CIV MUGELLO, 2nd ROUND: MERCADO, WAYNE, STIZZA AND CRUCIANI Scarperia, April 7, 2013 – Today at Mugello circuit the four races of the second round completed the first round of the Italian 2013 Championship. The program of yesterday was confirmed: full grids in almost all classes and show on the track, especially in Superbike and Moto3 races, which were fought from the start to the end. SUPERBIKE: MERCADO AGAIN, BUT WHAT A RACE! – A group of seven riders went to the lead gaining ground on their opponents since the first laps, but only four of them remained in the fight for the victory in the last lap. Corradi, La Marra, Gimbert, Mercado, Bergman, Magnoni and Lai were the major players in the second round of the CIV, putting on a show for 14 laps in “Superbike style” but in the end, on the finishing line, the fight was between two riders: Corradi and Mercado. The strong Argentine rider on the Kawasaki of Team Pedercini won again for 5 hundredths of a second, taking full advantage of the Italian’s trail and passing him just below the checkered flag, to sign the first “double victory” of the weekend after yesterday’s. “I knew I had a good pace and I managed to stay in the leading group – Mercado said – I tried to get away but when I realized the that others would not let me go I kept advantage from trail on the last straight. I am very happy and I hope to continue like this”. Corradi, on Aprilia of Nuova M2 Team, was not so fast at the start, but he managed to sign a great recovery and a great overtaking in braking at San Donato curve (he passed four riders all together, making his bike slide as a supermotard) and he tried to take some advantage in the final corner. He missed the victory, but with two second places the Emilian rider showed he can be a protagonist of this season. Third place for Eddi La Marra: the rider from Lazio, who races on the Ducati of Barni Racing Team, was one of the fastest in the leading group and closed at four tenths from the first two positions, catching the third place in the second weekend and showing that he feels already comfortable in the new category. Fourth place for Michele Magnoni (BMW), who was overtaken by La Marra on the last straight. Problems with tires in the end for Sebastien Gimbert (BMW) who finished in fifth position. MOTO3: WAYNE WINS, BUT RACE RESULT WAS UNCERTAIN UP TO THE END – The “terrible kids” of Moto3 are strong and all of them want to win. The demonstration was today in the second round of CIV: after the first half of the race, there was a large group of eleven riders at the lead and they all were protagonists of limit-passes and brakings in minibike-style. Thanks to a nice forcing in the end, the winner was the British Ryan Wayne (KRP), who with a perfect trajectory at the “Bucine” corner was able to take a slight advantage and keep the lead until the chequered flag. A beautiful demonstration of strength for the 15 year old English rider, wild card here at Mugello. “I made a good start and it was not easy to stay ahead of a large group – the winner said – They were all strong, but in the end I managed to make the difference. I go home happy and I thank the team for this”. Great performance also for the “landlord” Tuscan Michael Coletti. He started well from a middle position in the grid and once he got in the leading group he did his best to win. At the end the rider of Honda Minimoto Team was the last one to surrender to Wayne, and he missed the victory by just eight hundredths of a second, but proved to have all cards in order to be a leader during the season. After yesterday’s victory Andrea Locatelli confirmed himself going back on the podium: a good result also because he continues to lead the overall standings. The rider of Mahindra Racing missed the victory for a tenth of a second, but was good at keeping in front of fast Simone Mazzola (Honda) fourth at the end. The Roman rider was the protagonist of a good recovery and didn’t catch the podium only for two-tenths of a second. In the top five Enea Bastianini on Honda. STOCK: NO RIVALS FOR STIZZA- He won the race dominating from start to finish. Nicholas Stizza, wild-card at Mugello on Yamaha, showed today that he has something more than all his opponents. The 19 year old rider from Marche had a good start when the light went out, but he left the others to do their best in the early laps. Then he he took the lead of the group (there were eight riders to fight for the win) and always ketp ahead. Lap after lap, his pace became unsustainable for all the others and he crossed the finish line with more than three seconds ahead (his advantage arrived at 4’30’’, at three-quarters of the race). “I knew I had a good pace and when I managed to go to the lead I I did what I had to do – Stizza said – I took ?the main advantage from the bike setup and from my potential, thanks to my team”. Behind him, Luca Oppedisano, Kevin Caloroso, Nicola J. Morrentino and Luca Vitali struggled until the end of the race. The Ligurian rider Oppedisano (Kawasaki – DMR