10-03-02  BEN CHECKS IN "…It’s been an emotional three years for me and in Italian they’d say, ‘Arrivederci’ which sort of means, ‘bye for now, see you soon’…". Hi guys, I’m still in Italy…well, being truthful, I’m in Bologna at the Ducati factory. But just to update you from last week's news, we found the motors for my friend Tom’s little boy’s kart, so it’s mission accomplished there. My dad, Dave, arrived safely and had a cool time here in Italy. For an American coming here for the first time, there’s a bit of culture shock, but I think he enjoyed it a lot and it was cool seeing him over here in Europe. In fact, the weekend was just great all over. Except for the racing, the on-track stuff just worked out terrible, and it wasn’t the way I wanted to say goodbye to all the European fans I’m lucky enough to have behind me. But I know that I’ll be seeing them all again and I know that I can do better than this. But right now I’m starting to get all my stuff packed up ready to be shipped home. I think I’ve sold my truck to one of the other guys, but the TV, VCR and DVD are all American, so I’ve gotta take them out and back home with me. Some hand luggage, huh? You guys all know that life is changing for BBoz. I’m moving on and leaving this wonderful Italian family to visit new pastures and I’m here to see all the guys in the factory, and in Corse, to look them in the eye and shake their hand and tell them from the bottom of my heart just how much I’ve appreciated everything they’ve done for me. You’ve all kinda heard how there’s just too many people to thank, but it’s true. My website is gonna be changing too. There’ll be an interval where anyone who visits won’t find anything changed while things get handed over and the new site gets set up. But my website is real important to me. It gives me the chance to speak directly to all you guys in my own words, to tell you how it is for real, so it will be back on line pretty soon. The site you are on now hasn’t happened by accident or anything and I need to say thank you to the guys from Ducati.com − David James, Zina Kelley and Mark Bullen − for all their hard work and long hours too. It’s been an emotional weekend for me. It’s been an emotional three years for me and in Italian they’d say, ‘Arrivederci’ which sort of means, ‘bye for now, see you soon.’ Be cool, Ben Leave a message for Ben in his guestbook. BACK    03/10/02 VALENCIA Spain 03/24/02 PHILLIP ISLAND Australia 04/07/02 KYALAMI South Africa 04/21/02 SUGO Japan 05/12/02 MONZA Italy 05/26/02 SILVERSTONE Great Britain 06/09/02 LAUSITZRING Germany 06/23/02 MISANO San Marino 07/14/02 LAGUNA SECA United States 07/28/02 BRANDS HATCH Great Britain 09/01/02 OSCHERS-LEBEN Germany 09/08/02 ASSEN Netherlands 09/29/02 IMOLA Italy