Motorcycle Ring Joust - Sandro Micheli Memorial

A medieval joust on two wheels

There is something profoundly Italian about taking a centuries-old chivalric game and entrusting it to an engine. This is exactly what happens in Pontinia, a town in the Pontine plain in the province of Latina, Lazio, with the Motorcycle Ring Joust - Sandro Micheli Memorial. The format follows that of the Ring Joust, an equestrian competition widespread for centuries in many central Italian towns: a rider at a gallop must spear a ring hanging from a wooden arm. Here, the horse gives way to the motorcycle, but the challenge remains identical: steady hands, a sharp eye, and nerves of steel.

How the competition works

The course is a ninety-meter straight marked out along Viale Italia, in the heart of Pontinia. Each team consists of two people on a motorcycle of any displacement or type: the pilot, who must maintain a constant and moderate speed to avoid disqualification, and the passenger, who takes on the role of the jockey. The passenger has the most delicate task: wielding a wooden lance to hit the ring placed on the staggia, the traditional pole equipped with a small bell that signals a successful strike.

• A course of approximately 90 meters to be covered within a time limit established by the regulations
• Three heats for a total of nine passes for each team
• The diameter of the ring decreases every three passes, making the test progressively more difficult
• Speed must be constant and moderate: it is not an acceleration race but a test of precision

The progressive reduction of the ring size is the mechanism that makes the joust compelling: in the final passes, hitting the target requires near-perfect coordination between the rider and the person holding the lance. The ringing of the bell becomes the moment when the crowd gathered along the avenue erupts.

In memory of Sandro Micheli

The event is dedicated to the memory of Sandro Micheli, a highly popular figure in Pontinia and throughout the province of Latina. Known as Mister Assosì, he was for decades the soul of the local broadcaster TV SL48, a host of dance evenings, and a television face for entire generations of Pontine residents. Micheli was also an accomplished horseman, winning multiple awards across Italy while riding his horses, including his inseparable Nerone, and the ring joust was one of his specialties. Transferring that discipline from horse to motorcycle is the way the organizers have chosen to keep alive a passion that everyone in Pontinia recognized in him.

Organizers

The event is promoted by the Happy Bikers Group of Latina, chaired by Sandro Scipione, with the participation of the Amici 2 Ruote of Strangolagalli-Ripi group. The format was previously presented in the province the previous September during the Sports Week organized in Latina, and in Pontinia, it finds its first autonomous edition. The event takes place with the patronage and support of the municipal administration, led by Mayor Eligio Tombolillo and Councilor Maria Rita D'Alessio, in collaboration with the Pro Loco of Pontinia and the P.Cap merchants' association. As is the tradition of the Happy Bikers Group, the passion for motorcycling is always accompanied by a charitable goal.

A piece of the Pontine Summer

The Motorcycle Ring Joust is part of the Pontine Summer calendar, the festival that enlivens the municipality of Pontinia from June to September with concerts, shows, gastronomic events, and traditional festivals. In a territory born from the reclamation of the Pontine marshes in the 1930s, and therefore lacking a medieval past of its own, the joust is an interesting case: not a local historical re-enactment, but a tradition borrowed and reinvented with today's tools, becoming an occasion for collective celebration.

What to expect as a spectator

Public access is free and the format is openly popular: anyone can sign up without special requirements, and after the race, the motorcyclists offer demonstration rides to curious spectators. The afternoon flows between trials, commentary on the microphone, applause, and the bell of the gallows marking the successful hits. It is an event also suitable for families, with children in the front row along the barriers of Viale Italia.