just stopped out on the track.
It got going of its own accord
and Rea ran out second for the
second time this weekend.
With his 100 percent podium
record still intact, Rea stated,
"I do not feel that our backs are
against the wall just yet because
we are still leading the cham-
pionship and we have done a
much better job in every single
race so it is up to us now to find
that extra little bit to make it more
easy to fight with these guys."
Twice with Rea almost all the
way to a passing maneuver, Tom
Sykes was beaten by his team-
mate.
Behind the top three the
yawning chasm in terms of bike
and rider combos was gaping
this weekend. It made for some
yawning races up front but there
were some midfield fireworks to
burn anybody's Roman candle at
both ends.
Jordi Torres (Althea BMW)
made the best BMW result of
the season in fourth place in
race one. But being 13 seconds
back from the win in an 18-lap
race was not anything to get too
excited about just yet. Perspec-
tive is all—thought of as a priva-
teer effort, it was brilliant. As a
strongly supported BMW engine
and electronics team, it was
good.
Possibly the real achievement
in race one, behind the big two
at least, was the sixth-place fin-
ish that should have been fifth
for the official Reparto Corse MV
Agusta of Leon Camier.
His pace after a tough start
was impressive, even on a bike
with some recent engine perfor-
mance gains done in house by
the team and not the troubled
MV Agusta factory. A small
electrical glitch that saw his bike
almost quit before getting going
again allowed official Ducati
Aruba.it Racing rider Davide
Giugliano through for fifth place.
Camier would get his fifth in
race two, again behind Giug-
liano, as Torres was seventh this
time out.
A best Honda finish of sev-
enth for Michael van der Mark
showed how tough Imola was for
him and Imola "new boy" Nicky
Hayden. Hayden found it all hard
work and the Honda was simply
not as happy around Imola as it
has been at some other tracks
so far. After podiums for each
rider in Assen, this was back to
earth with a jarring bump.
Hayden was ninth in race
one, eighth and ahead of van
der Mark by one position in race
two.
After the first race had been
delayed after a big crash and
collision between Dominic
Schmitter (Grillini Kawasaki) and
Peter Sebestyen (Toth Yamaha),
the 18-lap first race was held (as
per the new schedule on Satur-
day) and race-two went the full
19 laps on Sunday.
"Imola is a real racetrack,
definitely," said Hayden. "I mean
there are a couple of really fun
corners but when you are strug-
gling you do not enjoy it. But it is
a fun track. The chicanes are a
little bit bogus, but I guess that
is what it has to be. It is tough
because also there is some dif-
ferent pavement in places and
the layout is different. It is not
the easiest one but I did learn
the track.
"It was better and more con-
sistent on Sunday and we did
the same lap times even though
we had to use a harder tire
because of the weather. I think
everybody did. That was encour-
aging. Eighth and ninth-place
we do not leave here with good
feelings but that is racing."
Gordon Ritchie
VOL. 53 ISSUE 17 MAY 3, 2016 P41
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
GOLD
&
GOOSE
