DRT | DENK Racing Team Superbike Party | New Ducati Panigale V4 conquers Lower Bavaria in low flying

Neureichenau | District of Freyung-Grafenau | Lower Bavaria – I think I haven´t promised too much. The Superbike Party of DRT | DENK Racing Team with the presentation of the new Ducati Panigale V4 was a worthy ending of a very successful season at the Zweiradparadies DENK and a real feast at the same time. I´m pretty sure even New Year´s Eve won´t be able to outshine it …

New Ducati Panigale V4S following Fredl Stingel´s DRT Panigale 1299 from 2017

For this reason I´m sitting in front of my computer on New Year´s Eve after a tranquil afternoon with friends, to start, in the remaining hours of this year, this article about another highlight of my eventful year. Manfred, Fredl, the rest of the family and the whole team of Zweiradparadies DENK called and everybody came. As a result, the venue of the DRT | DENK Racing Team Superbike Party was packed. The image of the crowds of people surrounding the new Ducati Panigale V4 kind of reminded me of this year´s EICMA in Milano.

And this took place in Neureichenau, a municipality with a population of 4,400 in the state-approved resort, the district of Freyung-Grafenau. I have nothing against small municipalities but that´s exceptional indeed. If you look at the roads you can imagine why Fredl (#91) Stingel, Junior partner and motor vehicle master at Zweiradparadies DENK, became such a highly professional Superbike driver. You find everything: from long straights to narrow curves, hilly and wooded on top of that. It´s the ideal training route if you will. I only know it under a thick blanket of snow, but a visit during the warmer season is surely worthwhile. That much I´ve seen already <gg>.

It started at 7 pm. Getting there on time from a meeting with some Upper Austrian friends, I found all my current team members gathered around the camp fire with their beer at hand. At -10 °C, this was a good idea. After a heartfelt welcome and exchanging the latest experiences, I went inside to prepare my equipment for the upcoming event. In addition to my IPhone 7, my Canon EOS M10 and GoPro Hero 5 Black including accessories came into use. Of course, the infamous selfie stick must not be missed <gg>.

I felt invigorated after having a Spezi (German and Austrian soft drink) and a delicious roast pork sausage and I was ready for work. To make the wait for the highlight of the evening, namely the unveiling of the Panigale V4, pass more quickly, there were already some diverse items on the programme. In the course of the season recap of DRT | DENK Racing Team, a very impressive film about the experiences the team had on the race track in Brünn was shown. There were also some personal insights provided by top class rider Kurt ‘Wogo’ Wogowitsch ( #72), who was in the forth position in the overall ranking at Trofeo Moto Italia, which brought the unique race track experience closer to the audience.

Acting as vanguard for the unveiling of the Panigale V4, the Altreichenauer Rauhnachtler made their appearance. Legends relate that they, terrifying and fierce looking with their traditionally carved masks (called ‘Lovaven’ in Lower Bavarian), try to catch the evil Drude during the 12 nights, the period between Christmas and Epiphany, so that the Drude can´t do any mischief to humans in that time. As you can see, they managed to do this quite well with their atmospheric performance in front of the halls of Zweiradparadies DENK . After the performance by the Altreichenauer Rauhnachtler it was finally time- the eagerly awaited ceremony for the unveiling of the new Ducati Panigale V4 began.

The head of the house, Manfred Stingel, gave the introductory speech. Then his son Fredl, himself the overall champion of the Trofeo Moto Italia 2017, carried out- amongst spotlight, camera flashes, wafts of mist and drum roll- the ceremonious unveiling of the fascinating beauty ( watch the video at the end of this article). It was indeed a successful presentation which can stand comparison internationally. Following this, the eagerly waiting audience followed Manfred´s invitation to see the technical marvel from up close. People eyed the new Panigale V4, they touched it, test sat on it, took pictures of it and talked about it extensively. The rush and the excitement were enormous.

The party atmosphere, which ruled the event from the beginning, heightened with the passing of time and the amount of beers consumed. Tom especially distinguished himself in that matter. People partied at the bar as well and talked about what they just saw. People drank thoroughly in honour of the ending of the year, that´s why I can´t imagine the following New Year´s Eve to be better than that. Not after this intense evening before.

Find more Party insights from the Superbike Party on my Facebook Page ARMIN ON BIKE. This is the video on the unveiling of the Panigale V4 I mentioned earlier. It was really impressive, but see for yourselves. I´m looking forward to being right in the middle of all the events that awaits the DRT / Denk Racing Team and at the Trofeo Moto Italia. Of course I´m going to tell you all about it. See you!

Text, photography and video: Armin Hoyer | ARMIN ON BIKE