Ferracci chose two young riders-rather than overpay for a veteran who only wants to win-because he knows the MV is still a work in progress. "If I take a [veteran], he's going to drive me nuts because too much things to do. I don't have time. So I'm going to get two young guys, and they've got some talent. They no tell me, 'Oh, you no do this, I don't ride the bike.' Fortunately, both of them have a lot of talent to give me feedback, and that is very good."
Lynn is a hard-charging rider who's been waiting for good equipment in his relatively short pro career. Scassa, who won his Italian Superstock Championship aboard an MV, is fluent in English, but not fluent in AMA tracks.
"Luca, he knows we've got to do a lot of testing, because he wants to learn all the tracks," Ferracci says. "And Lynn wants to do a lot of testing because he wants to learn the bike. And remember, we've got new brakes, new brake pads, new suspension, new electronics, and we've got different wheels and different tires." Lynn is smoother on the throttle and weighs less, Scassa is more aggressive, or as Ferracci puts it, "is full throttle or no throttle. And I got to set up the bike a little bit different because everything happens so quick. Also he's got more weight. The guy's a big dude."
"I have to learn how to run with the faster guys," Lynn admits. "This is the first year that I've really been on something that's competitive and been able to run up front with all the guys. [I] have to learn how they ride and how I have to step it up a little bit too. I've stepped up my training program. I feel like I'm in really good shape. It's just going to be learning what I can do and can't do.
"We've made some definite improvements on handling since we've been here. The bike seems more stable. It's going to take more development on parts and stuff like that." With more power and better traction came chassis problems. The team has a 20mm-longer swingarm and slightly different geometry. They're experimenting with shock linkages; Ferracci has designed three already. "We're working on different stuff to come in on the geometry to help us out," continues Lynn. "That's one of our weaknesses right now-getting even more rear grip and working with the rear shock. Our shock guy is doing a really good job, but he's learning as we are. It's going to take a little while to get that worked out."
Scassa says they strictly work on setup. "Now the problem is it looks like it's heavy," Scassa says of the handling. "It's not so easy to move, but it's really stable now. So I think we have to work for handling and take this stable. So we will be really fast."
Scassa has also been dealing with physical issues; the Italian Superstock practice sessions and races were shorter, and he was suffering from arm-pump at the Barber Motorsports Park round. He was also curious about Lynn's instruction not to run hard start to finish. Lynn had cautioned him to slow down in the middle of the race to preserve the tires. "I never did this. I never went on the track and slowed down. Crazy." Last year Scassa used Pirelli DOTs. This year he's on Dunlop slicks. At Barber, Scassa was able to drag both elbows in the corners. He cobbled together some elbow sliders out of gaffer's tape.
There is no doubt both riders know their jobs. They don't want to push too hard and crash, because that will only set back development. Still, over the course of testing and the first two races, the team had gone through 20 fairings.
Who's paying? The fairings come from a supplier in Florida, but that's the least of their costs. "Cagiva USA, me and my son [Larry] and Claudio Castiglioni and Italy come with some," Ferracci says. Eraldo also mentions a nearby Mercedes-Benz dealership and Battery Tender, among others. But it's nickels and dimes in a sport that demands bagfuls of money. Starting so late meant most sponsorship money was already taken. "It was tough this year. But I don't want to wait another year even if I've got to spend some of our company money."
Ferracci hopes to increase the MV's potential by 10 percent every race and be at 100 percent before the end of the year, "because I want to see if I can compete with these people. Otherwise, you cannot do the world championship. If we cannot be good enough here, it ain't going to be good enough there. So we must do something good because that is our goal, and you've got to get it. So I had to do a lot of work, but I got to do. We cannot say, 'OK, sorry, I need another year.' This is a lot of money to spend, and you've got to get there."
The importance of the American market means that Ferracci will have to stay here in '08 if MV moves to World Superbike. There will be none of the globe-trotting he did 15 years ago. "I like this country, and I don't want to just do the work and then go over there. I want to do it here and then enjoy the country a little more right here."
Sixteen years ago, Ferracci took a small Italian company to the top of the world. They've been there ever since. Can he do it again? F. Scott Fitzgerald famously said, "There are no second acts in American lives." But Fitzgerald never met Eraldo Ferracci.