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AMA Pro Racing has a new CEO, and it’s a name you will likely recognize. Consulting for AMA Pro Racing through the 2015, Michael Lock will now take the reigns of the France Family’s two-wheeled racing organization.

This announcement means that Lock will replace Michael Gentry as AMA Pro Racing’s de facto leader, who will continue with his COO position within the company, effective November 1s, 2015.

“Adding Michael Lock to the executive team shows our commitment to elevating professional motorcycle racing in North America,” said Jim France, Principal of AMA Pro Racing. “His expertise will be critical to the long-term success of the sport, and we are excited to have him join the team.”

I was surprised yesterday when I saw that respected news service Reuters was pushing a story about how Apple was the reason Mission Motors closed its doors.

That very premise couldn’t be farther from the truth, and is readily apparent to anyone who has followed the San Franciscan startup at even a casual distance for the past few years.

On its face, the story’s logic is akin to the idea that the Carpathia, the first ship to arrive at the wreckage of Titanic, should be accused of poaching the ill-fated ocean liner’s passengers, but digging deeper into the story shows how toothless our media has become, and its willingness to parrot stories that will grab headlines.

The premise of the of the assertions made by the Reuters article’s headline rests on statements made by one of Mission Motors’s former-CEOs, Derek Kaufman, who like our comedic parody of the Captain of the Titanic, blamed the iceberg for his misfortunes.

Even if you’ve financed the purchase of a motorcycle recently, we doubt you noticed that GE Capital has removed itself from the vehicle lending business, but it was a big deal for dealers and manufacturers.

A major player in financing not only the inventory and flooring for dealers, lending money to smaller OEMs to create product and inventory, as well as helping consumers finance their expensive play toys, GE Capital has been one of the larger lenders in the motorcycle space for the past decade or so, and likely has helped you save a fraction of a percent or two on your lending rate.

That fraction of a percent though means that GE’s decision to get out of the automotive lending game has had serious ramifications in the two-wheeled world, even if it’s not the sexiest subject to talk about on a moto-news site.

This is why it’s a pretty big deal that Wells Fargo is poised to acquire GE Capital’s commercial distribution finance and vendor finance businesses, as well as some of GE’s corporate finance business, as it means another major lending body will service the motorcycle industry.

There is a management change coming for Ducati, as Jason Chinnock is about to be named the new CEO of Ducati North America.

This means that Chinnock will be replacing Dominique Cheraki, who will move into a new role with Ducati in Bologna, as Ducati’s new Dealer Network Development Director.

If the name Jason Chinnock sounds familiar to Ducatisti, it should, as he has previously worked at Ducati North America in sales, marketing, network positions, all at the director level.

If you’ve ever wanted to own part of a boutique motorcycle brand, this might be your chance, as Confederate Motors is looking to raise $1 million via a private stock offering. In total, 5 million shares of Confederate stock will be made available for purchase, which means each unit of stock will be priced at $0.20 a pop.

Before you start emptying out your wallet though, the offering is made under Rule 506 of Regulation D, which means there are several restrictions on the purchase, including the fact that you will have to be an accredited investor – i.e. a financial institution or a person of wealth.

The big news this week might be about how Volkswagen falsified emissions reports on its diesel-powered automobiles – a move that today lead to Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn stepping down from his position in the company, and VW stock dropping nearly 30%, at the time of this writing.

Less well-known though is that Volkswagen has also lost its long-fought battle with Suzuki over the Japanese company’s stock ownership. VW and Suzuki were supposed to untie the knot back in 2011, but Volkswagen did not go quietly into that good night.

Taking the case to arbitration, the London Court of International Arbitration has finally handed the two parties its verdict. As such, Volkswagen will have to sell its 19.9% stake back to Suzuki.

It seems that despite efforts by Monterey County to entice International Speedway Corporation (ISC) into running Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, the France Family business will not submit a proposal to the county regarding the operations and management of Laguna Seca, after all.

The news is a win for the Sports Car Racing Association of the Monterey Peninsula (SCRAMP), which has operated Laguna Seca for the past 58 years, as a non-profit operation.

Interesting news, as the Motorcycle Industry Council (MIC), the American trade group that is comprised of most of the motorcycle manufacturers, has acquired the motorcycle group of Marketplace Events LLC. What this really means is that the MIC has bought the AIMExpo, America’s largest trade, consumer, and media event.

We say this news is interesting, because you don’t usually see trade groups like the MIC in the mergers and acquisition realm, though the acquisition makes sense from a promotional point-of-view.

For those who don’t know, the MIC serves the interests of the motorcycle industry as a whole in the United States, and thus there is a lot to be gained by the MIC also controlling arguably the most important expo event for the American motorcycle industry.

This likely means that we will see more US models debuting at the AIMExpo, giving the show a status similar to the EICMA show in Italy and the INTERMOT show in Germany.

If you were one of the unlucky few who plopped down close to $125,000 in deposits for a Mission R or Mission RS electric motorcycle by Mission Motorcycles, we hate to inform you that you are certainly not going to receive the bike you hoped to purchase, and you are likely not going to see your deposit back either.

This is because Mission Motorcycles, commanded by Mark Seeger, is set to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which would see the company’s few assets liquidated in order to repay creditors.

It seems any efforts to save Marzocchi have been squashed, as the suspension company’s owners, Tenneco Inc., intend to cease Marzocchi’s world operations and transfer its motorcycle and bicycle business for clients to new providers.

The news not only affects a number of motorcycle manufacturers, but also 127 employees at Marzocchi’s Bologna-based factory, and another 11 employees in North America and Taiwan.

Tenneco announced its intent to shutdown Marzocchi back in July, though the news has been slow to permeate the motorcycle industry.

Yamaha Motor USA is seeing a resurgence in its motorcycle market, with Yamaha posting a healthy 28% sales increase in the North American market, for the first-half of 2015.

The sales boost comes due to the release of the Yamaha YZF-R1, and likely aided by the Yamaha FJ-09, and Yamaha FZ-07 – all of which debuted to rave reviews from the moto-press.

Overall, Yamaha’s motorcycle business is seeing good growth, up another 14% in the European markets (boosted by the MT-09 Tracer), for a total increase of 7.6% in revenue (¥36.8 billion) across all markets.