Ducati MotoGP Team Hopes to Prosper From 2012 Testing Restrictions Being Lifted

The Ducati garage is abuzz with the team's technicians working to get the GP11s of 7-Time MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi and '06 MotoGP Champion Nicky Hayden ready for the 4th Annual RedBull Indianapolis MotoGP round in August 2011.  Having suffered from a rough weekend (and year) while developing the Italian team's present machine and it's 2012 1000cc-version, the GP12, Hayden had managed to qualify 8th, with 2008 Indy MotoGP winner Rossi back in the 14th spot after crashing out earlier in the weekend's events.  Rossi would go on to soldier home to a 10th place finish in the world championship round on Sunday, with Hayden experiencing severe tire overheating problems, relegating him to a 14th place finish after being forced to pit for a new tires.

With the MotoGP/Dorna testing restrictions in place the last few years, it has somewhat-helped the MotoGP teams in terms of extreme dollars being spent in excess testing sessions, but has hindered development and some forward movement to Ducati, especially in terms of Rossi being able to become comfortable on the team's machines after having been on the dominant Yamaha M-1 for so long.  In his first season on the Italian machines, Rossi ended the season ranked in the 7th spot, with Hayden 8th in the final 2011 MotoGP World Championship standings, and only one podium each throughout the course of the 17 event schedule.

With less restrictions on test dates now being put in place for the 2012 season, and a set maximum number of Bridgestone tires being alloted to use put in place instead, the buzz seems mixed overall as to what the 2012 season holds for how much testing is too much, at least from some of the riders's standpoints.  However, Ducati looks at this as a great opportunity to be able to utilize known test-master Rossi to further and more quickly develop the team's machines, instead of having a set 'test rider-only' try to develop the machines going into the new 1000cc era.  Which makes the development curve less steep for the smaller team.

With an overall test ban in place until after the first of the year, the 2012 MotoGP World Championship season is still months off.  The first round at Qatar is scheduled for April 15, 2012, but will surely be preceded by many days and many miles of testing for all teams.  But this can't not help Ducati going forward, especially coupled with the team's move to an aluminum chassis after developing the carbon fiber chassis for the last five seasons, which seemed to be an enigma to all riders, except for recently departed Casey Stoner, who won over 30 events throughout his four years with the team.  To anyone else, except for Hayden who has at least improved somewhat on the stiff machines, it has seemed to all but have been a career-killer.  Former rider Marco Melandri being the almost-lone exception in re-starting his career in World Superbike this year with the Yamaha WSBK team. 

Although the outlook now could be said to be 'bleak' for Ducati after finishing final-season testing at Valencia on Wednesday (Hayden was forced to sit-out after fracturing his wrist in the turn one incident during Sunday's final race, and Rossi finishing the two-day test still 1.5 seconds back from the front), hopes are still high going into the holiday break that the Italian marque and it's high-profile team riders will be able to turn things around for the 2012 season.  Time will tell, but if you are a fan of Ducati's MotoGP efforts, it's going to be a very long off-season in waiting.
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Thanks to Motorcycle News.com's Matthew Birt on this article about Ducati's outlook on the testing restrictions being lifted for the 2012 MotoGP World Championship Series season and being able to close the gap to the front of the MotoGP grid again:

http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/sport/sportresults/MotoGP/2011/November/nov1111-ducati-happy-with-testing-rule-boost/
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Larry Pegram Ducati Foremost Racing Live Webcam for AMA Superbike Mid Ohio Round

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Larry Pegram's Pegram Racing/Leo Vince/Competition Accessories/Foremost Insurance Group Ducati 749R sits under the team's canopy in the paddock area at Mid Ohio in the summer of 2007. Pegram raced the AMA Formula Xtreme Championship in '07 and finished fourth in the class with six top five finishes and three podiums to his credit. The big twin was no match for the inline fours of Erion Honda's duo of Josh Hayes and Aaron Gobert, or the inline of Attack Kawasaki's Steve Rapp. The 2010 season marks four years with Larry onboard the Italian marque, after riding Hondas in '06. This is his second straight year back in the premier AMA Superbike class and he has already proven to be a front runner again after a stellar year last year aboard the team's 1098R's. After first round qualifying today Larry sits in the third spot to line up for the AMA Superbike finals tomorrow and Sunday.
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Larry Pegram, who has raced just about everything imaginable in the AMA Pro Racing series and for what seems like forever, is in the middle of a great run this year after having a stellar year back in the premier AMA Superbike class last year. After today's provisional qualifying session at Mid Ohio, Pegram sits in the 3rd spot on the grid for the AMA Superbike races with his Foremost Insurance Ducati 1098R just .542 seconds behind race and series front runners Tommy Hayden and Josh Hayes. Go Larry!

