WORLD SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP
VOL. 51 ISSUE 19 MAY 13, 2014 P37
This year he has been un-
commonly quick in making up
ground, to the point that he leads
the championship for the very
first time in his full-time Honda
World Superbike career (since
2009). And with only four rounds
gone and his home round at Don-
ington Park coming up.
Rea knew he had a chance of
Briefly...
The Imola organizers and Dorna put
some effort into the Imola weekend
and there was a genuine party atmo-
sphere on Saturday afternoon, with a
band playing most of the day on the
Alpha Romeo stand. A full-on party
at Aprilia's hospitality on Saturday
night spilled out into the paddock. It
was a bittersweet weekend for many,
however, as this was the first race in
Italy since the recent passing of leg-
endary journalist Claudio Porrozzi,
who was much loved and respected
by his peers.
Troy Bayliss was heading to Italy
over the weekend as he was on his
way to test the latest Panigale at
Mugello on the Tuesday after the of-
ficial tests, which immediately follow
the Imola race on May 11. He was
doing it just for fun and to give some
feedback.
Carlos Checa was back in the pad-
dock, still not 100 percent physically
recovered from his big crashes in
2013. He was performing an ambas-
sadorial role for Ducati at its home
circuit, meeting fans and sponsors.
He said that he was making a good
transition to life in 'civilian' mode, but
he was clearly very emotional to be
back in the paddock, which he once
ruled until very recently.
Pirelli brought another new Evo-only
race tire to Imola; different than the
one they brought to Assen. They had
higher hopes of this one than the
'special' that still left the Evo bikes
well behind at the Dutch venue. The
tire is designated an E, but is in real-
ity an SC0 derivation (coded R1368).
It is super soft and is designed to
work in high temperatures.
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