I have a 1988 Ducati 750 Paso with 8,000 miles on it. I haven't really used it much in the last 6 yrs or so and the last time it was started was about 2 years ago. Today I went to the shop and bought a new battery to start up the old beauty. Unfortunately I didn't really think about the fact that there has been gas sitting in there for 2 years. So when I started it I noticed that it was having trouble idling and stalled immediately. The second time I started it I kept the idle high and gave it a lot of gas to keep it running. However, I noticed that there was a bunch of white smoke coming out of the tailpipes and when I let off the gas it stalled again. I noticed that there was a puddle of gas under the bike. I was wondering if anyone had any experience with this. I am hoping it may just be a seal issue but I wanted to see if anyone has any thoughts on the subject. Thanks in advance for any help.

Two years old belts can blow off at any time destroying the engine.
You'd better don't bet such a damage.
Then change the pluga and try again