Doug Chandler is the original paradoxical racer. He grew up on the dirt tracks of the west coast and was primarily a dirt tracker until his late teens, then he made the move to part time roadracing to get more points in the old Camel Pro championship which named a champion from combined points from both disciples.

If there were a rider you could expect to adopt a dirt tracker style in his riding-slide the bike everywhere and especially on the exit-you'd think it would be Chandler, he of the Grand Slam, he of the San Jose Mile. But no, Chandler got on a roadrace bike and decided the best way for old JDC to go fast was to keep the bike and wheels in line.

The only time he ever puts the bike out of line is actually on the entrance of the corner, to scrub off speed, and then only rarely. I think I've seen him do it maybe three or four times in ten years. Somehow, he won three Superbike titles, several World Superbike races and even some Supersport races on in-line four-cylinder bikes that would not seem to fit his very structured style.

So now, after much consternation, he is a Ducati rider and if there ever were a rider built from the big factory in the sky to be a Ducati rider, it is Chandler. Very precise. Very accurate. Never a wheel put wrong. All traits that will get you right in the game on a big Ducati V-Twin. So, does it feel like the bed your body was made for, an old pair of blue jeans, or simply The Way It Should Be?

"I don't know," Chandler said last night driving out of the track. "I know it doesn't feel wrong...at all. I mean, the bike does nothing wrong. If you asked me to name one thing that the bike does wrong, right now I could not tell you what it is. It brakes well, it steers great, it has good acceleration. Does it suit me? I think so. It doesn't not suit me, let's put it that way."

And say, how about the dark side? Let's be frank: Chandler was invited to not come back at Kawasaki and some say he never got as much as a handshake after VIR. Is it time now for some retribution? Does Chandler feel that the time now is to put some hurt on these green fellows. These fellows gave you a vote of no confidence, so now they are going to pay, right?

"I'm not all that bothered by the way I left 'em," Chandler says, not trying to be nice, just being honest as usual. "I just wanted to get on a competitive bike and win some races. Be up there among the front guys. I still enjoy racing."

Chandler was relatively fast out of the box yesterday at Laguna Seca-doing high 1:27s right away. He actually had the fast time on most stopwatches for a good part of the day. What rival crewmen found alarming was not that Chandler was fast around the track, but that his split lap from turn three to the hill was much faster than anyone else.

"He's so damn smooth, it's hard to tell if he's going fast or not, but he looked like he was enjoying himself out there," said a man-with- a-wrench from another team.

Is this actually now fun, are you enjoying yourself, I ask Chandler. Were you smiling in that old helmet?

"Yeah, I was," he answers. "When I started to run some guys down and could hang right with them no problem, I did smile a few times. I was like, 'All right!'"