Picotte gets four years
Gobert tests MuZ
DuHamel rides again, kinda

Harley-Davidson VR1000 rider Pascal Picotte will be signing a contract on Friday for four years of employment at the Milwaukee Mafia. Picotte flirted with maybe riding a Vance and Hines Ducati or a Yamaha World Superbike machine, but in the end decided a four year deal and chance to become a living legend if he takes the VR to the center of the winner's circle was worth more than being Haga's drinking partner or complaining about the way the 996 doesn't turn. Also, as the female lawyer said in The Big Chill, "And then there was the money." Picotte will certifiably be a millionaire by the time the contract ends, if he isn't already.

Jamie Hacking's R7 Superbike is on display at Yamaha's corporate offices in Cypress, California in full battle regalia. Also, the guard at the door passed our informal test yesterday. We stated: Man, Yamaha had a pretty decent year in roadracing, eh? He replied: Yeah, too bad about the 600 title, it was so close!
Try that (chatting about racing with non-racing employees) at some manufacturers who shall remain nameless and you'll get a look in response like you asked them something in Turkish.

Daytona 200 winner Miguel DuHamel will be riding some new Honda models in the next few days as Honda shoots their new product brochures with The Man at the controls. Also: DuHamel will ride the Dunlop tire test in early December. But not on the RC45, probably. Sounds like the Area 51 will be late in getting here and they'll test tires on the RC45 and race the fifty-one in March.

As leaked here a few days ago: Anthony Gobert tested the MuZ 500 at Broadford (a racetrack) just outside of Melbourne yesterday. He's at Phillip Island all smiles and chuckles. Doohan is there too. Sparks to follow. Tony G will ride the MuZ this weekend. We shall see what the power of the darkside can do on a two stroke. Why listen to us say Gobert could do well there when you can hear it from Doohan?

Oh, and did you hear the 2001 USGP is almost canceled? That's the rumor flowing from the lodging owners in the area of Elkhart Lake. There's some dispute between Road America and Tag (the promoter of the USGP) about who's going to pay for what, and at the moment the outcome does not look good.

More 'stralians: Great, just when the AMA Superbike paddock was starting to look like a decedents of Jolly Roger reunion, now comes the word that even more of persons from that other hemisphere are coming over. The guy now leading the list to ride with Ben Bostrom at Vance and Hines Ducati: Troy Bayliss. A Ducati rider, Bayliss won the UK Superbike championship this season.

Just like we said last year, third place at PPIR Nick-Boy Hayden will not be the AMA Superbike Rookie of the Year this year. Hayden had a pretty much okay season of Superbike racing this year, a really great final third season, but because he rode the HyperCycle Suzuki Superbike at times last year, he was not eligible for the title this year. (Confused? Good.) Even though Nick-boy's HyperCycle Suzuki Superbike was (most of the time anyway) on DOTs.

Very cool ad in this week's Cycle News thanking Rob Muzzy for all of his contributions to almost twenty years of winning races and championships on Kawasaki machinery. The ad looks like it was designed and paid for by Kawasaki but if you look close, the firm that actually laid out the cash is... Dunlop.

More after we talk with Gob at the Island.

-- Axle Jordache

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Alex, rule number one of show business: never perform with children or animals.

Why is it that half the people in this goddamn industry don't even use their real name? Because they're afeared of being kidnapped, that's why.