Ducati rules the dirt

From Ducati North America

CUPERTINO, CA – Greg Trachy won the 1200cc motorcycle class and took fourth overall at the 86th annual Pikes Peak International Hill Cimb on a customer spec Ducati Hypermotard 1100 S; a motorcycle in stock trim with Ducati Performance accessories.

The win was significant as this year marked the return of stiff manufacturer competition. Against the 119 motorcycles attempting to tackle the Peak, Trachy rode the stock Hypermotard to victory over Andrea Padovani and Christian Lancellotti of the factory Aprilia team from Italy. Trachy also overcame stiff competition from noteworthy riders like KTM mounted Marco Belli, the BMW of Douglas Morrison and his own teammate Alexander Smith - the son of the legendary Malcolm Smith - who had a brilliant ride to fourth in his first ever race aboard a street based motorcycle.

The idea to race the Hypermotard started innocently enough almost a year ago at Pike's Peak. While attending the July event, Becca Livingston visited the local Ducati dealer where she first saw the Hypermotard in person; by October the bike she was dreaming about was hers.

Becca, with her husband Paul at the controls, were adding to their thousands of miles riding two-up when they came to the realization that this motorcycle could be a contender on the mountain. Over the next few months and repeated verification from some very qualified friends, the decision was made to officially enter the Ducati in the Pike's Peak event.

“The course conditions today were the worst I’ve seen in 12 years, and that affected our times," Trachy said, "but with the Hypermotard I never felt that I was in danger of losing the bike. When I got to campgrounds I looked back and saw nobody back there, going into the dirt it swapped back and forth a couple of times so I figured it would be better to secure the class win than to risk it going for the record run.

"I want to thank Paul Livingston and Ducati for putting this together at the last minute and giving me such a great bike to ride.”

“It was a real honour to bring the Hypermotard to Pikes Peak and give the bike its first win in international competition," Livingston added. "Throughout the week the Hypermotard’s performance was flawless.

"We started with stock bikes (in fact we started with my wife’s streeet bike) and with the addition of readily available Ducati Performance upgrades, a Race Tech suspension and Scott’s Performance steering dampers we came up with a winning combination in only a matter of weeks.

"Credit for this has to go to the effort put together by FL Racing - to get us to this point so quickly was simply amazing. Greg Trachy is a seasoned veteran of the mountain and knows what it takes to get up the hill quickly, and in the most treacherous of conditions. His experience and development skills allowed us to develop the winning package."