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DESMOPHILES

The Newsletter of DOCNZ

Ducati Owners Club of

NEW ZEALAND

April / May 2013 Issue 60

COMMITTEE

REGIONAL CONTACTS Auckland Chris (Haldane M/C’s) 09-579-6020 Wayne Lyons 027-4728-343 Waikato Heath (Hamilton M/C) 07-849-1919 Manawatu Trevor Smart 027 727 1883

Bay of Plenty Lindsay Beck (Bayride) 027 248 2367 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) 03-318-8061 021 137 0309 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 6537

Marion Square Wellington 6141 NEW ZEALAND

Email: secretary@docnz.co.nz

www.docnz.co.nz

President

Greg Monahan 021 851 916

Secretary

Brent (Molly)Meldrum

021 280 3371

Treasurer

Nigel Taylor 027 490 3408

Editor/Publisher

Richard Sabiston editor@docnz.co.nz

Webmaster

Nigel Haworth webmaster@docnz.co.nz

Communications Coordinator

Greg Monahan docnz@docnz.co.nz

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Well summer has stamped its authority over this great land of ours. The riding has been absolutely fantastic. Yes it is not what farmers want, but the winegrowers are loving it. The NDR was fantastic with a huge collection of bikes that succeeded in impressing everyone. Let us not forget the stunning scenery on the trip, fantastic venue, new friends, good food and drinks and finally the hot pools to soak your weary bones. Well a lot of things are happening at the moment. Ducati introduced the highest spec Panigale at the EICMA show in Milan with the much anticipated Panigale R model and some lucky journalists got a chance to ride it for the first time in Austin, Texas as well as the new Hypemototard, Hyperstrada and Hypermotard SP, MotoGP and Superbike is a mixed bag, lets hope things come right. It will be interesting to see how things develop in MotoGP with the Pramac Racing Team verse the Ducati Team.

We have a great issue for you all to read. Paul Smart has written a message about missing the rally, a letter from Claudio Domenicali the new CEO of Ducati. Lynda and Hamish's final instalment of their Most Excellent USA ad-venture. Nigel’s Track day and Treasurers report and finally a few pictures from the NDR. Well that me done, safe riding and have a great Winter.

Cheers

Richard

EDITOR’S SAY

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Hi Greg and you NZ Ducatisti. I really wish I was there with you all. SO sorry to let you down. I am working really hard to get fit for next year. I need to get out on the Multistrada as soon as it gets above Zero and dry's out a bit….. am really missing the NZ summer. I do hope the weather stays good for you all for the next week. Enjoy yourselves, stay safe and I sincerely hope to meet up with you all next year. Very best wishes Paul Smart

PAUL SMART MESSAGE

6 PRESIDENT’S PRATTLE

Ciao a tutti, (Hello everyone) It only seems like last week we were getting organised for NDR in Taupo, and here we are now planning the next one! For those that made it to NDR in Taupo, I say a huge thank you. Thanks for coming. Thanks for bringing your exotic bikes for the bike show. Thanks for helping to drink all the Peroni beer. Thanks also for the huge amount of Red Wine consumption. Thanks for all the laughs. I am sure everyone will agree the Wairakei Resort was a great venue. Some went to the Taupo Racing Circuit for a track day and had a blast, others soaked in the hot pools at the resort whilst others, went shopping. It’s really great to see such a great bunch of people having a great time. I would like to thank our sponsors and guests: NF Imports, MotoMart, Casbolts, Bayride, and Hamilton Motorcycles. Peroni Beer (Italy) Ian Gowanloch (Australia) Paul Smart (UK) unfortunately Paul couldn’t make this year’s NDR, (due to un-foreseen circumstances) however he has assured me that he will walk over broken glass to attend next year. Wairakei Resort and Hotel. A special thanks to the hotel for making us so wel-come, and assisting with every little request. NDR is our flagship event, and for such an event the club has splashed out on a Ducati Ezi-up Gazebo and it proved to be invaluable at the rally. Both as a registration area and also a place to get some respite from the heat and sun on the day. NDR2014 is now well and truly being planned. Pencil in the 14th March 2014 and get ready to do it all again! Next year we will have Paul Smart, I’m working on another guest as we speak, and securing even bigger sponsorship deals with Peroni Beer. Until next time...take care out there, enjoy your bikes, and your families. Arrivaderci (goodbye / farewell) Gregorio

7 SECRETARY REPORT “MOLLY’S SAY”

Another cracking NDR has been and gone. To those that were able to make it I know you had a great time, I certainly did! I'm sure you'll all agree Ian Gowanloch was a fabulous guest and we were very fortunate that he was able to share some of his precious time with us. I know how many extra hours he did leading up to NDR to ensure he could join us, and that's greatly appre-ciated. Thanks Ian! And thanks to NDR, my Hail-wood has now been autographed by the man re-sponsible for their existence, Mr Steve Wynne. Keep an eye out on Kiwi Rider magazine, there should be a story written by yours truly appearing soon courtesy of Rodney O'Connor who is now a member and works part time for KR. It's great to have a magazine showing interest in our Club's activities so lets show them our support. NDR 2014 is confirmed for March 14th - 16th in Hanmer Springs, those who were there last year will remember it fondly. Entries are now open and there's a prize for the first entry received! This year Pete Mallalieu walked away with Phil Aynsley's wonderful book covering his career photographing all things Ducati - courtesy of Ian Gowanloch. Following NDR I've had the starter motor for my Hailwood reconditioned, de-spite many saying they can't be rebuilt. Starts like a charm now and no more bump starting. As I type this I await the arrival of a new toy, a 92 900 Super-light. Having lusted after these since I first saw one in an issue of Two Wheels magazine, I recently saw one for sale and thought 'sod it'. Admittedly the ga-rage is getting a little full and something needs to go, but we'll see about that! Lastly there's still lots of folks who haven't renewed subscriptions, if you haven't please get them to me ASAP to ensure we build DOCNZ into something mag-nificent! Ciao Molly (Brent)

