1

August / September 2011 DESMOPHILES

#51

2

3

DESMOPHILES

The Newsletter of DOCNZ

Ducati Owners Club of

NEW ZEALAND

August / September 2011 Issue 51

COMMITTEE

REGIONAL CONTACTS Auckland Chris (Haldane M/C’s) 09-303-0624 Wayne Lyons 027-4728-343 Waikato Heath (Hamilton M/C) 07-849-1919 Manawatu Trevor Smart 027 727 1883 Hawkes Bay Nigel Taylor & Claire Miller 021 273 9450 Wellington Todd (Motomart) 0800DUCATI Chris Marer 027-447-4299 Motueka Richmond Grant 03-528-0086 Nelson Greg Monahan 021-851-916 Marlborough Graham McDonald 03-578-2490 Christchurch Craig (Casbolts M/C) 03-366-4401 Phil (Desmocycle) 03-344-1916 Dunedin/Deep South Gary Winter 03-476-7515 021-206-9866

the above members and also the

Ducati Dealer Network

All Magazine contributions and Membership Enquiries to:

DOCNZ

P.O.Box 91-612 Auckland 1142 NEW ZEALAND

Email: secretary@docnz.co.nz

www.docnz.co.nz

President

Chris Marer 027-447-4299

Secretary

Nigel Taylor 027-828-9355

Treasurer

Nick Brandon 021-974-487

Editor/Publisher

Jamie Littin editor@docnz.co.nz

Webmaster

Nigel Haworth webmaster@docnz.co.nz

Communications Coordinator

Greg Monahan docnz@docnz.co.nz

4

Last Sunday at Magny-Cours in France the World Superbike Championship crowned new champions in the Superbike, Supersport and Superstock 1000 classes. The Althea Ducati team won two of those classes: SBK with Carlos Checa and SST with Davide Giugliano. That’s not bad go-ing for an Italian team running a bike that debuted in the championships four years ago, and up against some pretty smart machinery from Europe and Japan. In Carlos Checa we have a champion who has been chasing a world title since 1993, in GPs initially but for the last four years in the superbikes. The guy is all class, has talent to burn, and has shown that on a com-petitive bike he is as quick as anyone. I guess it shouldn’t be a surprise that after 18 years of trying he is achieving success, rather than looking to retire. The recent history of the superbike world championship reveals serial ancient champions: Biaggi, Bayliss, Corser. Who will be the first 40+ world champ? Would you bet against Checa to keep winning for the next few years on the 1198, and then 1199? Carlos is a peoples’ champion too. Lynda emailed him congratulating him on his cham-pionship win, and got this reply: Lynda Thanks, was great!! Ciao! Carlos Checa El 04/10/2011, a las 09:32, Lynda Blair <hamishlyndablair@gmail.com> escribió: > Hi Carlos. > > Congratulations from me and each and every one of your Ducati fans here in New Zea-land on your well deserved World Superbike title win. You have ridden superbly all sea-son and you are a true champion. > > We'll see you at Phillip Island in February. > > Forza Ducati!! > > Lynda Blair Class. Jamie

EDITOR’SSAY

5

6 LYNDA AND HAMISHGO TO AMERICA—Part 3

Lynda and Hamish are in the USA for the World Superbike Champi-onship round at Miller Motorsport Park, Salt Lake City, Utah. In Part 3 of the story Miller is history; Road America awaits... We left Salt Lake City early on Tuesday 31st May and spent two nights on the road (at Cheyenne, Wyoming and Des Moines, Iowa), arriving at our hotel in Sheboygan on the shores of Lake Michigan, one of the Great Lakes, late on Thursday 2nd June. Along the way we saw some incredible scenery – and the world’s largest truck stop, “Iowa 80”. What a fantastic place, we could have spent hours there. We were lucky enough to get chatting with Jim, who turned out to be one of the family who own the truckstop. He very kindly showed us around the stop…what an amazing place. The drivers can get their trucks serviced or even painted/customised while they rest. They can see a movie in a proper theatre, there’s a den-tist and a barber on site, along with private shower rooms the drivers can hire out. There’s also a food court and a huge range of shops for those of us in cars. On Friday morning we headed out to Elkhart Lake to the track. What

an amazing circuit. People had said to us that we would be seeing the two best tracks in the USA, Miller Motorsports Park and Road America. It didn’t take me long to realise they were right. The beauty of the track with the undu-lating layout and the beautiful trees everywhere was just stun-ning. The only downside for me as a spectator is that you cannot see much of the track at once. We didn’t have to worry though, we had bought VIP tickets which meant that we had an air condi-tioned suite with a television moni-tor to watch the racing. And all the food we could eat. Wow, I

