Superbike: Yari Montella, what a start to the season—Barni rewards him, he responds with solid performances

Penalties seem to only tickle the Ducatis, who remain unbeatable. In the previous World Championship rounds, Yari Montella showed he fully earned his confirmation with the Barni team.

In the first practice sessions at Most (Czech Republic), the Salerno-born rider set the fourth-fastest time, once again on the tail of the factory Ducatis and well ahead of Álvaro Bautista, a three-time World Champion who, starting this year, is his teammate.

"Everyone does their best," Yari Montella sidesteps, "I focus on improving day by day; I'm focused on myself rather than comparing with others. My goal is to keep getting stronger, improve in the areas where I might be weaker, and bring home the maximum. If that means fighting for the podium, the top ten, or the top fifteen, that’s fine—the essential thing is knowing I always gave one hundred percent."

And the results are proving him right. Okay, he’s not fighting for the win, but he’s always in the top five.

"I’m fairly happy with this start to the season," he continues, "there have been situations where we struggled a bit more to capitalize and bring home results, but Portimão, Assen, and Balaton were still positive weekends for us. We were able to be consistent, especially in Hungary. We’re confident we can replicate these performances in the upcoming rounds. All the work we did this winter is bearing fruit and rewarding us. I’m satisfied."

With Nicolò Bulega having essentially wrapped up the world title, the battle for the Independent title is heating up, with a great fight between Sam Lowes, Yari Montella, Álvaro Bautista, and Lorenzo Baldassarri.

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