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Club News 04/2013 Dear DOC friends, It is with great pleasure that I write to you in my new role of as CEO of Ducati Motor Holding. My nomination was just confirmed yesterday and it follows Gabriele Del Torchio’s departure. I would like to take this opportunity to salute him with sincere thanks and great respect. As you know, before I started working for this company I was a huge motorcycle fan. I have been riding a motorcycle, like many of you, since I was 14 years old and I have always liked the smell of gasoline. It was this very passion that brought me to Ducati and has been with me throughout these 21 years in the company. My time here has always been signed by my passion for speed, for technology, for design and overall, my passion for Ducati! The fact that you all are DOC presidents means that we share this passion. I am sure that this new path that we are about to take together will allow us to meet and hopefully even to ride together. I hope that my role in the company helps you keep living the desire to dream and live the reds of Borgo Panigale with the enthusiasm, passion and dedication that has always characterized Ducati DOC. My warmest regards, Claudio Domenicali

DUCATI CEO CLAUDIO DOMENICALI

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Here is the final part in our most excellent adventure. I hope that you have en-joyed it an inspires you to have an adventure. Friday 8th June To see things like a Münch Mammoth, Freddie Spencer’s race bike, and an immaculate Vincent Black Shadow – pure nirvana. A Honda CB750 Four, the K0 model (the very first one, with the slotted sidecovers). It has only 350 miles on it. Jarno Saarinen’s TZ race bike, John Surtees racing MV Agustas, an im-maculate R90S BMW…the list goes on an on. I could go on and on about the bikes, and still have more to say. We travelled 829 miles from Wisconsin to Birmingham to see this museum, and it was worth every minute and mile of the trip. The way the bikes are displayed is just breathtaking. From my photos you might think they’re models on a shelf, but they’re not, they’re real motorcycles in a display case up the wall, and up alongside the lift shaft. Photos don’t do this place justice. We were very privileged to be taken to the lower ground floor, where the resto-ration work is done. What a treat – this area is not normally accessible by the public (I owe you Tim!!). And they also have some of the waiting-to-be-restored bikes stored there too. We were like kids in a candy store. During our visit Brian offered to take us around the perimeter of the race track – wow, what a privilege. It is a beautiful place, with the track sculptured out of rolling hills, retaining lots of the beautiful trees that are everywhere in the area. Our vehicle for this drive was an 8 (yes, eight) litre Dodge van. Wow. There’s lots of interesting sculptures all around the grounds, Saturday 9th June We were up and ready by 7.15am, breakfasted at our hotel and were on the road before 8.00am. We were heading towards Denver (not that we expected to get there in one day…it’s 1,346 miles, which is 2,166 kms) We ended up going through four states today: Alabama, Mississippi, Tennes-see and almost all the way through Arkansas. Both Mississippi and Arkansas are new to us. Seven miles after leaving here tomorrow we’ll be in Oklahoma, yet another new state.

HAMISH AND LYNDA’S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE

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We drove over the mighty Mississippi River in Memphis. It’s a huge river. It was hard to get photos as there isn’t anywhere to stop. Once we got into Ar-kansas the land became flatter and there was much cropping, corn and what I was sure was rice (it was growing in flooded fields). A quick google when we got to our hotel proved me right, rice is the biggest crop grown in Arkansas. Sunday 10th June Up and on the road by 8.30am after a nice breakfast at the hotel. There was a bit of excitement when Hilda 2 (the new Garmin) put us crook leaving Van Bu-ren and we ended up on the I-40 heading East, when we wanted to go West. Needless to say there was some choice language going on in in the front of the Chevy (as you can’t just do a u-turn, it’s motorway with no way between the lanes). After a 20km loop we were back on the I-40 heading westward. Before long we had entered Oklahoma, another new state. Lots of corn fields, and as we passed Muskogee I couldn’t resist singing “And I’m proud to be an Okie from Muskogee” (am I showing my age here?) Then I started on “ OOOOk-lahoma where wind comes sweepin’ down the plain….” with the video camera focused on the cornfields. More excitement in (“And I was only 24 hours from”) Tulsa (am I showing my age again??) when the interstate we needed to follow was closed and we had to do a detour, with Hilda 2 continuously bellowing in our ears “take the I-35 West…” We stopped and looked at the map book we had – a Rand McNally Road Atlas, with separate maps for each state, and small maps of each major town in each state. We managed to figure out from the Tulsa map where to go, even though it wasn’t too detailed. At this point Hilda 2 got told her history and we ended up taking her down and putting Hilda 1 (the Navman we’d brought over from NZ with us) up on the windscreen. There’s quite a few toll roads in Oklahoma and we managed to figure out what to do at each one. Luckily most were manned (or womaned, to be more cor-rect) so the correct change wasn’t a problem. The entry to the next state (we’re definitely in Kansas now Dorothy) was fairly low key, with no welcome centre, just a toll booth. There began to be big fields of wheat, some of which had already been harvested. I won’t even begin to tell you how terrible my rendition of “Wichita Lineman” was, poor Glen Campbell must be turning in his grave (or maybe he’s still alive

