to dominate the racetrack out of the box. Ducati’s 1098R is pure WSB homologation magic...This time I’m going to be brave. Probably braver than I have been for a while. Ordinarily I wouldn’t put my trust in a small circuit board that in a few years time

minutes ago, after my second session here at the Portimao circuit.The first thing I've got to say is that this is an impressive track that brings the best out of this new Ducati.My first throughts when I got here was that this bike would just be a 1098R

was unveiled at the Milan show.At the same time I was surprised to hear Ducati were claiming it had the same power output as the 1098R, but was around nine grand cheaper. This bothered me during the weeks leading up to the launch as it appeared Ducati had

is the Ducati 1098R of the supermoto world. When it entered the supermoto scene in 2006, rather than follow the traditional route of a big single cylinder machine Aprilia built a unique (in moto) terms 549cc V-twin. A controversial move, but one that has

enormous fun chasing my experienced mate and his 1098R up mountain ranges. The 50k duke nipping in and out of tight sections with my big beastie sliding the rear all over the place. Arrow slip on only magnified the unreal howl that the 12 unleashes above