The Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team has completed the fifth WorldSBK round of the year by taking part in the second race of the weekend at Imola’s ‘Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari’. After a restart, Nicky Hayden crossed the line 12th, two places ahead of his team mate Stefan Bradl.

The race came to an early stop on the second lap due to a technical problem – with subsequent oil spill – that occurred to Badovini’s bike, which led to a red flag. The new 18-lap encounter got underway after all track-cleaning procedures were completed, with Bradl getting a great launch off the grid to enter turn two in 11th position just ahead of Hayden. The 27-year-old German rider then lost eight places, after missing the last chicane, at the end of the opening lap.

Meanwhile, Hayden found himself in the middle of a group of seven riders battling for sixth place: on lap seven, he set his personal quickest lap of the race while doing his utmost to stay in touch with the riders ahead. In the final third of the encounter, the experienced American rider dropped down to twelfth but maintained his position to the chequered flag.

Bradl went from 19th to claim a 14th place finish, despite pressure coming from De Rosa and Krummenacher in the closing stages.

The next round of the 2017 FIM Superbike World Championship will take place at Donington Park in the UK in two weekends.


Nicky Hayden 69 - 12th

My second start to the race was not as great as the first one, but I still managed to move up a couple of places. I was able to stay in the group fighting for sixth place for the majority of the race and I was running better than at any time over the weekend, but unfortunately towards the end I lost a balance weight off the wheel which caused a vibration. I couldn’t keep the pace, otherwise I could have been a bit closer. It’s been quite a hard weekend for us, but it’s behind us now now and hopefully we will get back in the right direction at Donington Park.

Stefan Bradl 6 - 14th

Things didn’t go as well as yesterday, unfortunately. I had a bit of a problem with gear shifting and it was harder to get the ratios in, so I was focused on it more than I would normally be and everything got a bit complicated. This week was not easy for a number of reasons and luck was certainly on our side. But we now have to look forward and prepare for the next round.

Pieter Breddels

Nicky was quite competitive in the first two thirds of the race and managed to stay in the group battling for sixth, before having to slow down a little. It was a pity, really, because he was doing quite well and looked like he could stay in the mix for a top-6 finish. We’re now investigating on what happened. Stefan, unfortunately, had an issue with shifting, which led to him missing the chicane and did not allow him to keep up a good pace throughout the race. He did a great job because he held on and finished the race with a couple of points, though.