ROAD NEWS
DGR A STUNNING SUCCESS GLOBALLY
123,600 riders turned out for the Distinguished Gentlemen’ s Ride across 109 countries, including 1690 here in NZ. The winner of the grand prize, a custom DGR Triumph Speed Twin 1200, ironically, was won in the UK by Michael Swanwick, so the English masterpiece stays in England this time. Christopher Minks from the US was the most successful individual fundraiser with US $ 85,154 going towards men’ s health. The global total this year was over US $ 2.4million, so thanks to all and sundry who fundraised, rode and supported DGR this year. Your mission for next year.
PECCO HEADS TO APRILIA FOR 850CC ERA
Francesco ' Pecco ' Bagnaia will depart the Lenovo Ducati garage at the end of play this season. At least his commute to the factory headquarters won’ t change massively, he will be racing Aprilia’ s new 850cc machinery next season. One of the most talented riders out there, 2026 has not been a great year for him but hopefully, the new year and a whole new team will see him back to his dynamic best in 2027. The new regulations, which come with a new engine capacity, a different tyre manufacturer( Pirelli) and with those changes, a whole new playing field, it will be interesting to see who copes with the changes best, both riders and teams.
20 KIWI RIDER