From a press release issued by Munroe Motors:

Let’s go Racin’…

Munroe Motors goes Superbike racing this coming weekend July 9th to 11th at the Laguna Seca AMA/World Superbike round – on a new 2005 Ducati 999R.

The world press launch for the new 999R is being held on Thursday July 10th, the day before the start of the AMA/WSB race weekend. Michael Lock and John Porter of Ducati North America agreed to lend Munroe Motors one of the press launch R’s to race in the AMA Superbike round.

“We have been racing our 2002 Ducati 998S for the last couple of years in selected AMA Superbike rounds – with a best result of 10th at Sears Point and 11th at Virginia in 2002” said Nick Hayman, Munroe Motors’ business manager. “We raced a 2003 999R last year in Formula Extreme at Laguna, after being denied a Superbike entry at Sears Point because the 999 was not homologated for Superbike. But this year, these 999R’s are the homologation units that allow Eric Bostrom to race his factory model, so I know the AMA are letting us in this time!”

The street-legal 2005 999R has a number of exciting improvements over the last model from 2003 – in fact the exact details are under a strict gag order until the launch is finished. “We’ll have just enough time to throw on some race bodywork, wheels and a pipe before practice starts on Friday morning” said Matt Prentiss, Munroe’s technical boss. “We’re guessing at around 140 horsepower and, realistically, we’re hoping to achieve a top-15 finish to showcase the speed and handling of Ducati’s flagship sport bike”.

Having just come back from the Isle of Man, where he won 2 Silver Replicas and continues to be the fastest American in the history of the T.T., the team’s rider, Tom Montano, is equally excited. “We’ve had a lot of success with Ducati over the last few years” he said. “This 998-based engine is the dominant twin-cylinder motorcycle engine in road racing worldwide, and the 999 chassis is extremely predictable and easy to ride.”

Practice kicks off on Friday morning, and the AMA Superbike race is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Sunday, right in between the two rounds of the World Superbike races.