For this weekend, the Pegram Racing team is offering an 'in view' live webcam of the goings on in their garage at Mid Ohio. (it requires Apple Quicktime plug-in to view)

So while you are checking out the Live Timing and Scoring feeds from the races outside Lexington, you can have a look at what Larry and the Foremost Ducati team are up to.

Check it out here--and thanks to Larry and the team for the live feed. You guys rock as usual!

http://pegramracing.com/liverace/index.php
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Joe Kopp's Ducati AMA Flat Track Win Is The Shot Heard Round The World

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Larry Pegram's Lloyd Brothers Racing Ducati sits in the pits at the Indy Mile during MotoGP weekend in August of 2009. Pegram rode the bike in several events last year and had been working with a version of the bike since the '04-'05 season.
The 2010 version took '00 Grand National Champion Joe Kopp and The Lloyd Brothers to victory in Prescott Valley last Saturday. It was not only Ducati's first win in AMA Flat Track competition at any level, but it was the first Grand National win for the talented Lloyd Brothers team as well. Very well deserved with some intense and long time veterans on the team like former GNC competitors Kevin Atherton and Davey Durelle working in different capacities to bring this project to fruition.
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And a shot for AMA Flat Track that was much needed, at that.
Perusing the internet the last few days since Joe Kopp, Lloyd Brothers Racing and Ducati made history in the desert last weekend by winning the Arizona Mile, the amount of press for everyone is astounding. From the AMA to Kopp to Ducati, the amount of information out there by doing a Google search is unparalled in AMA Flat Track racing. From the States to the UK to Australia, people are picking up on this great win and series history making event. And all the while giving AMA Flat Track the shot of adrenaline that the series has needed for years, and maybe decades.
I've put together a VERY small, but very interesting smattering of the articles that I thought did the best job of showing the sport overall, as well as highlighting the monumental achievement itself that this is and should be for AMA Flat Track as a whole.
See what you think and congrats again to AMA Flat Track, Joe Kopp, Lloyd Brothers and Ducati for this festive and fun win and event.
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Here's the links to some of the action and noise emanating from around the globe on this great accomplishment for AMA Flat Track, Joe Kopp, Lloyd Brothers Racing and Ducati. Read and right on!

MCNews Australia has a Ducati press release on the race:
http://www.mcnews.com.au/NewsArchives/2010/May/Duc_Flat.htm
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Full Noise is a bike mag from down under in Australia and has the Ducati press release here:
http://www.fullnoise.com.au/news/index.cfm?fuseaction=display_full&news_id=7543&Ntitle=Flat+Track:+Ducati+makes+history+with+its+first+ever+US+Grand+National+Flat+Track+victory&cfid=11250710&cftoken=27828703&dts=85201010555
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Here's Sideburn Mag's stories and pics from the folks in The UK:
http://sideburnmag.blogspot.com/2010/05/ducati-win-gnc-mile.html

http://sideburnmag.blogspot.com/2010/05/yavapai-action.html
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Poppa Wheelie has some real nice pics and stories to go with his coverage from the event:
http://pwheelie.blogspot.com/2010_05_01_archive.html#3719282652444695138

http://pwheelie.blogspot.com/2010_05_01_archive.html#6331072867778896714

http://pwheelie.blogspot.com/2010_05_01_archive.html#4253883936348600990

http://pwheelie.blogspot.com/2010_05_01_archive.html#5974034346337646736
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The KneeSlider.com has a nice article with a couple of pics of the event:
http://thekneeslider.com/archives/2010/05/05/ducati-flat-tracker-beats-a-field-of-harley-davidsons-nice-base-for-a-street-tracker/
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2WheelTuesday.com has another look at the race with some great pics as well:
http://2wheeltuesday.com/2010/05/ama-flat-track-joe-kopp-puts-ducati-on-the-podium-first-time-ever-in-grand-slam-flat-track/
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DucatiNewsToday.com from New Zealand by way of Atlanta has an article and pics, too:
http://www.ducatinewstoday.com/2010/05/ducati-humbles-harley-on-the-dirt/
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Larry Pegram Racing Is In for 2010 AMA Superbike

According to an official release from the great folks at www.cyclenews.com, Larry Pegram

is ready to go racing in the AMA Superbike series for the 2010 season with Ducati again.

After a decade between wins, Larry pulled off three big wins this year one of which was at

Road America, and showed strong promise in the series overall with his showing on the

Foremost Insurance Ducati. With the economy in flux the way it has been and currently is,

Pegram is taking on a big load considering as of yet Ducati hasn't officially announced any

help being thrown his way. Though more likely then not it will happen, Pegram also feels

with the strong support of his other sponsors he should be able to pull off a great effort.

You can read the official release from CN below as you check out the shots I have attached

for today.

