So a Single Ducati Crosses the Line

We don't mean that Max Neukircher crossed the line twice during the opening round of the 2013 World Superbike championship just running on one cylinder. However with Team Ducati Alstare riders Carlos Checa and Aryton Badovini failing to finish or even start the races at Phillip Island, Max's Ducati 1199 Panigale was the only Ducati to finish either race.

We haven't checked every last record but this must be the first time in a very long time that Ducati failed to field more than a solitary finisher in a World Superbike race.  Sure the first ever season in 1988 saw Marco Lucchinelli's Ducati 888 fail to finish almost more often than not and the team didn't even contest the Australian and New Zealand rounds (costing them a strong chance of having won the championship that first year).

As it became clear that the Ducati, even in privateer spec, was the bike to have, riders flocked to the Italian machine so much so that in the early Pirelli control tire years the SBK was termed the Ducati Cup by many.

How things have changed.  Despite fielding an entirely new radically reinterpreted twin, only 3 riders are campaigning the Ducati 1199 Panigale this year.  For all the hype about the horsepower garnered from the ultra short stroke engine, Ducati is still doing it tough.  At Phillip Island Carlos Checa's Ducati at 311km/h down the straight was still almost 10km/h down on the fastest Aprilias.  That was more or less the same speed and speed deficit to the fastest fours that plagued the 1198.

Time will tell if the Panigale will get faster. Although it debuted on Sunday the Superbike has been in development for some time with Ducati opting to contest only the FIM Superstock series last year.  That didn't stop Carlos setting pole however in his first attempt before he crashed out of the first race.

Opening Photo Credit - Bikeracing.it

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