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and living in a rest home somewhere?). Unfortunately I forgot that I had the video camera going as I was singing…that clip may have to be edited out. During the day the temperature had risen higher and higher. We took a photo of the car’s temperature gauge when it got to 99 degrees F – that’s almost 40!! There was a strong wind a lot of the way, but it didn’t cool things down as it was like it was from a furnace. About an hour away from our hotel we saw a sign for “Tree Ripened Peaches”. As you may have been able to tell from my ramblings, the food we’ve been eat-ing since 18th May hasn’t exactly been too healthy. So the thought of some fragrant sweet peaches was very appealing. We had a bit of trouble finding the orchard, we did some zig-zagging around some country roads (gravel!) before we found it, manned by a lovely lady and her daughter. They had some old tractors in the shed next to the fruit stall so I took a couple of photos. Anyway, back to the fruit. The peaches were a bit of a disappointment. I’m not sure what kind they were, but they were white fleshed and the size of a walnut. We went off that idea, but the stall holder was very generous in allowing us to taste the other fruit on offer, so we ended up buying some apricots, blueberries and yellow cherries. The yellow cherries and apricots were lovely. Monday 11th June There was a treat in store for me when I got to the car…Hamish’s washing line, complete with the almost dry washing, was a sight to behold. We left it up for today’s journey as the washing wasn’t quite dry. He did a really good job, loop-ing the line around the back and front headrests. We headed north for a few miles, then turned onto the I-70 West, heading to-wards Denver. We decided at first to use Hilda 1, but after a while we realised that she doesn’t show elevation, so we put up Hilda 2 (the Garmin) as we wanted to see the elevation above sea level increase as we got towards the Rockies. We passed another huge area of wind turbines in the west of Kansas. There was a lot of roadworks where they were redoing one complete side of the inter-state, so the eastbound traffic was using one lane of our westbound road. It works really well.

BY LYNDA BLAIR

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The speed limit is still 60mph (100kph) so there’s not much delay at all. We stopped at Colby, near the Colorado border for fuel for both the Chevy and for us. We didn’t notice any signs for the change in time zone, but soon after lunch we passed from Central Time to Mountain Time, gaining an hour. We decided to go through to Denver. The weather was fine and warm, but quite windy. It was very hazy so it wasn’t until we got very close to Denver that we could make out the Rockies in the far distance. Tuesday 12th June - We jumped onto the I-70 heading west. The smoke from the big forest fires raging in Northern Colorado was very obvious, and hung over the whole city of Denver. We’d watched some news bulletins last night and this morning about the fires, so far one person has lost their life and the fires seem to be out of control. It’s very dry here, they’re in a severe drought and the high temperatures they’ve been having hasn’t helped. As we got to the west of the city, you could see the haze getting thinner and as we started to climb toward the Rockies the air was clear. Our original plan was to go up to the summit of Mt Evans, south of Idaho Springs. It’s the highest paved road either in the USA or the world, depending what you read. It’s over 14,000 feet above sea level and I was really keen to go up there. However, having looked at several you-tube in-car videos of the road going up, I got scared and decided to flag it. The road is very narrow, and most of it has no barrier or centreline. There’s a very steep, long drop in a lot of places and if you go over it’s goodnight nurse. Call me a chicken if you like, I don’t care. The other original plan was to go over Loveland Pass, which is the road trucks use when they are too high or have hazardous loads and can’t use the Eisen-hower (west-bound) or Johnson (east-bound) tunnels on the I-70. At 11,990 feet above sea level it is almost as high as Mt Cook (which is 12,316). We took the Loveland Pass exit a bit before the tunnels and started climbing. I was sur-prised at the number of big rigs using the road, but I wasn’t too scared as it was wide and had a centerline. We stopped a couple of times at lookouts and you could see the I-70 way below, and the entrance to the tunnels. The summit carpark was pretty full, and we got out and had a look and a photo shoot at the sign. We headed down the other side, ending up in Dillon which turned into Silver-

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thorne. Soon after Glenwood Springs we drove alongside the Colorado River. It was very spectacular scenery with the dry red desert rock formations, and the river bubbling along over it’s stones with the green trees alongside. Tomorrow’s plan is to head to Utah and visit Canyonlands and Arches National Parks. Not sure where we’ll end up for the night. We only have seven more nights here, so we want to make the most of them. Work, Wellington and Win-ter Weather still seem a long way away at the moment! Wednesday 13th June - We awoke to another stunning day weather-wise. We decided before breakfast that we’d stay the night in Moab, so I did some re-search on the net and phoned and booked a room at the La Quinta hotel. It wasn’t cheap ($179 plus tax – normally we’d been paying anywhere between

