Mike Tesseyman And His ‘748 Evo’ Takes 1st Place In The Ducati Speciale Challenge

The finals of the Ducati Speciale Challenge took place yesterday at a sun drenched Silverstone circuit. The penultimate round of the British Superbike round was the setting for the Ducati Speciale’s own showdown as the eight finalists gathered at the circuit to discover who would be the 2015 Ducati Speciale champion.

Ducati has always been synonymous with performance and design and most Ducati customers modify their bike in some way using the extensive array of Ducati Performance accessories available. To celebrate some of the best examples of self-expression by UK Ducatisti, Ducati UK created the Ducati Speciale Challenge and invited entries from all over the country which were finally shortlisted to a final eight.

The eight bikes were displayed outside the Ducati UK hospitality drawing a crowd throughout the weekend. It was here that the judges, Niall Mackenzie, Ducati TriOptions ambassador, Tim Maccabee, Managing Director and Neil Spalding MotoGP technical journalist, photographer,
author and TV commentator met to decide the winner.

After much deliberation and speaking to each of the eight owners, the judges decided that the winners were:

1st – Mike Tesseyman with is modified 748 Evo which featured an 1198 engine and a vast array of parts, accessories and many hours work.

Mike said after his win: “It was a much unexpected win, I was up against lots of fantastic bikes with lots of time and effort put in and I appreciate the work people have done. I put a lot of effort into mine, it’s a personal build, lots of different parts moulded into one package and it’s a race bike which I love racing,”

Mike was presented with a bespoke trophy made by designer Dan Taylor, a £1000 Ducati Performance voucher and a season pass for the Ducati UK hospitality.

Runner up - Sam Woodfield. Sam who is 24 years old created his version of a TT2 based on 600TL pantah with a custom made frame with modifications to steering angle, footrests and much more.

Sam was delighted and surprised by his win: “I am over the moon, I didn’t even think it would make the top six. It’s my pride and joy which I have built on a tight budget - which is why I am so surprised but I am very happy.”

Neil Spalding spoke on behalf of the judges after the awards were made, “It was a superb standard but the in the end my technical head swayed my decision, but I would be happy to go ride away on any of them. They all looked absolutely fantastic and they should all be very proud for setting such a high standard.”

The Ducati Speciale Challenge is expected to return in 2016.