Superbike Misano: A word from the protagonists of free practice

Superbike, Pirelli Riviera di Rimini Round. Two very interesting free practice sessions took place today at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli for the eighth round of the production-derived world championship.
While waiting for tomorrow's Tissot-Superpole, and especially Race 1, to issue the final verdicts, Nicky Hayden enjoys the best overall time ahead of a surprising Markus Reiterberger and Tom Sykes.

Nicky Hayden today took advantage not only of his great experience of the track, which he has learned over many years of militancy in MotoGP, but also of the precious test carried out at the beginning of June right here with the Honda WorldSbk team, which helped him find the right pace immediately: therefore the American's pace was excellent, especially in the last sector.

Surprising, as we said, was the second time of Markus Reiterberger who, after a couple of less than satisfactory outings in the championship, demonstrated today that he has a great feeling with this track and is certainly aiming to get a good result this weekend, after being entered the top 3 of Friday times for the first time this season.

Much loved by the home crowd, Tom Sykes will appear tomorrow in SP2 with the third fastest time overall, obtained at the end of a second free practice session in which he actually literally dominated for large stretches, so he is very confident for tomorrow.
In the press conference Tom confessed that he was very satisfied with today's performance, especially because Kawasaki, unlike many rival teams such as Ducati, Honda and Yamaha, did not choose to test at Misano but at Jerez de la Frontera, so it had to collect data in the first free practice session, to find the right set up for a very fast and demanding track like this.
A curiosity: Sykes was the author of a small crash during the first free practice session, with no consequences for the rider and the bike, exactly like at Donington: we'll see if that means anything.

Below are the jokes that the drivers exchanged at the end of the second free practice session:

“I'm very happy to have set the best time today” – he commented Nicky Hayden – “we did a test on this track a few weeks ago and it was useful to arrive here already with some data on which to base today's work. I'm happy to race at Misano, it's a track that I really like and I have many friends here. I hope to continue like this and get good results tomorrow and Sunday."

“The atmosphere here in Misano is incredible, I really like the track and I had fun today” – he said Markus Reiterberger -“We had a very good day today and we have to look to tomorrow because we can still improve a lot and get a good result this weekend.”

“Yes, it's true, I had a small crash this morning exactly like at Donington” – he commented Tom Sykes – “I'm not saying I want to continue like this but there were no consequences, the feeling was already very good in the first laps, so I wasn't worried. Misano is a fantastic track and there is always a great atmosphere, it's always great to race here. I'm very happy that we are very fast: we tested in Jerez so we had to work on the race pace here. We made some changes for FP2 and now we have a lot of data here and we know what the right direction is for tomorrow. I think it was a pretty positive Friday: now we have to focus a lot for tomorrow and for the races. It's a very fast and very demanding track but I'm happy with my pace, I'm very calm and confident, I think that tomorrow we could take another step forward."

We will see the riders again tomorrow morning, starting from 8am, with the third free practice session, preceding the Tissot-Superpole and above all Race 45.