APRILIA RACING:

It was sunny and warm at Portimao for the final Superpole of the 2009 season. Ben Spies, on his Yamaha factory conquered the pole position with a time of 1:42:412, 0:584 ahead of Byrne’s Ducati and 0:603 ahead of Fabrizio’s factory version.

Max Biaggi came in sixth with a time of 1:43:714, just 1:114 from the pole position. The Roman driver was the victim of a bad fall during the warm-ups before the Superpole, suffering several contusions and damaging the motorcycle that he had chosen for the race. In Superpole 1, he used the second bike and managed to secure the second place time by using racing tyres. In Superpole 2 he the first qualifying tyre and he achieved a time of 1:42:956, which qualified him for the last stage in third place.

Leon Camier finished in thirteenth place with a time of 1:43:671, 1:259 behind Spies. During the first stage, the English driver qualified for the last open spot with the first qualifying tyre. In Superpole 2, he used the second one and remained in ninth place for quite a while, dropping back to thirteenth only during the last moments of the qualifying race.

“During the fall that happened in the warm-ups I damaged the bike that I do the best with,” stated Biaggi, “and I had to use the second motorcycle which wasn’t ready. In order to qualify, I couldn’t push it to the maximum with the qualifying tyre because I wasn’t very secure, and I don’t know how to explain the reason why Superpole 3 was slower for everyone. I ended up with some contusions, which hurt a bit and I went to the Mobile clinc. Fortunately nothing is broken and starting this evening I’ll begin a
therapy with painkillers so I can participate in the two races tomorrow. Tomorrow we’ll have to work a lot more during the warm-ups to be able to make up for the time that was lost with the falls.”

“We changed the bike quite a bit with respect to yesterday,” said Camier, “and the situation has improved a great deal, just as my feeling with the RSV4 has also improved. The grid position isn’t the best, but we all have times that are close to each other. We’ve understood which direction we have to work towards and I’m certain that well have a great race tomorrow.”