A smile a mile wide. This is how pleased Alessandro Delbianco is, called in last minute by MIE Moriwaki to stand in for rider Leandro Mercado. The Argentinian will miss Most and so the Italian takes his place, following on from a very positive Misano CIV round.  The unexpected phone call took Delbianco by surprise: &quot;The phone kept ringing and I didn&rsquo;t recognise the number on the screen. I thought it might be a call centre or something. I got on with other stuff and then saw that they&rsquo;d tried to call me again in the meantime&quot;.  And so #52 made a decision: &quot;I thought it was something urgent and important so I called back. When the guys from team Moriwaki asked me if I wanted to race in the Czech Republic, I accepted immediately and got ready to go&quot;.  Because taking part in a WorldSBK round is not just about twisting the throttle: &quot;Right, there are papers and licences to fill out and sort. Luckily, I already had what I needed for the event, so I left right away for Most. It was pretty tight with the flight and drive&quot;.  From Honda DMR to Fireblade Moriwaki   The CBR RR-R used by Alessandro is a beautiful Superbike, competitive and well-prepared by the DMR staff. So Delbianco understands the character of the Japanese four-cylinders but knows that the world championship configuration is one he needs to get to grips with, session by session: &quot;What a fork, what a swingarm, who knows what the engine and electronics are like?&rdquo;  The Italian previously competed in the championship with team Althea, again on a Honda. &nbsp;But Most wasn&rsquo;t on the 2019 calendar: &ldquo;Another thing for me to learn, the track, although at least it&rsquo;s new for everyone. It looks great, we&rsquo;ll see. Some points are fast and technical, I can make the difference there&quot;.  What is his goal for the weekend? Primarily, to enjoy the weekend: &quot;Sure, I want to have fun and do the best I can. Look at this bike, the garage, the team. I want to thank MIE for the opportunity, I couldn&rsquo;t say no, I left as soon as I&rsquo;d put the phone down. I&rsquo;m glad it wasn&rsquo;t a call centre&quot;.  Translated by Heather Watson  WorldSBK, Redding alarmed: &ldquo;Most is scary, it&rsquo;s crazy to race here&rdquo; 

Alessandro wasn&rsquo;t expecting to be called up by the Castrol-coloured Honda team: &quot;I saw an unknown number and didn&rsquo;t reply. Then I called back, accepted and set off for Most&quot;

WorldSBK, Delbianco: &ldquo;Moriwaki called me, I thought it was a call centre&rdquo;

        The 2021 Superbike season begins with a double-header which means that, following the first round at Aragon, teams are travelling straight on to Portugal, where Estoril will host the second event of the season. But the MIE Racing Honda Team and rider Tati Mercado will not attend. A test programme  The team itself has announced that over the coming weeks, it will dedicate its attentions to an intense work programme in order to develop the CBR1000RR-R FIREBLADE. Team principal Midori Moriwaki explains: &ldquo;Starting with the Arag&oacute;n round we have embarked upon a bike development path that will see us undertake a series of tests over the coming weeks. In doing so, we believe we will be able to compete at a much higher level than we saw last weekend throughout the rest of the season&rdquo;. A tough decision  Right now, it is presumed that the team will miss the Estoril round and also the following Misano round, taking place on 11-13 June: &ldquo;The decision to miss a limited number of events is not easy, but we think this is the right way to step up a level this year, now that the issues and challenges caused by the pandemic are finally starting to be resolved. Now is the time to push hard to exploit the potential of the fantastic teamwork of the MIE Racing Honda Team, our bike and our rider Tati Mercado, so to achieve much better results over the season&rdquo;. Translated by Heather Watson WorldSSP Aragon, the return of "rookie" Michel Fabrizio       

The private team has decided to focus on developing the bike and will therefore miss some of the scheduled rounds. Starting with this weekend&rsquo;s event.

WorldSBK: Mercado and the Moriwaki team to miss Estoril

La stagione 2021 della Superbike inizia con un doppio appuntamento e dopo la prova disputata ad Aragon lo scorso fine settimana, si trasferisce direttamente in Portogallo, dove all&rsquo;Estoril &egrave; in programma il secondo round stagionale (ecco gli orari TV). Ma qui non ci sar&agrave; il MIE Racing Honda Team, con Tati Mercado.  Un programma di test   Ad annunciarlo &egrave; stata la stessa squadra che nelle prossime settimane punta a svolgere un programma di lavoro molto intenso dedicato allo sviluppo della CBR1000RR-R FIREBLADE. Il team principal Midori Moriwaki ha spiegato: &ldquo;A partire dal round di Arag&oacute;n abbiamo intrapreso un percorso di sviluppo della moto che ci vedr&agrave; affrontare una serie di test nelle prossime settimane. In tal modo, crediamo di poter competere a un livello molto pi&ugrave; alto di quello visto lo scorso fine settimana per il resto della stagione&rdquo;.  SBK, Honda: &egrave; arrivato il momento di fare sul serio  Decisione sofferta   Al momento si prospetta la loro assenza nel round di Estoril e in quello successivo di Misano, in programma dall&rsquo;11 al 13 giugno: &ldquo;La decisione di saltare un numero limitato di eventi non &egrave; stata facile, ma pensiamo che questo sia il modo giusto per aumentare il nostro livello&quot;. Ad Aragon il bottio ottenuto dall&#39;argentino parla di un ritiro e due 18esimi posti, un po&#39; pochino: &quot;Ora &egrave; il momento di spingere al massimo per sfruttare il potenziale del fantastico lavoro di squadra del MIE Racing Honda Team, della nostra moto e del nostro pilota Tati Mercado, per ottenere risultati decisamente migliori nel corso della stagione&rdquo;.  SBK Aragon, Locatelli: &quot;Posso essere contento di questo esordio&quot; 

La squadra privata ha deciso di concentrarsi sullo sviluppo della moto e per questo sar&agrave; assente ad alcuni round del calendario. In primis quello di questo weekend

3 risultati per 'MIE Racing Honda'

WorldSBK, Delbianco: “Moriwaki called me, I thought it was a call centre”

WorldSBK: Mercado and the Moriwaki team to miss Estoril

SBK: Mercado e il team Moriwaki assenti all’Estoril