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The Ducati Corsa 888 – a Blast From The Past

12 Jul

Yes I’ve had one of these proud fellas as well. The Italian Stallion from the early 1990’s.

Mine was the full race 956cc Corsa version. The last of the line – I bought it from Tony Jeffries. His son – the late great David Jeffries had raced it for the 1994 British Superbike series – the year before the game-changing Ducati 916 appeared on the scene.

She came with the full race pack – four or five sets of bodywork – half a dozen lightweight wheels – two motors and a whole heap of bits and pieces.

The whole package cost me the bulk of my settlement from a recent expensive divorce but it was money well spent in my opinion – at the time.

I had one meeting out of her – but it was a good one – the Daytona 200 March 1995.

The new 916 arranged for a very young Neil Hodgson was late out of the blocks – still in the factory in fact.

Not the end of the world – for Neil rode my 956 Corsa instead – finishing 5th in the Battle of the Twins and a very creditable 12th in the Daytona 200 proper – his first international race on anything bigger than a 125,

With the benefit of hindsight would I change anything?

Not a bit of it! All costs had been paid – including flights for the team – hotels – air freight for my bike and entry fee – all done and dusted by the Race Organisers.

The icing on the cake was that on returning to the UK a buyer was found for my Ducati outfit at the same price I had shelled out for it only a few short months previous. A result!

Where else was I going to get that sort of experience – with a future World Champion at the start of his Superbike career – riding my bike in the Daytona 200.

It certainly helped me over the trauma and heartache that divorce can bring after 30 years of marriage. I could have been a sad fool and blown the lot in Vegas for I have little luck when it comes to cards.

Bikes are much safer – even if I did break my neck on one sixty years ago next Jan —

givit

 
1 Comment

Posted by on July 12, 2020 in out and about

 

One response to “The Ducati Corsa 888 – a Blast From The Past

  1. aguilera1970

    July 14, 2020 at 08:00

    Don, it seems I do not have your correct email address.
    Please drop me a line at aguilera1970@gmail.com and I’ll get back to you.

    Sorry javier – I’ve been missing for a while.

     

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