For the two Italians, Ayrton Badovini and Riccardo Russo, the SBK weekend in Australia was difficult, because the two talented riders rode their Kawasaki ZX10R and Yamaha R1 for the first time in a race, both “privateers”, in other words, not supported directly by the manufacturers.

The rider from Biella, Badovini, has vast experience on factory derivative bikes. He was Superstock 1000 champion in 2010 and he has ridden various SBK machines before joining team Grillini Kawasaki: “These past few days at Phillip Island were very difficult - Ayrton explains - for us on team Grillini, it was all new: we had never tested the bike, we still had to find the ideal settings and I did not have the feeling I needed to be able to express my best potential. We ride the 2016 ZX10R in the races and we still have a lot of work to do. The two Australian races, however, were necessary for me and for the team.”

Ayrton has ridden in many races against the likes of Spies, Haga, Biaggi and Checa; his impression on the general level of the category is rather clear, so the next question was quite useful.

How is the Championship level? We saw MotoGP times in the tests…

“Extremely high! To finish in the top 15 you have to be very fast and I like that. As for the times recorded, the SBK machines have qualifier tyres that cannot be found in MotoGP, so our top riders did those times with tyres specifically designed for the flying lap. Furthermore, some teams in SBK are truly factory teams and the commitment is similar to the one in MotoGP.”

Staying on the subject: to cut costs and give everyone a fighting chance to win, what would you do?

“The attempt by the organizer to introduce similar electronics for everyone was only partially effective: there is still a difference between factory and privateer riders, because the factory riders can put a lot more power on the ground at least. Also, some of the bikes seem to be true prototypes, both in their details and in the tuning. You know what I’d do? I would go back and propose bikes with the Superstock or BSB regulation, where the electronics are the standard factory packages, economic and simple.”

What did you notice in the second race? Did you like the inverted grid?

“Nothing changed, at least not in Australia. Maybe there could be some surprises in the event of a wet race. We’ll see. At Phillip Island, the level playing field for Kawasaki, Ducati and Yamaha is determined by the tyre performance. I think that the championship will truly start in Europe, with the Aragón round where I could start to get back on my feet.”

Riccardo Russo, despite being a rookie, also echoes the words of the more expert Badovini: “At Phillip Island the level of the riders and the bikes was extremely high - exclaimed the team Guandalini rider - We and the R1 were still ‘unripe’, because it takes a lot of miles on the track and data that needs to be collected. With time and races, we will be able to arrive at the positions that count.”

In particular, what struck you about the two races?

“The level of the riders is high, but we already knew that. I noticed that the factory bikes have an incredible performance level, due to the way the engines are tuned, deriving from the developments made in the electronics: this detail creates a real difference between the factory and privateer riders.”

Would you also propose a step back in tuning the bikes?

“It would be nice to do that. The championship would be on a more level playing field and we would have a lot of riders making a play for the wins. At the moment, with the current rules, the SBK machines are really quite close to the MotoGP bikes and the lap times speak volumes.”