The MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship has rolled around to the Misano World Circuit \u201cMarco Simoncelli\u201d and the Thursday debriefs were an interesting affair. From discussions about the future to fitness updates and more, catch up on the best quotes from the Pirelli Emilia-Romagna Round below.<\/p>\n
\u201cTHE HARDEST THING FOR THIS INJURY WAS THE TIMING OF IT\u201d<\/p>\n
Providing a fitness update and previewing the weekend, Miguel Oliveira<\/a> (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) said: \u201cI\u2019m quite excited to get back to racing. After one month, we decided that it was time for me to be back on the bike, to finish the last stage of the rehabilitation. I think it\u2019s been a very successful journey of recovery. I know my physical condition is not 100%, especially because I missed a lot of time on the bike. It\u2019s not been a new road for me. In the last few years, I\u2019ve had times where I\u2019ve had to stay away a couple of races to recover. The hardest thing for this injury was the timing of it, because I was really looking forward to the races we had in the past month. The team did a good job with Mickey in the races and in testing, so extra credit for him for doing the extra kilometres in the past month to get us into this position. The goal is to have a clean weekend. No crashes is the target but also have a solid weekend in terms of how fast I can go and the consistency.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cONE TIME I HAVE TO FINISH SECOND BECAUSE IT\u2019S IMPOSSIBLE TO WIN EVERY RACE!\u201d<\/p>\n Continuing to rewrite history, and speaking about his future, Nicolo Bulega<\/a> (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) previewed Misano by saying: \u201cI\u2019m really happy to be here at Misano, especially after a lot of consecutive wins. We\u2019re very motivated to be fast here. It would be very nice to win here, for me, my team and Ducati. I think my season has been 10 out of 10 so far, because we\u2019ve won every race which is a fantastic achievement. The season is still very long. I think Iker did a fantastic job, and that\u2019s good for WorldSBK, for every rider here. It\u2019s good to see that a good rider in WorldSBK is a good rider in MotoGP. Congratulations to him. We have some news, but like every time you ask, I cannot tell you! I think results are always very important, but we\u2019ve already had some good results. If we can continue winning, it will be fantastic, but one time I have to finish second because it\u2019s impossible to win every race!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWE WILL TRY TO CHANNEL THE PRESSURE TO BE STRONG\u201d<\/p>\n Home hero Yari Montella<\/a> (Barni Spark Racing Team) is aiming high at Misano: \u201cIt\u2019s a special round. Riding at home after a season like this one with all my friends and family in attendance makes me really happy. It\u2019s a bit of pressure, but we need to control it and channel it into being stronger. We will try to adapt what we learned from the Misano test; it will be different conditions, but we will try to be at our best. Aragon tried something new to be closer to the top two, but it didn\u2019t work all weekend. It was a step forward on Sunday, but it was already late in the round. I felt good in the Superpole Race, and in Race 2, I went a bit wide in Turns 8-9 and lost the front. It was a shame after such a good round at Most, but we have the speed. This is a different track with a different grip, so we will see. I\u2019m very happy with how this season has gone so far; this much success wasn\u2019t in our plans. I will continue in this Championship for sure, but for now, it\u2019s still very early to know.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI ARRIVE HERE EVEN HAPPIER THAN USUAL\u201d<\/p>\n Fresh from a MotoGP outing, Iker Lecuona<\/a> (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) said: \u201cLast weekend competing in MotoGP was really cool. I was really surprised to get the call. The rhythm was great, no mistakes despite a new team, a new bike, and learning a lot. Over the last three years, since I was there, the bike has changed a lot. I\u2019m very happy with the performance, and it has me arriving here even happier and more relaxed than usual. I don\u2019t have any expectations, I just want to work and try to improve, and I just want to enjoy. I had a similar mindset last weekend at MotoGP, and I went very fast, so I want to do the same thing. It was amazing to ride in front of my family at Aragon, and now riding here at Misano there will be many fans and Ducati family members, so winning here would be fantastic. The only thing I can say about my future is that we\u2019re still talking, I think we\u2019re progressing in a good way to stay here next season, but nothing for sure yet.