From a press release issued by Ducati North America:

SNOW STORM DOESN’T STOP THE DUCATI MONSTER CHALLENGE IN NEW YORK CITY

The are no snow days in motorcycling, and the search for the coolest Monster in North America continued in New York City.

Cupertino, CA – The Ducati Monster Challenge didn’t miss a beat as snow fell in New York City during the 2005 Cycle World IMS Show. Although most entrants brought their bikes to the show by trailer, one brave Ducatisti from Manhattan actually rode through the frigid temperatures to deliver his bike. The New York show featured totally unique Monsters including Lock Baker’s bike with many custom fabricated parts and a police bike built by BCM Motorsports for display only.

Lock Baker’s retro-styled Monster took first place and he’ll be one of the finalists in Daytona competing for a 2005 Monster S4R or trip to a MotoGP race. Unlike most people who start a ground-up modification job with a wrecked bike, Lock bought his 2004 Ducati Monster 1000 brand new and began tearing it apart. The attention to detail, excellent metal work, and welding skills made this bike a favorite among the judges.

Brian Catterson from Cycle World said, “I appreciate that Lock created something totally unique instead of just bolting on parts from a catalog. The bike also reminds me of an old Pantah I used to race.”

Second place went to Leslie Grossman of Yardley, Pennsylvania for his 1999 Monster 900S. Leslie considers his bike a sleeper, because the more you look at the details, the more things you notice that set this bike apart. Close inspection reveals trick parts like an Ohlins Superbike front end, carbon-carbon Brembo monobloc front brakes, Marvic 888 wheels, and even a radial clutch master cylinder directly from Rossi’s MotoGP bike. Many of the parts on this bike are off of Ferracci’s ex-World Superbike and AMA bikes.

Leslie says the coolest thing about his bike is, “Rossi’s clutch master cylinder, I found that on Ebay and had a friend at Brembo verify that it was legit.”

Justin Picillo from New York, New York rode his highly modified 2001 S4 to the show and won third place. His long list of go-fast parts work well and the bike makes 117.4 HP at the rear wheel. And the best part is that Justin rides the bike daily around Manhattan. His favorite addiction though is the carbon fiber and he says he can’t get enough of it for his bike.

The “People Choice” award went to Wendy Hammond and her Monster 900. Not only does the flashy yellow paint and black stripe make it look good, she also does track days with the bike and is an accomplished rider.