Cycle News

VOL. 50 ISSUE 21 MAY 29, 2013 P93 Briefly... way to the final third. He made a mistake in the penultimate corner or he could have been even better than ninth on the grid. He had set a best lap in Mugello testing of a low 1:51, the fastest lap ever done there on a Panigale. "Canepa was pretty fast and did a good test at Mugello, and he was faster than anybody went on the Panigale before," confirmed Ducati SBK boss Ernesto Marinelli. "He gives really good, positive, feedback. We decided to bring him here to Donington because there was no Superstock at this round and it would be really helpful for us to get more data from the bike on the track. Canepa has always been a very good tester." Noriyuki Haga was rumored to be riding at the Imola race at the end of June and by Saturday it was being confirmed by the Grillini BMW team. Haga will ride an S1000RR developed by Feel Racing and run by the team, which will continue with regular rider Vittorio Iannuzzo. Team manager Andrea Grillini stated at Donington: "I am very happy to have reached an agreement with Haga and his management. For the Italian round, Haga will be supported by a dedicated crew of technicians. I am sure that Haga's return in Superbike is great news for his fans and for the series itself." There will be a one-day test at Imola on the Monday after the race there on July 1 – with most of the teams expected to participate. Pata Honda rider Leon Haslam made the full-time switch to Brembo brakes, from the more usual Nissin material, at Donington. Jonathan Rea had used them for a short period of time at Monza, but went back to the Nissins until they can do a proper test of the Italian brakes. Said team technical chief Pieter Breddels: "We tried them both on Brembos yesterday, to start the race weekend with both guys on the same brakes, but at this moment for Jonathan it is not bringing any clear advantage so we do not want to test any further in a race weekend. It is also going to take more time to get used to riding with the different system. Leon is happy with the Brembos and Jonathan with Nissin so we want to give the guys the best - that is why we have two brands in the box. We will test the Brembos with Jonathan again at Imola on the Monday after the race. We actually tried them before in Monza, but there was a little mistake in the mechanical set-up so we decided to stop there for that weekend. We use the same Superbike spec Brembos that other people use." Carlos Checa's problematic shoulder was continuing to give him grief on day two, although not much after a wet (and therefore less stressful) day one. "My shoulder's been hurting a bit – we have to see how I am tomorrow, after completing race distance," Checa said on Saturday. "This is one of the more physical tracks so it won't be easy, but I'll do my best." Moto 2 rider and former World Supersport race winner Gino Rea was at Donington and he is on standby to be a Kawasaki replacement rider if circumstances conspire to prevent any of the top Kawasaki men from riding. Injured David Salom will test shortly to see if he will be fit for Portimao for his Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres team. Ducati Chief Ernesto Marinelli is clearly concerned about the issue with Checa's shoulder, as Checa should very much be his lead rider in 2013. "It is still a problem; the shoulder is not perfect," said Marinelli on Saturday. "The limit we will have to see over the weekend, whether it keeps stable or gets worse. The problem is that the inflammation control worked and he has a lot of treatment to bring the inflammation down. He recovers very quickly and came here in very good shape. Then he rides and the inflammation comes back. It all depends how bad it will be and how bad it comes back." Championship leader Sylvain Guintoli spoke after qualifying on the front row about how much more the bike is planted. "The Superbike lap times are very quick, so the 17s are good for performance and they allow even more all the manufacturers to have tires that work. They have gone better in performance, but they have gone wider in abilities. And it makes sense because 17-inch tires are the ones you can buy for your road bike. It would be interesting, now we have got used to the 17s to make a backto-back test. It seems like the tires have got more endurance. When the tires drop they just stay."

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