In the latest series of articles looking at the best and worst weekends for riders, two-time WorldSBK Champion Max Biaggi and Xavi Fores (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) talk about their highs and lows in MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship. From competing for home victories to being forced to miss races, Biaggi and Fores discuss the weekends they remember for good and bad reasons.

Discussing his best weekend, the Italian rider selected Monza 2010 where he won both Race 1 and Race 2. Biaggi said: “Monza was simply the best weekend ever because I did the double but also because I was in Italy in front of Italians fans, just amazing! Monza is the temple of speed where all motorcycle manufacturers like to win and riders too.

“I remember I had a lot of pressure because of every aspect to it. In Race 1 I won only by 0.2 seconds ahead of Toseland and within 0.95s there were four riders. But Race 2 was better because I had a big margin of about 4.5s to Haslam. That day was my day!”

Biaggi’s worst weekend came at the Nürburgring a year later when a crash meant he missed the next couple of rounds. Biaggi explained: “Nürburgring was a very disappointing weekend because I was on the front row on Saturday. On Sunday, I retired because a stone went on my foot and broke two bones. After that race, I missed two races… it was very bad for me and never happened in my career.”

For Spanish rider Xavi Fores, his best weekend came at MotorLand Aragon in 2018 when he was fighting for a home victory in Race 1, although Fores retired from Race 2. Fores said: “My best weekend in WorldSBK was in 2018 when I was fighting for the victory in Aragon in front of my home crowd in Spain. It was a very good start to the season. It was my third podium in a row, and I was missing the victory in the last couple of laps. So that was my best weekend ever in WorldSBK.”

Fores’ worst weekend was at Phillip Island in 2016, where he suffered a crash and picked up an injury during his debut weekend. He said: “My worst was my first weekend in WorldSBK back in 2016 in Australia. I had a massive crash in the last corner before the start line in Tissot Superpole and I broke my finger and was not able to race.

“I felt very frustrated because I had a good potential to start to build my session there and unfortunately, I had to miss both races. I also had surgery and had to miss a couple of races as well in Thailand. That was my worst weekend because I had never missed races because of injuries.”

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