By way of a wondrous piece of Google Translation, Aprilia's Max Biaggi has issued a warning to the World Superbike contenders ahead of this weekend's Imola encounter, saying he is not frightened by the level of competition this year.

Biaggi won one and came second in the other at Phillip Island so leads the championship table going into the Italian round. He says that he and his team will not be retreating from the heat of battle, or something.

"We can't let ourselves be deceived by what we demonstrated at Phillip Island. Every race makes its own history. Imola isn't our favourite track. We'll see how much the resurfacing does to change things. I'm in perfect shape and so is the team: if there is battle to be done we will certainly not be retreating," said the Roman emperor.

"The two days of testing at Aragon confirmed the progress our rivals have made. This is shaping up to be a championship with quite a few contenders for the title. We aren't frightened by the challenge, to the contrary, it's what we need to keep us vigilant and 100% committed race after race. A lot of our fans will be at Imola and that is just more motivation to do well."