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$79 and $99 plus tax) but a lot of the places were either booked up or more expensive. Moab’s a bit like Queenstown – there’s all sorts of adventure com-panies operating things like river rafting, mountain biking, 4 X 4 sightseeing etc etc. So all in all we were happy to have a room under $200. Breakfast at Grand Junction Quality Inn was really great, the most selection we’ve seen this trip. After fuelling both us and the car we headed west on the I-70. We soon left Colorado and entered Utah again. We stopped at a rest area for a photo stop, and a couple came in on a Harley. I noticed an Italian flag on the guy’s jacket so I said hi and although they didn’t speak much Eng-lish, the words Ducati, Harley Davidson, Valentino Rossi and Carlos Checa are pretty universal in any language! Shortly afterwards we left the I-70 for High-way 128, a scenic road to Moab that we’d discovered last year. We stopped several times to take photos, it was just as beautiful as we remembered it. Today we saw our first eagle. It was on the road ahead of us, and took off. It was much bigger than the ravens we see a lot. Unfortunately I didn’t have time to get the camera out so there’s no photographic evidence. This morning we saw a vole run across the road in front of us. A vole is like a mouse, but it’s got a bigger blunt-nosed head, not pointy like a mouse. We also saw several prai-rie dogs today. They’re quite small, about a foot high, and sort of like a little dog. They make burrows in sandy soil. We also saw what we thought was a small squirrel. Anyway, away from the wildlife and back to our trip. We grabbed some lunch in Moab just on midday, before heading to Arches National Park. We spent about three hours there, driving round the different roads and having photo stops. From there we went to Dead Horse Point, which is a State Park. At our first park (Zion, in the first couple of days of our trip) we’d bought an an-nual pass to the National Parks. It cost us $80 and lasts for a year, and you can go to as many National parks as often as you want during that year. It’s good value, as entry to each separate park is $25, so because we went to 6 parks it’s saved us $50. BTW, all the prices I’ve been talking about are in $US. Dead Horse Point is similar to the Grand Canyon. In my personal opinion, it’s better than the GC as there’s hardly anyone around. We spent some time at the lookouts and got chatting with a lovely English mother and daughter who were doing a bit of a road trip.

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From there we went to Canyonlands, another National Park. It was okay, but my favourite of the six that we’ve seen is Zion, in Southern Utah. There was an arch that was a bit of a hike away from the main road so I sat in the car while Hamish went to have a look. It was very hot (100 degrees F) and the track was uphill and I decided sitting in the car was a better option! I saw the photos when Hamish got back. Thursday 14th June We headed out of Moab and decided to travel to Logan, Utah, for the night. I did some research on hotels but the first two or three I phoned were full. Fi-nally I found a room at the Best Western Weston, so I keyed that into Hilda 1 while Hamish filled the car with gas and washed the windscreen. It was a fairly uneventful trip heading north to Salt Lake City. We were on roads we’d not been on before all day. We reached the I-70 and headed west for a bit, then turned onto Highway 6 and headed north. It was a very barren desolate road to start with, with several petrol stations or diners closed up – it’s quite sad thinking of the people whose lives have been changed by changing times. Later on we climbed up through a rocky mountain and went through a lovely little gorge with a rocky stream with railway lines running parallel. It seems like it’s a big coal producing area, hence all the trains with coal wag-ons. At one stage we passed an electricity plant – Hamish thought it was a coal fired plant, but I thought it was nuclear as it had the cooling funnels. A quick google showed Hamish to be right. We reached Salt Lake City at lunchtime and found an In-N-Out burger place. We hadn’t had one this trip, so it was over a year since we’d had one. We’d forgotten how good they tasted, with their freshly cut lettuce and tomatoes. We watched them in the kitchen while we ate. I enjoyed watching them put the whole peeled potoatoes into a machine, pull the handle, and have a bundle of chips fall down. Hamish let me buy another t-shirt, a Utah In-N-Out burger shirt, as it was a new one from last year. After lunch we headed for Salt Lake Motorsports, the Ducati shop. Cate and Ricardo were pleased to see us – poor Cate had a little “off” on her 695 on Monday, so was a bit sore and had a bandaged elbow. Ricardo showed us a

BY LYNDA BLAIR

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photo of Carlos Checa doing a victory lap with the flag he’d given him after he’d won Race 1 at Miller – different to last year when Ricardo tried to give him the flag and he’d fallen off in the mud! It was lovely to see them again. We left there mid afternoon and headed towards Logan, where we were stay-ing the night. We wandered to the Burger King next door for tea. Logan was a lovely town, lots of trees and some lovely old buildings. We stood in the main street for a while just soaking up the atmosphere. I had a “Pulled Pork” burger (I forget it’s proper name). We’d had pulled pork at Road America. It’s like a pork roast cooked very slowly till it’s so tender that it breaks apart if you pull it off the bone with a fork. It was lovely then, and it was nice in the burger. We decided to treat ourselves to some dessert, but couldn’t decide between a ba-con sundae and a Hershey’s chocolate pie, so we bought both and took back to the hotel. Yes, that’s right, it’s not a typo – a BACON sundae. Hamish de-cided he didn’t want either, so I ended up with both. The bacon sundae was surprisingly nice – the salty bacon went nicely with the soft freeze ice cream and the chocolate sauce that was also in the sundae.

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Friday 15th June Ten days or two weeks ago Hamish had turned on the car radio for the first time. We’d had trouble with radio stations fading in and out as we clocked up the miles, but then Hamish found by fluke several stations that played music non stop from particular decades. We’ve been able to get the signal ever since, so mostly we have the “80’s on 8” blaring. We’ve heard several Split Enz/Crowded House songs, it’s been great! Anyway, back to today. While we were haring along the I-84 we saw a sign saying “Golden Spike Memorial”. I knew it was around here somewhere – it’s where the railroad from the East Coast and the West Coast met in the 1860’s. I was keen to see the memorial, as it was a very big deal back in those days to have the railroad going right across the continent. Hilda 2 told us it was 24kms, so we found an exit, and headed back the way we’d come. Once we got off the interstate we were in the middle of farming lands. We fol-lowed the signs and ended up passing, of all things, a rocket factory! There were some NASA rockets on display so we decided to stop on our way back. I’m really glad we did, as when we got to the memorial for the golden spike, there was only a few minutes till two trains, replicas of the two engines that met on the day the railroad was joined, were due to appear. We were stoked, as it never occurred to us that there would be steam trains!! It was great to see them going, hissing and steaming, giving toots every now and then, complete with the driver and engineer dressed in 1860’s regalia. It is a very well done visitors centre. Left there and stopped briefly at the rocket factory. The factory, in northern Utah, makes the engines for lots of spaceships. One of the rockets is the one that sits alongside the Challenger space shuttles. Pretty impressive stuff. Just after we left the rocket place, we saw some hawks (or they looked like hawks to us) sitting in the fence posts. We stopped and I got a couple of pho-tos. Over the last few days we’ve passed squashed skunks, and Hamish has smelt them. He says they smell bad. For some reason, I don’t smell them – I can’t understand it but there you go.

