WORLD DUCATI WEEK 2004: IT’S A RECORD!

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World Ducati Week, the international meeting of the Ducati community, has established another record with the recently concluded fourth edition. The event was a fantastic success in every way and attracted, entertained and thrilled tens of thousands of motorcyclists who flocked to Misano Adriatico from the four corners of the Earth between Monday 17th and Sunday 23rd of May to prove their passion for the Ducati Legend.

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More than just a consuming passion, the Ducati passion is one that pulls in numbers too. Attendance was estimated at over 45,000. 19,000 tickets were sold, and nearly half of these were weekly passes, purchased by those (countless) individuals who could not think of missing even one of the events that Ducati organised for its fans to animate this great international event that inspires the entire motorcycling community.

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The seven super-intense days reached their peak on Saturday 22nd May, when the largest number of Ducati enthusiasts, estimated at around 13,000, was recorded. This colourful invasion of Misano Adriatico's Santa Monica race-track provided an unmistakable sound track of Ducatis to complete an exceptional motorcycling event.

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Ducati.com also made a major contribution to the success of the event by managing the website dedicated to WDW2004 and providing an incredible amount of information before, during and after the meeting, exponentially increasing the event's exposure to the many members of the Ducati public who for one reason or another were unable to take part directly. Thanks to Ducati.com these fans were at least able to take part virtually.

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The figures speak for themselves: during the week from 17th to 23rd of May more than 350.000 visits were made to the WDW2004 website!

Of the many activities organised for participants at WDW 2004, those promoted by the Ducati website proved a particular success. The top scorer was the "I WAS THERE. WERE YOU?" event that attracted hundreds of enthusiasts during the WDW weekend (21st-23rd May). Ducati.com staff took snaps of the people or situations they considered interesting. The resulting photos were published (starting from the 26th May) on the http://www.wdw2004.com web site. All those immortalised in this way and all others who simply want to keep a memento of this unforgettable experience, can download the shots they want, vote for their favourites, send e-cards with their own photo or even, thanks to sterling cooperation by E-shirt, order a print of their chosen photo on their selected T-shirt design. More than 1,300 images are available. In the first 30 minutes of going online were recorded approximately 35,000 visits.

And let's not forget the Ducati Garage Challenge, the competition to find the best special that began before WDW with the selection of the 30 best bikes from those entered on the Challenge site. It continued at Misano, leading up to the announcement of the three category winners and their prizes, including awards from the official Ducati team riders.

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But what firmly placed this fourth edition of WDW in the annals of history was the announcement made by the CEO of Ducati Motor Holding, Federico Minoli. On Saturday evening Minoli personally announced the official birth of the Desmosedici Racing Replica engine to the Ducati world. The announcement was the official beginning of the road-going Desmosedici development process. This limited edition machine is destined for a lucky few Ducati enthusiasts who will enjoy the maximum expression of Ducati Racing technology as well as the unique professional competence of Borgo Panigale's R&D department. Another two years will have to pass before the first machine becomes available, so all you can do for the moment is book one and wait for WDW2006 when the very first bikes will be handed over on the very same stage from which the announcement was made this time around.

"This has been the best, most entertaining and most successful WDW in our history," commented Minoli at the end of the spectacular parade of thousands of motorcycles from Misano to Rimini. "The level of involvement has been tremendous, and the participants have been the event's real protagonists. The Ducati tribe has again shown its passion for motorcycling and for the legendary Ducati name. We are a great family, united and strengthened by our passion for riding. It's a pity we'll have to wait two years before the next WDW, but we'll start organising it tomorrow! Let's hope we can put together another week just as great, just as entertaining and just as passionate as this one. I'll see you all at WDW2006!"

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