Ducati is proud to announce victory for a customer spec Hypermotard at the 86th annual Pike's Peak International Hill Climb in Colorado.

Using a Ducati Hypermotard 1100 S, Greg Tracy won the 1200cc motorcycle class outright and took an incredible fourth over all classes. The victory, on a motorcycle in stock trim with Ducati Performance accessories, was significant as this year marked the return of stiff manufacturer competition.

Using a Ducati Hypermotard 1100 S, Greg Tracy won the 1200cc motorcycle class outright and took an incredible fourth over all classes. The victory, on a motorcycle in stock trim with Ducati Performance accessories, was significant as this year marked the return of stiff manufacturer competition. Against the 119 motorcycles attempting to tackle the Peak, Greg rode the Hypermotard to victory (in class) beating the overall times set by Andrea Padovani and Christian Lancellotti of the factory Aprilia team from Italy.

Greg also overcame stiff competition from noteworthy riders like KTM mounted Marco Belli, the BMW of Douglas Morrison and Greg’s own teammate Alexander Smith - the son of the legendary Malcolm Smith - who had a brilliant ride to fourth in his first ever race aboard a street based motorcycle. The idea to race the Hypermotard started almost a year ago at Pike's Peak. While attending the July event, Becca Livingston visited the local Ducati dealer and saw her first Hypermotard and by October the bike she was dreaming about was hers. Becca, with her husband Paul at the controls, were adding to their thousands of miles riding two-up when they came to the realization that this motorcycle could be a contender on the mountain. Over the next few months and repeated verification from some very qualified friends, the decision was made to officially enter the Ducati in the Pike's Peak event. For the full story of Ducati’s victory at Pikes Peak click here. 

 HYPERMOTARD PIKE'S PEAK 2008 BLOG - RACE DAY By Becca Livingston, Spider Grips

In July of 2007 Paul and Becca Livingston of Spider Grips saw the Hypermotard for the first time at a dealership in Colorado while they were there for the Pike's Peak International Hill Climb. Three months later they owned one. By spring of 2008 and after thousands of miles logged they decided to race the Hypermotard at Pike's Peak in 2008. This is the team's story in their own words—from its humble beginnings to the main event...

The alarm goes off at 2:30am, but we're already awake. The Sprinter is preloaded and we are completely ready, so we hop in and go. No stop for coffee today. The gate opens at 3am on the dot and we are through at about 3:02am. Today we drive to the starting line area and find the spot near the road that we have been assigned. It's a good location—level and big enough for all that we have going on. Paul scouts the location and gets the pit set up. We want to have the Hypermotards right out front for everyone to see and appreciate.

We set up the pits with flags and banners and lights so that the spectators coming by on their way in will be able to see all the Ducati red. In addition to the two race Hypermotards we have a couple of demo Hypers so people can see that we're racing basically stock motorcycles. Greg and Alexander arrive later—taking the opportunity to get a few more minutes of sleep before the race.

The cars will take off the line first, class by class. The motorcycles will go after them, and last of all will be the big trucks. Shortly after the first car starts we hear the siren of the safety truck and we know that there has been an incident.

The past two days have been hot and dry and the race course conditions have changed dramatically since our last practice. Today it is dry, dusty and very slippery. During the next several hours we hear of many race vehicles going off the course. There are at least two very bad crashes with three drivers air lifted to emergency care. Each time this happens, we begin to worry a little more about what we're asking Greg and Alexander to do.

Finally, after many delays, the motorcycle classes are next. First up is the sidecar class. I walk with Paul and Steve to the line and Laura nicely provides some umbrella shade for them. They take off in a roar of motor and exhaust and disappear around the first corner. It will be hours before I see Paul again.As the motorcycles proceed to the starting line there are more and more delays for riders off the road. The ambulance is called up then returns with downed riders several times. Luckily, none of the motorcycle riders are badly injured. By the end of the event we will hear that 22 participants of the Pike's Peak International Hill Climb of 2008 did not finish due to incidents.

The 1200cc class with the Hypermotards is the last motorcycle class to take off. Once the 750cc class leaves, the Hypers, Buells, BMWs, and KTMs move up to the starting line. As the fastest qualifier, Greg has his pick of position but he had not yet announced which position he favors. The other riders get to choose only after he states his choice. We make sure that both our Hypermotard riders have umbrella girls. It is getting late in the afternoon and the temperature on the line has climbed into the 90's. The engines are being warmed up and the distinctive throaty sound of the Hypers is unmistakable in the sound of all the other bikes.

Greg chooses the middle position and moves to it. Joe Kopp takes the one to his right, Brian Anderson to his left, Glen Cox and Alexander Smith take the outsides. The flagger moves into position and we brace for the roar of the start. But then, once again we hear the sound of the safety truck siren. We wait in the hot sun for a while, then the riders move to the shade at the side of the line and take off their helmets. After what seems like a long delay, they get the signal to mount their motorcycles again.The riders line up in the same order as before and this time they do take off in a great rumble. I jump into the course and see Glen Cox leading the pack around the corner with Greg in hot pursuit, then they disappear.

The wait seems like forever. Finally we hear over the radio some of the results. Greg's brother Gary Trachy has won the 450 class, Davey Durelle the 750 class. I hear the announcer giving the 2nd, 3rd and 4th positions for the 1200 class and Alexander is 4th! I don’t hear Greg's name. Then, someone comes by and says Greg won! The results are posted at the starting line area and I walk back up to double check and find it there in black and white. The Ducati Hypermotard won! We won!

It's another hour or so before the riders come back to the pits. Alexander comes in first, then Greg, and we celebrate happily. I'm keeping an eye out for Paul and Steve with the sidecar, but I don't see them and they weren’t listed on the results. Alexander asks me about Paul and said he didn't make it to the top of the mountain. I start off to find a course official to find out what happened and as I go up the road I see them coming in. I run up to hug Paul, but he winces and says that they went off at Engineer's Corner. They both refused the ambulance and stayed at the corner until the other riders came down. They're bumped and bruised, but the team doctor clears them and we load up and head back to the Mecca to celebrate.Thank you to Greg Trachy, Alexander Smith and Ducati North America. This has been the story of how the Hypermotard came to Pikes Peak and won in 2008. But the Hyper's story is far from over.

Rider N.   Vehicle Glen Cove 16 mile  Finish lane

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Greg Tracy 555   Ducati Hypermotard 2008 05:17.554 08:15.376 12:06.602

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Brian Anderson 49   Buell TT 2008 05:28.629 08:38.423 12:24.713

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Joe Kopp 3   Buell TT 2008 05:31.913 08:43.317 12:41.403

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Alexander Smith 156   Ducati Hypermotard 2008 05:48.652 08:58.415 13:04.290

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Douglas Morrison 53   BMW R1200 Megamoto 2006 06:01.657 09:19.952 13:35.485

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Tim Vesely 713   KTM 950 Super Enduro 2006 05:54.952 09:15.673 13:40.189

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Max Stratton 822   BMW Megamoto 2008 06:11.328 09:36.457 14:09.372

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Rob Smith  8   Buell S1 Lightening 1997 06:10.871 09:40.010 14:10.970

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Glenn Cox 13   KTM 990 Super Duke R 2008 07:24.797 10:30.542 14:38.193

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Joe Warner 551   BMW HP2 Enduro 2006 06:42.170 10:29.611 15:36.332

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Ben Stratton 117   BMW Megamoto 2008 06:09.379 09:38.576 16:42.797