The Wake-Up Call
Rolling into the paddock at seven in the morning, when the cars can still be counted on one hand and the circuit bar hasn't even pulled up its shutters yet, is a ritual that never stops delivering that strange thrill. Misano's tarmac in April is cold, clean, with the odd damp patch in the shadow of Turn 2 that vanishes after the first thirty minutes of sun.
The first session is always the most honest one. The tyres take three laps to come up to temperature, reflexes gone rusty after months on the road wake up slowly, and the lines need rediscovering the way you rediscover a song you once knew by heart. Nobody's chasing a lap time in the first session. Nobody has to.
"You don't have to be fast. You have to be there."
Who Showed Up
Twenty-four riders, eleven different bikes. From last year's pure track 600 to the naked bikes, from the regulars to the absolute first-timer. That mix is exactly what defines us as a crew: not a race, not a riding school, but a day shared by people who all have the same disease.
Among the moments that stick - Marco finally nailing the line through Turn 15, Davide who used to lose two seconds a lap braking into the first chicane and now doesn't lose any, the crew's newest member who, at the end of the day, stood looking at his bike loaded back into the van and said "I wasn't expecting it to be like this" with a look on his face worth more than any stopwatch.
The Number of the Day
The best lap came in at 1'46.8, set in the sixth session with tyres already up to temperature and the track having found its rhythm. It's not the fastest time we've ever clocked at Misano, but after a whole winter off the bike, it was exactly what it needed to be: a sign that the 2026 season is starting in the right direction.
Eight twenty-minute sessions, a lunch break in the sun, zero incidents, a couple of wide moments handled without any damage. The perfect day on track isn't the one where you ride the fastest. It's the one where you head home without having to call the mechanic.
Back at It in May
The next round is in Cremona, on the seventeenth of May. Different tarmac, different pressures, setup to revisit. But above all, the same itch to ride. See you out there.