Superbike, Motul Italian Round, Warm Up: Chaz Davies again in front of everyone

The Warm Up of the Motul Italian Round has just concluded at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, having started 25 minutes late due to the red flags displayed during the session dedicated to Supersport, following the crash of Caricasulo and Mulhausen .

Once the track was made safe and the session was over, the WorldSuperbike riders took to the track to fine-tune the bikes in view of the start of Race 2, scheduled for 13pm.
There were many themes this day, with the first race of the weekend, held yesterday, which gave the Italian fans a great victory for Chaz Davies, today he is expected to repeat it.
On the podium next to him was the usual Jonathan Rea, who for the third consecutive race in Imola finished behind the Welsh Ducati rider: this was his 97th podium, the eighth consecutive in Imola (the ninth in total).
Curiously, with a possible podium in Race2 both Rea and Sykes could become the only riders to have achieved 10 podiums with WorldSBK in Imola.

As proof of Rea's absolute dominance for three years now, we point out that Race2 will also be the 60th consecutive race in which Jonathan Rea is the championship leader, and it certainly won't be the last of the season!

Remaining at Kawasaki, Race 1 was the only race at Imola where Tom Sykes finished off the podium, since 2014, when he finished fifth in Race2: he will certainly do his utmost to regain the top3 in today's second race, in which he will also start from pole position by virtue of the 2017 regulation change.

This weekend's most anticipated driver, Chaz Davies, has so far taken home Pole, victory and fastest lap with leadership from start to finish.
In Race2 he will start from ninth place on the starting grid: so far only Jonathan Rea has won four races in a row at Imola, in 2014 and 2015, and we are sure that Davies will do his utmost to match him.

Returning to the action on the track, this morning's Warm Up still sees Chaz Davies ahead of the two Kawasakis of Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes, with Leon Camier excellent in fourth confirming that his MV Agusta is going strong on the flying lap while he still has to improve on the race pace.
Fifth and sixth times for the two Panigales of Xavi Fores, with the private team Barni Racing, and Marco Melandri, with the official Team Aruba Racing.
Seventh time for another private bike, the RSV4 Aprilia of the IodaRacing team entrusted to Leandro Mercado who yesterday ended the race prematurely with a fall in the first laps, followed by Alex Lowes with the Yamaha, Jordi Torres with the BMW of Team Althea who recovered from gastroenteritis which prevented him from taking to the track yesterday, and Michael Van der Mark with the other R1.

Considerable gaps with the first three within six tenths and the fourth, Camier, already a full second from the leader: between the first and the tenth there are two seconds and three tenths.

Meet at 13pm with the start of Race 00.

Below are the times recorded in the Warm Up:
1. Chaz Davies GBR Aruba.it Racing Ducati 1199R 1m 46.140s
2. Jonathan Rea GBR Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R 1m 46.269s
3. Tom Sykes GBR Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R 1m 46.780s
4. Leon Camier GBR MV Agusta RC F4 RR 1m 47.246s
5. Xavi Fores ESP Barni Ducati 1199R 1m 47.588s
6. Marco Melandri ITA Aruba.it Racing Ducati 1199R 1m 47.756s
7. Leandro Mercado ARG IodaRacing Aprilia RSV4 1m 48.114s
8. Alex Lowes GBR PATA Crescent Yamaha R1 1m 48.172s
9. Jordi Torres ESP Althea BMW S1000RR 1m 48.343s
10. Michael van der Mark NED PATA Yamaha YZF-R1 1m 48.458s
11. Eugene Laverty IRE Milwaukee Aprilia RSV4 1m 48.459s
12. Nicky Hayden USA Red Bull Honda CBR1000RR SP2 1m 48.502s
13. Lorenzo Savadori ITA Milwaukee Aprilia RSV4 1m 48.853s
14. Roman Ramos ESP Team Go Eleven Kawasaki ZX-10R 1m 48.946s
15. Randy Krummenacher SWI Puccetti Kawasaki ZX-10R 1m 48.956s
16. Stefan Bradl GER Red Bull Honda CBR1000RR SP2 1m 48.992s
17. Raffaele De Rosa ITA Althea BMW S1000RR 1m 49.011s
18. Alex de Angelis SMR Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 1m 49.173s
19. Riccardo Russo ITA Guandalini Yamaha YZF-R1 1m 49.198s
20. Ondrej Jezek CZE Grillini Kawasaki ZX-10R 1m 49.854s
21. Ayrton Badovini ITA Grillini Kawasaki ZX-10R 1m 50.166s