Great weather and lots of eye candy. Must be the Fontana AMA Superbike races and the kickoff of the Ducati Superbike Concorso - Round One!

Here's how it works - 5 rounds, 4 at AMA Superbike races and 1 on line will send a total of 10 Ducati Superbikes to the final shoot out at Laguna Seca AMA in September. Best Superbike Overall goes home with a new 1098. Best Modified and Best Original/Restored each win VIP trips for two to the Milan Motorcycle show and the Ducati factory - this is a trip that money can't buy. Prizes worth winning. The stage is set.

Normally full of Ducati new motorcycles, this weekend the Ducati truck is host to a bevy of beautys of another level. (Those are the new bikes parked out front)

The premise is simple: If it was considered a Superbike in it's day, it's eligible, from 1972 to now.

There wasn't a single entry that wasn't worth a long look - entries ranged from a perfectly period correct F1 to a 999S with lots of models in between.

This 1992 888 SP4 is about as rare as they get. 15 years old, it looks fresh out of the crate, combined with it's obscurity, this was the Best Original winner.

From the bike description card:
his is an original, unrestored 1992 Ducati 888 SP4.  The "SP" designation signifies "Sport Production," a limited series of race inspired, and race tuned bikes designed to meet racing homologation  requirements.  The SP4 was reported to make 111 horsepower at 10,500 RPM, and was produced in a limited run of 500 bikes worldwide, none of which were ever designated for US distribution or importation.  The SP4 was the only 888 to display the distinctive "#1" insignia on the side panels, commemorating the racing dominance of the Ducati 888 bikes in World competition the prior years.  This is one of only two or three known street legal models in the United States, #475/500 as designated by the steering head plaque, and with less than 2300 original Km (not miles).  It was aquired from a private collector in 2005 and has been maintained in its pristine and "display-only" condition.

That Phil Delio, President of the Santa Barbara Ducati Owners club and Pierre Terblanche, designer of among other things, this 888 SP4. Pierre took a long satisfactory look and declared "It looks just like I remember"

Phil fielded "Is this for sale's" all day. His reply? "I get asked that a lot"

That's Gary Patton's 1986 Ducati F1. This bike has lots of documented racing history. It's perfectly "period correct" and beautifully preserved, amazing given it's miles on the track. Combine with this the fact that it's exhaust note was about as good as it gets, you begin to see how tough the judging really was.