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Ducati Corse Superbike 1198F09 February 1, 2009 - This 2009 Ducati Corse World Superbike called the 1198 F09 (denoting Factory bike 2009) is essentially the same year 2008 model 1098F08 which Troy Bayliss rode to win the 2008 SBK World Superbike Championship, Troy's 3rd World Championship title, won with on 3 different model generation of bikes - the 998/996, the 999, and the 1098/1198. As is usual in Ducati marketing nomenclature, the factory race bike in 2008 actually displaced 1198cc like its1098R homologation production bike, but both bikes in 2008 were called "1098" models to tie-in to the standard production model 1098cc Superbikes of that year. For 2009 Ducat's standard production model Superbikes all got larger 1198cc engines, so for 2009 the factory Corse bikes also are now named after their true displacement - 1198F09. The only customers getting kind of short sheeted are the 2009 model 10908R Troy Bayliss Commutative World Championship Replica buyers so their 1198cc bikes are named after the model troy won on the year before. The new World Superbike rules for 2008 which allow Ducati and other V-Twin manufacturers to run 1200cc 2-cylinder bikes in the 1000c 4-cylinder class has supposedly restricted Ducati to running bikes. or engines, which are supposedly closer to stock than ever before. When it comes to Ducati, though, stock is a relative indefinable term. A 2009 base model Ducati 1198 with base Ohlins Suspension will cost you about $22,000 retail, while the 2009 1098/1198R will cost you $43,000 for a higher spec Ohlins rear sock, a full Termignoni racing exhaust system and hotter cams and titanium rods and valves. But still, if you want to go racing competitively in National or World Superbike you need to go order an 1198RS model for somewhere between $80 -90,000 that looks a runs much like the factory team 1198F. The extra $40,000 in goodies include the $12,000 Ohlins TTX front forks, and hand fabricated more rugged and lighter aluminum swingarm, an oversize aluminum fuel tank to finish a 45 minute race, plus hand laid up carbon fibre bodywork, higher revving cams and ignition system. What the factory 1198F09 has over the 1198RS model, well Ducati Corse has never really told anyone, but just assume it is a season ahead in development over the RS model they are selling now. Not that that's a bad thing, since it the past privateer riders on RS bikes like Frankie Chili and Max Biaggi have shown they can beat the factory bikes. With Troy Bayliss retirement from World superbike after the 2008 season, the 2009 factory Ducati Corse team continues with Bayliss' team-mate, the Italian rider Michel Fabrizio, and thirty-three year old Japanese rider from Nagoya.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION: DUCATI 1198 Chassis Trasmission Brakes Tyres Overall dimensions * variable from 46mm to 52mm or removable depending on race result managed by FIM regulation NORIYUKI HAGA In 1998 Noriyuki turned his attention to racing full-time in the World Superbike class, adopting the number 41 that he has used ever since. In that year he won five races and concluded the season in sixth position, despite never having seen many of the circuits on the calendar before. He went on to finish seventh in the standings in 1999 and then followed this up with a much stronger performance in 2000, when he took 4 wins and 11 podiums, to close the season as vice-champion behind title winner Colin Edwards. In 2001 and 2003 Noriyuki moved across to the MotoGP series, racing a WCM Red Bull-sponsored Yamaha 500cc motorcycle in 2001, and with MS Racing's MotoGP Aprilia in 2003. He had two difficult seasons and finished both in a disappointing fourteenth position, his best result a fourth place finish in 2001. 2002 was a winless season in World Superbike but a return to the category in 2004, riding this time for the Renegade Ducati team with the Ducati 999 RS, saw Noriyuki in contention for the title right up until the final round. He won six of the season’s races, before eventually finishing third in the standings. This performance was repeated in 2005, this time riding for Yamaha's factory team, with ten podium places, and again in 2006 after scoring eleven podium place finishes. The battle that Noriyuki fought against James Toseland in 2007 led to the closest championship finish to date, a year in which Noriyuki clocked up six race wins and fifteen podium places, including the double win at the final round of the season in Magny-Cours. Despite all this, he still had to settle for second place, just two points behind title winner James Toseland. In 2008 Noriyuki continued on with the Yamaha Motor Italia team for the fourth consecutive year, and a strong set of results that included a double win at Nurburgring and Vallelunga meant that he closed the year in third position behind second-placed man and team-mate Troy Corser, and Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox), crowned World Champion in 2008 for the third time. Noriyuki replaces the now retired Troy Bayliss in the Ducati Xerox Team in 2009 and is hungry for a championship title, having finished second or third in the standings for the last five years. Nationality: Japanese
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