Our Italian cousins at Motoblog.
it are at the Motor Bike Expo in Verona this weekend and at the Bimota stand found former Superbike rider Ruben Xaus who is now officially working with Bimota as their sporting director and was able to interview him.
MB: Bimota has several new things in store for their fans, so how did this partnership with them come around?RX: By chance.
I was talking to some very passionate friends from the Romagna region and was introduced to the Bimota world.
I was at a crossroads, not knowing whether to continue racing or to dedicate myself to something else.
On the one hand, there were the last season with many injuries and no replies, so I decided to take matters into hand and this collaboration was born.
I wanted to take control of my destiny and decide what to do and when to do it.
”MB: What do you do for them?RX: “I was only supposed to do some small things, instead I’m doing a lot.
In the beginning my role was to be their image man, because I have riding schools in Spain, France and Russia, so we thought I’d use their bikes and my name for marketing, but as time went on and with my experience in asset management and finances (something that I’ve personally always worked in) we decided to expand my role and now I’m the sporting director, with the objective of outsourcing and expand the business with targeted marketing strategies.
“ MB: So so you have a racing program of racing that you’re pursuing?RX: “Yes, of course, we are currently working on Moto2, but we just started a joint venture with Edo Racing to broaden our scope of action to other championships.
We’re taking it one step at a time.
This year we’ll be in the Italian Moto2 championship and we may also do a few wild cards in the World championship and then we may compete full time in Moto2 World championship, but only when we are ready, which could also be next year, depending on how the bike goes.
On the other hand we also have a Superbike program: we are developing a bike for 2013, when they should change the rules which should lean towards more stock specs.
“MB: So I will confirm that the Bimota World Superbike grid in 2013? RX: “Yes, but we don’t know if we’ss start immediately with a full time entry or if we’ll just wild card a few times in 2013 and then compete full time in 2014.
Like I said before for Moto2, we have to see first if we’re competitive, and then there’s the topic regarding sponsors, if we were to have a partner with a lot of capital we could start right away and gradually develop the bike, but we will be there “MB: Then you’re busy with the technical aspects and testing both the Moto2 and Superbike?RX: “Yes, I am working on the development of the Superbike, but I also help with the Moto2.
In the end between giving riding classes, customer tests and Bimota, I’m racing around more than when I was a rider, in fact I’m happy because I’m in better shape than last year ”