Michele grits his teeth after yesterday’s crash and dominates race 2 at Mugello.
An extraordinary roster: out of 105 races in Superbike, #51 has climbed 70 times on the top step, with 77 total podiums.
Butti finished eighth after a smart race, thwarted only on the last lap by two overtakes suffered.
Aquilano, penalized by his starting position, made a comeback in race 2 and finished in P25.
Michele Pirro’s 70th victory in CIV Superbike, all obtained with the Barni Spark Racing Team Ducatis, was one of the most suffered, both for the rider’s physical condition and for the weather variable. At Mugello, the third round of the Dunlop CIV, the Superbike race was declared wet due to rain that fell all the way to the grid; all riders therefore chose rain tires. Already during the warm-up lap, however, the sun came out and the track was drying quickly lap after lap, making tire grip the key variable.
In these conditions Michele Pirro brought his great riding sensibility to bear. Starting in the lead, on the first lap he had a four-second advantage over everyone else, then he had to deal with the degradation of the rear end, which by the fourth of the sixteen laps had already become important. Gritting his teeth from the aftermath of yesterday’s crash that caused him to dislocate his right shoulder and a heavy contracture in the muscles of his right thigh, Pirro arrived at the front of Vitali and Saltarelli. With this result, his lead in the championship over his closest pursuer again becomes considerable: Delbianco is 34 points behind.
The same conditions, on the other hand, put Alberto Butti in crisis. His start from the seventh box was not the best, but with intelligent race conduct he managed to manage the rear tire well and had within his reach sixth place at the finish line. On the last lap, however, he was overtaken by Cavalieri and Russo, finishing eighth.
Affecting Aquilano’s race in Supersport, however, was once again the start from 34th on the grid. Edoardo managed to regain ten positions, consistently lapping stronger than the riders around him, but not to reach the points zone. Now the CIV Superbike prepares for the Racing Night at the beginning of August in Misano, the most anticipated weekend of the season where Superbike and Supersport will run the Saturday race under the spotlight of the night and with the headlights on.
#51 Michele Pirro
“Today was a really difficult race, after a few laps I could feel pieces of rubber coming at me, the rear tire was getting destroyed and several times I turned around to see what was going on. I tried to stay calm and manage the lead and my strength, but it was hard. Tonight I didn’t sleep a wink, I was aching all over, but I’m really proud of what we did together with the team. The guys worked great and I was able to get back on the top step of the podium.”