(Continued on page 30)

BY LYNDA BLAIR

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* Evening Race ** Saturday Race *** Only MotoGP class

Date Grand Prix Circuit

07 April Qatar* Doha/Losail

21 April Americas Austin

05 May Spain Jerez de la Frontera

19 May France Le Mans

2 June Italy Mugello

16 June Catalunya Circuit de Catalunya

29 June Netherlands** TT Assen

14 July Germany Sachsenring

21 July United States*** Laguna Seca

18 August Indianapolis Indianapolis

25 August Czech Republic Brno

01 September Great Britain Silverstone

15 September San Marino & Riviera di Rimini

Marco Simoncelli Misano

29 September Aragón MotorLand Aragón

13 October Malaysia Sepang

20 October Australia Phillip Island

27 October Japan Motegi

10 November Valencia Ricardo Tormo-Valencia

MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2013

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NDR 2013 PHOTOGRAPHS

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NDR 2013 PHOTOGRAPHS

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NDR 2013 PHOTOGRAPHS

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NDR 2013 PHOTOGRAPHS

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NDR - BEST IN SHOW KEVIN GRANT

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NDR - PEOPLES CHOICE MIKE LIND

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NDR 2013 PHOTOGRAPHS

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NDR 2013 PHOTOGRAPHS

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Back to the I-84 and before long we passed into Idaho (another new State for us) and the gray skies gave us a few spits. There were also lots of warning signs for dust storms, and strong winds. The roads were really busy, and lots and lots of trucks. After a while the dry tussock gave way to green paddocks, all with irrigation. A lot were growing either crops or potatoes – Idaho is famous for potatoes. We stopped at Twin Falls, as I’d read about the falls there. We crossed the Snake River and stopped briefly to see the canyon below – I was too scared to get too close but Hamish did some videoing close to the edge (there was a fence I hasten to add, but I was still scared!) We then proceeded to the Sho-shone Falls. As we were waiting to pay a squirrel ran across the road in front of us. I wasn’t quick enough to get the camera ready, so we missed getting a photo. The falls were pretty amazing. They are higher than Niagara Falls, we were very impressed. The $3.00 fee per car is very good value. We’d spotted a diner at a petrol station just as we turned off the interstate, so we stopped there and gassed up the car, and had a meal. I ordered the “Truckers Omelette”. It was huge – it came stuffed with big cubes of ham and lots of cheese, and also had a huge pile of hash browns with it. The hash browns over here are loosely grated potatoes fried, they don’t compact the po-tato to a “cake” like we do but they’re lovely. To my horror, the omelette was accompanied by a pancake. I kid you not, the pancake took up the whole plate, and it was a big dinner plate. I took a few bites but that was it. Hamish had a burger, he was able to finish off my hash browns for me. While we were there a police officer came in for a meal. I still can’t get used to them all wearing guns. It’s a wonder he didn’t arrest me for staring at his gun! We still had 400kms to go so we kept on trucking. We also lost an hour be-cause we crossed from Mountain Time back into Pacific Time, just after we crossed the border into Oregon – yet another new State for us. I’d booked us into a Best Western hotel in Baker City. We arrived just after 6pm, settled into our room then had a nice steak at the hotel restaurant. Saturday 16th June Baker City was a lovely cool 59 degrees (15 C) when we woke Saturday 15

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June, it was very pleasant. We went to pay the account before we checked out

31 BY LYNDA BLAIR

of the hotel, and we noticed some little animals in the grass across from the reception area. We thing they’re prairie dogs. We breakfasted at the McDonalds next door to the hotel, as breakfast wasn’t included in the fee. We also filled up the car. Well, to be correct, the service station attendant at Shell filled up the car. In Oregon the law won’t allow you to fill your own vehicle. While we were waiting for the guy to fill the car, we got chatting to some locals. They happened to mention the 45th Parallel sign, and my antennae went up. I’ve got several photos of us from previous bike trips at the 45th Parallel sign in the southern hemisphere (it runs through near both Oamaru and Cromwell), so to have a photo of the northern hemisphere sign had great appeal for me! The guy described where it was so we kept an eye out for it as we were heading west on the I-84. Sure enough, there it was. Only problem was, with it being on the interstate we couldn’t’ get out for a photo. There was a big shoulder, so Hamish stopped the car briefly so I could lean out the window to get a good photo. We were booked into Eugene (as In Laverty), in Eastern Oregon, tonight. We carried on west on I-84. The terrain started out dry and tussocky, but as we got further north-west, we started to get into the forest. It was really lovely. We went through some high country (about 4,000 ft above sea level) and then came down onto the plains where there was cropping. In the distance we could see Mt Hood, Oregon’s tallest mountain – it’s a similar height to Mt Cook. It was covered in snow and looked really lovely I took some photos but we didn’t get very close to it so they’re not that good. For a long time we drove alongside the Columbia River – it’s a very wide river, and forms the boundary between Oregon and Washington States. We decided to cross the river for a short time, just to say we’d been in Washington as a new state. We were hoping to have lunch in Washington, but couldn’t find any-where so crossed back into Oregon. I captured a sign at the state border, showing that helmets are compulsory for motorcyclists. We found an outfit called “Pony Express” who will deliver meals from your choice of restaurant. So 45 minutes after phoning our order through, we’ve had our mains. I had a lovely pot roast with roast veges…yum!!.... and we both had dessert of apple, blueberry and raspberry crumble with ice cream.