Starting from the top we see Larry on the Competition Accessories-sponsored Ducati at Mid

Ohio during the 2nd Superbike race of the 2001 season. He's chasing Doug Chandler on the

Kawasaki factory #10 while Tommy Hayden on the Team Yamaha #22 tries to keep in touch.

We then have a shot of Larry Competition Accessories Ducati in the paddock during the AMA

weekend in 1999, followed by a shot of Larry getting his Ducati flat tracker ready for the Indy Mile back in August of this year.

And the last two shots are of Larry's Leo Vince-sponsored Honda CBR1000RR painted in the

'80s retro colors from a paddock shot at Road America in '06, and finally the Foremost Insurance

sponsored Ducati from the '09 season that was on display during MotoGP weekend back

in August of this year.

Congrats to Larry on not only a super year. He's been around the road racing and flat track

scene since the early '90s and is finally tasting and feeling the success that has eluded him on

a high, let alone regular level that he has deserved. Always one of the nice guys in the paddock--

and when hanging and partying with the fans in the campgrounds--it's good to see him doing

so well. We wish him all the luck in his pursuit of the AMA Superbike Championship for the

2010 season and also hope to see him at some dirt tracks kicking it up as well!

Thanks for coming by to hand out with us and we hope you can come back by again soon!

http://www.cyclenews.com/articles/road-racing/2009/12/03/pegram-going-racing

Ducati Wins It's 1st U.S. Superbike Race in 4 Years at Road America...

...and winning it for Ducati was none other then Mr. Larry Pegram, who had last

won a U.S. Superbike round back in '99 at Willow Springs Raceway in the sunny

state of California.

Larry, who also won his last--and his first--Superbike race on a Ducati, did so

while riding a Fast By Ferraci-prepped Duc at the time. According to reports today

from the beautiful Road America circuit, Larry mananged to best not only a VERY solid

field of competitors in Aaron Yates, Ben Bostrom and Neil Hodgson--just to name a few--

but also BESTED the King of U.S./AMA Superbikes, yes, ladies and gentleman, Mr. Mat

Mladin, the 6-Time Superbike Champ. And per those reports, did so in a heads up race that

went to the wire with Larry pulling out the win over Mad Mat by just over .3 seconds!

Now, to win a Superbike race in itself is quite the accomplishment, but to do so in a heads

up assault against one Mat Mladin, well, is pretty darn rare! (For more proof of that you will have to read my previous posts and brush up on your history via some of the other websites

that have more time and can do a much better job of documenting that then I can. But to say

this was a major accomplishment by itself is understating the feat dramatically!)

Congrats to Larry Pegram on his Foremost Insurance/Leo Vince Exhausts Duc for putting it

on the top of the box again, and for giving Ducati that elusive win they haven't seen on U.S.

soil in quite some time! And bravo to you, as well, Mr. Pegram for being able to best the best

that U.S. soil has seen and probably will never see again in one Mr. Mladin! I'm sure your respect level in the paddock, let alone with fans such as myself, has gone up exponentially.

While we celebrate Mr. Pegram's feat--who by the way has raced a variety of road race AND

dirt track races since the early '90s--you can check out the following links from the wonderful

folks at http://www.roadracingworld.com/ and http://www.superbikeplanet.com/ who have supplied us with the results links, and also to the great people at http://www.speedtv.com/ for the nice read on

the race itself:

http://roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=36851

http://superbikeplanet.com/2009/Jun/e/n090607g.htm

http://moto-racing.speedtv.com/article/ama-sbk-pegram/

The shots you view as you are relishing the great win by Larry and Ducati are of Mr.

Pegram at the sprawling Road America track last year during the June AMA round. These

were taken back in the turn 10 area of RA while practice was being run for the then-FX class.

Larry had run that class during the '07 and '08 campaigns on his own team with Foremost and

Leo Vince as his main sponsors while riding a Ducati 848 against the onslaught of the mainly

600, 4 cylinder, inline-based Japanese bikes. This practice session, as you look closely, was

being run as the track was drying after a fairly heavy rain mid-morning on Saturday of the

event. Hence the grooved tires, as they ran race slicks during the dry events and race rain tires

during the wet events. This was NOT a DOT tire class. This was a MINI-Superbike class, ala the name 'FX'--for Formula Extreme, as it were, as the class was named at one time. Larry ran

against the best of the best and was always in the hunt and if my fading memory recalls ended

up ranked 4th overall in class at the end of the '08 campaign. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Again, a major tip o' the hat to Larry and Ducati. And of course, to Mad Mat, as he does retain

the points lead after winning SuperPole and race 1 of the w/e yesterday. Even though he isn't

worried about points. But that is another post for another time.....

God Bless all and have a great week!

Super Sano Duck Indy MotoGP 2008

Everyone appreciates