Breakfast at El Rancho

7 By Lynda Blair

was in heaven! We spent Friday going all around the track and stopping at each corner to have a look and take some photos. Lots of people, many of them families, were camping at various spots around the track – there was a very nice atmosphere. Friday afternoon we spent time in the pits catching up with newly made friends from Miller Mo-torsports Park. Once again we were gobsmacked at the size, and number of, huge transporters. So different from New Zealand. Larry Pegram’s crew chief very kindly

showed us through Larry’s trans-porter – wow. Such organisation, and so much room, including a top storey to the transporter where the bikes live. There were also lots of goodies on offer to buy, so there are now more t-shirts and knick-knacks for Hamish to try to fit into our already bulging suitcases. I also got to meet Greg White, from Speed TV – it was very exciting! We spied a very exotic looking bike with the fairings, guards etc made from carbon fibre…as we approached the front from a dis-tance we thought it was a modified

Lynda with Kel Edge

8 LYNDA AND HAMISHGO TO AMERICA—Part 3—cont.

The trusty golf cart

Jason DiS-alvo gets his DOCNZ cap

9

999. However, as we got closer we realised it was a Buell 1190RS, car-bon edition. And even better, Erik himself was with it. Saturday morning qualifying took place, with our new mate Jason DiSalvo on pole for the Daytona Sportbike class. We were chuffed for him. And it was no surprise to us that Josh Hayes was on pole in the National Guard American Su-perbike class. The racing in all classes was fast and furious. Unfortunately Jason had an off in his race, but the rac-ing in Daytona Sportbike was close and exciting. Sunday’s racing was even better – the Daytona Sportbike race was one of the best races I’ve seen in a long time. Unfortunately Jason had another DNF but he’s a true profes-sional and will be back at the next round at Barber with a win on his mind (I just wish we could be there to see it!). The Supersport race was also very exciting with young Suzuki GSXR600 rider Elena Myers leading for some of the race. It’s great to see Elena out on track, she is a very good rider and I be-lieve she will go a long way. We had been advised several

things about Road America. Blake Young had suggested we take our rain jackets, as “it always rains at Road America” he told us. And everyone told us we had to try the “brats” (bratwurst sausages) – which we’d never eaten before. Everyone also told us we had to go to Siebkens bar in Elkhart Lake on Sunday after the racing – it is a tra-dition that all the racers go there. Well, the weather on all three days was absolutely superb. No-one could believe it – “it’s rained here for this meeting for the last seven years” many riders said to us. I’m very pleased that the trend was bucked. And the brats? Well, they were served for lunch in our suite on Sat-urday and they were absolutely de-licious. To top it off, on Sunday they served spare ribs, which we’d never had before either. They were equally delicious. Unfortunately we didn’t get to Siebkens – we were absolutely shattered after the racing on Sun-day so we headed back to our hotel for an early night. We left Wisconsin early on the Monday morning to head West. We went via Milwaukee and got a

10 LYNDA AND HAMISHGO TO AMERICA—Part 3—cont.

glimpse of the Harley Davidson fac-tory from the interstate. I’d looked into doing a factory tour, but could-n’t find any information on the HD website so decided to flag it. We had REALLY heavy rain around Milwaukee, it was really hard to see…I was very glad we were in the car and not on our bikes. We decided to spend the Monday night in Des Moines in Iowa, then headed further West on Tuesday and stayed at North Platt, in Ne-braska. Both these days were un-seasonably hot, with a very strong wind. The temperature was around 40 degrees, and there was no cool-ing whatsoever in the wind, it felt like it was straight out of a fur-nace. It was very uncomfort-able, and the locals told us it was most unusual to get such hot weather before July/August. Wednesday we car-ried on westwards (and thank-fully as we climbed the tem-perature dropped somewhat) and down through Colorado. We stayed the night at Silver-thorne, a skiing resort a bit west of Denver in the middle of the Rockies. What fantas-tic scenery. The Eisenhower (westward) and Johnson (eastwards) tunnels are amazing. They go through

the Rockies at over 11,000 ft above sea level…Mt Cook is only slightly over 12,000 feet, so we were driv-

HH

11

ing at almost the height of Mt Cook! The elevation is very noticeable, you get very short of breath easily.

