Ducati Alstare’s Ayrton Badovini has vowed that he will compete in tomorrow’s World Superbike races after missing out on the second practice qualifying and free practice sessions today, at Istanbul Park.
The rider originally planned to try and complete a few laps this morning despite the pain in his swollen left ankle. When it started to rain towards the middle of the session however, he realized that he would be unable to record a lap time with which to position himself within the top fifteen and qualify for Superpole.
He therefore decided, together with his team, to remain in the garage. Badovini also sat out of the final free practice session on the recommendation of the Clinica Mobile’s doctors who have continued treatment in order to help reduce the swelling of the ankle in preparation for tomorrow’s races.
Having completed first practice yesterday, the Ducati Alstare rider can line up for tomorrow’s races, albeit from last position, but the Italian is optimistic that his ankle is going to hold out for both races on Sunday.
“It didn’t make sense to try and ride today on the wet track. For now I can’t even get my foot in my boot, I tried a larger boot too but without success. So for today I’m resting up in the hope that my ankle is less swollen by tomorrow – it’s already looking a lot better than it did yesterday so I’m optimistic. Of course I would like to try and race tomorrow if my physical condition allows,” said Badovini.
His team-mate Carlos Checa will unfortunately not return to the track this weekend after a crash yesterday morning left him with a contusion to the upper thorax and a suspected fracture of the left scaphoid.