April 24, 2007
Italy - Readers of two top-tier international motorcycle magazines—the German publication “MOTORRAD” and the Italian magazine “IN MOTO”—cast their votes to decreed which would be the best motorcycle of 2007. Once again, Ducati stole the scene by winning both consensus and awards—clear indicators of the continuing worldwide success enjoyed by the latest “made in Borgo Panigale” models. After counting up the 24,853 IN MOTO ballots sent in to the editors, Ducati triumphed in three of the eight categories. The 1098 won first place among the sports models by taking nearly a third of the votes. The runner-up was the MV Agusta F4 1000 R and in third place it was Ducati yet again with the Desmosedici RR. In the road bikes category, the Multistrada 1100 was also victorious, standing atop the podium with 12% of the votes—ahead of the Yamaha FZ1 Fazer and the Moto Guzzi 1200 Sport. In the enduro/supermotard category, it was a landslide victory for the all-new Hypermotard (to be launched in May). Sweeping aside the competition, it took a massive 33.5% of the votes—beating the BMW R 1200 GS and KTM 950 Supermoto hands down.
When MOTORRAD, Europe’s most-read bike magazine with a circulation of 200,000, counted their 36,672 ballots, Ducati once again cornered the votes. In the sports motorcycles category, Ducati took the top two spots with the 1098 in first place (12.1% of the vote) followed by the Desmosedici RR (11.2% of the vote). Like in Italy, it was a surprise victory for Ducati in the enduro/supermotard category where, with 18.3% of the vote, the Hypermotard beat the German BMW GS 1200 (16.8 %). Acknowledged by 29% of readers as the best sports motorcycle brand, Ducati trounced the opposition by winning over the readers of an authoritative German publication, who preferred the “Reds of Borgo Panigale” to Suzuki (12.2%) and Yamaha (10.1%).