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTHE ATMOSPHERE IS DIFFERENT\u2026 YOU FEEL SOMETHING ELSE, BUT IT\u2019S EASIER TO FEEL EXTRA PRESSURE\u201d<\/p>\n Axel Bassani<\/a> (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) discussed the \u2018extra pressure\u2019 that comes with a home round: \u201cI\u2019m really happy to be back here at Misano for my home round, it\u2019s always special. The atmosphere is different from other circuits, you feel something else, but it\u2019s easier to feel extra pressure as it\u2019s the home round for me, Bimota and we have the whole family here. I\u2019m happy about the last races, we\u2019re working well; also in the test. We started the season in a really good way; maybe too good! Especially at Assen and Balaton, we struggled a little bit, especially in Superpole. From Most, we started again to get to our level. I think it\u2019s a special round because we\u2019re at home, but at the same time, it\u2019s a normal race. Every race during the year is important. I think the team can be quite smart to understand all the races during the year, not just one race.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cITALY IS LIKE A SECOND HOME FOR ME\u201d<\/p>\n Back on the rostrum last time out and close to victory, Sam Lowes<\/a> (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) stated: \u201cWe\u2019re halfway through the season, apart from a couple of bad rounds at Balaton Park and Most, I\u2019m pretty happy with how it\u2019s going. I love racing here in Italy. It\u2019s like a second home for me and my wife, who is Italian and our daughter speaks both English and Italian. It\u2019s always a great place to race. I have great memories here from Moto2, and I\u2019m looking forward to getting started. I knew Aragon was going to be good for us. I made a few mistakes over the course of the weekend, but the important points were good. It was important for us to have had the good weekend that we did, and now arriving here with good confidence after the test where I felt strong. I could have done better in a few races, but sitting third in the Championship, behind the two guys who I think have a bit of a step on everyone, I just need to find a step as we\u2019re on the same bike as them. I need to knuckle down and try to decrease the margin to try to fight for a better position by the end of the season at Jerez. The test was hot here, I think at FP1 we\u2019ll just use one set of tyres to keep working on the race pace, I think the last 7-8 laps will be the most important this weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI WOULD LIKE TO END THIS SEASON WITH A PODIUM\u201d<\/p>\n Getting stronger and stronger with each passing round, rookie Stefano Manzi<\/a> (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) said: \u201cI feel good, I\u2019m super happy to be back on this track to race, we had a test here last month. I like this track and I\u2019ve had good moments here in the past, so I can\u2019t wait to start the action on Friday. I have work to do, but it\u2019s nice to start the morning by waking up at my house. I come here to the circuit from there, so with my friends coming here to watch, it\u2019s always special. Of course, the results don\u2019t reflect where I want to be, but it is what it is. I had a very bad injury to my ankle before the first round at Phillip Island, and I spent the first three months recovering from that, so it made the first three rounds difficult, but we\u2019re working to achieve more. It\u2019s hard to say it when you\u2019ve been 12th or 14th, but I would like to end this season with a podium.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWE LEARNED INTERESTING THINGS AT ARAGON\u201d<\/p>\n A regular podium contender throughout the year, Lorenzo Baldassarri<\/a> (Team GoEleven) is going in search of a first podium on home soil: \u201cAt Aragon, the results were so-so. It was good because we made a step on Sunday morning, as we had a good pace in the Superpole Race and the feeling was good in Race 2 until we made contact and crashed in the first corner. After the test here I was a bit worried; I had a good feeling but not good speed. After Aragon, we came to understand some things about the bike, so I\u2019m interested to see how we start the weekend. Physically, I feel good. I\u2019m getting better every day. We tried lots of things at the test and at Aragon, not many of them worked, but something we tried on Sunday morning at Aragon in the Warm Up was interesting so we will see how it goes. Motivation is very high, we want to enjoy this weekend, and I don\u2019t feel much pressure because we have shown that we can be fast. The target is to improve from our best weekend which was in Hungary. I want to enjoy being here with the home fans. I live only about 30 minutes from here.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIT\u2019S MY FIRST TIME AT MY HOME CIRCUIT\u2026 I\u2019VE LEARNT A LOT AND IMPROVED EVERY WEEKEND\u201d<\/p>\n