I was doing control riding last weekend at Beaver Run for a track day sponsored by European Motorcycles of Pittsburgh and the Eastern Ducati rep was there with his new 1098. He let me take it out for a session and let me tell you that this thing has some huge motor!!!! The handling was not there but the motor and torque was amazing. Coming out of turn 10 the last corner before the front straight I could not keep the front wheel on the ground. I good friend has an old 2006 Vesrah GSXR 1000 and he would only pull the 1098 by a couple of feet. I am sure the Veserh 1000 would pull the 1098 more at a track like summit with a long straight but the Duc was very impressive. The only bad part was the suspension and geometry needs a lot of work to be on par with the older 999.
Was this a 1098 or 1098s? I wouldn't be too surprised if Ducati cut a lof out of the suspension to make that $15K price point. A very unDucati thing to do, but then again, so is the price. I would also imagine a bike that light requires major dialing in by the rider. Aprilia RS250s are very much in teh same field: get the suspension dialed in wrong, and the bike handles like crap, get it right and it's a flipping slot car. Did you get any set up before you went out?
It was a standard 1098 and I did not do any set up before I went out. I was coming off my 06 636 which has AK 20's and a Penske triple clicker so it is hard the say the Duc handled bad it just needs some set up done. I am sure that as soon as Ducati starts to race the 1098 they will get all the geometry sorted out and it will trickle down to the production bikes.
I would equate your experience to no set up. To be honest, this probably goes for most modern sportbikes out there that fall in the sub-400lb. range. Unless you weight 150 lbs., i can't see how any off-the-floor bike would be anything close to optimal. Set up can only do so much with springs that are way off. If you ever read the details in a Racer X or Sport Rider test, they spend quite a bit of time with set up before any opinions are reached. I don't think they get into spring changes, but again, most of those guys are pretty light.