Team Bimota Alstare rider Ayrton Badovini finished today’s second World Superbike Championship as the top rider in the EVO class – a tremendous result in just the team’s third race weekend with the new BB3 bike. After a disappointing first race, due to electronic problems, Ayrton had a race-long battle with fellow EVO class rider Leon Camier in the second 19-lapper, before coming out on top by two tenths of a second at the flag. As the BB3 is awaiting its homologation, Ayrton’s superb performance is excluded from the official results, but nevertheless it shows that the bike is competitive and improving each time out. And, to underline this fact, Ayrton’s team mate Christian Iddon finished only two places behind, backing up his strong performance in race one, when he was second in the EVO class.
Ayrton Badovini – Race 1: DNF, Race 2: 12th overall, 1st EVO class
“Race 1 was not so good because I had some electronics problems and I pitted three times to try and get the problems sorted out. We fixed the problem in time for race two and I really enjoyed it because I was able to push hard right from the start and have good battles. Camier and I had a good fight but I was very determined to beat him – especially as this is my home race. It was very hard at the end of the race, but I definitely wasn’t going to let him get past me. To win the EVO class today was a very nice feeling, but I think that this is just the start and there’s a lot more to come. I would like to say thank you to my team and also to all my fans who gave me so much support this weekend.”
Christian Iddon – Race 1: 12th overall, 2nd EVO class, Race 2: 14th overall, 3rd EVO class
“Today was a very positive day and I am so much happier than yesterday. We made some changes to the rear shock and the bike was much better to ride. I felt that I could push hard and that’s what I did. We made a further adjustment for the second race, but possibly we went slightly in the wrong direction and I couldn’t push as hard as I did in the race one. But the important thing is that we have collected a load of valuable data and we can use that in the test tomorrow to try and improve the bike further.”
Francis Batta (Team Manager)
“I am very happy with our win in the EVO class today – it is reward for all the tremendous effort everybody has put in since this project started. Today was only our third race weekend and to get this kind of result so soon speaks about the strength of the Bimota BMW connection and all our hard work.I am very happy with Ayrton’s performance in race two – especially considering that he rode the bike without any electronics assistance! Christian is making good progress and his pace today was good enough for top three in the EVO class in both races. Although I am happy with today’s great results, my mind is on the future and with this bike I think our prospects are very good.”
