EVENTFUL TIME IN ITALY
18 October 2006 - Aprilia

There was no rest for the SR Off-Road Aprilia team and rider Sam Warren after their stunning third place finish with the British squad in the first Supermoto Des Nations in Northern Ireland

They embarked on an Italian road-trip which took in two Grand Prix on consecutive weekends.

The Grand Prix ‘Le Alpi del Mare’ at Busca south of Turin was held on the first weekend in October with Warren making a good start on his Aprilia SXV with a qualifying time just outside the top ten despite some set-up headaches.

Further changes were made prior to the first race on the Sunday which paid dividends as Warren got off the line well moving into the top ten after five laps before falling on oil. He quickly recovered and managed to fight his way back upto eleventh before any further progress was halted by the chequered flag.

In race two Warren was on a mission steadily picking off riders as the race unfolded to eventually finish a fine eighth after a close fought duel with GB Supermoto Des Nations teammate Christian Iddon and the two factory TM riders. With a 23 points haul he recorded his best overall GP result of the year taking ninth position.

From Busca the SR off-Road Aprilia team then made the trip to Circuit Latina south of Rome for round seven of the World Supermoto Championship hopeful of another top ten overall result and the prospect of taking on former MotoGP rider Max Biaggi.

The last minute withdrawal of Biaggi though meant that the all-tarmac affair would now include an off-road section which eventually was to be Warren’s undoing as he aggravated a dislocated shoulder injury on the rough and un-graded dirt links.

Despite the pain and discomfort he started the first S1 race of the day but his shoulder severely handicapped any progress he may have made and he soldiered on to finish in 20th with it regularly ‘popping’ out of place. The decision was then taken by Warren and the team not to start the second race and he has now sought specialist medical attention in the UK with surgery planned in the next few weeks.

The injury has effectively ended Warren’s 2006 season but he said they couldn’t risk further damage to the troublesome shoulder.

“I dislocated the shoulder some months ago and it has not been right since. In Latina I aggravated it once again and it kept on popping out particularly on the rough off-road sections. I did manage to get through the first race but it was painful and it made it difficult to control the bike with any confidence. It was agreed by everyone that it just wasn’t worth risking further damage in race two.”

Team boss Mick Spencer said pulling out was the sensible decision.

“It was clear that Sam was really suffering in Latina and the sensible decision was to call it a day. He’s now taken medical advice and his doctors want to operate as soon as possible which ends our season a little prematurely. Everyone is a little disappointed but at the same time we have achieved an awful lot with the Aprilia which was fresh out of the box so to speak when the season started. We’ll all come back even stronger and hungrier in 2007.”

With Warren undergoing surgery shortly there will be further updates on his progress and the SR Off-Road Aprilia teams plans for the 2007 season in the coming weeks. Sam Warren and the team would like to take this opportunity to thank all its sponsors for their support this season.

www.aprilia.com

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