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Florian Marino and Riccardo Russo, the regular 2016 riders for the Pata Yamaha STK1000 Team in the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup, are poised to return from lengthy convalescences when race action continues in September.

Marino and Russo started the season strongly for the Pata Yamaha STK1000 Team, each sealing a pole position across the opening two rounds in Aragon and Assen. Both the Frenchman and the Italian then saw their seasons cruelly shortened when they picked up injuries in separate crashes during the Dutch weekend.

Marino was first to be hurt when he crashed in qualifying at Assen, suffering fractures to his pelvis, femur, tibia and fibula after losing control and being struck by the following bike of Italy’s Luca Vitali.

“I am getting better week by week,” says 23-year-old Marino. “It is a long process but, coming from where I was after the accident, I am happy with how I am at the moment. My recovery is going well; it is a lot of hard work but it’s progressing and that’s important! Every day I am going to a rehabilitation centre close to where I live. I am there from nine in the morning until two in the afternoon, working with a physiotherapist on my leg to get back the strength and mobility. Basically we are just doing everything possible to recover as well as I can.

“I have not been on a bike yet since the accident, but my plan is just to keep doing what I am doing now to aid my recovery and of course get back on the YZF-R1M as soon as I can. My return to competition with the Pata Yamaha Official STK1000 Team will depend a lot on the next few weeks. I will see how my leg is feeling and see how my speed is once I am back on the bike. When I come back it’s because I know I can race as before and that it is the best for me, for Yamaha and the team.”

Russo’s crash came in the Assen race itself, highsiding while chasing Raffaele de Rosa for the lead, thus sustaining a broken leg. He returned to riding with an Italian championship outing at Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli in July, posting a 1’37.287 lap time which was quicker than this year’s STK1000 race pole position earlier in the year; he went on to claim two podium finishes that weekend.

“After returning home from the surgery in Assen I immediately started working with my physiotherapist on all the necessary therapies for my leg, including magnetic therapy and exercises to avoid losing muscle mass,” explains Russo, 23. “It was very hard, but after one month I was able to start more intensive work in the pool. Now I feel good; my physical level is still not 100% but I can ride as I want and it was good to be back on the YZF-R1M. The first time with the bike and the Pata Yamaha team after my injury was very good – better than expected – and I was still very fast.

“During the two Italian Championship races at Misano I felt good, both with the bike and with my leg, so I am confident. I will continue training both on-track with my supermoto bike and Yamaha YZF-R3, and also with physical training throughout the summer break, but I'm looking forward to returning in September. My next competitive race will be at Imola for the Italian championship, which is one of my favourite tracks before the Superstock 1000 race at the Lausitzring a fortnight later.”

Seven riders have competed for the Pata Yamaha Official STK1000 Team this season, including 2007 class winner Niccolo Canepa and Lucas Mahias, who won the race at Misano.

The next round will come at Germany’s Lausitzring on the weekend of 16-18 September, marking the first WorldSBK gathering at the track since 2007; incidentally, the last three STK1000 races on that circuit have been won by Yamaha motorcycles, with Belgian rider Didier Van Keymeulen clinching victory in 2005 and 2007 while Italy’s Claudio Corti triumphed in 2006.