Ducati snaps Harley domination in American flat track

We don't normally delve into American national motorcycle racing scene too much on the Bikesales Network (at least now that the prolific Mat Mladin has departed the scene…), but this breakthrough deserves a special mention.

On May 1, Joe Kopp, riding a custom machine powered by a Ducati Hypermotard 1100-powered engine, snapped Harley-Davidson's absolute domination of the AMA Pro Flat Track Grand National Championship with victory at the opening round in Arizona.

It marks the first time a production engine has won a grand national twins race (there is also a class for the single-cylinder brigade) in 29 years, and snaps 17 years of Harley-Davidson domination. Think of Aussie Walter Lindrum running amok in billiards - this has been the equivalent in motorcycle racing.

The race was at thriller, with Kopp passing the H-D of Sammy Halbert on the final lap to win by just 0.025secs.

"It looked like Sammy was having some brake problems, but he said not," said Kopp. "With a couple of laps to go I realized I had a shot. On the last lap I caught him down the back straight, but I thought I better wait for the front straight to pass him. I was just barely able to draft past at the finish line."

Even though Kopp was victories, Halbert leads the championship courtesy of his pole position and another bonus point for leading the most laps in the final.

Harleys filled positions 3-9 in the 20-lap final, with the Suzuki of Australian Luke Gough rounding out the top 10.

Defending champion Jared Mees was fourth, just ahead of flat track legend Chris Carr. A second Australian, yet another former national dirt track champion in the form of Michael Kirkness (H-D), was 14th in the 18-ride field.

The last Aussie to really take it up to the locals in the AMA flat track title was Peter Goddard in the early 1980s.