A Pleasant Surprise
Last month we were invited by Ducati India for the first ride of the new 2025 Panigale V4 to Thailand. The ride was held at the Chang International Circuit that hosted the first round of the 2025 MotoGP season.
On a personal front, I was a little sceptical about riding a superbike on a racetrack after five long years. The last time I rode a superbike on the track was the BMW S 1000 RR at the Buddh International Circuit in 2020. I have been riding the Royal Enfield Continental GT Cup race bikes but they weigh more than the Ducati and produce one-fourth the power. To make matters worse, during our drive from the Bangkok airport to the Buriram circuit, other journalists sharing the van were saying how they had just ridden the bike in Spain and Italy on a racetrack and how quickly they were going.
After a short briefing, it was time to hit the track and our lead rider was the Technical Director of DRE Racetrack Academy, Dario Marchetti. There were four Indian journalists and one from the Philippines in our group.
After following Dario for a couple of laps, I was asked to let all the riders through and follow them, but I was surprised to see that they were so slow that I passed all of them and soon found myself riding behind Dario. The irony was that, contrary to expectations, I was the quickest rider in our group. Before the ride, I was worried that I would make a fool of myself by going too slow. All I can say is that even today, at the age of 65 years, I can wobble around a racetrack at a decent pace and not make a fool of myself and I thank Lord God for this. We have a tie-up with Alpinestars for riding gear and this was the first time I wore an Alpinestars race suit, boots, and gloves. The race suit is the best fitting suit I have ever worn and the boots and gloves are very soft and supple.
Aspi Bhathena
Editor
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