Aprilia Hooligan
by Neale Bayly, March 15, 2003
Hey! Remember those kids your mother told you not to play with when you were young? Well don't let your mother see you on a Tuono or you'll be grounded for a month. I have just spent the day, flogging a, kindly loaned by Aprilia of North America, Tuono around the Jennings GP track in Northern Florida at a Sportbiketracktime.com weekend event and, I am at the top of the list of kids not to hang out with. Knees out, elbows out, scraping and sliding my way around the track, like a Supermotard on steroids, I have not this much fun since my last Sportbiketracktime.com weekend in Talladega back in October.

Second gear power wheelies, monster mid-range and Mille stopping power and handling make the Tuono positively the wildest production bike I have ever ridden. Quite a few people came up to me later in the day to say how cool it was to see someone sitting up-right flying round the track and I am sure there are a few people in the Intermediate class that are wondering what passed them. The Tuono hit its limits trying to chase a couple of STT's instructors, but in fairness it is wearing street Dunlop 207's, and the suspension is only just a little firmed past stock. This one has a "race only" pipe and sounds "simply marvelous" on full pipe.

Kudos to Paul Tidwell for taking and processing these images and getting them to us so soon. Stay tuned for a full report in the coming weeks.


Photos on this page were supplied by Jimmy Wilson and Paul Tidwell

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