ELEFANT IN THE ROOM!
Edi Oriol i’s January 1990 Paris-Dakar win on the Lucky Explorer Elefant 900ie began a huge 12 months for Ducati and its owner Cagiva. By the end of the year Raymond Roche would deliver Ducati its first Superbike World Championship on the 851/888 Superbike. Meanwhile Cagiva pressed on with its Grand Prix 500 campaign, with riders Randy Mamola,Ron and Haslam and Ale x Barros. .
This victory, in the 12th running of the hugely significant for Cagiva and Ducati, which had spent t he past six years challeng ing for an overal l win but never quite achieving it. To win the Dakar,Orioli’s Elefant first had to survive 12,000km, including nearly 8000km of brutal competitive stages, from Paris in France, to Dakar in Senegal.
The engine powering Orioli’s winning machine was vindication of the strength of Ducati’s new 900cc V-twin. It was based on the 904cc twin that was powering the 900SS model helping Ducati revitalise its roadbike