(Continued on page 36)

32

Back again after a short sojourn, this time as your honourable treasurer. For those of you new to the club I have been here since it’s inception, organising an NDR in 2012 and holding down the secretary’s role for a couple of years until work commitments got in the way. Happy to fill in here as this job is a little less onerous and doesn’t have quite the same deadlines as the secretary is expected to meet. NDR2013 was enjoyable on many fronts, not the least because MotoTT were running a track day at Taupo Motorsport Park the Friday that NDR kicked off. The Taylor/Miller massive has never done one of these events before so I thought it would be a nice birthday present for Claire. The events are extremely professionally run and you get to pick the ridding group you want to go with – we picked group 4, the wobbly group which even had a couple of bikes with L plates in it. After a safety briefing which included hints like don’t look at the speedo because you will have missed your breaking points by the time you look up again, the lines guys lead you out for a couple of sighting laps. After this we were let loose for the first of 5 x 20 minute sessions. The first was interesting as you try to forget road ridding habits like looking in the mirrors (removed from the S2R) and checking the intersections on the track for other traffic. By the second session things start coming together and you apply the tips the instructors and lines guys pass on. Between sessions when the other groups are out it is obvious everyone is enjoying the day as we analyse

TREASURE’S REPORT

33

lines and breaking points and learn how to be better riders. By the 4th session Claire has dived underneath me scrapping the pegs on the 851 and has put ½ a lap on me inside 2 laps. Something I would highly recommend to anyone looking to enhance their ridding skills, and lets face it most of us could benefit from a bit of tuition in environment where there are no oncoming tin tops and everyone is out to enjoy themselves. Will we do it again – of course. NDR was as enjoyable as ever and a big thanks to Greg and the team for mak-ing this another memorable event. It’s always nice to catch up with the old hands as well as meet the new ones. If you want to showcase your region then find some decent accommodation, sort out a good ride and lead on. I did it in 2010 in Clive so who’s up for organising something in Wanaka with the Crown Range and the Kawua Gorge close at hand or New Plymouth with the Awakino Gorge and mount Messenger just up the road - you get the picture. On the monies front the club is good shape and the bank reports there is cash in the till. Once I get the hang of what I am supposed to do I will give some more in depth financial analysis next time. Buy for now Nigel

BY NIGEL TAYLOR

34

SUPERBIKE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2013

* TBA = To be announced STC = Subject to contract

Date Counrty Citcuit WSBK WSS STK

24 February Australia Phillip Island x x

10 March India Buddh Cuirciut x x

7 April Spain Aragon x x x

28 April The Nether-lands

Assen x x x

12 May Italy Monza x x x

26 May UK Donington x x

9 June Portugal Portimao (STC) x x x

23 June Tba Tba x x x

30 June Italy Imola x x x

21 July Russia Moscow Race-way

x x

4 August UK Silverstone x x x

1 September Germany Nurburgring x x x

29 September USA Laguna Seca x

6 October France Magny Cours x x x

20 October Spain Jerez x x x

35

36 HAMISH AND LYNDA’S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE

Sunday 17th June We woke to a very grey sky, and it was very very muggy. As we headed south on the I-5, we had a bit of rain on and off. The scenery was lovely, lots and lots of trees, mainly dark green conifers but some deciduous with their new green leaves too. At one point we saw a deer bounding around on the side of the road. Luckily he headed back into the bushes and not out onto the inter-state. I kept seeing billboards for Gary Puckett and the Union Gap…playing 6th July at a ca-sino. Now, someone has very kindly advised me that Glenn Campbell wouldn’t be turning in his grave at my singing as he was in fact still alive, and will be playing in NZ soon along with Kenny Rogers. I would have thought that Gary Puckett must be into his do-tage now, but obviously not. Anyone else remember Gary Puckett? He’s looking very good for his age on the bill-board!! We stopped for lunch at a little café at a small town called

(Continued from page 31)

37 BY LYNDA BLAIR

Rogue River. No flat whites, but my burger and OJ were lovely. Hamish had a ham sandwich. Hamish was feeling a bit tired (the poor love has driven almost the whole time we’ve been over here) so I drove for the rest of the day. It was only the second time I’ve driven, so it took me a while to get used to it. I must have done okay as Hamish spent most of the trip snoozing. Either that or it was his way of not seeing what I was doing! We left Oregon and moved into California, stopping at the border stop where they ask you if you have any fresh fruit or veges (it was a “no” from us). We came upon a beautiful snow capped mountain, which turned out to be Mt Shasta. Hamish was awake at this stage so we got some photos. We also saw a warning sign for bears on the road, but we didn’t have time to get a photo and there was only the one sign. By the time we got to our stop for the night, Redding (as in Scott) in northern California, the temperature was 105 degrees…over 40C!! But the hotel is nice and has a good air conditioning system. Monday 18

th June

We only had just over 300 miles (500kms) to go today to Salinas, south of San Francisco. We had a lovely fine day again, and cooler temperatures than yes-terday – it was very pleasant. Almost as soon as we left Redding we started getting into all sorts of different crops. Olive groves that seemed to go on forever, paddocks and paddocks of tomatoes, sweet corn, orange, cherry and peach trees. Even paddocks and paddocks of rice – in a desert environment! I’m not sure where they get the water from but there was plenty of it. We saw a sign for “fresh cherries” and took the exit to the fruit stall, only to find a notice there saying the stall was closed as they were waiting for more to ripen. Bummer, we were looking forward to some fresh cherries. So we car-ried on between the cropped fields and before long we saw another sign for fresh cherries. So another detour, and in a twinkling of an eye not only cher-ries, but peaches, apricots, nectarines, dried mangoes and pistachio nuts found their way into the car. As we got closer to San Francisco the number of lanes on the interstate in-