We left Silverthorne on the Thursday morning and headed for Moab in Utah. We went via highway 128, which is a very scenic road. It follows the Colorado River for most of the road’s length, with fan-tastic sheer cliffs and amazing rock forma-tions. Photos simply don’t do the scenery justice. We arrived in Moab mid afternoon, and af-

ter checking into our hotel we headed to Dead Horse Point. Once again we were blown away with the scenery and the sheer scale of the canyon carved out by the Colorado River over mil-lions of years. From Moab we headed south, as we were staying the next night in at the famous El Rancho hotel in Gallup on Route 66. This hotel was a favourite haunt of the movie stars back in the day. As we moved south, the terrain changed from dramatic rock formations to dry de-sert. We started seeing small ani-mals on the sides of the road, it turns out they are prairie dogs – a burrowing rodent. They were very cute and made a funny sound (not

Hamish with Roger Hay-den’s bike

Hackberry Stores

Hamish at ackberry Stores

12

a bark). They proved very elusive for the camera – we stopped sev-eral times to try to photograph some but they always stayed out of sight. We detoured to “Four Corners” – the only place in the US where you can be in four states at once – Ari-zona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico. When we rolled up to the El Ran-cho there were nine late model Mustangs parked in the carpark, all with “Kiwis on Route 66” embla-zoned at the top of the wind-screens. Turns out they were on a package tour and all having a great time, they were a great group of people from all over New Zealand. It was great to have a chat with some fellow Kiwis and to hear good old Kiwi accents. The hotel was full of character – the bathroom was very small (Hamish said the dead cat would complain) but I was glad I’d stayed there. All the rooms are named after famous stars…our room was named after Bob Hutton, one of the few stars I’d not heard of. We left Gallup and tried to follow what was left of Route 66, but got a bit lost so took the Interstate 40 for

a while. We detoured off every so often, so we saw the famous Wig Wam motels and called in to Joe and Aggie’s café at Holbrook. We went to Winslow Arizona and stood on the corner (made famous by the 1970’s Eagles song “Take it easy”…or am I showing my age here??). We stopped in Williams on Satur-day night. We arrived mid after-noon and decided to take in a drive-through wildlife park. There were quite a few different animals roam-ing free in their enclosures, where you could drive slowly through and stop as you wished to take photos through closed windows. The final enclosure was for the black bears. They were magnificent creatures, wandering around their area and taking no interest in the humans gawking and taking picture after picture. We spent ages just watch-ing them, and also watching some stupid people wind down their win-dows and lean out to get better pic-tures. After the wildlife park we headed for the Grand Canyon as the sun was setting. It was very crowded and we perhaps got there a little late, as the air was very smoky with the fires that had been sweeping Arizona so the spectacle wasn’t

LYNDA AND HAMISHGO TO AMERICA—Part 3—cont.

13

quite as good as we’d ex-pected…in fact in my personal opinion the scenery in Utah was more im-pressive. However I can say that I’ve “been there and done that”. On Monday we contin-ued west-wards and picked up Route 66 just after Williams. We stopped at several places we’d seen on “World’s Greatest Motorcycle Rides” with Henry Cole riding his Harleys

(Continued on page 36)

Lynda with Jordan Bur-

gess

Ben Bostrom at Road Amer-

ica

14 THE WAITIS ALMOST OVER

The wait is almost over, the Ducati 1199 Panigale on its way.

The new generation Superbike will be unveiled at the EICMA Inter-national Motorcycle Show in Milan 10-13 November.

The new model not only will deliver record performance, breath-taking design and technical innovation, it also breaks with our Su-

(Continued on page 15)

15

perbike tradition by adding a name to its 1199cc engine capacity, making a significant and warm association to its historic roots in the Borgo Panigale (pronounced "Pan-ee-gah-lee") area of Bologna. In an Italian territory known as "Motor Valley" and where high performance and racing runs through the veins of its passionate people, we de-cided to underline our pride in being world ambassadors for the "Made in Italy" title by immortalizing our home town in the name of the best sportsbike ever built.

