Mike Jones to shrug off neck pain for Imola
The Aruba.it Racing – Junior Team is bound for its “home race” for the third round of the 2017 SuperStock 1000 European Championship, scheduled for this weekend at Imola (Italy), where the team achieved an emotional victory at his debut in front of the Italian crowd last year.
Mike Jones was involved in a race incident at Assen, in which he injured his left shoulder and hand, is almost back in full shape and ready to resume his quest to score his first podium in the category.
Mike Jones
“We’re still having some lingering effects from the crash, but it’s mostly neck pain and I don’t think it will affect our riding next weekend but we’ll see. I’m really excited and looking forward to the Imola round.
“We got some good data from racing there as a wild-card in the Italian Championship so we should be able to kick off with the right foot. We’re getting more confident and faster each time we head out on track, and the fact that it’s a home round for my team also represents an extra motivation”.
After two rounds, Rinaldi and Jones are respectively first (45 points) and 13th (7 points) in the championship.
Rinaldi, who scored a win and a second-place finish in the first two rounds to take the provisional lead in the championship, is keen to extend his positive streak in front of his fans.
Michael Ruben Rinaldi
“We head to Imola leading in the championship, which is positive. We race ‘at home’ because we’re close to Borgo Panigale, but I don’t feel pressure. On the contrary, it’s a further source of motivation. The expectations are high as usual, we want to race at the front and give our 100 percent.
“As wild-cards in the Italian Championship, we were competitive and managed to collect important data to better prepare this round, but our approach won’t change and we’ll put our head down to work and stay focused”.
