Page 123 - FAST 2026 Calendar Yearbook

Year 2004 would see the introduction of the new 3rd Generation Ducati 999
Superbike with its all new Pierre Terblanche designed body and chassis. The new
longer and bigger 999 was certainly more comfortable to ride than the previous 2nd
Generation 916-998s, but the styling didn't prove to be as popular and it didn't seem to
handle as handle as well, at first, as evidence by the factory Ducati Corse team strug-
gling with the bike in the season's World Superbike rounds. But the new 3rd Genera-
tion 999 came with an even more potent 998 Testastretta engine which helped
compensate for any handling deficiencies, at least until the Monza World Superbike
race that June.
The factory Ducati Corse Superbike team had been struggling to learn how
to set up the new 3rd Generation 999RS factory race bikes that first year. Privateer
Frankie Chili however, was still riding the year older 2nd Generation 998F03 bike pre-
pared by the legendary Bologna tuning shop NCR, which was running one of the new
999RS motors. With the old 998 chassis running the new 999R engine, Frankie had the
perfect combination of Ducati handling and power, and would trounce the factory
999RS bikes to win Race Two outright at Monza that year.
Little noticed that year 2004, what with all the fan fare of Ducati introducing the
new 999 Superbike model, Ducati started off the production year by also releasing a
numbered 2nd Generation 998S Final Edition model. Fast forward 11 years later and
there I am browsing the Ducati motorcycle ads on E-Bay where I see what appears to
be a brand new 998S Final Edition with the much coveted Corse extended length lightweight
Magnesium Swingarm. This was the swingarm the factory team used from the 1999
season as it was said the added 1-2 inches of wheelbase for improved handling, with
this dimension later being adapted in the design of the new 3nd Generation 999.
I dove further into the E-bay listing to learn the 11 year old bike bike was actually
brand-new, never having been ridden, with just 2 miles of dyno break-in running on the
Speedometer. And that it had been heavily modified within a year of purchase with the
installation of a new a 999R crate engine, Marchesini Magnesium race wheels, and a
full Termignoni Ti Racing Exhaust System with an ECU computer re map, 520 Chain
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