The wait to discover all the details will continue for just a few more weeks. Be ready!

www.ducati.com

16 MCNMACHINE OF THE YEAR

The Ducati Diavel has been named as MCN’s Machine of the Year 2011 at a glittering awards ceremony attended by the heads of the Motorcycle Industry and the MCN team. The Diavel took the prestigious award despite stiff competition from other manu-facturers, but it was its ‘rule-changing’ and ability to ‘redefine the cruiser class’ that im-pressed the MCN judges. MCN editor and head of the awards judging panel was ‘blown-away’ by the Diavel and commented: “There was no hesitation here because I have never known a bike exceed expectations by such as huge margin. It has massive presence as a cruiser and should clearly appeal in an entirely new market for Ducati, yet the performance and the feel of the bike is fabulous. It’s easy to forget it also has a world-leading electronics package which otherwise would have been five years away in this sector.” The Diavel has not only exceeded MCN’s expectations but also Ducati UK’s with sales surpassing initial forecasts and continuing to do so. Tim Maccabee, Managing Director of Ducati UK collected the award last night and spoke of his delight at receiving the award: “Receiving this award for the Diavel endorses our experience in the market, both in the UK and around the world. When people test ride a Diavel they invariably want one and demand and has been high since the launch.” Ducati has continued to innovate and build on the relationship with AMG by recently introducing the Diavel AMG Special Edition, the flagship model for the Diavel family.

17

Below is a summary of income and expenses for the period 1 July - 31 August 2011.

 Very short report this month - work has been keeping me quite busy lately but can’t complain as the previous 12 months were very challeng-ing. In August I transferred $5,000 out of the cheque account into the sav-ings account which gets a better rate of interest. There should be enough funds in the cheque account to cover our normal costs leading up to the new year. We should receive a bit of a boost in December and January as subs and NDR entries are paid. In the meantime - keep the rubber side down.

Nick

   Cheque account  Savings account 

Balances of accounts as at 30 June 2011  $       6,184.54  $         409.91 

Less expenses for the period 1 July – 31 Aug 2011  $      (6,018.42)   $               nil 

Add income for the period 1 July – 31 Aug 2011   $      1,360.09   $     5,007.64 

Closing Balances 31 Aug 2011   $      1,526.21   $     5,417.55 

TREASURER’SREPORT

18

DUCATI SPECIALIST Dave McDonald

NZ agent for ‘Vee-Two’ performance parts Bel-Ray and Penrite Motorcycle Oils Over 20 years Ducati experience and

expertise! Bevel Drive and

Belt Drive Two Valves a specialty 28-30 Joseph St

Palmerston North 027-682-7083

19 INSPIREDBY AMG

Ducati has celebrated its partnership with AMG by producing the Dia-vel AMG Special Edition, inspired by the German maker's unmistake-able styling. Combining exclusivity with high performance, the Diavel AMG Special Edition is the perfect synthesis of two unequalled brands with a shared passion for exceptional achievement, unique design and conscientious attention to detail.

20 SUPERBIKEWORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2011

February 27 Phillip Island, Australia March 27 Donington, United Kingdom April 17 Assen, Netherlands May 8 Monza, Italy May 30 Salt Lake City, USA June 12 Misano, Italy June 19 Alcaniz, Spain July 10 Brno, Czech Republic July 31 Silverstone, United Kingdom September 4 Nurburgring, Germany September 25 Imola, Italy October 2 Magny Cours, France October 16 Portimao, Portugal

21

22 2011 World Superbike Champion Carlos Checa Althea Ducati

23 2011 World Superstock Champion Davide Giugliano

Althea Ducati

24

25 MOTOGPWORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2011

March 20 Doha, Qatar

April 3 Jerez, Spain

May 1 Estoril, Portugal

May 15 Le Mans, France

June 5 Montmelo, Catalunya

June 12 Silverstone, Great Britain

June 25 Assen, Netherlands

July 3 Mugello, Italy

July 17 Sachsenring, Germany

July 24 Monterey, USA

August 14 Brno, Czech Republic

August 28 Indianapolis, Indianapolis

September 4 Misano, San Marino

September 18 Alcaniz, Aragon

October 2 Motegi, Japan

October 16 Phillip Island, Australia

October 23 Sepang, Malaysia

November 6 Valencia, Valencia

26 BOOK REVIEW: THE DUCATI MONSTER BIBLE

27

By Nigel Taylor

28 DOCNZCLUB NIGHTS

DISCLAIMER Unless expressly stated, the opinions and comments in this newsletter are those of the contributors only, and are not club policy. Nor does the club guarantee any advertisers products or servicing suggestions

made. Although all material is checked for accuracy, no liability is assumed by the editor or DOCNZ.

