Ducati Desmo450 MX
Development of the new Ducati motocrosser, the Desmo450 MX, continues. Over the weekend, Alessandro Lupino took the bike to a second-place finish in the Italian Motocross Championship at the Miravalle Circuit of Montevarchi.
The opening race was less successful, with Lupino forced to retire after contact with another rider, after a fast start and competing for third place.
He came good in race two, kicking off with another fast start and racing to second. With this result, the Viterbo rider consolidated his third place in the championship standings.
While not quite as strong as the victory in Mantua in March, the prototype continues to prove itself ahead of a 2025 production release, the first step towards the birth of the new range of Borgo Panigale off-road motorcycles.
The Montevarchi race allowed Ducati engineers to collect more valuable data to support the development of the Desmo450 MX, whose race performance confirmed the technical basis of the prototype.
The next round of the Italian Motocross Championship is scheduled for June 22-23 on the Ponte a Egola (PI) track. During the month-long break, Alessandro Lupino and Tony Cairoli, present at Montevarchi to support his brand mate, will continue the testing program of the Desmo450 MX.
Ducati is not the only European motorcycle brand taking steps towards the production of mainstream motocross models through race development in 2024. British brand Triumph is contesting both the AMA Supercross and Pro Motocross Championships with its TF 250-X, where it has been scoring good results with Jalek Swoll.
