Finally, some insight on the all-new Troy Lee Designs Red Bull Ducati Factory Racing Team! At today's SMX Media Days at Angel Stadium, both riders Dylan Ferrandis and Justin Barcia spent time with several members of the media sharing insight on their off-season, their time on the new bike, and more. This is the first interviews with either rider since the November 18 team announcement.
Ferrandis said he secretly went and tested the Ducati this summer before signing with the team. He was linked to the team for several months, but said ink did not get put to paper on his contract until September. Still, the decision was made because of the experienced team personnel, made up of the old GEICO Honda/Factory Connection gang.
"I knew very early that I wanted to be there on this team,” Ferrandis said.
Ferrandis spoke very highly of the all-new Ducati Desmo450 MX. The bike was raced in the AMA Pro Motocross Championship this summer by Antonio Cairoli but has yet to compete in Monster Energy AMA Supercross. Enter the unlikely duo of Ferrandis and Barcia, once banging bars and trading shroud paint, to roll out the red carpet and launch Ducati's foray in AMA Supercross just one month and one day from today.
Ferrandis moves over to the new squad after two years aboard the Phoenix Racing Honda team after spending his entire 250cc U.S. career and early 450cc days with Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing. He speaks very highly of the Ducati bike in its current form, although he did tell us the first day was rough. Like, really rough. Some extremely unfamiliar settings had him completely lost.
"Like day one, I could not ride the bike," he recalled. "We didn't understand, like, I was not able to triple. I was not able to ride the bike. And [what] happened, it was the height of the pegs are different on the stock Ducati than any other bike. And this was killing me. I couldn't ride the bike. And after testing some stuff, we understand that was the issue."
From there, things did get better. Since then, the team has taken huge steps forward. Again, he now speaks very highly of the bike and cannot wait to go racing.
Remember, Ferrandis absolutely loved the Honda CRF450R when he got onto it this time two years ago. But last year he was not as comfortable.
Now, the French riders says Ducati has basically taken the problem he had with the current generation CRF450R and fixed that one aspect: the frame.
"This bike, this frame is really...it fits what I was struggling with the Honda a lot," he said. "Obviously, at HRC they fixed that problem but at Phoenix we didn't have enough resources to fix that. And this this Ducati bike really match what I was looking for years as a chassis, as a frame for supercross bike."
"Its chassis, frame," he said on the strong suit of the bike. "I think the Honda, since day one, I fight some flexing frame. Very, very soft, very flexing. And the Ducati bike, I think that's what's been working probably the most on is the frame. They designed a frame that is, to me, the best frame in two wheels motorsports. They understand that this is a bigger problem, especially in supercross when we have the flexing in the in the landing of the jump, or when we apply so much G-force on the bike. And I think they understand that better than any other team, any other brand. And I think, yeah, that's the strongest point of the bike. And it's what I love about the bike."
Ferrandis has always spoke his mind and not held back his thoughts in years and is always a great interview for this reason.
Unfortunately for Barcia, his time on the bike has been limited so far due to a broken collarbone. Re-injuring an already plated collarbone means this recovery has been longer than usual. He is hoping to get back on the bike around Christmas time, but either way, the #51 said he will be on the line at Anaheim 1.
Although only having about five days on the machine before the injury, Barcia said, “It revs extremely high, which is a good thing for me!”
We all know how good Barcia has been at the 450SX season opener the last half a dozen years. So, how will the roll out of the Ducati go in AMA Supercross?
And as far as the two being teammates, it seems their past run-ins are just that: in the past. It sounds like they have both had their differences but are willing to work together to exchange feedback and give directions to progress the bike forward.
"We had no problem talking or riding a little bit together on the track," Ferrandis said. "But yeah, I mean, the problem with Justin is when it's race time. I've heard he's a very nice person when he doesn't have his helmet, but when he puts the helmet on at the race, it's a different guy. So, we see and we see how it goes at the race."
“We’re fine,” Barcia said. “It’s no secret that me and Dylan have not had a great relationship racing. Am I buddies with anyone on the 450 line? Not really because it’s difficult to have that. But I feel like at least for me and Dylan as well, we’re grown ups and we can put that aside and the things we dealt with in the past and work together. Yeah, we had a good first week. Ziggy [Rick Zielfelder], busted my chops and told us he wants us to be like Step Brothers from the movie. I was like, ‘Yeah, I don’t know about all that!’ [Laughs] Maybe, you never know! But yeah, it was good. The great thing is, we’re extremely competitive so we can feed off each other. He wants to beat me, I want to beat him, so that’s a great thing. As long as we can put things aside and make the bike the best it can be, we will be good.”
Main image by Mitch Kendra
