Ducati UK will not contest the 2009 British Superbike Championship after being unable to secure a team to defend their manufacturers crown.
Ducati had a fantastic 2008, winning a number of titles with the 1098R: the British Superbike Championship with Airwaves Ducati and Shane Byrne; the Superbike Cup with North West 200 and John Laverty, the World Superbike Championship with Troy Bayliss and the European Superstock crown with Brendan Roberts. Ducati were hoping to build on the succjavascript:void(0)ess of this year with a strong line-up for 2009, but in the end, negotiations to field a team have been unsuccessful.
Tim Maccabee, Managing Director of Ducati UK commented on the news, “The 1098R has proven to be a winning machine and this makes it all the more frustrating not to be in BSB next year, but we owe it to Ducati and to race fans to put together as strong a team as possible. Unfortunately due to a number of factors we have been unable find a team solution that will allow us to compete at the highest level. We do however expect to be back in 2010.”
Although Ducati will be not be competing in British Superbikes, they are expected to field riders in British Superstock with the new 1198S and will continue to have a strong presence in both World Superbikes and MotoGP.