Our Advertisers and Sponsors Support Us Support them and Support your Club

Whenever you see the services of one of our advertisers (and isn't that all the time?) let them know that you saw the ad in DESMOPHILES. That way they will know that their advertising dollar is being spent

wisely. It will help your club, the service provider and above all it will help you (there may be a club mem-ber discount available).

Auckland Headquarters Restaurant and Bar, 132 Beaumont St, Westhaven

1st Wednesday of each month from 7.30pm

Hamilton Hamilton Motorcycle Centre, Te Rapa Road, Hamilton

3rd Tuesday of each month from 7.30pm

Wellington The Featherston Bar and Grill, Corner Featherston & Johnston Streets, Wellington

3rd Tuesday of each month from 6.00pm (although Lynda is usually there from about 5.15pm)

Nelson Mapua Village Inn, Nelson

3rd Tuesday of each month from 7.30pm

Christchurch Dux de Lux on Montreal Street. Start time 7.30pm—1st Tuesday of each month from

7.00pm

29 CLUBCLASSIFIEDS

ARROW EXHAUST FOR DUCATI 748R - 996 Kit Racing Exhaust Stainless 52mm Fits Ducati 996 1998 –> 2000 Ducati 748R 2000 -> 5 pieces of hand finished horsepower Pipe in excellent condition, mufflers ok (never been on ground ) Comes in original box $2000 ono Ph Jason 021329280 Ducati 748RS velocity stacks Ducati Factory Corse Racing velocity stacks / bell mouths from a 2000 or 2001 748RS Understandably extremely rare and hard-to-find genuine part A must have for the serious Ducatisti ! $200 ono Ph Jason 021329280

REAR BRAKE DISC FOR DUCATI Alloy, CNC cut, suit race bike Saves 700 grams over OEM part Fits most Ducati 748, 900, 916, 996, 998, standard, S and R models $40 ono Ph Jason 021329280 Front Subframe For DUCATI Alloy Suit race bike Fits most Ducati 748, 900, 916, 996, 998, standard, S and R models Professionally made by Steve Bridge Engi-neering $100 ono Ph Jason 021329280 Ducati 748R clutch pushrod Ducati Original spare part # 11720431 Brand new, in original packet, genuine spare part You can never have too many spares !! $200 ono Ph Jason 021329280

30

Letter of introduction to Ducati Owners Club of New Zealand.

Attn:- President, Communications officer, Secretary, Treasurer, Commit-

tee members, Club members.

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce the newly formed Ducati own-ers club Nelson. After attending world Ducati week in Italy, and a number of group nights hosted by AB’S motorcycles (authorised Ducati service centre, Nelson) the discussion arose about forming a club in Nelson. Potential club members had a preliminary meeting, where it was discussed joining the New Zealand club or forming a stand-alone Nelson club. They unanimously voted for a stand-alone Nelson club. This was an incorporated on 21 April 2012 and to date we’ve had 45 members join us, ranging in all ages, shapes and sizes. We meet at 7.30pm, on the first Tuesday of every month at the Verdict Bar in Bridge Street, Nelson. The club’s aim is to promote the passion that is Ducati motorcycles. To accom-plish this we have a reasonably busy calendar for club members. You may be aware that Nelson is hosting the Italian rugby team for the Rugby World Cup and to coincide with that we have a number of events planned in conjunction with other festivities going on around the town.

