Ducati

The 10th annual Irish Festival Cruise doesn't even get close to Ireland; the destination is the Caribbean. But the cruise is all Irish in spirit as entertainers provide nightly concerts and cultural workshops aboard the Westerdam, departing Jan. 19 from Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Guests can try Irish dancing, hear Celtic myths and learn to play the tin whistle. The eight-night Holland American Line cruise sails to six tropical ports of call: St. Martin; St. Thomas; St.

Chip Robinson slipped past Davy Jones' Jaguar with five laps remaining to win the Camel Continental VII IMSA Camel GT prototype sports car race Sunday at Watkins Glen, N.Y. Robinson moved his Nissan GTP ZX-Turbo underneath Jones' car in turn five and pulled away when Jones pitted on the final lap with engine problems. Robinson's margin of victory was 57.695 seconds over the Porsche 962C, co-driven by James Weaver of England and Hurley Haywood of Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. Bob Earl of Leesburg, Va.

The largest public motorcycle show in the country kicks off its nine-city tour at the Long Beach Convention Center on Dec. 4-6. The 33rd Cycle World International Motorcycle Show is expected to attract more than 38,000 two-wheel enthusiasts. All the major manufacturers--BMW, Ducati, Harley-Davidson, Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha--plus numerous smaller outfits will be there to show off their latest models.

You can almost smell the exhaust coming off the roster at this year's International Motorcycle Shows in Long Beach as it revs up for its Friday launch. The annual celebration of motorcycles and the folks who love to ride them boasts an alphabet soup of bikes from BMW to Yamaha and most manufacturers in between, as well as stunts from Jason Britton's Team No Limit and workshops for riders who like to wrench. New motorcycle sales have been hit hard by the down economy, but you'd hardly know it from this year's lineup, which is showcasing 450 models, many of them brand-new.

Valentino Rossi, the Italian many consider to be the greatest motorcycle racer in history, will be seeking his eighth world title as the MotoGP series opens its season Sunday in Qatar. Rossi, who has won seven championships, is back with the Yamaha race team after two years with the Ducati team. He rejoins Yamaha teammate Jorge Lorenzo of Spain, the two-time and reigning MotoGP champion. The two had frosty relations when they previously were teammates but claim that's all behind them.

THE BUDDY may be the best Vespa knockoff on the market. That's saying something because so many scooters these days are attempting to emulate the famed Italian marque and style. The brand making the scooter: Genuine, which is funny for a bike that is so shamelessly trying to be something else. But genuine also describes the appreciation I have for this small company's "new vintage" model and the cult following its scooters have generated in the six years it's been in business.

The bank heist crew didn't carry demand notes or ever see a bank teller. Their tools of choice were a powered cutting saw, hand-held radios and ladders. They walked away with millions of dollars in recent years by simply cutting through the rooftops of San Gabriel Valley banks under cover of darkness. They made holes in the roofs to access the money and slipped away with bags of cash unnoticed before dawn. They have been responsible for three rooftop heists since August 2011, L.A. County Sheriff's Department officials said.

Bruce Willis is cleaning out his garage and donating bikes from his collection to a charity that supports wounded combat veterans and their families. The last action hero has pulled together five machines to be auctioned off in an online fund-raising effort organized by Boot Campaign. A 2005 Ducati 1000DS has already been sold at auction, for $6,250. Starting Monday, bids were being taken on a 1988 Yamaha TW. Still to come, rolling out at two-month intervals, will be a 1962 Cushman Eagle, a 1991 Yamaha XT 350, and a 1972 Harley-Davidson Ironhead Sportster XLH. The final auction will be in August.

Let's keep it real. In terms of engineering, handling and performance, mid-century motorcycles were kind of awful, crude and wobbly protomorphs of the ultra-fast, super-stable, ever-starting wonder machines of the modern era. I rode an old BSA a few months ago and felt like I was going to fall off as soon as I heeled the kickstand.

A veteran agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration has been sentenced to a year in jail for attempting to hire one of his informants to run over his wife with a car. As part of a plea agreement, Jonas Raymond Montalvo, 44, was also sentenced Thursday in Imperial County Superior Court to six months of electronic monitoring and five years' probation. Montalvo pleaded guilty Dec.