ok it may be "embarrassing" that we are so desperate to find an article where the 1098 is on top, but I for one am all for it. I chose the ducati because it is the best (even if only the best for a decent rider like me) so naturally i want to see it be on top. It just came out and it would be nice for it to have at least a breif reign as king before the newer better bikes come out next year.
secondly, all the articles that say other bikes are better don't take into consideration what the ones that say the 1098 is faster do. With a HIGHLY skilled and experienced rider they can squeeze ever so slightly faster lap times out of bikes like the k7 gsxr or the r1 b/c they keep the bikes in the top couple thousand rpms around the track. I have heard from a lot of articles that the 1098 is SO much easier to ride fast and that the feedback it gives help to produce a better rider out of you. Even if they could squeeze a couple tenths or hundreds of seconds off of a lap time, they said (especially on the r1) that they just felt busy on the i4s. It was a lot more work and they require a lot more skill to make them go just as fast. So, a veteren racer may be able to go SLIGHTLY faster on the gsxr or r1 but I know (even as a guy interested in getting into official racing) I WILL be far faster on the ducati then on any i4, on the street or on the track. And I promised myself, when i become skilled enough to make an i4 go faster than the 1098, i'll get that. But, for now, I am buying the 1098 to LEARN to go fast, because it is the fastest thing by far for my current skill level. and I am sorry if that embarrasses you.