Team Spider Grips Ducati has qualified 1st & 3rd at this year’s Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, as the team gets set to race a pair of slightly modified 2010 Ducati Multistrada 1200S motorcycles up the 5,000ft ascent near Colorado Springs.
Taking the pole position is Pikes Peak veteran Greg Tracy, with a qualifying time of 5:22:659. Tracy won the 2008 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb on a “skunk works” Ducati Hyptermotard, and is the favorite to win this years’ 1200cc class in the motorcycle division.
Taking up the third position is Alexander Smith, who qualified with a time of 5:45:470, just one second behind the second place qualifying Buell.
Pikes Peak is a littler peculiar in the way it qualifies riders for the event. All the class have three days of practice during the race week, but since there is such a large volume of divisions and competitors, qualifying is randomly assigned during the practice sessions.
Unfortunately for Team Spider Grips Ducati, this meant the last run on the first day of practice was actually a qualifying run for the 1200cc motorcycle class. The team had only a few opportunities to ride the full-course length before having to make a run to the top count for Sunday’s race, but as we’ve seen, made the most of it.
Tracy and Smith will have two more days of practice, today and Friday, before Sunday’s race. You can follow their progress on the team’s blog pikespeak.ducatiusa.com, and check back here for updates as we get them.
Photos/Source: Team Spider Grips Ducati
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