Kawasaki’s Day twins Imola Superstock 600 race
America’s rising Superstock 600 star, Joshua Day, arrived at the Imola round of the European series determined to make amends for an early fall from pole position at the previous Nurburgring round.
Setting a blistering pace with his Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R, Day qualified and impressive 4th at yet another circuit new to the U.S racer.
Come race day, the race start saw Day snatch an early lead, only to be block passed by Ricccardo Russo into ‘Variante Alte’ with the Florida rider having to react quickly to avoid colliding with the fired-up young Italian on home soil.
Russo had shown he was consistently fast in qualifying and as pole setter and championship leader Jed Metcher battled with wild card Nicholas Morrentino, the duo of Day and Russo where able to pull a gap on the chasing group.
Always happiest when leading, Day repeatedly passed Russo but was unable to break away as the determined rider fought back fiercely. At the start of the final lap Day ran slightly wide at the chicane and Russo was able to draft past him on the straight.
Russo then seemed to be pulling away from the American, but at ‘Aqua Minerale’ Day pulled off a fantastic move – running an incredibly fast line around the outside of the Yamaha rider in the high speed left-hand entry, before out-braking him into the first part of the right curve.
Desperate to win in his native Italy, Russo made a desperate lunge back past into the second part of the turn but ran wide off the track, allowing Day to push hard to the finish and claim his second win and fourth podium finish of the season for the Revolution Racedays Kawasaki team. Australian Metcher finished third behind a crestfallen Russo.
Joshua Day has now moved into second place in the series with a 15 point gap to the leader. With two rounds to go the championship is now shaping up to be a battle to the end between Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R mounted Day and Metcher.