Ducati Diavel Motorcycles in Houston, page #33

Moto blog

Cappuccinos in the Desert – Ducati Opens High-End Lounge in Dubai

Ducati has opened a new boutique restaurant lounge bar in Dubai, joining existing franchises in Rome, Shanghai and Bangkok. Like other Ducati Caffè franchises, the Dubai location offers Italian-style food and, of course, coffee, as well as Ducati merchandise. The lounge inhabits a two-floor, 4,400 square-foot unit in the Dubai mall.

WSBK: 2012 Miller Results

Marco Melandri earned BMW its second ever World Superbike victory to move into second place in the championship standings behind Max Biaggi in the series’ only stop in the United States. Melandri won a red-flagged Race Two at Utah’s Miller Motorsports Park after finishing second to defending WSBK Champion Carlos Checa in Race One to give him 142.5 points on the season, tied with Kawasaki‘s Tom Sykes but behind Aprilia‘s Biaggi who leads the way with 160.5 points. Race One Highlights Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Ducati Temporarily Suspends Production after Second Earthquake

Ducati has halted production in its factory in Bologna, Italy after the region was struck by a 5.8-magnitude earthquake this morning. The earthquake comes nine days after a 6.0-magnitude earthquake in the same area in northern Italy, killing seven people. Though the recent earthquake was lower in magnitude, it has already claimed a higher death toll with at least 15 people already confirmed dead.

848 Challenge: Official race report, Snetterton 300

Mike Edwards put a disappointing start to the season behind him with a win and a second place at Round Three of the Ducati 848 Challenge at the Snetterton BSB weekend. With a gritty ride to victory in Race One and a late charge to third in Race Two, Edwards (Ohlins @ P&H Motorcycles) managed to keep his championship hopes alive following a run of uncharacteristic crashes at the last two rounds.   Edwards said before Race One that he was going for a “win it or bin it” attitude this weekend as he desperately needed to make up the points he missed out on at Assen.

Ducati 1199 Panigale vs. Porsche 911 GT3 vs. Fighter Jet – Video

Car versus motorcycle race videos are pretty ho-hum these days, so how do you spice things up? What about throwing a fighter jet into the mix? That’s what happened this weekend at Brno International Airport in the Czech Republic.

Ducati Celebrates 1 Million Facebook Likes – Video

Facebook has been getting a bad rap of late with its recent IPO but that didn’t stop Ducati from celebrating its millionth “Like” on the official Ducati Facebook page. The Italian manufacturer marked the occasion with a video thanking its fans. The video is almost a real-life demonstration of how Facebook operates, following a first-person perspective of a fan visiting Ducati‘s headquarters in Bologna, Italy, and raising a thumb to “like” things he sees such the rows of L-Twin-powered motorcycles in the parking lot, Corse racebikes on display at the Ducati Museum, factory workers assembling a Ducati 1199 Panigale.

Rossi, Bayliss Headline Diavel Drag Race Shootout at World Ducati Week 2012

Valentino Rossi vs. Troy Bayliss is going to happen. One of the best MotoGP racers of all time and one of the best World Superbike racers of all time head a list of racing stars tabbed to take part in a drag race on Ducati Diavels as part of the World Ducati Week 2012 festivities.

848 Challenge official race report: Assen

Robbie Brown shared the race wins with a resurgent Darren Fry at Round Two as the Ducati 848 Challenge visited the Assen TT circuit, the first of its two overseas rounds this year.Championship leader Brown (Ducati Manchester) was on imperious form all weekend, but Fry (Hirebase/JHP Racing), still not back to full fitness following an illness that left him in doubt about riding this year, put in a performance that was reminiscent of the form that took him to the Challenge title in 2010.With a win and a second place this weekend Brown extended his lead at the top of the table, but in also picking up a win and second Fry is back in the game in second with six rounds still to go. Sam Coventry (Moto Rapido), new to the Challenge this season and quickly getting back up to speed racing a twin after his year away in Spanish CEV championship, bagged third in both races to leapfrog to third in the championship.A number of other riders were able to put in solid performances over the two dry race days to do themselves no harm in the championship; in particular Jack Keen (Team Havoc Racing) with a fourth and fifth, and another championship newcomer Sean Neary (MotoCorse UK Racing) who scored a seventh and sixth.Race 1 was something of a dramatic affair with a number of fallers on the first lap, including front-runners Mike Edwards (OHLINS@P&H Motorcycles), Mark Cheetham (Hunt Pie Machines) and James Folkard (Win43.com) who came together at the first left-hander while battling for second place behind Brown. That left Coventry and Fry a clear track to chase down Brown, with Keen and Ed Smith (Ultim8 Racing) pushing hard through the field to close the gap.

New: Leatt STX Road neck brace

Update: Read the Leatt STX Road neck brace review here. I've recently taken delivery of a Leatt STX Road neck brace for review. Leatt are a familiar sight in the off-road fraternity but not in the world of road riding or road racing.

Is This a Ducati Multistrada 848 or a Hypermotard 848?

Spy photos have emerged of what appears to be a new liquid-cooled Ducati model As you can tell from the utilitarian-looking exhaust, it’s still a prototype, but the production version could be ready for this fall’s EICMA show. It’s not clear at this point whether this new model will be a new Hypermotard or possibly a new mid-sized Multistrada. At first glance, the front “beak” fender and hand guards evokes the existing Ducati Hypermotards, but existing Hypermotard 796 and 1100EVO are both air-cooled and this model is liquid-cooled.