(Continued on page 39)

38 1199PANIGALE DOCNZ CLUB 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

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Auckland Jack Tar, North Wharf, Wynyard Quarter

1st Wednesday of each month from 7.30pm

Hamilton Hamilton Motorcycle Centre, Te Rapa Road, Hamilton

3rd Tuesday of each month from 7.30pm

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

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1st 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

39 HAMISH AND LYNDA’S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE

creased, as did the traffic. I was quite relieved when we turned onto interstate 680 and left most of the traffic behind. We had lunch somewhere around San Jose with Dionne Warwick (♪♪ “Do you know the way to San Jose” ♪♪…is my age showing again??) and then made a beeline for Laguna Seca before we got to our hotel. We spent a bit of time (and money) at the souvenir shop, then drove around the exterior of the track to have a look at what we could see. We couldn’t see the infamous “corkscrew” but we saw the track up to the blind entrance to it, and saw the exit going into the Rainey Curves. There were heaps of little animals around, prairie dogs and squirrels. We left Laguna and got to our hotel in nearby Salinas around 5pm. We were delighted to see what was two doors along…In-N-Out Burgers!! So guess what we had for tea tonight. Tomorrow we go down the Pacific Coast to a little place just north of LA. Tuesday 19th June Our second to last day here in the USA dawned very grey and slightly foggy in Salinas. We decided to head south via Highway 1, the coast road which runs

(Continued from page 37)

40 HAMISH AND LYNDA’S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE

more or less from San Francisco to LA. It was the first time we’d seen the sea since we’d landed almost five weeks earlier. The road was cut a couple of hun-dred metres above the coast into the cliffs for a lot of the way, and there were lovely views of the ocean and the rocky coastline. However, because the sun was hidden by the light fog, it wasn’t as spectacular as it would have been on a sunny day. We stopped at the River Inn café in Big Sur for morning tea. I had a latte which was okay, but I’m still hanging out for my first flat white back in New Zealand!! It was a lovely place, with lots of trees and gardens. There were some lovely birds which weren’t scared of us, turns out they are blue jays (thanks Mr Google). Onwards and we stopped at San Simeon for lunch, in the shadow of the Hearst Castle built mainly during the 1920’s by William Randolph Hurst for his lover Marion Davies. We didn’t go to the Castle as we didn’t have time (there’s sev-eral different tours and to see all the buildings would take half a day), and the tours are often sold out days ahead. We could see it from the road though. Our lunch spot had a lovely view over the Pacific ocean. By now the sun had broken through the fog and the sky (and also the sea) was a beautiful blue col-our, though the temperature was very comfortable, about 18 degrees. Very soon after our lunch stop, there was seal colony we stopped at. The seals were Elephant Seals, which are very large animals. Apparently the southern hemisphere elephant seals are much larger, but I’ve never seen them. These ones today were big enough for me! What a day it’s turned out to be for wildlife. While watching the elephant seals, there were lots of squirrels running around everywhere. They weren’t at all scared of us humans, as you can see from the photo of the wee chap sitting up begging. Then blow me down, shortly after leaving the seal colony, Hamish said “I’m going to do a u-turn, I’ve seen some zebras”. Yeah right I thought. But he did a u-turn, and sure enough….see photo. I seemed to recall in the recesses of my memory that WR Hearst had some kind of private zoo at his castle, and I thought the zebras must be a legacy of that. Sure enough, thanks to Mr Google, I discovered I was right. Highway 1 is a beautiful road, just made for motorcycles. It’s one lane each way, not freeway, but the views are really spectacular and there’s lots of places to pull off for photos. Going from north to south means we were on the sea

41 BY LYNDA BLAIR

side, and most of the pulloff areas were on our side of the road. Just a useless statistic for you: I’ve realized that we’ve been to five bike racing race tracks while we’ve been over here: Miller Motorsports Park (Utah); Road America (Wisconsin); Indianapolis (Indiana); Barber Motorsports Park (Alabama) and Laguna Seca (California). We headed inland soon after Morro Bay and once we got to Santa Maria the traffic built up and it seemed take forever to get through, even though we were on freeway. It eventually cleared though, and we got to our hotel around 5.30pm. So much for me saying “we’re staying in a little place north of LA” tonight…200,000 people live here!! We couldn’t be bothered going out for a meal so we ate in at the hotel restaurant. Wednesday 20th June Our last day…. We left the hotel around 10am and had a leisurely drive to the airport. We had a pleasant surprise on check-in – we’d been upgraded to First Class!! On our trip we had visited 21 States, a few of them twice: California; Nevada; Utah; Wyoming; South Dakota; Minnesota; Wisconsin; Illinois; Indiana; Ken-tucky; Tennessee; Alabama; Mississippi; Arkansas; Oklahoma; Kansas; Colo-rado; Idaho; Oregon; and Washington. We did just shy of 10,000 miles (16,000kms) in the rental car. The highlights of this vacation for me? Well, obviously the bike racing, be-cause that’s why we came over here. Apart from that, probably the one high-light that stands out is the Barber Museum. It was fantastic. We’ve also en-joyed the spectacular scenery in a lot of places (Utah and Colorado stand out in particular), the Corvette factory, the visits to Laguna Seca and Indianapolis race tracks, and the wildlife we’ve seen….plus, let’s not forget the friendliness of the American people. So long as World Superbikes go back to Salt Lake City in 2013, we will be there. At the time of writing it hasn’t been confirmed, but my fingers are crossed.

