One of the seminal names associated with racing is MV Agusta. In its halcyon days it was the preferred steed of no less a person than Giacomo Agostini and it won no less than 38 World Championships and 37 manufacturers titles. Now the hallowed brand is poised to make a return to Superbike racing with Team Yaknich which is owned by Russian Alexander Yaknich who ran a successful World Supersport team and in its second year this year, the team with Sam Lowes clinched the World Supersport title. Now Yaknich has tied up to launch a two member World Supersport and one member World Superbike team most probably in the EVO category. The riders are yet to be decided. Though Yaknich will run the team it will be named MV Agusta Reparto Corse which was the historic name under which the brand competed.
Giovanni Castiglione the son of the very famous Claudio Castiglione who died sometime ago has decided to give shape to his father’s dream of bringing the MV Agusta name back into circuit racing. Claudio Castiglione was not just a motorcycle fanatic, he was a motorcycle racing fanatic in equal measure. He was the creator of the brand Cagiva which stood for Castiglione Giovanni Varese. Giovanni Castiglione was the father of Claudio who named his son the present Giovanni Castiglione after him and the brand Cagiva was dedicated to the elder Giovanni Castiglione. Claudio then bought Ducati and it is with Ducati that he tasted success in World Superbikes while Cagiva gave him success in the Dakar races. Later Claudio sold Ducati off and bought rights to the MV Agusta name which he sold to Harley Davidson who sold it back to him at a nominal price of One USD when America was hit by recession in 2008. But by then Harley had infused enough money and work for new models.
Claudio made news in India because he most generously gifted film start Saif Ali Khan with an MV Agusta since he liked the man and his style!!!! He had only briefly seen him in an Italian bar. MV Agusta is still on shaky ground, especially post the passing of Claudio and it is now upto Giovanni Jr. to do something with the brand. With WSBK moving closer to production machinery this is as good an opportunity as any for the brand to become more visible and get better sales. This is a story worth following.