Matt's Imola WSBK Diary

It seemed merely days after an invite from Riot Racing Team boss Jorge Vairinhos that I was off on a jet heading towards the Flori airport, which would ultimately lead me to Imola and the World Superbike paddock.

Landing at the airport team rider Chris Northover and myself arrived to bright blue skies and a warm breeze, but, no lift to the circuit. Jorge was over 100km away and simply advised us on finding our own way to the track. Fortunately for us Team Akuna rider and fellow Brit Richard Cooper overheard our phone conversation and offered us a space in his hire car. Upon arrival at the circuit another problem was encountered, we had no paddock passes, which were with Jorge at the time. Swift improvisations however lead to Chris and me "blagging" our way in to the paddock.

Carrying a suitcase each we needed a place to leave them in safe keeping so our shoulders wouldn't collapse under the weight. Luckily the ultra friendly bunch at Pirelli gave us room to leave our luggage and then offered us a rather tasty coffee. About an hour later we Chris and I took a walk around the circuit, realising half way round it was bigger than we had first expected. Back in the paddock with aching legs we met up with Jorge, moved all our belongings into the team base and went for a meal in the Yamaha France hospitality unit.

Inside I was fortunate enough to speak to ex-GP rider Norick Abe for some 20 minutes, and to say the guy is modest would be a real understatement. After the meal and conversation the Riot team and I wandered back to the team base and prepared the bike for scrutineering. The bike passed as did Chris' riding gear and we later settled down for the night, ready to start out with free practice and first qualifying the following day.

Awakened by the rain, an ominous sky looked to make tyre choice crucial with a patchy circuit ahead of the riders. The sky however began to clear and by the time Chris was to go out the track was almost perfectly dry, with the exception of a few points under the trees at the far side of the circuit. Practice went without problem and Chris returned to the pits with a good base setting.

A few adjustments later and a quick tyre change and Chris was back on track with the opening qualifying session. All was going smoothly, but Chris was not on the pace, and was pulled in to the pits by the team. Something was obviously wrong as Chris almost fell from his machine in pit lane. An injury from the previous round at Germany had been causing him grief and a great deal of pain, and was swiftly sent to the medical centre by Jorge, where Chris received pain killing injections for the rest of the weekend. Chris time placed him provisionally 31st on the grid.

An adjustment on the rear shock by Mercho at Andreani suspension, which included a lighter spring, was also conducted, in search of more grip and stability at the rear of the bike. Straight back to Yamaha France for another meal, which would be the norm for the rest of the weekend, and then we settled down, waiting for the next day's final qualifying session which would be followed that afternoon by the race.

Beautiful sunshine and clear skies raised us form our beds and the voice of the circuit staff called us up for final qualifying. It was clear form the outset that the bike was much more ride-able and that Chris was feeling good as he went some two seconds faster than the previous day, but so did many of the other riders, and Chris slipped to 34th place on the grid. Undeterred, Chris went for a final change of tyres, ready for the race and returned to the team focused, relaxed and ready to compete. Meanwhile I slid away to watch the Superbike qualifying and Superpole.

It was amazing to see those guys slid the bikes all over the place and fire out of corners faster than anything else I have ever witnessed. Finally Chris Vermulen set pole on his Ten Kate Honda ahead of championship leader Troy Corser on the Alstare Suzuki. An hour later and I was standing on the grid and I can honestly say I have never felt so much tension and nerves in the atmosphere. There were people from the media everywhere, with TV cameras, photographers and journalists all fighting for a place next to their chosen rider. Jumping back over the pit wall with a minute before the start I wished Chris good luck and before I knew it the green light was out and the 35 rider strong grid was away and racing into the first corner.

Chris made a characteristically awesome start and entered the opening set of chicanes in 27th but it didn't last long as a small mistake saw him drop back to 32nd whilst at the front Frenchman Yivan Tiberio and pole sitter, Nanelli Canneppa battled for the lead. At the end of the lap disaster struck for Canneppa as he hit the floor, leaving Tiberio with a clear run. Behind Chris had begun to work hard, and by the end of the third lap was up to 26th. He then became enthralled in a battle with Italian Alessia Polita, the only female rider in the class and for the next five laps the duo swapped places at each turn. Chris finally got the better of Polita, and with two laps left gapped himself away and towards the man in front.

But it was too late and Chris crossed the line in 25th, much to the joy of the Riot racing team. For Chris the weekend was a great success, and with it being almost 100% incident free, were the first weekend where he or the bike had suffered no damage. Good news followed 30 minutes later when one of the Kawasaki riders was disqualified for a technical infringement, lifting Chris to 24th.

Of the other British riders in the field, Barry Burrell finished 14th and Patrick McDougall failed to finish after falling on lap 8 with another rider. After dinner the Riot Racing team enjoyed a small party and paddock walk, bumping into BSB rider Scott Smart and Sky Sports commentator Jonathan Green. After a short and comical conversation we went our separate ways and the Riot team saw the evening in with a few more drinks.

With no tasks to complete the following day the team positioned themselves around the circuit to watch the Superstock, Supersport and Superbike races. First up was the Superstock race and British interest was in Richard Cooper on the sole Honda in the race and Irishman John Laverty on his Beowulf Suzuki. From the start this duo were together, with Laverty getting past and then away from Cooper by the halfway stage. Cooper then began to slip back as Laverty charged forward, reaching sixth place at one point, only for the worst to happen as he fell at the final chicane, but remounted to take home 3 points form a 13th place finish. Cooper maintained his steady pace, eventually claiming 8th place on the Akuna Racing Honda.

In Supersport it was all about the Honda versus Yamaha battle and it was the most exciting race of the weekend. Starting dry before the rain began to fall there were some major falls, luckily no rider was hurt, but the race was restarted and made into a two part affair, which saw Gianluca Nanelli take the win from Alessio Corradi and Kevin curtain. For the first Superbike race the track was neither wet nor dry and thus a majority of the field went for intermediate condition tyres, with a brave few on full slicks.

At the front it was Vermulen and Corser who showed the field how to ride and powered away from the rest as Britain's James Toseland battled with Nori Haga for third on the Xerox Ducati and Yamaha Italia bikes respectively. A power-sliding Vermulen eventually got the verdict from Corser with Haga third and Toseland fourth, whilst another Brit, Chris Walker bought his PSG Kawasaki home in 6th. The second Superbike race was called to the line just as the heavens opened, and it rained so hard the race was cancelled, meaning Troy Corser became the 2005 World Superbike Champion. The party in his team tent went on for many hours and the whole paddock seemed to follow suit as "the circus" as it is known became one giant party.

Waking early on the final day of my trip I waved good bye to the circuit and got to Flori airport ready for my return flight. Jumping on board Chris Walker joined us on the flight which lasted less than a couple of hours. Landing to a suspiciously sunny and warm England I raced home and jumped straight on the PC to write this brief diary you see before you!

Thanks to the following (In no particular order):

Cheers guys!