DUCATIOWNERS CLUB NELSON

31 By Nick Marer

We have held a show and shine (with spot prizes, and signed posters from Troy Bayliss to be won) and parade in conjunction with the Italian festival at Nelson airport on September 17th. There was also a display of bikes with the Italian club at their premises on September 10th. In October we have prize giving for the show and shine, and a member of St John's coming and advising us on what to do if we come across an accident, and basic first aid treatment. Of course we think all members should undertake a first aid course. In November we have a “enhanced skills rider training day” planned for Ruapuna. Scattered amongst that we have fortnightly rides around the Nelson country-side. It is our intention that the Nelson club is to be very supportive of New Zealand club. To build this relationship we had Greg—the New Zealand Ducati owners club communications officer—at our last club meeting. He came and spoke about the national Ducati rally in Hanmer Springs in March 2012. Greg’s pres-entation was warmly received, and it is my understanding that we have at least 10 members of the Nelson Club booked or about to book. We would like to keep the lines of communication open and let the NZ club members know what we are doing here in Nelson so they can be involved in the events we have planned if they are interested. If there are events that the NZ club may be having in other parts of the country that Nelson club members may be interested in travelling to please let us know. Thank you for taking the time to read this letter and wishing you all the best. Club President. Nick Marer Contact:- Ph (03) 5424402 M 0274 480 465 Email tlpb@maxnet.co.nz

32 MALCOLM FOSTER#160—by Lynda Blair

You may recall last issue that one of our members had bought a new bike a few days before the July Victoria Club Winter Series round. The proud owner is Wellington’s Malcolm Foster. The previous owner was a bit nervous about his ex-baby going out onto the track, but I was quick to reassure him that Malcolm would give her as much loving as he had while he owned her. Well, at the August meeting at Manfeild Malcolm had a ball. The bike looked great with the fairings from the previous race bike (a 749) fitting like a glove and looking very smart. The weather was fine and Malcolm did a personal best lap time – he was STOKED! Well done Malcolm, your new baby is lovely, and it’s heartwarming to see the huge grin on your face when you get back to the pits after each race. And your 999 leathers look great too, though we’re looking forward to seeing the first outing of the new set of Celtic leathers!

Malcolm had his best ever result at the September meeting of the Actrix Victoria Motorcycle Club Winter Road Race series. The weather was very changeable, and as the racers sat on the grid waiting for the lights to go out, the rain started pouring down. The racers took off and Malcolm was around mid field. The rain kept coming down and slowly but surely Malcolm picked them off one by one, and at the white flag he was in second place. He was looking for a place to pass during the last lap, and in the final sweeper before the chequered flag he overtook the leader to win the race. I deafened the time-

keepers in the timing room yelling "GOOD ONE MALCOLM!!!" and then ran down to give him a huge hug. Making the right choice of tyres in the changeable weather conditions proved a wise decision. Well done Malcolm!!

33 DEVIL’S DUCATIFROM BURGER FUEL

For a limited time, Burger Fuel stores have a “Devil’s Ducati” bur-ger on their menu. I’m not sure how they got the name, but the minute I got the email telling me it was on sale, I knew what was on the menu for tea that night! I’d had the burger previously a couple of years ago when they’d had them on sale for a while – I recalled them as being lovely. So on the way home the other night we called in to our local Bur-ger Fuel store. The Devil’s Ducati are not cheap at $13.50, but in my opinion they are great value for money as they are a big burger, and have a lot of ingredients. They are very moist and tasty. The store had run out of red capsicum, but the burger was still lovely without (I actually wasn’t too upset as I’m not that fussed on red capsicum, though it would be fine in the burger with the other ingredients). The

salami is very hot, but makes the burger very tasty. We also had the beer battered fries, they are really delish, especially dipped in the aioli. Very moreish indeed. All in all, I highly recommend both the burger and the beer battered fries. I’ve attached some photos to show the scale of the burger alongside one of my Ducati pens. Hamish’s favourite burger from Bur-ger Fuel is the B astard Burger, and that’s what I normally have – but as long as the Devil’s Ducati burger is available that’s what I’ll be having!

Give one a try if you decide to have takeaways one evening – see www.burgerfuel.com for store locations. Sorry Mainlanders, there are not yet any Burger Fuel stores in the South Island. Lynda

34

CLUBREGALIA

SALE NOW ON!!

Anyone interested please contact

secretary@docnz.co.nz

Due to the change of club logo we are selling off our collectable caps. T-shirts

are already sold out, so get your cap now!

