Ducati Faithful Take In A Drag Race At Misano

Friday night at the World Ducati Week 2012 (WDW2012) gathering in Misano, Italy, the festivities included a Drag Race by Tudor that saw Ducati riders from MotoGP and World Superbike championships battle one another riding Ducati Diavels on a drag strip.

The three-day gathering has broken attendance record every day thus far and looks ready to beat the previous best of 60,000 fans at the close of the fourth and final day on Sunday.

The players in the Drag Race by Tudor event included some of the best: Valentino Rossi, Nicky Hayden, Troy Bayliss, Carlos Checa, Jakub Smrz, Sylvain Guintoli, Niccolo Canepa and Lorenzo Zanetti.

It was friendly competition on a drag strip along the MIsano start/finish straightaway, and part of a festival for Ducatisti, as a record number of motorcyclists have ridden into the WDW2012 festival this year.

They were greatly entertained by early elimination stages and had the opportunity to watch Rossi and Bayliss go to the final showdown. Bayliss got the best reaction time and launched before The Doctor on his Diavet, tripping the timing lights (distance not revealed) at 6.306 to Rossi's 6.329 seconds. After all was said and done Hayden was third and Checa took fourth.

The crowd truly enjoyed the close-fought and spectacular show of burn-outs and wheelies after each race and the excitement of the drag racing by some of their favorite MotoGP and World Superbike riders.

Once the Drag Race by Tudor was complete, there was a procession of thousands of the Ducati faithful to the center of nearby Riccione for the unique party and presentation of the riders present in the Piazzale Roma square. The famous "Ducati All-Stars" band performed for the overflow crowd, who were entertained by Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols, Duff Mockagan from Guns N' Roses, Franky Perez (Pusher Jones), Steve Stevens of the Billy Idol band, Billy Morrison from The Cult and Loaded's Isaac Carpenter. They performed for the crowd until the wee hours.

The grand finale on Sunday will bring even more motorcycles and their owners to the area surrounding MIsano for this annual gathering of the Ducati faithful.