Photo: Yamaha Racing
Confederate Motorcycles has taken 13 of its P120 Fighter motorcycles and given them the black-out treatment. Hoping to draw the ire of old ladies around the United States, the P120 Fighter looks even more sinister in black than its bare-metal counterpart. If you want one of these special edition “Black Flag” P120 Fighters you better hurry up though, only nine bikes are left on the reserve. Check the photo goodness after the jump.
MotoGP qualifying was underway today in Germany, as riders took to Sachsenring with good weather abounding. With the return of Valentino Rossi to the series, the MotoGP paddock is buzzing with excitement, but the good vibrations would be cut short as the qualifying session was red flagged part-way through.
Seemingly grenading one of his six precious motors, Jorge Lorenzo dumped oil onto the German track, but before officials could the halt the session, Ben Spies and Randy de Puniet experienced a better understanding to what a mu coefficient is, and ended up in the gravel trap. While Spies was un-hurt, de Puniet was seen grabbing his ankle after the crash. The French rider did not participate in the restarted qualifying session, and spent his time in Clinica Mobile.
UPDATE: Ducati will be unveiling to the public its 2011 Ducati 848 Superbike EVO, which will have a $1,000 cheaper “Dark” variant as well.
Get ready Ducatisti, a new Ducati model is coming in two weeks. To be launched at Laguna Seca’s Ducati Island during the GP weekend, Ducati is tight lipped as to what the new model could be. In our invitation to the event, we are told only that the unveiling will be “hosted by four very excited guests to whom this new model means quite a lot.” The unveiling will be at 1pm on Saturday, and we’ll be there with our cameras.
UPDATE: Michael Lock has announced that he has taken on the role of Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at Think, an electric car manufacturer.
Asphalt & Rubber broke the news last week that Michael Lock was leaving Ducati North America before the company even knew it, and now the news that Michael Lock is leaving Ducati North America is finally official. Leaving the company in two weeks at the end of July, Lock will be moving on to pursue other interests.
Ducati Holdings Vice President of Sales Cristiano Silei will takeover at Ducati N.A. in the interim, as the company looks for a new CEO. With such short-notice on Lock’s departure, we’re left pondering why the successful CEO is leaving the company, more as we find it. Press release after the jump.
This sketch really explains itself. Porportedly coming from an unnamed Ducati dealer, we see that the yet-to-be unveild Mega Monster will feature the 1198cc Testastretta 11° v-twin motor. Also mentioned in the sketch is a ride-by-wire throttle and traction control system. If this is truly Ducati Project 0803, can we please move on to Project 0804…this one makes baby Jesus cry.
Source: Ducati.ms via Ducati News Today
Since we broke the news on the pricing and technical specs on Roehr’s electric motorcycles, we’ve been patiently waiting for a glimpse at the machine(s). Built around a Hyosung chassis, all three Roehrs feature AC induction motor technology, with the eSupersport using a single-motor setup, while the eSuperbike and eSuperbike RR feature twin-motors.
The amount of LiFePo4 battery power on-board varies across the models, which will affect range; but since bigger is better, we expect the 7.7 kWh, 135+ MPH, twin-motor Roehr eSuperbikeRR to pique your interest the most. Check after the jump for a full model breakdown, along with more photos.
Our parents discouraged us from motorcycles at an early age. Riding a Big Wheels until the age of 17, this author’s family viewed two-wheeled vehicles as rolling organ donor factories. Thus as kids, we only got crappy dinosaur coloring books when we were younger, and maybe if we were really good a couple TMNT books with extra green crayons.
Imagine what our motorcycling addiction would have be like today if our parents had given us a coloring book based around motorcycles. It’s too late for us, but there’s still time for today’s wee-ones. Get your own Ducati Coloring Book (links to a PDF), courtesy of DucCutters. Beck, if your parents don’t print this out for you, let us know.
Source: DucCutters via Ducati News Today
AMA superstar Miguel Duhamel will return to superbike racing for the first time since the 2009 Daytona 200, riding as a wild card at the Laguna Seca round of the AMA Pro Road Racing series held during the Red Bull Gran Prix weekend. The eight-time AMA Pro Road Racing Champion won virtually all his races on a Honda, but for Seca he’ll be riding with Moto Forza – NovaTac Racing Ducati.
Duhamel has the all-time win record in AMA Pro Road Racing, with 86 victories to his name. Five of those wins came from Laguna Seca, which makes Duhamel a potent rider at the course for the GP weekend, despite Moto Forza – NovaTac having a less than competitive package with their Ducati.
Meeting today with the Chief Medical Officer at the Sachsenring, Rossi has received word that he can participate in, and race at, the German GP. This means Rossi can turn a wheel in Friday’s practice sessions, and further assess his readiness for MotoGP racing. Should Rossi take to the Yamaha YZF-M1 by Saturday, he will have gone from injury to competition in just six weeks’ time, an incredible feat.
Although he completed 46 laps at Brno this week, Rossi still reported pain in his leg and shoulder, along with being tired from the testing sessions. With fans and MotoGP keen to see the nine-time Champion is keen to get back to racing, we can imagine there’s little that will stop Rossi from riding on Sunday, thus giving Wataru Yoshikawa a reprieve from his duties.
Spotted just outside Ducati’s Bologna factory by an amateur photographer, we now get a proper glimpse of Ducati’s “Mega Monster” performance cruiser. Based around a 1200cc v-twin motor, Ducati is hoping to tap into the American dominated cruiser market, and steal a few customers away from Harley-Davidson.
While, we’re not calling the Mega Monster a “butter face”…well…actually we are, hopefully the Rhinoplasty Fairy will come visit the bike before its debut at EICMA later this year. Ducati, for the love of God, please re-think this motorcycle. Check Motociclismo.it for more photos.
Source: Motociclismo.it