Ducati News Today

Michael Rutter and teammate Martin Jessopp will bring Ducati back fulltime into the British Superbike Championship when they debut with Riders Racing  for the opening round of the 2010 BSB series at Brands Hatch on April 3rd on his Ducati 1198R. Rutter will also race at the Isle of Mann marking the first return of Ducati after a 7 year absence.

The team have just completed a successful pre-season test at Cartagena and Guadix in Spain using updated 2009 spec engines.

Both riders made good progress on the bike with Michael Rutter noting:-

“I’m well happy with the tests. Having raced these bikes at the end of last year, I knew we had a good set-up with the Ducati chassis but with changes we’ve made to the engines over the winter we now have 10bhp more across the range so it was a case of re-mapping the electronics here and working on the traction control system.”

Jessopp was similarly positive with his return to the big V-twin following a spell on four cylinder machines.

“It feels like I’m back home again. At least the four-cylinder bike I raced had the same basic Magneti Marelli electronics package, so I was already used to riding with a well-sorted traction control system. I remember how much learning it took to get used to the four-cylinder bike but it’s taken no time at all to get back into riding a Ducati. I’m still braking too late and scrubbing too much speed but it’s coming. It’s amazing how much more corner speed you can run on a Ducati.”

link: Riders Motorcycles

New engines will be available for the first race over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend on April 3-5th.

Source: Riders Motorcycles via Hell for Leather

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1. Rutter Puts Ducati Back on the BSB Podium
2. Riders Ducati Ready for BSB Kickoff