New team for Husky
By TMX Archives on 5th Aug 09
HUSQVARNA will provide a leading MX2 team with its new 250F next year ten teams sought details from the Italian manufacturer but the race is almost certainly between Jacky Martens and Steve Dixon.
Dixon is also still in negotiation with Yamaha, with whom he has worked in one capacity or another for two decades, and he possibly has the trump card in any negotations with Zach Osborne, pictured left, contracted to his Utag-sponsored team for the next two-years and a potential winner.
Mel Pocock is also already contracted for 2010.
"I am possibly lucky that I have very good sponsors so manufacturer support is a relatively small part of our budget. Yamaha support only represents about ten per cent of the total budget this year,” admitted Steve on Saturday.
Close geographical proximity to influential Husky UK importer Mike Carter also gives Steve a further ace in negotiation with the Italians, but Martens has other things on his side. The Belgian was world champion on the brand in 1993 during his racing career and more recently Husqvarna team manager before moving to KTM.
Martens confirmed that he will split with KTM at the end of the season, but he has no contracted riders as Valentin Teillet, Joel Roelants and Jeremy Van Horebeek are all contracted direct to KTM, for whom Martens has run the official junior team this summer.
Teillet will be retained by KTM and moved to the French HDI team, while Van Horebeek is keen to make a complete break but the Austrians will probably release Roelants and, after a string of recent top six placings, he could warrant a team-leader role.
Husqvarna's Martino Bianchi also confirmed that the company will quit the low key World MX3 series at the end of the year, but the marque will not mount an immediate full-scale assault on MX1: "We have a new 450cc engine and will probably make several wild card appearances next year.”