VOL. 52 ISSUE 2 JANUARY 13, 2015 P77
an eight-minute warm-up in the wet. I pulled in
after three laps and said, 'we're good.' It was one
of those things. I just felt so confident on the bike
and so comfortable that it was just good."
When the race started he went from ninth to
second in five laps, but ultimately got greedy and
crashed.
"That was the turning point in the season,"
Rispoli said. "I knew I was going to do it. It was
either win or crash for me. I've never thought like
that, but it was one of those things where it was
like, I have to win, or crash. But it was worth it.
Everybody was stoked."
The British Superbike Series is very strong
right now and is viewed as the place where riders
from around the globe land to springboard into
the World Championship. There's still some
money there and the series draws bigger crowds
than World Superbike, even though the World
Championship is stacked with British talent.
In contrast, the American national road race
championship—AMA Pro Road Racing—was on a
downward spiral. Rispoli now has experience with
both series.
"We know the competition in America is
strong," Rispoli says. "We know we have a lot of
talented riders. With the series [AMA Pro Road
Racing] and stuff, it's just tough to see all the
talent and get everybody on good bikes. Over
there, there's still some money rolling around, and
there's good riders on good bikes. The series is
thriving, so there's, I would say, the top eight to
top 10 can win.
"Last year they were breaking track records by
half a second in the first session. It was steep.
That means I've got to first get to the track record
Rispoli ended the
year overseas
with a couple of
podiums for Team
Traction Control.
