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General Director of Irbit Motorworks Ilya Khait fills Motonews.ru in on the global expansion of Ural motorbikes, its dynamics, and the profile of an average buyer of Russian motorcycles.
How many motorcycles are you selling in Russia, and how many are exported?
Before the crisis, we produced roughly 1,000 bikes a year. Over 95 percent of all Ural motorbikes are actually exported. Our main markets include the United States (50 percent of total sales), the European Union, Canada, Japan, and Australia. Last year, we sold 17 motorcycles in Russia. This year, since we’re seeing more demand in Russia, we expect to sell more here.
We’re essentially selling motorcycle combinations, and 80 percent of the total is motorcycles with a driven sidecar wheel.
Starting from pole, also for the third consecutive race, Lorenzo lost ground to Dani Pedrosa into turn one but his fellow Spaniard then ran wide, leaving the Fiat Yamaha man in the lead. The next few laps saw Lorenzo at the head of a tight trio, as Andrea Dovizioso and Casey Stoner pushed hard to stay with him. Early on lap four the Italian Dovizioso briefly got his nose in front but Lorenzo soon got back by him to lead once again the next time around. On lap six the trio became a twosome when Stoner ran off track, but it looked like Lorenzo might have a battle on his hands as Dovizioso showed no signs of letting him get away. With ten laps to go however Dovizioso crashed out, leaving Lorenzo nearly six seconds clear of Pedrosa in second. From then on it was just a case of keeping his head as the tyres started to slide more and more in the extreme heat, but the 23-year-old is a cool customer these days and he eventually flew over the line 4.754 seconds ahead of Pedrosa, with Stoner third. Lorenzo has taken a hat-trick of wins once before in his career, in his 250cc days, and is the first Yamaha rider to take three wins from three poles since Eddie Lawson in 1986.
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