BMW MOTORRAD ITALIA SUPERBIKE TEAM - IMOLA - RACE

Ayrton Badovini remains in the top ten in the world championship after a difficult weekend. Xavi Fores  wins his first point in World Superbikes.  Barrier is fifth in the  Superstock, while, unfortunately,  Zanetti falls.  

Ayrton Badovini had a long battle with Marco Melandri in race one, fighting for eighth place and finished in ninth, a result that allows him to acquire more precious points for the world standings. In race two, thanks to a good comeback, Ayrton managed to finish in the top ten.  

Ayrton said of the day: "Imola is a difficult track and very demanding physically and I started to suffer a bit at the end of race two. We finished with two good results, but I'm not happy, because we had the potential to do more. In race one it was very even with Melandri, and I confess it was also very funny. In race two I started badly and that forced me to climb from 18th position, finishing in tenth place. We're going to Magny Cours aware that we have a good chance, especially as we just received an engine update. I want to thank my fan club that has stayed with me, supporting me all weekend. "  

Xavi Fores, after retiring in race one, finished race two in fourteenth place, winning his first two World Superbike championship points.  

Results from  Superstock were below expectations with  Lorenzo Zanetti out of the picture on the second lap of the race. Lorenzo set up badly going into the first part of the low chicane before the finish line, putting him off line in the second half resulting in a fall. Sylvain Barrier, despite the incident on Saturday took part in the race, reaching fifth place, a result which allows him to retain fourth position in the FIM Cup.

Serafino Foti, sporting director of  BMW Motorrad Italia Superbike Team, commented on the day’s races: "We expected more after the test. Our current potential ranges from 5th to 10th place and but a series of problems has prevented us from doing better than Ayrton’s 9th and 10th place finishes. Fores has struggled, but the goal was to finish both races. Unfortunately a technical problem stopped him in the first. Even in Superstock we had an unfortunate weekend. Sylvain was sore after the fall in practice and he miraculously finished the race with a very swollen knee. Lorenzo paid for the error on lap two, but unfortunately this is racing and you have to accept what happened. At this point, the championship is pretty much closed unless there are significant plot twists."

Superbike:

Race 1 1: 1° J. Rea (Honda) 38'03.396 - 2° N. Haga (Aprilia) + 0.111 - 3° C. Checa (Ducati) + 9.449... 9°  A. Badovini (BMW) + 25.224

Race 2: 1° C. Checa (Ducati) 38'04.538 - 2° N. Haga (Aprilia) + 4.631 - 3° L. Camier (Aprilia) + 15.159... 10°  A. Badovini (BMW) + 28.485...14°  J. Fores (BMW) + 1'12.281  

Standings: 1° C. Checa (Ducati) p. 417 - 2° M. Melandri (Yamaha) p. 320 - 3° M. Biaggi (Aprilia) p. 281 - ...9°  A. Badovini (BMW) p. 147 ...22°  J. Toseland (BMW) p. 13 - 23°  L. Lanzi (BMW) p. 10...27°  B. Veneman (BMW) p. 3... 30°  J. Fores (BMW) p. 2.

Superstock:

Race: 1° D. Petrucci (Ducati) 22'10.546 - 2° D. Giugliano (Ducati) + 2.087 - 3° N. Canepa (Ducati) + 3.339 - 4° L. Baroni (Ducati) + 14.442 - 5°  S. Barrier (BMW)  + 16.130

FIM Cup: 1° D. Giugliano (Ducati) p. 160 - 2° D. Petrucci (Ducati) p. 119 - 3°  L.  Zanetti (BMW)  p. 117 - 4°  S. Barrier (BMW)  p. 96 - 5° N. Canepa (Ducati) p. 96.