You call yourself a Ducatista? Then Ducati Island COTA is for you

However this was something that Chaz had always wanted to do but never seemed to be able to fit into his busy racing schedule.

So Chaz found time between racing and testing,  teaming up with Ducati UK and booking on the Ducati Learn to Ride Programme to gain the road licence he had always wanted...

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 "I went straight up to Stefan and apologised. He was sore because he's taken two big whacks today so I was sorry for him” – Cal Crutchlow..  

It was a successful weekend for the Pramac Racing team at their home round, with Andrea Iannone and Yonny Hernandez both registering top ten results at Mugello, after Iannone had briefly led the MotoGP™ race.

Ducati Grandstand Mugello, the Mothership of Ducati passion...

A few years back when the Indy MotoGP was first announced, I was working with another Ducati club to organize a Ducati grandstand. We had visions of 300 seats and that’s what we initially asked the speedway staff to discuss but as our confidence in the turnout grew so did the grandstand.

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Today at Mugello, Valentino Rossi wore a helmet dedicated to pasta "The Vale". The graphics with rigatoni highlight that despite in his 20th year racing, Rossi is still competitive and does "not overcook ever!"

Also on the helmet are graphics of the ears and the curve Casanova Savelli - the curve of the left-right Mugello circuit where Rossi usually overcomes his competitors. On the back of the helmet the inevitable Bulldogs Caesar and Cecilia eating rigatoni from the bowl.

The cooking time of "The Vale" pasta are strictly 46 minutes! Helmet, rider and rigatoni are Made in Tavullia and are Italian product certificate.

Ahead of the important Gran Premio d'Italia TIM weekend for the Ducati Team motogp.com spoke exclusively to Cal Crutchlow about his results to date with the Italian brand.

A "Open" war is brewing between Honda and Ducati in MotoGP, with HRC angry at what it deems exploitation of rules loophole by Ducati and Yamaha

 Davide Giugliano's hopes of securing his first WSBK win at Donington Park come to an abrupt end - view the full crash sequence here....  

A positive race day overall for the Ducati Superbike team and riders Chaz Davies and Davide Giugliano yesterday at Donington Park. Although Davide Giugliano crashed out of race 1 while fighting for the win, he closed race two in fourth place, while Chaz Davies finished both of the day’s races in fifth position.

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Great Result for Ducati Superbike Team

Donington (Great Britain), Saturday 24 May 2014 - The Tissot-Superpole sessions ahead of tomorrow’s fifth round races for the 2014 eni FIM World Superbike Championship were held in cold and wet conditions at Donington Park. After yesterday’s dry free practices the FP4 session this morning proved to be all important ahead of the two grid deciding sessions this afternoon.

At the second chequered flag it was Davide Giugliano (Ducati Superbike Team) who claimed his second career pole position, by lapping the Leicester track in 1’44.903. Joining the Italian rider on the front row in both races tomorrow will be Leon Haslam (Pata Honda World Superbike Team) and Marco Melandri (Aprilia Racing Team).

Row two comprises Alex Lowes (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki), Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team) and Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team). In the session Guintoli, Rea and Giugliano all crashed and remounted after posting their fastest times.

Making it through from Superpole 1, Toni Elias (Red Devils Roma Aprilia) and Ayrton Badovini (Team Bimota Alstare) joined the already seeded riders after the combined Free Practices. Leon Camier (BMW Motorrad Italia) and Jeremy Guarnoni (MRS Kawasaki) both crashed out unhurt at the fast Starkeys section of the track before posting a time. The pair were joined by an unlucky Badovini who also fell spectacularly at the end of the session on the fast uphill left hander, resulting in him not being able to take part in the second session. Niccolò Canepa (Althea Racing Ducati) had a slow speed crash at the Melbourne Hairpin while Fabien Foret (Mahi Team India Kawasaki) elected not to ride in the session.

Times: 1. Giugliano (Ducati) 1'44.903 average 138.059 kph; 2. Haslam (Honda) 1'45.009; 3. Melandri (Aprilia) 1'45.111; 4. Lowes (Suzuki) 1'45.258; 5. Guintoli (Aprilia) 1'45.839; 6. Baz (Kawasaki) 1'46.058; 7. Sykes (Kawasaki) 1'46.241; 8. Rea (Honda) 1'46.306; 9. Elias (Aprilia) 1'46.326; 10. Laverty(Suzuki) 1'47.963; 11. Davies (Ducati) 1'50.099; 12. Badovini (Bimota); 13. Iddon (Bimota); 14. Corti (MV Agusta); 15. Andreozzi (Kawasaki); 16. Canepa (Ducati); 17. Salom (Kawasaki); 18. Camier (BMW); 19. Foret (Kawasaki); 20. Guarnoni (Kawasaki).

After watching the opening title for Sky Italia's MotoGP 2014 races coverage, I really wish there was a button on my remote to add anime effects to every program out there. It's so cool.

Carlo Pernat, manager for Andrea Iannone has thrown Andrea Iannone's silly season hat into the ring with a quote given to GP-inside.com when asked "Please, Mr. Pernat, you have a small scoop for us? ".

The man, who is also the agent for Alex De Angelis, Loris Capirossi and the late Marco Simoncelli smiles, takes the time to reflect and, after a few seconds silence, replied: "You want a scoop? Andrea Iannone, 50% Ducati, Suzuki 50%."

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Davide Giugliano (Ducati Superbike Team) was the fastest rider in the opening Free Practice session at Imola this morning. Riding in the hottest conditions of the season so far, the Italian ended the session marginally quicker than his nearest rival, Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike Team).

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Our industry insider gets down to the brass tacks of racing motorcycles in America and its troubling surge in costs over recent years.

I’ve been thinking about inflation in racing for the last few months. Over the winter, my friend Chris Van Andel ran for a second term as President of the American Federation of Motorcyclists race club. When he lost, I figured he might want a chance to speak freely, and I interviewed him about his experiences and his thoughts on the future of club racing.

The AFM might be the healthiest race club in the country. It’s based in the San Francisco Bay Area, where the economy is buoyed by the continued strength in the tech sector and the fact that the region’s housing bubble barely even deflated. But Van Andel made it clear that even the AFM was hit by the ’08 economic downturn. In the years leading up to the recession, the club membership flirted with 1,000 riders, and there was a worry about what they’d do when they ran out of three-digit race numbers. Now, about half that number of people are racing....more