The number
of participants buying passes to the event is growing frenetically
and questions are being asked all over the world. Everybody
wants to know, “What’s Ducati got up its sleeve
this time?” Well, those of you who come to WDW will
be the first to hear the stunning announcement. Ducati CEO
Federico Minoli will deliver the sensational and ultra-secret
news about a great Ducati project that will be previewed on
the stage at WDW on Saturday, May 22nd.
All motorcycle
brands will be welcome. Ducati wants to give everyone a chance
to join the world’s greatest homage to the joy of motorcycling.
Tens of thousands of motorcycling fans from around the world
will be there: beginners and experts, bikers and non-bikers,
Ducatisti and non-Ducati owners.
This
year Ducati is preparing 7 days of amazing thrills for fans
everywhere.For the first time, the track will be available
to WDW pass holders: week-pass holders will be able to ride
the track from Tuesday to Sunday. The track will also be open
to Weekend pass holders. An area will be provided in the paddock
for engine and frame set-up, so that all participants will
be able to have their motorcycles prepared for the track by
experts. There will also be an 11,000 feet sales area for
Ducati products, with the entire range of Ducati accessories
and apparel and the new WDW2004 Line, created just for the
event, on display. The WDW Line, currently available online
at www.ducati.com, consists of: caps, T-shirts and and useful
keychain and porta-pass kits.
And that’s
not all: for the first time, Ducati will set aside a test
ride area (3.4 km in length, open Tuesday to Sunday), where
everyone will be able to try out the 2004 range of motorcycles,
including the incredible Multistrada and cutting-edge 999
and 749 Superbikes.
But WDW2004
is not just about riding: Ducati is also preparing a fantastic
array of leisure activities and entertainment. There will
be a relaxation area, where participants can enjoy relaxing
professional massages while listening to music; a gym fitted
out with the latest Technogym equipment, and a beach area,
set up with games like beach soccer and beach volleyball.
Fans
at WDW2004 will be able to choose from a dizzying array of
special events on the track, from displays by our most famous
official riders, to the incredible stunts of Christian Pfeiffer,
from an exciting drag car race, to a demonstration flight
of Italy’s new Mangusta attack helicopter and amazing
fireworks displays in the night sky.And
thanks to the support of our numerous sponsors, enthusiasts
will have a daily opportunity to win prizes, from Alfa Romeo
driving courses to dream trips offered by Ventaglio.
Also
new at this year’s WDW will be the Ducati Garage Challenge,
our contest dedicated to Ducati Specials, held in partnership
with Desmodromiclub of Rome. The contest will be divided into
two main parts. The first part will be online - the ducati.com
team, helped by the experts of Desmodromiclub, will select
the thirty best entries. The second part will take place directly
at WDW, where contestants will go head to head for the title
of best mechanic and the best special will be crowned. Ducati
Corse’s official racers will be among those on the jury.
You also
won’t want to miss our WDW2004 exhibit of the amazing
winners and honorable mentions of the heralded Design your
Dream Ducati contest. Come see the incredible passion, talent
and imagination of your fellow enthusiasts!Ducati
has also organised a series of tours in collaboration with
Curve e Tornanti, which will take riders through the most
beautiful parts of Italy’s historic region of Emilia
Romagna.
This
year at WDW2004, four laps with renowned former GP racer Randy
Mamola on the blazing Ducati Desmosedici biposto will be up
for grabs to the highest bidder of our Rider for Health Auction
(starting at 500 Euro). All proceeds will go to Riders for
Health and Clinica Mobile.
Finally,
fans will be able to depart for the event on their Ducatis
with hundreds of their fellow fans on Friday, May 21st, from
either Rome, Piacenza, Bologna and Pescara, meeting together
to create an endless “Big Red Snake” into the
Misano circuit. The Big Red Snake was created in 1998 by the
members of Desmodromiclub of Rome: in 2002 over 190 bikers
rode together to WDW, for 2004 we anticipate more than 300!
And,
of course, participants will have the incredible opportunity
to chat and talk with our champion racers: the official Ducati
Corse riders. There will also be many other sporting VIP present,
all with a shared passion for Ducati. To sign up for the event
and to get more information, please visit www.wdw2004.com
Event
sponsored by Regione Emilia Romagna, Alice, AMD, Brembo, Adler,
Dainese, Shell Advance, Fila, Ventaglio, Alfa Romeo, Malaguti,
Michelin, Curve e Tornanti, Incorporesano.
