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March 13, 2006 – Ducati wins design award

Ducati’s Hypermotard took the top prize at the Motorcycle Design Association’s (MDA) 2005 Motorcycle Design Awards.
Members of the MDA — more than 120 professionals from within the worldwide powersports industry — debated merits of more than two dozen nominated two-wheelers vying for overall excellence as well as honors in five separate categories. The MDA, based in Villefranche de Lonchat, France, announced the winners Feb. 6.
The Hypermotard was the overall winner of the 2005 Motorcycle Design Trophy. The runner-up to the overall prize was the Yamaha MT-OS.
“In all the category votes, the winning bike led by a very clear majority — definitively so for the Ducati Hypermotard in the case of the Open Category,” said Glynn Kerr, MDA president. “The same was not true for the overall Motorcycle Design Trophy though. No less than 17 models were nominated, splitting the votes throughout the range. Nevertheless, the Hypermotard still came through by a significant margin, receiving 50 percent more votes than its nearest rival, the Yamaha MT-OS.”
The first Motorcycle Design trophies were awarded at the Paris Motorcycle Show in 2001 to the Yamaha R1, Harley-Davidson V-Rod and Gilera 50cc Ice. Ducati’s 999R won the top award in 2002, the Yamaha R1 won again in 2003, and the Yamaha MT-01 took the trophy in 2004.
Last year’s category winners included the Bimota DB5, Kawasaki ZX-6 and BMW K1200S in the Supersport category; the KTM RC8/Venom, Yamaha MT-01 and Benelli TNT and Derbi Mulhacén (tie) in the Open (200cc and Above) Category; the Rieju RS2 Matrix, Yamaha XT125 and Derbi SM in the Junior (up to 200cc) Category; the Derbi GP1, Aprilia Sport City, and Honda Zoomer and Generic XDR (tie) in the Scooter & Commuter Category; and the Honda Griffon, Confederate Wraith and Yamaha Tricker Pro in the Concept Bike Category.
The MDA aims to bring together cycle designers of all nationalities to promote its activities and to ease communication between designers and potential clients. The organization also promotes design education.
Motorcycle design consultancies supporting the MDA include BOXER Design (France), ELM Design (Japan) Yamaha Motor Group, ELM Design (Europe) Yamaha Motor Group, Factory Design (UK), GK Design Europe (Netherlands), Kiska Creative Industries (Austria), Troll Engineering (Netherlands), Renfrew Group (UK), type u (Spain), VEPRO (UK) and XENOPHYA design (UK).
The 2005 Motorcycle Design Award ceremonies will take place at a later date.

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