Huge
Crowds Arrive for the Weekend Page 2
WDW2004:
BIG HAPPENINGS ON STAGE- Saturday Day 6
Misano, Italy, May 17-24th 2004 -Saturday at WDW2004:
the biggest, most thrilling day of them all here in Misano. Tens of
thousands of fans have transformed the famous Santamonica circuit into
a sea of Ducatis. And of course, it's another perfect sunny day in Italy.
Ducati had most its top riders
in World Superbike and MotoGP on stage saturday night, including the
top private teams. From left to right: Loris Capirossi. Frankie Chile,
Noriyuki Haga, Steve Martin, Troy Bayliss, Ruben Xaus, 3 team managers
and James Toseland. Neil Hodgsen was at home healing broken ribs from
his MotoGP crash at Lemans. all the riders were availalbe to the fans
throughout the week at autograh sessions, racing seminars, and at pit
walk throughs.
At the Ducati Garage
Challenge Tent, Loris Capirossi and Troy Bayliss were mobbed by hundreds
of Custom-loving enthusiasts when they made the rounds of the Ducati
Specials. Both MotoGP champions served on the Expert Jury and both racers
were particularly impressed by the same bike. Troy said he chose the
bike because it "represented the soul of a Ducati" while Loris
selected the bike because it "had the clean and effortless beauty"
he associates with the Italian brand. The winner was given a front fairing
signed by Loris Capirossi, and the ever-gentlemanly Italian and Australian
champions politely offered each other the opportunity to present the
winner with the fairing until Troy finally said, "Well, it is your
fairing Loris. Maybe you should be the one to give it away." Later,
the Ducati.com staff awarded the specials that received the most votes
from the public with "desmodromic" trophies created just for
the occassion.
The Italian army
Mangusta attack helicopter swooped up and down the track, as swarms
of fans cheered above, and Superbikes roared on the track below. The
afternoon saw the Ducati Auction of splendid pieces like Troy and Loris's
signed scratched MotoGP tail pieces, with all proceeds going to Riders
for Health and Clinica Mobile.
Ducati Corporate management including CEO Carlo Biaggi
(below, 2nd from left kneeling) served dinner to all the participants
on Saturday night a red carpet laid down the front straight across the
start / finish line at Missano. When was the last time you ever meet
anyone from a Japanese motorcyle company, let alone having them throw
a huge party and dinner for youin appreciation for riding their bike?
The evening hosts
some of the event's most spectacular events, from the stunning announcement
by Ducati President and CEO Federico Minoli, who finally let tens of
thousands of fans in on Ducati's mega-secret project - click here for
more on Ducati's shock announcement - to an overflight by the famed
Stormo squadron in their F104 jet fighter, a massive BBQ, Italian style,
where all the enthusiasts were served delicious grilled fish by top
Ducati management, fireworks and a live concert by Italian singing sensation
Irene Grandi. And much, much more.
Italian pop star
Irene Grandi ( comparable to a cross between Madona and Britney Spears
in the Englsih speaking world)) rocked the Paddock Stage at Misano from
10pm to nearly 1am to the delight of thousands of fans, many of whom
knew all her songs and sang along. The paddock Village (below) was transfored
into a brightly lit mioni city at night.
WDW2004:
THE LAST DAY
Sunday Day 7
A record: 45,000 fans came to the Santamonica racetrack in Misano Adriatico
over the course of the amazing weeklong event. A total of just over
19,000 passes were sold. The fourth edition of World Ducati Week has
finally wrapped up, and like WDW’s past, it ended with a final
raffle of a Ducati Superbike. The lucky winner, Federica Fontana of
Bologna, Italy, was called to the stage in front of thousands of fans
to accept herprize of a flaming red Ducati 999.
The most awesome
moment of the final day, however, had to be the sight of thousands of
Ducatis revving for the final bike parade along the beach roads of the
Italian Riviera, where they were cheered on by masses of tourists and
Italians who had come to soak up the sun.
One of the new
offerings for this year is the “I WAS THERE” project, which
will allow WDW2004 participants to search through hundreds of Ducati
archive photos of WDW (of themselves or spectacular moments caught on
film) and will then be able to order the selected photo in T-shirt or
poster form. You will find all the details on the Ducati.com website.
WDW2004 was without
a doubt the biggest and most spectacular WDW of all time. From every
point of view it was an incredible success – and thousands of
fans have returned home to spread the legend and lore of the greatest
bike rally of them all! “It was the most beautiful WDW yet,”
said Ducati CEO Federico Minoli as the thousands of departing Ducatis
roared off, “There were thousands of fans, and WDW is truly about
them. Once again the Ducati tribe showed their incredible passion for
the motorcycling lifestyle and for this great brand. The only bad news
is that we have to wait another two years for the next edition of the
event, but starting tomorrow we will start thinking of how to make WDW2006
even bigger, better and more beautiful!”
