Josh Day took his Agro-On WIL Racedays Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP to fifth place in today's third round of the Superstock 1000 FIM Cup at Imola in Italy. It was another good result that allows to the new team to take positives out of what was otherwise a difficult weekend.

Hopes were high for the team’s two Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP-mounted riders, Day and Kyle Smith, who qualified in seventh and eighth places respectively. American Day (main picture) rode well to take fifth place after 14 laps of Imola’s 4.936km Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, but Smith crashed out of contention, remounting to finish in 16th place at the flag.

In the European Superstock 600 championship race on Saturday evening, Italian rider Kevin Manfredi put in a dazzling ride on his Honda CBR600RR machine after starting from 15th place on the grid. The diminutive Italian carved his way through to sixth place before crashing out on the penultimate lap of the 12-lap race.

His New Zealand team-mate Jake Lewis finished just outside the points in 16th place but the team’s third rider, Harry Stafford, was taken to hospital after a qualifying crash left him with a broken nose and a right arm fractured in three places.

The Superstock championships now have a six-week break before re-assembling for the second Italian round at Misano on 20-22 June.

Rider quotes:  

Josh Day – Superstock 1000 FIM Cup, 5th

“We’ve had a good weekend and the bike is beginning to feel like it’s mine every time I get on it. We made quite a bit of headway with suspension so we didn’t lose so much time in the practice session. It really paid off with good qualifying and a good race result. We didn’t chase a set-up this weekend, just did laps and got a feel for the bike and the track conditions. The race was a bit up and down, but I was happy with fifth; thanks to the whole team and we’ll just see how it goes at Misano.”

Kyle Smith – Superstock 1000 FIM Cup, 16th

“We struggled with set-up a bit but finally got a decent setting for qualifying. In the race I had some problems which were pushing me into corners and eventually it pushed a bit too far. It’s a problem that we’ve had in testing, but not during a race before. I hope we can fix it for the next race and be up there again.”

Kevin Manfredi – European Superstock 600, DNF

“I really enjoyed the weekend until the last moment. I had a good race and I had fourth place in sight, which would have been a good result after my qualifying. Unfortunately, I crashed so I was very disappointed to be unable to bring the bike home, but I just wanted to keep pushing. I’m sorry for the team but we will try to come back stronger at Misano.”

Jake Lewis – European Superstock 600, 16th

“It’s not a great result, of course, and I was unhappy that I could not finish higher. Imola is a difficult circuit and I haven’t really gelled with it, either last year with the European Junior Cup, or this year on the CBR. I’ll have to hope for a better result next time.”