WSBK on the way to Imola for Round 7
Round 7 of the eni FIM Superbike World Championship will take place this weekend at Imola's Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari. After six events and twelve races, the "Master of Consistency" Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team) heads to the second Italian Round of the season with a 28 points advantage over Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) and an extraordinary average of 17.75 points per race - despite his only win so far in the first race of the year - and no DNF.
Speaking of consistency, Carlos Checa (Team Ducati Alstare) has won 5 of the last 6 races held on the iconic track near Bologna. The 40 year old Spaniard, who is almost back to full fitness, after the shoulder issues that have been hampering his performance since Round 2 at Aragon, will be riding an air restrictor free Ducati 1199 Panigale R, as per FIM regulations about the performance balance between twin and four-cylinder machines (article 2.4.8.1.3.).
Fond memories but no win yet at Imola for Tom Sykes, who scored a surprising first pole position of his career in 2010 onboard the previous model of ZX-10R. With the current Ninja, Sykes has finished twice second last year, after dominating for half the race and eventually surrendered to race winner Checa.
No love lost between Imola and Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team), who always finished no higher than 4th and, as Sykes and former team mate Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad GoldBet), is back from a mixed feelings Portuguese Round. Melandri never had good results on his home track in WSBK, but he's looking forward to a strong performance to keep himself in contention for the World Title.
Leon Camier (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) climbed on the podium in 2011, when he crossed the line 3rd in race 2 behind winner Checa and Noriyuki Haga. The Japanese star will make a one-off return to WSBK after 20 months since his last appearance, as he will be riding a Feel Racing BMW S 1000 RR run by Team Grillini Dentalmatic.
Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike) has been the only rider, apart from Checa, to win a race at Imola in the last three Seasons (2011, race 1). The Ulsterman was close to get a well-deserved double win, but an electrical problem forced him to a disappointing retirement, leaving the winning spot to the Spaniard. Rea's team mate Leon Haslam is continuing his recovery to be as fit as possible for the Italian Round, despite the still injured left leg.