Go
To More...
WDW
page 1 • WDW
page 2 • WDW
page 3
Ducati
Factory Visit • Ducati
Museum • Ducati
Corse Race Shop • DRE
Riding School
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The
Events of WDW2004
The Italian Air Force
did a fly over of Misano in an F104 fighter jet painted Ducati
red with "999" Superbike painted on the side. Now that's
national support!
World
Ducati Week, the international meeting of the Ducati community,
established another record with the recently concluded fourth
edition. The event was a fantastic success in every way and attracted,
entertained and thrilled tens of thousands of motorcyclists who
flocked to the beautiful seaside Misano Adriatico GP Trackin Italy
from the four corners of the Earth between Monday 17th and Sunday
23rd of May to prove their passion for the Ducati Legend, its
motorcycles, people and lifestyle..
More
than just a consuming passion, the Ducati passion is one that
pulls in numbers too. Attendance was estimated at over 45,000.
19,000 tickets were sold, and nearly half of these were weekly
passes, purchased by those (countless) individuals who could not
think of missing even one of the events that Ducati organised
for its fans to animate this great international event that inspires
the entire motorcycling community.
The seven super-intense days reached their peak on Saturday 22nd
May, when the largest number of Ducati enthusiasts, estimated
at around 13,000, was recorded. This colourful invasion of Misano
Adriatico’s Santa Monica race-track provided an unmistakable
sound track of Ducatis to complete an exceptional motorcycling
event.
Ducati.com
also made a major contribution to the success of the event by
managing the website dedicated to WDW2004 and providing an incredible
amount of information before, during and after the meeting, exponentially
increasing the event’s exposure to the many members of the
Ducati public who for one reason or another were unable to take
part directly. Thanks to Ducati.com these fans were at least able
to take part virtually. The figures speak for themselves: during
the week from 17th to 23rd of May more than 350.000 visits were
made to the WDW2004 website!
Of
the many activities organised for participants at WDW 2004, those
promoted by the Ducati website proved a particular success. The
top scorer was the “I WAS THERE. WERE YOU?” event
that attracted hundreds of enthusiasts during the WDW weekend
(21st-23rd May). Ducati.com staff took snaps of the people or
situations they considered interesting. The resulting photos were
published (starting from the 26th May) on the www.wdw2004.com
web site. All those immortalised in this way and all others who
simply want to keep a memento of this unforgettable experience,
can download the shots they want, vote for their favourites, send
e-cards with their own photo or even, thanks to sterling cooperation
by E-shirt, order a print of their chosen photo on their selected
T-shirt design. More than 1,300 images are available. In the first
30 minutes of going online were recorded approximately 35,000
visits.
And
let’s not forget the Ducati Garage Challenge, the competition
to find the best special that began before WDW with the selection
of the 30 best bikes from those entered on the Challenge site.
It continued at Misano, leading up to the announcement of the
three category winners and their prizes, including awards from
the official Ducati team riders.
But
what firmly placed this fourth edition of WDW in the annals of
history was the announcement made by the CEO of Ducati Motor Holding,
Federico Minoli. On Saturday evening Minoli personally announced
the official birth of the Desmosedici Racing Replica engine to
the Ducati world. The announcement was the official beginning
of the road-going Desmosedici development process. This limited
edition machine is destined for a lucky few Ducati enthusiasts
who will enjoy the maximum expression of Ducati Racing technology
as well as the unique professional competence of Borgo Panigale’s
R&D department. Another two years will have to pass before
the first machine becomes available, so all you can do for the
moment is book one and wait for WDW2006 when the very first bikes
will be handed over on the very same stage from which the announcement
was made this time around.
“This
has been the best, most entertaining and most successful WDW in
our history,” commented Minoli at the end of the spectacular
parade of thousands of motorcycles from Misano to Rimini. “The
level of involvement has been tremendous, and the participants
have been the event’s real protagonists. The Ducati tribe
has again shown its passion for motorcycling and for the legendary
Ducati name. We are a great family, united and strengthened by
our passion for riding. It’s a pity we’ll have to
wait two years before the next WDW, but we’ll start organising
it tomorrow! Let’s hope we can put together another week
just as great, just as entertaining and just as passionate as
this one. I’ll see you all at WDW2006!”
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