Acting as a stand-in for regular Winston Ten Kate Honda rider
Karl Muggeridge, Giovanni Bussei had his first ride on the CBR1000RR in morning practice at Valencia on Friday, before going on to set the 25th fastest time out of 33 entrants in first qualifying.
It marked the Italian rider's first outing since the final race of 2005, and he spent the day easing himself back up to full racing speed.
"I was very happy when I got the offer to ride, because I was at home without a ride," the Italian told
Crash.net Radio. "I was waiting for something good and had promised myself that I wouldn’t just take any ride. This is a good opportunity - but it's not easy!
"The bike is ok, it's me that needs to improve. I haven’t ridden a bike for eight months - whereas 15 days ago everybody else had a test here! - but anyway this afternoon was not so bad, I'm 1.5seconds from the fastest Honda, so we'll see what happens tomorrow and most importantly on Sunday."
Part of the reason the experienced Bussei was without a 2006 ride was due to injuries sustained in the huge first turn accident at the 2005 Magny Cours season finale (middle pic) - and the Italian is planning a surprise switch to Supermoto.
"The accident was not so good. I had a big impact on my head and broke my arm and wrist. Now I'm starting to feel better," he explained. "I have plans with my sponsor Unionbike, from Milano, to make a little team in the Supermoto World Championship. I've never raced Supermoto before, just training, but in March I thought 'I want to do something', so I called my sponsor and he said 'ok, why don’t we do it'. Next weekend I'll have the first race."
Meanwhile, it's nice to think that at least part of the reason Bussei was selected for the stand-in ride by Ten Kate was due to his selfless actions at Imola 2004 - when he stopped to pick up fallen Ten Kate rider
Chris Vermeulen, then a championship contender, after he suffered a mechanical failure on the parade lap.
