The Ducati 1098 F08, Ducati's future World Superbike challenger, made its public debut at the Misano World Circuit in Italy over the weekend with a number of demonstration laps in front of over 50,000 spectators at WDW World Ducati Week 2007.

Two-times World Superbike champion Troy Bayliss was given the honour of demonstrating the 1098 F08 machine, which is still in its factory development stage, sporting black carbon-fibre bodywork and aluminium fuel-tank. The 1098 F08 has been undergoing development work at Mugello in the hands of the Ducati Xerox Junior Team's young Superstock riders Niccolnepa and Domenico Colucci, but for the Misano spectators this was the bike's public debut. "I just saw the new 1098 for the first time yesterday" declared Troy. "It looks and feels good and although it clearly doesn't feel like home after a couple of laps, I'm sure Ducati are moving in the right direction and it will be soon. I've still got a few things to concentrate on at the moment, like winning this year's title, but I'm really looking forward to testing the bike at a quieter moment in the future."

The 1098 F08, which will replace the 999, complies with the draft regulations for the World Superbike Championship issued by the FIM two weeks ago. In particular engine specifications are much closer to the road version than on the 999. For example, the con-rods, the crankshaft and the rocker arms are all standard components.
 

As for the bike itself, the level of elaboration is similar to the F07 and in particular the frame is identical to the road bike, while the swing-arm, front and rear suspensions and exhausts can be modified.

Meanwhile last week the top five World Superbike development teams, one from each manufacturer, had concluded a two-day official Pirelli test session at the Brno circuit, home to next month's Czech round of the championship. The quickest time over the two days in relatively cool conditions (track 19 degrees C / air 29 degrees C) was set by Ducati Xerox Team riders Bayliss and Lanzi on qualifying tyres, but in race trim they were both further down the order.

"Today I did 90 laps and I'm pretty exhausted" declared Troy last Wednesday. "Everything went OK, we came here hoping to do a simulation for the race but the conditions were not that good, the cool temperatures and a bit of wind made it not ideal. It will surely be much hotter when we come here in a month. I did two race simulations and things went pretty well, but we didn't really get what we wanted by coming here. Now I can't wait to get down to Misano for the World Ducati Week and see all the Ducatis and ducatisti."

"Today went a bit better than yesterday when the track was dirty and it rained a bit" commented Lorenzo. "I did about 70 laps today and we found some good solutions for the race. On qualifying tyres I went quicker than last year and also with race tyres I went quite well, the problem is that the others all went better. We knew that this track would create problems for us, conditions were not ideal, let's hope things will be different when we come here for the race in July."