CN
III IN THE PADDOCK
P138
BY MICHAEL SCOTT
W
ho can forget the launch
of the Ducati MotoGP
team late in 2002? It
was perhaps the only good thing
about that year's switch to four-
strokes. The event took place in
Spain, with much speechifying
but only a single purpose. The
word that finished almost every
sentence, and also started quite
a few was "Passion."
For a while, passion seemed
enough. The Desmosedicis
were, from the start, extremely
powerful and passionately fast.
At the next year's pre-season
tests, Capirossi clocked an
amazing 212 mph down Catalu-
nya's long straight.
In that first year, the same
rider won the marque's first
premier-class Grand Prix, also in
Spain. Over the next two years,
he added two more victories,
including the first of three at
Motegi, in the Japanese rivals'
backyard. And in 2006 three
wins meant he was a serious
challenger for the title. Might
have won it too, had he not been
knocked off in a first-corner di-
saster by his own teammate Sete
Gibernau at the seventh round.
Then came Stoner. He was
the best thing that happened to
the Passion Posse. And possibly
the worst. He swept to 10 wins
and the World Championship in
2007, Capirossi adding an 11th
P IS FOR PASSION, L IS FOR LAP TIMES,
D IS FOR NEW HOPE
