilia is the relative upstart, but it’s astounding success in such a short time has to have Ducati concerned.
Brava e Bellissima Aprilia!
