SBK, SS300: Coppola dominates at Imola, Grassia 4th

The Supersport300 Friday at Imola speaks Italian. In fact, taking the lead in the combined standings of the two sessions today was Alfonso Coppola with team SK Racing, already on the podium at Assen and the only rider to drop below the 2’11 mark with his time of 2’10”735.

Behind him is Spaniard Perez on his Honda, the only rider at all close to Coppola (+0.417), since Borja Sanchez’s third place time is already more than one second behind. Fourth best time goes to another Italian, namely the team 3570 rider, Paolo Grassia ahead of Kalinin and De Gruttola, Coppola’s teammate, more than a second and a half behind. Seventh place for Spaniard Garcia ahead of Marley, the Italian Facco and South African Loudeiro who closes out the top ten at a gap of two seconds from the lead, a testament of just how selective the Imola track is for these young riders.

Manuel Bastianelli is eleventh, whereas the rider from San Marino, Luca Bernardi is 14th behind Ana Carrasco; Giacomini is also in the top twenty (17th), as is Carbonera (19th). Also noteworthy was a bad high side in the opening moments of the afternoon session for Kabuki who was transported to the medical centre by ambulance.