35

DUCATI GOLD INSURANCE

A specialised tailor-made insurance package for Ducati Owners featuring:

Highly competitive rates

Sensible excess Flexible payment options

Bonus – interest free monthly payment scheme Reduced premiums

0800 helpline service for policy holders Accessories and riding gear cover

included in each policy

Phone, fax or e-mail for a no obligation quote

CASBOLTS MOTORCYCLES 39 MANCHESTER ST

CHRISTCHURCH

Ph 03-366-4401, Ph & fax 03-366-4402

E-mail sales@casbolts.co.nz

36

along Route 66. The pile of sou-venirs was growing fast…. We had a chocolate malted at Mr D’z Diner and a coke at the Hackberry Stores sitting beside the red Cor-vette. We spent Monday night in Bar-stow, well towards Los Angeles. We left there Tuesday morning (after having found a Walmart to buy another suitcase…) and drove alongside Edwards Air Force base for a while, noting the “danger bombing range” signs on the not-very-inviting fences. We were booked into a hotel for Monday and Tuesday nights in a suburb of LA called Pasadena, on Colorado Boulevard (so we could look for the little old lady…or am I showing my age yet again with the Beach Boys song??). We ar-rived in the outskirts of LA mid-afternoon and after miles of free-way found our hotel. We spent the evening re-packing all our stuff into our four suitcases (we’d left NZ with two, and bought two along the way). Tuesday was our last full day in the US. We found an In’n’Out Burger company store and bought a whole heap of stuff from there.

(Continued from page 13)

LYNDA AND HAMISHGO TO AMERICA—Part 3—cont.

Just like the guidebook

says...

Lynda chats with the

Denver con-strabulary

37

We then headed to ProItalia, a Ducati shop in LA. We spent some time there brows-ing but I resisted the urge to buy more stuff. We then made a bee-line for the Peter-sen Car Museum in downtown LA. It had some neat cars (such as the new Bugatti) but to be honest I think Southwards on the Kapiti Coast is just

as good, if not better. We headed back to the hotel for an early night. Wednesday morning we packed the car and headed to Manhattan Beach shops. We had a choco-late malted on the sidewalk ta-bles and took a leisurely drive around the beach suburb.

We then headed to Santa Monica Pier, the most westward point of Route 66. From there we headed to the Hertz depot at LAX and left the car. We spent a few hours waiting at the airport for our flight to depart (check in time at LAX is three hours prior to departure) and soon enough we got our boarding call for the flight home. We didn’t get much sleep, despite being in premium economy seats. There is definitely more room than in “cattle class”, but there is not enough room to elevate or com-pletely stretch out your legs. How-ever, eventually we landed in Auck-land, and then transferred to our flight to Wellington. We arrived home absolutely shat-tered but what a wonderful time we’d had. My overall thoughts and some memorable moments? Overall, I am SO glad that we made the trip to the USA. First up, the racing at both Miller and Road America was fantastic. We travelled through nine states, some of them twice, and clocked up almost 9,000kms in 26 days.

38

It was our first ever trip to the USA…and what friendly helpful people we have met. I cannot get over how people go out of their way for us because we are from another country. I would like to think that I have been as friendly to overseas travellers I met in New Zealand. I will certainly make sure that I am from now onwards, as it makes such a difference. I cannot get over the number of huge trucks on the roads carrying freight…literally hundreds and hun-dreds of trucks, some with a tractor unit and three trailers. And the freight trains – so many travelling across the US – and they are so long (some over 100 carriages) and with four or five massive engines. The toilets are shaped differently to ours, and the water sits halfway up the bowl. The first couple of times I used a toilet I thought they were blocked. And the light switches are opposite to ours…up is on and down is off in the US. I will never forget the Wyoming and Nebraska prairies, the beautiful wooded hills of Iowa and Wisconsin. I will never forget seeing my first hummingbird, at Zion National Park. What a tiny, elegant, graceful bird. And I will never forget the beauty of

the Utah scenery. Was I sorry I wasn’t on my bike? To be honest, no. I would not have been able to do so many kms if I were riding – I would have been too tired after the rid-ing to enjoy the racing. Also, it’s much easier to stop and admire the scenery or have a coffee stop if you’re in the car. And it’s much easier at the race tracks without having to cart your hel-met around everywhere. Plus, of course, I wouldn’t have been able to buy all the stuff I did if I was lim-ited to panniers. So for us, it worked really well to be in the car. If anyone is interested in doing a similar trip or go to the racing, please feel free to contact me for a chat – I’d be very happy to talk in depth about our experiences. I would very much like to go back to the USA next year and do both race meetings again. I’ve promised Hamish that I’ll save my money to enable this to happen, and I truly will! PS: I hope those of you who watched the World Superbike cov-erage from Miller noticed Jakub Smrz wearing his DOCNZ beanie in the pits prior to the racing!!