42

CLUB REGALIA

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CLUB REGALIA PRICE

LIST

Shirts $25

Caps $15

Beanies $15

Pins $10

43 and that doesn’t help as I’m already somewhat saddle sore before I

ride. Saying that I still managed 200 miles without an issue and I’m

sure it is something that I will get used to.

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44 DOCNZ MEMBERSHIP FORM 2013

I................................................................................................

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email address - PLEASE PRINT CLEARLY □ Happy to receive Ducati related emails?

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You may include a cheque with the membership form, or you may pay by bank transfer: If you

wish to pay this way, the details are:

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(NB: You must still complete and post the membership form if you wish to pay this way).

Please note that memberships expire on the 31st of January. Applications and renewals received

between

November and January are registered as a membership for the following year

Particulars of motorcycle/s:

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45 DOCNZ AGM MEETING 2013

Ducati Owners Club of New Zealand Annual General Meeting 16

th March 2013

Greg Monahan opened the meeting 4:10pm The 2012 minutes were reviewed:

Restructure of Subs to current 4 levels

Turimso & NDR. NDR to be yearly alternating between North and South Islands.

Turismo to be every two years 2012 minutes were agreed and passed by all. Secretary report: Molly (Brent Meldrum) Membership is currently down from a high last year of 164 to current circa 130, primarily due to the time of year and the late payment of fees. Actively ‘encouraging members to renew. There has been a shift from hard copy of magazine to electronic copy We need to push for increased membership and options for this were dis-cussed:

Creation of ‘Business cards’ to be handed to all members for leaving on bikes or post discussions with owners (Molly)

Stickers for bikes and handed out at Dealers (Nick Marer)

Bike stands (Nigel Taylor)

Membership ‘Pack’ to be handed out by dealers for new owners (Lindsay Beck) stating all benefits of membership. Inclusions to be discussed by Committee

Molly mentioned he was happy to stay on as Secretary Treasurer (Nick Brandon) Nick went through the 2012 finanicals, and copy is attached to these minutes

46

Editor (Richard Sabiston) All colour format has gone down well, with the cost per issue now reduced. Contributions from members continually required, on anything from rides to ca-fes worth visiting Richard mentioned he was happy to stay on as Editor Webmaster (Nigel Haworth) Website is a great way to promote the Club and more could be done to take advantage of this:

The Website highlights the 7 different regions and each region could have a Champion. Champion could update the website with ride details for example.

Possible link for members to update regarding ride attendance etc

Feedback received regarding members wanting to save a copy of the Magazine. This will be made clearer

Chris Pearce (Australia) mentioned that new members can join through website. Payment discussed and established costs to high to justify

Greg mentioned the great work that Matt Thompson has done as unofficial webmaster, and the fact that he hosts the website himself! Matt needs to be recognised for this work, perhaps with Life Membership. Committee to discuss. Elections President Nigel Taylor nominated Greg Monahan, seconded Chris Marer. No other nominations and all accepted Secretary Claire Miller nominated Molly (Brent Meldrum), seconded Wayne Lyons No other nominations and all accepted Treasurer Phil Herdman nominated Nigel Taylor, seconded Wayne Lyons No other nominations and all accepted

DOCNZ AGM MEETING 2013

47

Webmaster Claire Miller nominated Nigel Haworth, seconded Peter Thomasen No other nominations and all accepted General Business Greg raised NDR and Turismo. NDR 2013 difficult to get numbers, was it be-cause it was a North island event or other factors. Also Turismo was the same the year with numbers down. The south Island events are definitely more popu-lar and therefore the numbers may dictate the future locations. Perry Dunfoy suggested national Media exposure for the events however the costs were considered prohibitive. Claire Miller suggested free Editorial may be a good approach via Jacqui Maddelyn. Possible advertising on Trademe, or Kiwi Biker. Matiu Baker raised the Clubs Logo design, and the fact that it is not as popular as previous. Greg stated that the Club must follow strict rules from Ducati. Ducati have relaxed the rules around the Font but strict on Logo. The requirement around information for DOC Worldwide was discussed. To be registered the Club needs to know members DOB, Shirt Size, Model and Year of Bike, Email address. Also all Family memberships are entitled to join DOC worldwide. Members are required to authorise DOC worldwide to use members details. Molly will update the Membership form to ensure all pertinent details are captured going forward. Chris Marer recognised the efforts of all current Committee along with organis-ers of NDR. Agreed by all. The work effort and future requirement for an organising Committee for NDR and Turismo were discussed. The following volunteered for the next NDR:

Claire Miller

Guy Brickman

Chris Marer

48

NDR and Turismo being held together was discussed, while there are benefits it was agreed that the events should always be separate. NDR to be March with Turismo November. Nick Marer suggested that the next NDR be combined with a Track Day at Ruapuna Raceway (Christchurch). Nick to investigate. Warren Lee was thanked for his ongoing support, which is greatly appreciated by all. The meeting was closed at 5:45.

DOCNZ AGM MEETING 2013

49

50

Cover photo: Wayne Cockburn. NDR photographs: Wayne Cockburn and Greg Monahan. Treasurer’s report photographs: Nigel Taylor.

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