PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
Aprilia Racing’s Max Biaggi continued his strong early form in his comeback wildcard weekend at Misano by blitzing to the fastest lap on day one with a 1:35.380. While the Roman Emperor was happy to be back in his element and quite pleased with the team effort, he cautioned that it was going to get harder as the weekend progressed.
“I’m happy to be here and I want to sincerely thank Aprilia and the Piaggio Group for having given me this fantastic opportunity,” Biaggi said. “I’m working with the guys from the Noale test team whom I tested with these past months for MotoGP and Superbike and it is both fun and strange to be here in what is no longer a testing atmosphere but a race situation. I am really pleased for them as well… Now we are thinking about Saturday. I think the farther forward we go the harder it will be. Times will start dropping in practice, tire availability will go down and we’ll be tackling the electronics that I’ve never tested. We’ll see. It won’t be simple and we’ll also need a bit of luck.”
Felllow Italian, Aruba.it Racing Ducati’s Davide Giugliano, fell late in the halted and restarted session in his aim to lead the times and ultimately had to settle for second. Guigliano’s teammate Chaz Davies was third and Red Devils Aprilia Racing Team’s Leon Haslam was fourth; another late faller.
Kawasaki Racing Team’s Jonathan Rea and his teammate Tom Sykes were fifth and sixth. Behind the Kawi duo was Haslam’s rookie teammate Jordi Torres and impressive privateer Leandro Mercado on the Barni Racing Team Ducati in eighth.
Voltcom Crescent Suzuki’s Alex Lowes and yet another privateer Ducati rider, Matteo Baiocco on the Althea Racing Ducati, completed the top 10, .710 of a second from Biaggi.
A crash from Kawasaki Team Pedercini’s Christophe Ponsson brought out the red flags, and he was taken to medical, with his condition to ride being reviewed before he will be allowed to take to the track again on Saturday.
2015 World Superbike
Misano Day One
Combined Times
1. Max Biaggi (Aprilia) 1:35.380
2. Davide Giugliano (Ducati) 1:35.631
3. Chaz Davies (Ducati) 1:35.637
4. Leon Haslam (Aprilia) 1:35.652
5. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki) 1:35.672
6. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki) 1:35.735
7. Jordi Torres (Aprilia) 1:35.966
8. Leandro Mercado (Ducati) 1:36.015
9. Alex Lowes (Suzuki) 1:36.052
10. Matteo Baiocco (Ducati) 1:36.096