LYNDA AND HAMISHGO TO AMERICA—Part 3—cont.

Bla

A

39

Some facts... Kms travelled: almost 9,000kms in 26 days Vehicle: Hertz rental Mazda 6 sedan Overnight stops: Los Angeles airport, California Las Vegas, Nevada (for 3 nights) Beaver, Utah

Salt Lake City, Utah (for 6 nights) Cheyenne, Wyoming Des Moines, Iowa Sheboygan, Wisconsin (for 4 nights) Des Moines, Iowa North Platte, Nebraska Silverthorne, Colorado Moab, Utah Gallup, New Mexico Williams, Arizona

Barstow, California Los Angeles (for 2 nights) Cost: not telling as Hamish will read this and he’ll know how much I spent on shopping if I tell!! Enjoyment on a scale of 1 to 10: 100 (this is not a typo!)

PJ Jacobsen on the Celtic 848 gets on the podium

ake Young at Road America

Greg White from

SpeedTV meets Lynda

40

NDR2012—cont.

41

I ........................................................… ...…….................................................… [first name] [surname] of ......................................................… ...........................................................… [postal address] [suburb / city] ..................................… ..................... ...........… …......................................... [postcode] [Home telephone] [Cell phone] ......................................................... (I am happy to receive Ducati related emails Y / N )

[email]

hereby apply for

Full m/ship [$50.00] Family* m/ship (family members or partners living under same roof) [$60.00] Associate m/ship (non Ducati Owner – no voting rights) [$50.00]

of the Ducati Owners Club New Zealand. In the event of my admission as a member, I agree to abide by the constitution and by-laws of DOCNZ.

I enclose payment of $....................................... by cheque made out to DOCNZ. I wish to pay by direct credit. (Our account details are: DOCNZ National Bank-Palmerston North 060746-0276337-00 Please ensure your name is included in the information. Please note that you must still send in your membership form, noting you have paid directly.)

Signature: .......................................................... Date: ............................................. Please note that memberships expire at the end of January. Applications and renewals received between November and January are registered as a membership for the following year. Particulars of motorcycle/s: ________________________________________________________________

[model and capacity] [year] [VIN / Chassis or Rego #] ________________________________________________________________

[model and capacity] [year] [VIN / Chassis or Rego #] ________________________________________________________________

assoc. [make, model & capacity] [year] [VIN / Chassis or Rego #]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OFFICE USE ONLY Cheque No ____________________ Rcvd: ___/___/___ Amt: $__________ Clearly state name on back of cheque DOCNZ Interim Membership: Received the sum of...……......... from……………….....................................being for membership renewal / application. (to January 31st 2012) Signed .................................................... on behalf of DOCNZ Committee Ducati Owners Club New Zealand. P.O.Box 91-612 Auckland 1142, NZ Email: secretary@docnz.co.nz

DOCNZMEMBERSHIP FORM

42

Cover photo: Lynda Blair Centre spread: www.ducati.com

IF YOU'RE IN THE BUSINESS OF DUCATI MOTORCYCLES YOU MAY WISH TO REACH YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE THROUGH THIS SPECIAL INTEREST CLUB MAGAZINE

SIZE 1 ISSUE 3 ISSUES 6 ISSUES

1/8 page $15.00 $30.00 50.00

1/4 page $20.00 $35.00 $60.00

1/2 page $35.00 $70.00 $110.00

Full page $65.00 $110.00 $200.00

Payment is due at the time of placement of advert. Club Classifieds Free classified advertising for club members is available on the DOCNZ website. Registered users can surf to www.docnz.co.nz, click the Forums link, and use the Buy/Sell/Swap forum. If you have any queries or need help please email webmaster@docnz.co.nz.

Magazine Contributions should be sent to: The Editor

DESMOPHILES P.O.Box 91-612 Auckland 1142

Email: editor@docnz.co.nz

Deadlines are the 1st February, April, June, August, October and December for issues due out

towards the end of the month. Display advertising is available for business – please contact the secretary.

Rates above.

DESMOPHILES ADVERTISING RATES

CONTRIBUTIONS

PICTURECREDITS

43

44