DUCATI Sardinia DOC | ‚Festa di inizio anno 2018‘ – A celebration of pure emotion

Cagliari | Sardinia – `Festa di inizio anno 2018´, right at the beginning of the new year, a very dignified kick-off to the new season 2018 of DUCATI Sardinia DOC took place. I came to Cagliari at the invitation of the president of the club Francesco `Franz Sardokan´ Usai. The second encounter with the Sardinian Ducati enthusiast was again a very positive experience, full of warmth, fun and joy …

After a very beautiful and warm afternoon at the south coast, east of Cagliari – I had driven to the marina of Villasimius with a friend to take pictures – and after an aperitif, I drove towards Caesar’s Hotel, to one of my highlights of this journey. The gala evening at the beginning of the new season, the `Festa di inizio anno 2018´, was celebrating the 14^th birthday of `Ducati Sardinia DOC´, the Desmo Owners Club of Sardinia, which was established by its president Francesco Usai. Around 100 guests came to experience an emotional, passionate and also humorous review of the past season and were also given an outlook on the schedule 2018 of DOC – and they were obviously not disappointed- grin.

After a rich buffet at the beginning of the evening and following some entertaining conversation, Franz, the president of Ducati Sardinia DOC together with Doriano Mucelli who led through the evening, opened the show before the gathered crowd. As Club and Staff member of DOC, Doriano together with Teresa Caria, is also responsible for video and photo shoots. His new passion is to show his like-minded customers his Sardinia- as a motorcycle tour organizer for `ON AN ISLAND´. This he does in his unique and likable way.

At the beginning of the lecture was a review of last year´s extensive program, followed by the first honors. For this reason members of the friendly Ducati Club `DOC Prato´ were also present. The president Fabrizio Biscardi handed over an official certificate of friendship to Franz, which underpinned the present partnership of both clubs. I was given the honor to be awarded with a medal for `DOC World Friend´. The Club´s official Ducati dealer, Giuseppe Vacca of Ducati Cagliari (Joe Cow Motos) was also among the guests.

A highlight among all the events is obviously the annually held `Trofeo Ducati Challenge´, which already took place for the 8^th time last year – the second time in memory of the late friend Claudio Chiodini (Article). The scene of the event was the race track Autodromo`Franco di Suni´Mores in the north of Sardinia. The races were held in various categories, which ranged from Superbike to Naked Bike. 33 pilots took part altogether, among them also some women.

The Superbike Expert- score 2017 was won by Giorgio Troisi. At the Superbike CT2, president Franz himself struck on his Ducati Panigale 1299S. The Monster- scores are very close to my heart because of my own Monster 821 Stripe, which unfortunately had to stay at home this winter. Here Luca Molinari and Andrea Delusso claimed the victory. Vice president Giorgio Serci with his extraordinarily yellow Ducati 749 could reach a very good second place in the class Medie CT1.

The club Ducati Sardina DOC is also active in many other areas. The events that are masterminded and organized by president Franz, are owing to his commitment and very good contacts, provided for an affordable price to club members. Beside the Ducati Challenge, there are also Ducati test days on race tracks in Mores and on the Mugello Circuit and annual short and long distance cart races within the `Trofeo Kart Ducati´.

But beside the motorsport, plenty of other things are offered. You can discover Sardinia wonderfully on motorcycle- and mountain bike tours. In the beginning of June, for the second time, the sailing regatta `2° Regata Ducati Sardinia CUP 2017´,in cooperation with Cagliari Sailing Charter, made the sea around Cagliari an unforgettably beautiful experience. There are further cooperation, amongst others, with the Italian aerobatic squadron `Frecce Tricolori´ and with Ferrari clubs in Sardinia and Italy. With them many joint events are held regularly. An exciting season 2018 of Ducati Sardinia DOC with plenty of passion and emotion is ready to be served – grin. I will tell you about it soon. See you then!