Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128344
ugello and I had a score to senle. The racetrack in the Tuscan hills above Florence, Italy isn't the easiest track , M to learn, but it is without a doubt one of the most exciting in the world. Lastyear, I anended a new-bike introduction at Mugello and discovered that the mysteries to a quick lap would take longer to find than the two sess ions I got befo re the heavens opened up and ruined my day. The kicker was that at the end of that day a year ago, they busted out transponder-recorded lap times , which no ride rs knew they were doing. Let's just say that I wasn't happy with mine and swore then and there that if I got another shot at Mugello.... Twin-cylinder Italian motorcycles and Mugello go together like C hianti and Canoli. That's why Ducati chose the track as the site for the introduct io n of the new 999 ("standard"). Not only was I excited to take another crack at the track, but the chance to ride a top -shelf twin there made me almost drool in anticipation . The "red-volution," as Ducati likes to refer to the original introduction of the 999 two years ago, is ove r. With a pile of race w ins, and one rider (Neil Hodgson) and two manufacturer (including th is year 's) World Championships already to its credit, evolution was in order. As always, the 999 version of its superbike range received the hand-me-down technology from the Rand 5 models. Th is year, the 999 gets motor upgrades that have increased the power 42 oaOBER 6, 2004 • CYC LE NEWS output substantially (around I3 percent), while receiving chassis modifications to harness it all. A few of the 999's strongest attributes are midcorner and braking stability, two things that are pretty important at Mugello. But the motor didn't get ignored , either. With a little help from MotoGP on PlayStation 2, I headed down pit lane with a perfect map of the track in my head . This was helpful because Iwas immediately able to concentrate on what the bike was doing , instead of trying to remember which way the turns went. The first thing I noticed when I got up to speed was that the motor was stronger than the 999 that I tested in our last Open-class shootout. Exiting some of the tighter comers, such as 4 0th Anniversa r y the Palagio chicane, and getting on the gas hard out of Biondetti, it was easy to spin up the rear Michelin Pilot Sport "street" tire in the morning . This, no doubt, was aided by the extra oomph provided by the motor. Mugello has a long front straight (Loris Capirossl's Desmosedici MotoGP bike clocked over 21 I mph during the Italian GP in June) and it gave me a good indication of the bike's top-end motor performance . I quickly figured out that it was more efficient leaving the 999 in fifth gear - just brushing the rev-limiter as I headed into the San Donato turn one - than clicking sixth and having to backshift four gears for the corner. The motor definitely feels more powerful than the previous bike's and pullshard right up to around 10,200 rpm,