World Superbike Championship 2004 World Superbike
Championship
Round 4 Monza, Italy 14-16 May 2004
Preview:
World Superbike prepares for Warp Speed at Monza
May 12th - At The Speed of Light: With ultimate
velocities of well over 300kmph and average lap speeds of
over 190kmph Monza holds the crown as the fastest track on
the SBK calendar. Despite the addition of numerous chicanes
over the years, speed and power are the most important steps
on the Monza podium ladder. Monza is one of the most atmospheric
and traditionally sculpted circuits in world racing, a true
giant among tracks - and one of the longest - at 5,793km.
The oldest permanent European track still in regular use,
Monza is located inside a former Royal Park, surrounded by
greenery and the remains of the old circuit’s steep
banking. A place of memories and nostalgia, Monza is still
a venue where modern SBK competitors get to practice their
slipstreaming and racecraft in a unique fashion.
Leading
Light: With no fewer than five different winners in six races
so far this year, the 2004 version of World Superbike is as
closely fought and unpredictable as ever. The adoption of
a blanket 1000cc capacity limit, stringent technical regulation
and the innovation of single make Pirelli control tyres have
all contributed their part to this phenomenon. The latest
race winner is also the pre-Monza championship leader, Pierfrancesco
Chili (PSG-1 Ducati 999/998). At Misano on April 18 Chili
sent his local crowd (and legions of his loyal fans around
the world) into a frenzy of joy, securing his 17th career
win, in his 223rd SBK race. The enduring and always entertaining
Chili knows what it’s like to win at Monza, having secured
his first ever SBK victory there in 1995.
Fila
Factory Power: Privateer Chili’s speed and consistency
have delivered him a 20-point championship cushion but at
the high-speed academy of Monza, works power is always an
important asset. The factory Fila Ducati riders, James Toseland
and Regis Laconi, sit second and third overall in the table
at present. More than any other riders, they will be looking
to exploit any power advantage that their unique Ducati 999F04
machines may have. In this season, in which ultimate performance
is within range of more teams than ever before, Monza will
be an excellent test of how far the teams equipped with multi-cylinder
1000cc machines have progressed since the first round at Valencia
on February 29th.
Honda
Powers On: The foremost four-cylinder machine in the championship
at present time is the Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade
of Chris Vermeulen. The reigning World Supersport Champion
has made outstanding progress since his promotion to Superbike,
having secured two podiums already. The 21-year-old Aussie
now sits in fourth place overall, 27-points off the lead.
Monza is a circuit Vermeulen rates very highly and if his
still-developing machine has improved sufficiently since Misano,
he may be the darkest horse in the Monza firmament. As Vermeulen
is the only rider in the top six without a win to his name
this season he is particularly keen to join this increasingly
inclusive club with all due haste. Other top-level four-cylinder
entries come from the Bertocchi Kawasaki, MIR Suzuki and UnionBike
Yamaha teams.
Winner’s
Circle: With Chili, Toseland and Laconi (2) having all won
races so far, the other victories have gone to Ducati 999RS
riders Noriyuki Haga (Renegade Ducati 999RS) and Garry McCoy
(Xerox Ducati Nortel Networks 999RS). Monza will be less of
a known quantity for SBK inductee McCoy, as this is his first
full season of World Superbike, having enjoyed a glittering
GP career.
Petronas
Progress: The upwardly mobile Foggy Petronas team, running
the unique three-cylinder Petronas FP-1 machine, has experienced
a real measure of success this season. First off Chris Walker
took a third place at Valencia on the opening day and more
recently Troy Corser secured second place in race one at Misano.
An interim engine specification will power their Monza assault,
before a full revamp comes on stream for the Laguna Seca round
in July. The team has managed to squeeze in a test of the
new
motor in Spain and it has already been voted an improvement
over the previous spec.
