Ducati has an amazing racing and company history, the success of which, it can be argued, is because of their strong relationships and a passion for motorcycles. During the September long weekend, Ducati North America’s Canadian Thunder motorcycle road racing Team aims to have the same success at Shannonville Motorsport Parks Canadian Superbike National using this exact same formula.

As a way to demonstrate this recipe for success, The Ducati Thunder Team is excited to announce their “Ducati Thunder Crew for a Weekend” promotion, an interactive experience designed to get motorcycle fans truly involved and immersed within the passion and relationships of the Ducati family.

The Team invites any motorcycle fans to go to our website, (www.ducatithunder.ca), and fill out the online entry and questionnaire for this promotion. No purchase is necessary and your entry will give you a chance to become a member of our professional motorcycle road racing team for the weekend of September 1-2 in Shannonville, ON.

A team Ducati jacket, shirt and Weekend pass will be given to the winner with two weekend passes for second place and a PUG, (Performance Under Gear), shirt for the 3rd winner. Should all go as planned; our Crew for a weekend winner will have the chance to stand with us in the winners circle and taste some champagne on Sunday. Trust us, this is our goal!

Anyone is welcome to enter as you do not have to have any motorcycle riding or wrenching experience. We have lots of jobs to do over a race weekend and we will be sure to find you something! Contest cutoff is August 30 2007 at 7PM with the winners announced by 9PM the same evening.

Remember, if you do not win the “Crew for a Weekend” promotion. Everyone is invited to relax and enjoy the environment surrounding the Ducati family.

Racing fans can stop by and visit the Ducati promotion and hospitality areas in our race pits as put on by Ducati and RevCycles, your Ducati Toronto dealer.

Ducati Thunder, coming soon to a winner’s circle near, (and maybe right beside), you!

Crew for a Weekend Promotion at Shannonville press release

www.ducatithunder.ca

Contact us at info@ducatithunder.ca

Races being held at SMP, (Shannonville Motorsport park), August 31st to September 2nd 2007

 CONTEST NOW CLOSED - MANY THANKS FOR YOUR INTEREST & PARTICIPATION

Visit www.shannonville.com for directions.

His Saturday charge to the front won him the “Performance of the Race” award as provided by our very own Todd Ruston of Performance Under Gear. The award recipient is chosen by the Media following the Thunder final. That made two in a row for us since Corey had won the award for his charge to the front from 11^th on the start grid in Tremblant.

Corey also had a successful weekend with a pair of 4^th place finishes. Needing more laps to make up for less then ideal starts made the job difficult to come through the pack. 3^rd was in sight in the first race but the red flag came out and stopped the race short.

For tuning Corey’s #24 bike to have the best post race power to weight ratio, Ken Austin won the Brembo brake award.

Jim also showed great speed and determination all weekend long with two top ten finishes including his best performance of the season with a 6^th place on Sunday.

Congrads to Yves Carrier for a great performance as well aboard his Revoluzione sponsored SS1000.

See you at Mosport!

Press released by: Ducati Thunder Team

The journey from Calgary had it’s own adventures as the crew had to deal with a leaking diesel line on the truck and an awning that decided to remove itself from the trailer side. O ya…there was that speeding ticket as well.

Even with all the late nights and long hours over the past month the guys were energized at the track and ready to work. Instantly the bikes started grabing peoples attention in the paddock.

The weather was great and I was eager to get riding. The first session I reacquainted myself with the high speed Mosport track. The bike was very loose and unsettled but I rode until the session ended just to get familiar with where I was going.

After returning to the pit I downloaded my thoughts with Norm and he immediately went to work on the bike. He added more preload to front and back springs to stiffen up the suspension as well as adjusting the front compression.

The 2^nd session proved he was bang on as the bike felt planted and gave me the confidence to start pushing harder with more corner speed and earlier roll on.

Although I only got in a handful of laps the setup felt close and I was looking forward to Sunday as I had to leave by lunchtime that day.

Well…Sunday came and so did the rain. The bright side was that there were a lot fewer bikes on the track, but the first session was so foggy I couldn’t see the corners until I was supposed to be turning, then I had to wipe my visor mid corner each time. It was interesting, especially on the back straight wide open over the crest.

As the day progressed the fog lifted but the track was still wet for the most part. Occasionally a few corners would dry then it would start raining again in different corners. Each lap was different as sometimes it was raining in a few corners then next lap the rain had moved to others. Sketchy was the word of the day.

Even so I rode a fair bit and became comfortable with the bike and the tires in the less then ideal conditions. It had been about 7 years since I was on a racetrack in the rain. It felt good.

I’d like to thank all the guys…Norm, Kenny, Keith, Mike and DJ as well as the DOCC and all the people and volunteers who made the event fun and safe.

Today I spent time on the “Fabi” circuit taking advantage of an official R.A.C.E. Series test day. Even though not on my Ducati race bike it was still some quality seat time after a long winter and even longer “retirement”.

I was able to get in some good laps the last couple sessions as I was getting my head dialed into “race” mode.

Already knowing the race line around the track I was able to start focusing on rolling the throttle on sooner and sooner coming outta the corners as well as keeping up my entry speed goin in.

I felt completely comfortable and confident with the pace. The Pirelli tires, even though used and from last season worked very well and only started moving around mid corner

during the last session.

I can’t wait for my race bike!  

There, I was one of six instructors teaching the R.A.C.E. School for new inspiring racers.

Teaching racing schools since 1999 has been very enjoyable and has also offered opportunity to get the “cob webs” out for the up coming testing and new season.

Today the weather could not have been better. Clear blue skies and just enough of a breeze to keep things comfortable.

With a small group of four guys I was able to work with each individually at different points during the day. Everyone had a blast including me.

I was fortunate enough to be able to borrow an 07 Monster S2R1000 from Steve Hick’s demo fleet just for the purpose of teaching this weekend.

The Ducati motorcycles always draw a lot of attention whether it’s in a truck on the way to the track or in pit lane.

The monster worked fantastic in stock form, showing surprising grunt out of the corners, great handling and the tires stuck well. The only limiting factor was that I ran out of ground clearance with the stock set up as I was dragging the shift and brake levers as the pace picked up near the end of the day.

Thanks again to my students for doing a great job on the track and the best of luck this season.

Press Release - Read more here.

Press Release - View the pdf here