The 'DesmoDue Championship' is a one-make motorcycle racing series based in the United Kingdom. The series was started by the Ducati Sporting Club in 2005 and is administered by them, staging races through New Era MCC meetings in the UK until 2010, then with Hottrax Motorsport and most recently with North Gloucester Road Racing.
The motorcycles must be based on an air-cooled 2-valve Ducati twin-cylinder engine produced since 1992. The machines are allowed limited modifications. Most modifications are for safety reasons. The control tyre, which changed to a Dunlop Alpha 13 for the 2016 season, with Dunlop Wets also allowed.
Two capacity classes compete for the championship;
- Class A - 618cc fuel injection based machines
- Class B - 583cc carburettor based machines
Riders must hold an ACU racing licence, and be either a Clubman or Novice licence holder absent special dispensation by the race committee.
Video Ducati Sporting Club DesmoDue Championship
History
The series began in 2005 after mechanical rules had been set in late 2004 by Neil Spalding of Sigma. This innovative series consisted of 11 races at circuits including, Cadwell Park, Castle Combe, Snetterton, Donington Park and Brands Hatch. 41 riders took part. The inaugural series was won by a dominant Geoff Spencer, who took 8 races.
2006
In 2006 the series moved to two machine classes (Class A and B) and almost 50 riders. The circuit line-up expanded to include Oulton Park and the TT circuit of Assen in the Netherlands. The Dutch round of the series was hosted by the Ducati Club Nederland at their famous Club Races.
Phil Huntley became the inaugural 583cc Champion, winning 9 races, whilst Dominic Cann, for Charles Dudley's OD2 team, was crowned 620cc Champion with 8 wins. The two riders went head-to-head in the season finale at Cadwell Park. Huntley qualified for Pole Position. Cann won both races and went on to score 32 consecutive podium finishes over two and a half seasons.
2007
2007 Class A champion was Kyle Hinton, who smashed virtually all records riding for Alan & Charlotte Knight of the Knight RR Team, taking 11 victories from 13 starts, winning the last 7 races in a row and setting 5 new class lap records on the 620 Monster. The 583cc championship was wrapped up by Andy Sheppard who won 6 races, took 11 podiums and 5 Pole Positions.
2008
The 2008 season saw the Desmodue series given a large stamp of approval by the participation of repeat British champion and ex-International star Ian Cobby. Riding in the 620 series, having entered a one-off race the year before on a 583 machine at Oulton Park, Ian secured the title with one round still to go taking 9 races and 12 podiums. The ex BSB rider did not have things all his own way though and was repeatedly threatened by 2005 season 4th place finisher, Mike Dawson, who won at Mallory Park, Pembrey and Cadwell Park. Richard Fogg also won a single inspired race in wet conditions at Brands Hatch. Mike almost ran Ian Cobby to the wire except for a bike blow up. He eventually came 2nd in the championship. 2007 B class champion, Andy Sheppard won his first A class race at the Cadwell Park finale, giving an indication of his future. The 583 championship was secured by Matt Traynar, who despite enjoying a 92cc advantage over most of his rivals managed not to win all of the races that year. Dominic Clegg put up a good fight to take second place, winning 5 races. Harriet Ridley became the first woman to take a top 3 championship position and showed that she was becoming a force to be reckoned with.
2009
2009 started with Andy Sheppard winning first time out at Donington Park. Tim Pritchard, started his first full season in Desmodue, having contested only the occasional rounds in previous seasons, won the next race that day and set in motion what would become an epic struggle. Pritchard suffered a slight dip in form at the midpoint, allowing Sheppard to take the upper hand. After discovering a bike set up to suit him though, Tim came back strongly at the end of the season with the midsummer races at Cadwell Park. 80% of the crowd fainted. Sheppard took the title at Pembrey, despite Pritchard winning both races.
In a dramatic twist to the end of the season, it transpired that Sheppard had been suffering with a heart defect and needed an immediate operation. Andy put the operation off to try to win the title, and in doing so became the first rider to win both the B class and A class championships. He was then medically prohibited from entering races and his number 65 was retired as a mark of respect. Andy and Tim were the only riders to win races in 2009, taking 11 and 7 respectively. The 583 championship was taken by Sam West, coming back from a horrific testing smash at Snetterton the year before that broke his leg into approximately 786 pieces. It was far from an easy ride though, with crashes and mechanical failures threatening to let Harriet Ridley through. Sam's misfortunes often came in non-championship races and won out with 10 wins. Harriet took runner up with 5 wins and held the consolation prize of "finest booty ever to grace a DD bike".
2010
2010 was the fifth year of the series, and became a battle between Tim Pritchard and Mark Lister. Mark hurtled into the series at the first round, winning both races (on the OD2 prepared bike of 2006 title winning team boss, Chas Dudley), despite crashing in qualifying. He set a new lap record, beating Spencer's 2005 mark. Tim won the next 2 races at Silverstone, but couldn't match Lister's pace at Mallory Park where Mark easily won both races. Pritchard was injured in a nasty starting line smash during the second non-championship race at Snetterton, allowing Mark an easy yet inevitable cruise to the title as Tim missed the next 3 rounds. The series hadn't seen such raw pace since Ian Cobby entered the series in 2008 and even a healthy Pritchard would have been a longshot. Tim regained some pride at the end of the season though, winning his first race back from injury against Neil Appleby, whose progress over the season netted him the runner up spot. The 583 title was between several riders. The ones that mattered in the end were Matt "Awesome" Lawson, and Matt Larrett. Larrett took the title in a foul weather showdown at Cadwell Park. They took 3 and 5 wins each, respectively.
2011
The 2011 championship was run through New Era, but the majority of races were held with Hottrax Racing. The control tyre also changed to a Dunlop Sportsmax Qualifier, moving away from Pirelli for the first time. The finale at Oulton Park saw Class B rider Philip Wilcock take two wins and the championship by four points from Ron Jolley, who fell from a 20 second lead in the final race. Class A was won by Appleby 36 points above veteran Andy Challis.
2012
The 2012 championship added the Class C category, a step-up for those wanting to race larger capacity bikes. The bikes were still Ducati with rules to limit costs. The motorcycle must be either a water cooled Ducati twin cylinder motorcycle with 4 valves per cylinder produced between 1988 and March 2002 or an air-cooled 2 valve Ducati twin cylinder produced between 1992 and March 2005, displacing no more than 997cc. The machines are allowed limited modifications, for safety or to allow older generations of the Desmo family to remain competitive with the newer machines. Specifically, these are: 4 Valve 748: - Any model with the exception of the 748RS 851 / 888 : - Any production model 916: - Any model with the exception of 916 Racing and SPS 996: - Any model with the exception of SP, SPS, R & RS 2 Valve 748 & 904 cc single spark engine SS & Monster, including both carburettor and injection models. 803cc single spark SS & Monster manufactured prior to March 2008. 992 twin spark engine SS, Monster & Multistrada manufactured prior to March 2005
Maps Ducati Sporting Club DesmoDue Championship
Top 7 Most Successful Riders
The top 7 most successful riders ever in the series (at end of 2011 season), based on wins and then podiums are as follows:
Andy Sheppard remains the most successful rider overall, having attained an incredible 20 wins and 35 podiums over 2 classes.
Guest Riders/Journalists
Lap & Race Records
Champions
Wins in a season - All Classes
Wins in a row
References
Source of article : Wikipedia
0 Comments