The iconic Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari circuit located in the heart of the town of Imola, 40km south-west of Bologna in northern Italy plays host to the 4th round of the 2014 World Superbike championship with Team Hero EBR keen to put the disappointment of the Dutch round at Assen a fortnight ago behind them.
Arriving at Imola, which is another new track for the all American squad, the team are full of optimism after evaluating the issues that caused a double DNF last time out.
Today’s first of two on track encounters was straight forward, with Geoff May and Aaron Yates familiarising themselves with the undulating and technical Italian track.
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Happy with their 1190RX machines and with the fact that they once again acclimatised to the track quickly, the afternoon session produced a significant step forward for both riders in terms of overall lap time. Geoff improved by almost a second with Aaron also finding small chunks of time before the session was cut short following a fire in the adjoining park that resulted in 13 minutes not being run.
Aaron Yates: “We made a little improvement during the 2nd practice session but I feel positive. I really love this track and hope tomorrow we will be more competitive.”
Geoff May: “We worked very hard today and I am sorry that the red flag stopped the session. We improved during the 2nd session and hopefully tomorrow we will gain some more time so that in the races on Sunday we can fight with some riders. I’m really having fun here in Imola, this is a beautiful race circuit.”
