Alghero | Province of Sassari | Sardinia – ‘12° Ducati Test Day e Challenge & 2° Trofeo Claudio Chiodini’, this is the official name of this extraordinary event of DUCATI Sardinia DOC (Desmo Owners Club), that I was fortunate enough to participate in on my second visit to Sardinia on October 1st 2017. In view of the occasion, that is my invitation to the ‘Festa di inizio anno 2018’ of DOC Sardinia on January 14th 2018 in Caligari, I would now like to tell you about it …
After arriving in Alghero on Friday coming via Rome, and after having experienced some things already -grin grin- (please take a look at my Facebook and Instagram as well), I´m now, at the beginning of the week, sitting at the Dream Brother’s Bar and having breakfast. The place lies directly opposite my very lovely B&B Alghero Sunrise and I love looking back at my first encounter with the Desmo Owners Club Ducati Sardinia DOC last October. Right from the start, it was a very heartfelt encounter with a bunch of passionate Sardinian Ducati enthusiasts, which went beyond all language barriers.
The Saturday before, just being back from a day in Sassari, I came by a very interesting event by chance. It was the ‘Baia delle Ninfe – Gara di regolarità per auto storiche‘, an Oldtimer Rally, which takes place annually and which runs from Alghero to the North to Capo Caccia on the first day and across the famous mountain road Scala Piccada to Bosa and along the gorgeous coast road SP105, which is very popular with motorcyclists, back to Alghero on the second day. I heard from the organizers that on the next day the second day of the event 12° Test Day e Challenge & 2° Trofeo Claudio Chiodini of Ducati Sardinia DOC was to take place on the race track Autodromo ‚Franco di Suni‘ Mores.
As you can imagine, I obviously wanted to get there. Since my Ducati Monster was not with me on my journey this time and because there was no way to get to Mores by public transport, I urgently needed my own vehicle. So a set of wheels was to be ordered overnight. This was not that easy on a Saturday night and on a Sunday morning. But thanks to Stefano from Sardinya – Rent a car – Autonoegglio, a Sardinia wide vehicle rental, I was able to rent a 125 cm³ Honda scooter for a day and for a fair price on Sunday mid-morning. The weather was a bit inconsistent and due to the Jet helmet the rain briefly caught my face while I was on the road. But this was no problem at all as I had only one goal in mind, namely to get to know ‘DUCATI Sardinia DOC’.
The road from Sassari to Mores was very beautiful, it led through the interior of Sardinia. In Mores I then found the defining clue ‘Autodromo’ <grin grin>. A partly very challenging road led myself and my scooter to the race track in quite an athletic fashion. Arriving there, the incredible awaited me. In the midst of nowhere in Sardinia I came upon an assemblage of warm- hearted and passionate people, marvelous Italian motorcycles and a stunning race track.
The members of DUCATI Sardinia DOC, who were present, were a bit astounded as all of a sudden a strange Austrian with a Ducati-leather jacket, Rokker motorcycle-jeans and Jet helmet including a GoPro-Camera fitted on it whooshed by on a Honda scooter. Due to various reasons such as filming in Alghero earlier in the day, I was a bit late again. I had feared that the event might be over before I arrived, but thank God the opposite was the case. Hustle and bustle on the race track, in the pits and the Paddock as well as in the appertaining bar. Just to make clear beforehand: each conversation was held in Italian, English was nearly non- existent. This did not cause any displeasure, on the contrary. But what this meant for me, whose knowledge of the Italian language was scarce, is not difficult to imagine. Communicating with our hands and feet was called for <grin grin>.
I was all the more surprised by how soon I was being greeted heartily and accepted by the president Francesco Usai (Franz), his vice president Giorgio Serci, Francesco Vacca, Paolo Caocci, and Giovanni Sedda as well as all the other members of DUCATI Sardinia DOC (Staff). Of course some people were a bit skeptical at the beginning because of my unusual way of working – almost simultaneously taking pictures with the iPhone 7 and my Canon EOS M10 whilst operating the GoPro Camera. But this settled down with time and not least because I knew Daniela Saba Marassi (StudioLook) and Massimo Bianchi (Max Moto) already from Alghero. This helped me to blend in quickly. Above all, there was our mutual passion for Italian motorcycles, especially for Ducati.
So we spent our first late afternoon together on the race track in Mores. Even though the Ducati Challenge had already finished by the time I arrived, there was also the second Ducati Test Day, where the new Supersport and Panigale 959 could be tested. The fall of Eleonora Ledda caused a somewhat dramatic moment, but that was a close shave, and thus the ‘12° Ducati Test Day e Challenge & 2° Trofeo Claudio Chiodini’ was a very successful event after all.
I´d really like to continue reporting on my experience with Ducati Sardinia DOC and am looking forward to the upcoming celebration for greeting the new year Festa di inizio anno 2018, to which I´ve been personally invited by president Franz. See you then!
Text and photographs: Armin Hoyer – arminonbike.com
