Whilst the majority of Raider Motorsport’s 30+ years experience has been in four-wheeled competition, 1998 saw the team embark upon an entirely different challenge by entering that strange and little understood (by the 4-wheeled community) world of motorcycle road-racing aboard the worlds most successful Superbike, Ducati.

Having little knowledge of the two wheeled world it was decided to partner an established team in order to fast track the learning process.  For 1999 Raider Motorsport became a key financial partner in the Sydney based Ducati Bears F1 racing team.  With legendary rider Peter Hinton , Mike ‘the bike’ Soderland and Kerry Mills, the trio achieved a world first win for the Ducati 900SS in the Motorcycle Concepts 1999 Six-Hour Endurance race.  With increased funding from Raider Motorsport sponsors BMC Australia and Roselands Centre Jewellers, the team continued its success by finishing 3rd & 5th in 2000 BEAR’s Championship.  

To improve competitiveness Raider Motorsport sourced a 996SPS from Germany and air-freighted the bike to Australia only days before round 4 of the series.  With no testing, Rissman qualified 5th at the famous Phillip Island circuit, and in wet conditions went on to win against the might of dealer and dealer supported teams from Ducati, Honda and Suzuki.  Despite missing the opening round of the championship, the Raider Motorsport team & rider finished 8th outright and easily achieved sufficient points to win the 2001 Privateer’s Championship.  However, due to an ambiguity in Formula Xtreme rules, Rissman was denied the Privateer’s title.

Although still part of the Bear’s F1 team, in 2001 Raider Motorsport became a satellite operation entering a single Ducati 916 for novice rider Maurice Rissman who in his first full season of competition secured the Ducati Bears F1 team their maiden, and only, victory at National level.  Aboard a completely stock 916cc road bike Rissman and Raider Motorsport were a regular top 6 finisher in the Australian Formula Xtreme FX Pro Twins Championship . 

In 2002 Raider Motorsport Team Ducati was established and two Ducati 996SPS’s bikes were entered for riders Maurice Rissman and Angus Anderson in the official BEAR’s Championship and Australian Formula Xtreme FX BEAR’s & Pro Twins Championships.  Raider Motorsport Team Ducati dominated the official BEAR’s Championship and by mid season had a significant points lead in both FX BEAR’s and FX Pro Twins Privateers Championships.  Incredibly, the team was also running 4th in the prestigious FX Pro Twins outright class, a category reserved for factory/dealer supported teams and/or recognised riders.  No stranger to biting off more than it could chew, the Raider Motorsport team decide to bid for outright success and purchased the previous year’s championship wining bike from the official Australian Ducati importer, NFI.  The Ducati Dealer Team entered bike, with Craig McMartin on board, won all but two rounds of the 2001 FX Pro Twins Championship.

 On paper, and excluding any major crashes, the move virtually guaranteed Raider Motorsport Team Ducati the Privateers title and a likely top three finish in the outright championship.  However, points from two of the remaining three rounds of the championship were squandered after the new bike was plagued with minor electrical faults and repeated component failures resulting in DNF’s; in many cases forcing Rissman back onto the spare 996SPS in order to salvage points.  Ironically by the last round the team had managed to overcome the problems and Rissman qualified front row alongside  Craig McMartin (Ducati Dealer Team) and the two Aprilia Dealer Team bikes of Mike Soderland & Shaun Geronimi.  With a total 1200 points available for the entire championship Raider Motorsport Team Ducati and it’s lead rider Maurice Rissman lost the Pro Twins Championship by just 16 points, but they and Rissman did win the official BEAR’s Championship and Anderson won the Formula Xtreme BEAR’s title.