The final round of the AMA Pro SunTrust MotoGT championship ends with a formidable 8-hour endurance race at Daytona International Speedway this weekend, and the Touring Sport Ducshop Ducati hopes to be an equally formidable force with three bikes, nine riders and a championship crown within their grasp.

The two-time national champions head to Daytona with a 14-point championship advantage with their #77 Ducati Paul Smart 1000LE and need only finish on the podium to claim their third consecutive crown. They will also run the team’s #38 PS1000LE as well as an 848 in the premier GT1 race.

Pete Friedland, Corey Rech and Brad Phillips will team up for the #77 bike whilst Brian Stokes, Dario Marchetti and Franks Shockley will run the #38 bike. In the premier GT1 class Ryan Elleby, Matt Lynn and Hawk Mazzotta will pilot the Ducati 848.


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Championship series leader Valentino Rossi set the early pace in the first practice session of the Australian MotoGP round at Phillip Island. Marlboro Ducati’s Casey Stoner narrowly failed to overhaul the Italian finishing the session just 1/10th slower on the very last lap.

Stoner had struggled in the 3rd sector of the track but on his very last lap was fastest in the first two splits, set his personal fastest time in the 3rd sector but he finished the session with a best time of 1:31.167 to Rossi’s 1:31.032. Rossi set his fastest lap early but spent the most time on the bike of all the riders completing 31 laps.


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Rumors have persisted for years that Valentino Rossi will eventually end up on a Ducati in MotoGP putting the ultimate Italian champion on the quintessential Italian race bike. Now the Italian press is reporting that Rossi and Jeremy Burgess have been spotted entering the Ducati factory for secret talks.

ducatinewstoday has already laid out the argument for why Rossi will ultimately end up at Ducati. The short story is that he has a shot at ending his career by succeeding his hero Giacomo Agostini as numerically the best racer of all time.


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Ducati and FreedomRoad Financial are announcing a “last call” for the FORZA DUCATI financing program, which concludes at the end of October. Running July 10 through October 31, the FORZA DUCATI program is significant in that it incorporates the entire Ducati lineup. This means all models and all years are eligible for 6.75% financing at terms up to 48 months, providing they are brand new and being registered for the first time.

In addition to a low finance rate on the model of the customer’s choice, Ducati is offering two exciting programs as an additional benefit to those purchasing a new motorcycle. During the program period new Ducati owners may choose between generous trade-in allowances, or a year of “Full Factory Support” on select models.


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MCN has posted some new spy photos of the 2010 Ducati Strada Aperta, the adventure tourer bike that will effectively replace the Multistrada and the older ST range in one swoop, undergoing off-road testing.


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Cagiva owned Ducati for a time so that is my excuse for including the pretty Italian V4, 500cc 2-stroke Grand Prix racer. The bike was never extremely successful although it did win 3 GP’s with Eddie Lawson and John Kocinski at the controls.




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5 months after a horrific crash during practice for the Kyalami, South Africa round of the World Superbike Championship, Régis Laconi was back on a Ducati once again for a couple of demonstration laps at last weekend’s Magny Cours round in France.

The DFX Ducati 1098R Superbike completed 3 laps of the circuit and received a standing ovation from his home crowd. He expressed his thanks to the team and those who went through the terrible experience with him in South Africa. At one point it was thought he might retire from road racing but Laconi may be allowed to return to the race track in time for the Portimao official tests on October 27th and 28th.

Source: WorldSBK.com

Almost immediately after launching the long awaited Ducati Streetfighter, Ducati North America issued a recall for a potential fuel leak. Now the model is being recalled a second time, this time for a potential stalling issue.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) all 2010 Ducati Streetfighter S models are affected (not the base model). This amounts to up to 247 machines. The problem is that the ECU ground screw many not have been tightened correctly resulting in an engine stall. The NHTSA helpfully points out that Stalling while driving can increase the risk of a crash!!!

Dealers will simply retighten the screw at no charge so if you are one of the lucky 247 you should contact your dealer on 800-231-6696.

Source: NHTSA

John Bisson is becoming well known on the interwebs for his truly stunning paintwork on various bikes including the recently covered Martini Ducati 1098. This time he has created a Red Bull bike with astounding attention to detail. If you would like work like this applied to your bike check out his site. The awesome photos were taken by Thomas Gray who can be contacted at TwistedFotos@yahoo.com.


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Michael Douglas’ Gordon Gecko told us that ‘Greed is Good’ in Wall Street in the 80’s back when Ducati was producing the 750F1. In the sequel which is being filmed now, Douglas returns as an older jail bird Gecko whilst young Shia LaBeouf stars alongside Carey Mulligan and a black Ducati Streetfighter S in Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps.

LeBeouf was last seen on a motorcycle in the recent and appalling Transformers 2, where he sat behind Megan Fox on a pink Aprilia RS125 (nice). The setup for WallStreet 2 is that is it 22 years later (the original was filmed in 1986) and Gecko has served 8 years in prison.


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