VOL. 52 ISSUE 26 JUNE 30, 2015 P93
from Italian people—my people.
How can I say no to a single pic-
ture or autograph? For me this is
an extra job, but it is only for one
week."
Many riders claim that every-
thing after racing is somehow
less exciting than racing. Was
this a motivating factor in Biaggi
coming back?
"When you go back you get
a lot of emotion and you are
almost in the middle of the atten-
tion," he said. "First of all, [you
need] the six or eight people
per team, to perform well. Then
if you have in your pocket a
championship, also people give
you more. But I did not go back
for this. I went back for a kind of
a bet with myself. This decision
was made a week ago before,
we did not have the bike even
ready. So nothing was really
decided.
"I tested this bike at the end
of March, for the first time. I was
shocked because compared to
the bike I rode in 2012 there was
a big difference."
Biaggi was also quizzed on
what he may do if he was in a
position to take points from regu-
lar Aprilia riders Leon Haslam or
Jordi Torres on raceday.
"This was not in my head
because I really did not think I
would be ahead of everybody
on Friday. Of course it is FP so it
does not count. I will think when
I have to think."
Biaggi has remained in World
Superbike as a TV commentator
in recent times, so he is not a
stranger to the paddock, but he
did notice some changes and
some similarities since his arrival
back on a bike.
"Inside the track and in
the pits really not much has
changed," he said. "Three years
have passed, but no big change.
Just some little better things and
the paddock have grown com-
pared to before but not really a
big difference. For the bikes,
some bikes go better for the new
rules and some bikes go worse.
Of course they have changed
the potential for some machines,
I do not want to say the name,
but you can see."
It was a great comeback for the
former World Champion, leading the
way on the first day of practice and
scoring a pair of sixth-place finishes
in his first weekend back since
retiring at the end of 2012.
