How did the deal with Rizla Suzuki come about?
Really, it started out working with Kenny Jacobs, an old acquaintance of mine that lives in France. He’s a new brand manager over there, and he just thought it was a great idea. He’s friends with some of the guys on the team, and I’ve been friends with some of them, too, and we talked to them about giving them a new, fresh look. So, we got to do the bikes, the suits, the helmets, and all of the apparel; I’m just finishing. Capirossi’s helmet is on my desk—I’m drawing the numbers on it right now. I just think it’s a great marketing thing, you know? The street market is a real big market, and we’ve been kind of dabbling in it for years here, but we keep working a little more in that direction. So what does this partnership entail? Kind of like what we do for the pro circuit, and kind of like what we do for our own team, I just didn’t realize how many pieces there were to a MotoGP team: everything from trailers to awnings to hospitality, their umbrellas, T-shirts, jackets, pants, socks, a