Racing) finished in second position and was very good at coming back in the final thanks to a strategy of “wait and see”. Again on the podium Mattia Cassani, who had finished second yesterday. The rider from Imola, riding for PA.SA.MA Rayo Team (Yamaha) closed at six hundredths from Oppedisano and was good to overtake Nicola J. Morrentino and Luca Vitali, who were both protagonists of the first part of the race and then were forced to undergo the coming back of their opponents. In the top ten Mercandelli, Sabatino, Tucci and Monti. Yesterday’s winner, Tatasciore, crashed without consequences. SUPERSPORT: CRUCIANI AT LAST- A victory and a strong signal to his ancient rival Ilario Dionisi: Stefano Cruciani signed a perfect weekend at Mugello, winning race2 after controlling it from start to finish. The rider of Racing Team Puccetti Kawasaki blasted from the grid together with his team-mate Riccardo Russo (wild-card), and he immediately built a good gap. Nothing to do for Ilario Dionisi (Honda – Scuderia Improve), who did not start well and was soon forced to give up his attempt to recover ground on the two fastest opponents: afet a few laps they were already more than two and a half seconds ahead. In the end, the rider from Lazio was satisfied with the third place, even if with ten seconds of delay, because he mantains the leadership of the standings. In the lead, Russo and Cruciani were fighting until the last lap. The rider from Campania raced almost the whole race in Stefano’s contrail and in the end he went ahead twice. But in the decisive round, Cruciani passed back in the lead thanks to a perfect lap and was able to build a small gap between him and his rival. A tenth of advantage was enough to sign his first victory of 2013. “It was a great satisfaction for me to win again – Cruciani said – after the podium yesterday I could only improve my result and so I did. Now I’m enjoying this moment and then, from Vallelunga on, I’ll start again thinking about the championship. It will be tough … ” Russo can be pleased with his performance: two second places for him at Mugello and very useful information collected for the race world of Aragon next week. A good debut in Supersport for the Kawasaki rider of Puccetti Racing Team, who is supported by Italian Motorcyclism Federation. Behind Dionisi, fouth place for Giuliano Gregorini, who in the final straight was clever in keeping himself in front of Marco Faccani and Mirco Giansanti. The next round of the Italian Championship is for May 24-26th in Vallelunga, where the third and fourth races of the season are scheduled. More, from a press release issued by Team Thevent BMW: Mugello, Italy – 07 April 2013: Sébastien Gimbert brought the Team Thevent BMW HP4 home in fourth and fifth place in the two CIV Superbike races this weekend in Mugello, the venue for the opening two rounds of this closely fought championship. With little testing time ahead of the weekend, and a bike that was literally removed from the crate and shipped straight to Mugello, Gimbert was satisfied to come away from the opening round with two top five finishes and important championship points. Rounds three and four of the CIV Superbike Championship take place over the weekend of 25 and 26 May, at Autodromo Vallelunga Piero Taruffi on the outskirts of Rome, but Gimbert has the small matter of the Bol d’Or, the opening round of the 2013 Endurance World Championship, to attend to on 20 and 21 April before he heads back to Italy. Sébastien Gimbert: Race 1 Position: 4th – Race 2 Position: 5th “I’m not happy with the two results here, because I want to be winning wherever I race, but it just wasn’t possible here in Mugello. The BMW HP4 is incredible, but we’ve had less than 40 laps of testing time ahead of the first race, so it would be unrealistic to expect the bike to be perfect straight out of the box. We have some work to do between now and the next CIV Superbike round, but I’m confident we can sort the small issues we had this weekend. Italian Superbike is a great championship; the level is high and the racing is extremely close, lap after lap. There was plenty of paint swapped in both races this weekend, which is how I like my racing to be. I’m looking forward to the next round already!” Michael Bartholemy: Team Principal “We knew this weekend was going to be tough, as the bike was basically box fresh, with little time for testing ahead of the first race. Even so, Sébastien was impressed with the BMW HP4 from the start and did a great job to finish top five in both races. The level of competition in this year’s CIV Superbike Championship is high, and the racing is unbelievably close, but Seb showed this weekend that he, with the BMW and Michelin package, is capable of fighting for race wins and the championship once we get the bike fully set up for him.” 2013 CIV (Campionato Italiano Velocità) Calendar 25-26 May CIV Round 2 Vallelunga, Italy 15-16 June CIV Round 3 Misano, Italy 27-28 July CIV Round 4 Imola, Italy 21-22 September CIV Round 5 Mugello, Italy