Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

“I thought it went exceptionally well,” said three-time AMA Superbike Champion Doug Chandler after his first-ever ride on his new HMC Milwaukee Ducati 749R AMA Formula Xtreme racebike during promoter practice Friday at Pikes Peak International Raceway (PPIR).

“Anytime you get something all brand new put together, you expect a lot more gremlins than really occurred,” continued Chandler. “For its first day on the track, it went around exceptionally well. The bike has been flawless. I think it’s more me getting myself up to speed than the bike. The bike seems to be ahead of me right now.”

Fully recovered from leg injuries that knocked him out of AMA Supermoto racing last season, Chandler said he has only done two days of riding on a road race track (at Laguna Seca during a Keith Code California Superbike School) since early in 2003 and just needed to knock the rust off.

“We’re as prepared as we could be with the short notice,” Team Owner Mitch Hansen told Roadracingworld.com. “We have one bike ready. We’re waiting on some more parts to get the second bike ready. I think we’re prepared pretty well, but once we get out in practice we’ll find out how prepared we really are.”

Hansen said his team is being supported by Ducati North America, and Ducati Corse in Italy is helping out with World Supersport kit parts, which result in Chandler’s 749R producing over 140 rear-wheel horsepower.

“We’ve got Gary Medley, Elliott Cho, Richard Boyd, myself – we’ll see how it works. We’ve got good chemistry on the team, and Doug has worked with everyone before. So hopefully we can hit the ground running,” said Hansen.