My Thoughts on Ducati Race of Champions 2022

The Ducati Lenovo Race of Champions | WDW 2022

While Carlos, Luis, and some our our V1P customers, like HDOC President Sara Cole, was there in Misano for all the WDW festivities, what I want to focus on is the Race of Champions.

If my memory serves me correctly (which it rarely does) this is the second time Ducati have put on this race. The original Race of Champions was back in 2018, and was highlighted by Jorge Lorenzo going as slow as possible during the race and trying his hardest to not have fun at World Ducati Week. The other fact I'd like to highlight is there were 'only' 12 race participants (or protagonists as the Italians say) that year.

20 Racers

Given the variety of riders from all different championships, the competition was tight. Because they're all on Ducatis ;)

I say 'only' because the very first thing I took note of was just how big the field was. Ducati must have called every single championship series rider across the world, including our own MotoAmerica championship, to put together a field of over 20 racers. WOW. What a mix of riders - ranging from MotoGP factory and satellite teams, to the CIV Italian Champrionship Series' Panigale V2 riders. That's right, V4S vs V2 — just one of many races-within-a-race that was showcased.

So many colors

How can this be a Ducati only event, there's not even a red bike in this picture? 

With all those bikes with their own championship series' liveries, it made for quite a spectacular parade of colors. It wasn't too dissimilar from a parade, albeit the fastest parade on earth - like, ever.

Unexpected results

What do I mean by unexpected results? Because the race was amazing to watch - even if it was narrated in Italiano, which I don't understand a word of. Graci, maybe? Here's what I mean. Logic would tell you that if the all the bikes on the grid were Superbikes, then the fastest guys would probably be those who race Superbikes day in and day out. You know, because they're already extremely familar with the V4 Panigale and the riders only had a few hours of practice. I thought for sure Alvaro Bautista from the factory World Superbike Championship would be at the front fighting it out with Denilo Petrucci (ex WSBK) or perhaps Michael Rubin Rinaldi, Bautista's factory teammate.

What do the top 3 riders have in common? Answer below...

No. 

Logic would be wrong here - or at least my logic. If you bet on (spoiler alert!) Fracesco Bagnaia, Ducati Factory MotoGP, Luca Marini, Mooney VR46 MotoGP, and Marco Bezzecchi, Luca's teamate, you would have nailed it. And hats off to you because I don't see how anyone could have predicted that. Maybe someone had Pecco up there, but the two rookie MotoGP riders were unexpected. In fact, all eight of the MotoGP riders on the grid finished in the top 9. Just goes to show you just how high the level is at the MotoGP level compared to WSBK. So where did Alvaro Bautista and Rubin Rinaldi finish? Second to last, and last respectively. What the heck? Did they give it the ol' Lorenzo treatment? Shame! Denilo did alright though.

One more thing

Ducati podium lock-out ;) 

The last thing I noticed was just how many Italian riders there were that made up the grid. Many of whom are students of or have already graduated from Valentino Rossi's VR46 Academy. Those three riders on the podium I mentioned earlier? All graduates. That's what they have in common. So the last thing I wanna say is God bless Valentino for creating that academy for up-and-coming Italian riders. He's almost single-handedly revived what was a dwindling number of Italians in the highest GP classes. His impact is there on that podium for all the world to see.

Valentino's legacy was already the "greatest of all time". But I think just as important, he'll be remembered for pouring his dedication, expertise, and racing passion into all those Italian young men. That's an even greater legacy.

Graci for reading!

-Lawton

Check out what everyone in the field was riding here.