VOL. 50 ISSUE 26 JULY 2, 2013
P93
Briefly...
grid for Salom to return, allowing
the team to keep talented French
rider Marino alongside team regular Luca Scassa.
Former Ducati and BMW team
boss Davide Tardozzi was in
Imola on Friday, and unlike his
previous visits it appeared he was
there hoping to pick up a job in the
near future. "I have fire in the belly."
Famously passionate and direct,
Tardozzi is highly respected in the
paddock and wants to come back
to win again, but also realizes that
top jobs are jealously guarded as
he said, "If anyone has a place for
me is maybe more the question."
The Imola circuit has a contract
to run World Superbike for another
year, but after the memories of a
testing crash, which caused spinal
damage for Joan Lascorz last year,
the start at Imola was subdued in
many corners of the paddock. Even
though there is a contract in place
there were rumors that Dorna will
not allow the track back on the calendar unless more work is done to
the track. The race winning KRT Superbike squad, who ran Sykes and
Lascorz last year, were not going to
test on the Monday after the race.
not want to swear, but I do not
give a monkey's… about that side
of things right now."
The day after a thrilling MotoGP race at Assen, the usually entertaining World Superbike races were both heightened
and neutered by Kawasaki and
Sykes's brilliance. Close battles
were almost an exception.
There were novelties to tinker
with, of course, a first Aprilia privateer podium for Althea's Davide
Giugliano after his front-running
performance in race one was
an example. He crashed in race
two, not so much of a novelty for
any charging 23-year-old Italian.
Aprilia's Eugene Laverty was
a podium man first and then a
faller, but in a crash inspired by
his failing electronics that were
Sam Lowes and his Yakhnich Racing Yamaha utterly dominated World
Supersport qualifying again, but the
team has not got any more assistance from Yamaha than the permanent presence of one of their staff
in the garage on weekends. What
they do have are five guys, including the crew chief, who were in the
ParkinGO team when they won the
series on the trick Yamaha special.
Some believe that the engine on the
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