Supersport:
The fourth round of the World Supersport Championship is expected
to be the most knife-edge of them all, despite the recent
success of Honda riders at the Monza speed bowl. Last year’s
winner Chris Vermeulen has moved on to Superbike duty for
the Ten Kate Honda team, but the remaining combatants, Karl
Muggeridge and Broc Parkes, know that Ten Kate CBR600RR Hondas
have secured the past two Monza wins. The other four manufacturers
involved in Supersport have already proved to have their own
turns of speed this season, and with Championship leader Jurgen
van den Goorbergh (Yamaha Italia YZF-R6) finishing second
last year, and with his team hailing from the outskirts of
Monza itself, there is great expectation from the official
Yamaha camp. To underline the challenge, 2002 World Champion
Fabien Foret (Yamaha Italia) won the ‘02 Monza race
on his way to the title. Kevin Curtain (Yamaha Motor Germany)
is another Monza favourite, and the all-new Suzukis of Katsuaki
Fujiwara and Stephane Chambon, plus the factory Breil Ducati
749 of Lorenzo Lanzi, cannot be written off.
Webcam
World: The trial use of webcams for interviews and
other live coverage of the Superbike World Championship at
Misano has been deemed a huge success and will continue for
Monza (May 15th and 16th). Seen only on the official website
for the series, www.worldsbk.com, the huge number of visitors
using the interactive area has delighted the race organizers.
The webcam initiative is one in a series of planned improvements
to the www.worldsbk.com
designed to give visitors not only more news and information
on World Superbikes, Supersport, Superstock and the participating
teams and riders but also to be directly involved.
Fidoweb
provides live interviews, video highlights and video IRC chat
facilities through the interactive interface on the SBK website
using a minimum of three exclusive cameras. On the Saturday
after Superpole, live interviews with the front-row qualifying
riders from Superbike and the pole sitter from Supersport
take place. During this session, visitors to the site can
put their questions, seeing and hearing the answers the riders
give those chosen. On the Sunday, there are two more sessions
similarly covered following the end of the Supersport and
two Superbike races. Other interviews are planned with many
of the Championship’s leading riders including Pierfrancesco
Chili, James Toseland, Regis Laconi, Noriyuki Haga, Chris
Vermeulen and Garry McCoy. Other chances to put questions
in Italian or English to team personnel will take place over
each weekend.
Fidoweb
specializes in Internet broadcast techniques and uses the
latest digital equipment and satellite links to ensure that
everybody with internet access is able to take full advantage
of this unique free service. FGSport will study the level
of interest and, if it proves as successful as is anticipated,
the company plans to expand the service to all events in 2005.
The Championship website receives more than 32-million page
views, 219-million hits and has in excess of 1,550,000 unique
visitors. It is the definitive source of information on the
Superbike World Championship.
MotoCreations
to premier new Ducati based Sport Cruiser
at LA Calendar Motorcycle Show July 17-18th
April 30th, Los Angeles, CA - FastDates.com
is excited to announce that designer and race car fabricator
Mark Savory of MotoCreations.com
based in Chandler, Arizona, will use the Los Angeles
Calendar Motorcycle Show, held the July 17-18th 2004
weekend at the Queen Mary in Long Beach,CA, to premier in
public his exciting new MotoCreations.com sport cruiser
prototype bike based on Ducat'si venerable Monster with
the new DS1000 engine.
Most
Ducati and custom Harley owners are affluent enough to have
more than one bike in thier garage, and many owners have
bikes from both genres. However, the current motorcycle
cruiser market has little to offer in a bike with the attibutes
and advantages of both generes: a cool looking cruiser for
bike night with your buddies and crusin' the strip, along
with the performance and reliability and sound of a V-Twin
production based sportbike. Savory decided to start his
new company MotoCreations.com to create the right type of
bikes the market was missing. The new MotoCreations Ducati
based Sport Cruiser concept bike offers that in spades,
and potentially at a very affordable price should it be
put into limited production by Savory or mass produced by
a manufacturer like Ducati.
You
can see the world premier of the new MotoCreations Ducati
based cruiser at the July 17-18th LA Calendar Motorcycle
Show, along with many other sportbike attractions including
the Jardine West Coast Horsepower Dyno Shootout, and The
Las Vegas Extremes stunt riding team starring Pauly Sherer
and beautiful JoJo Farmer. Complete information is available
at http;//www.FastDates.com/BIKESHOW.HTM
The Las
Vegas Extremes will be featured at this year's LA Calendar
Motorcycle Show with beautiful 19-year old model JoJo Farmer
doing crazy shit like this. Meet JoJo in person and get her
newest stunt riding video LVX Girls! Details HERE.
