The ‘Campionato Italiano Velocità’ starts this weekend at Mugello. The spectacular Tuscany track plays host to the first appointment of the season of the Italian Championship this Sunday, 20th April. In the CIV series, the JiR Junior team is running with Matteo Traversa on the Honda RS125GP two-stroke machine. After his baptism of fire in the first race of the Honda RS125GP Trophy in Misano, the rider has learned a lot by racing against more experienced riders. This weekend’s race will be very important for the growing experience of the Junior Team project, which was originally realised by Gianluca Montiron.
 
Gianluca Montiron – Director JiR Junior Team
“The JiR Junior Team provides a unique opportunity to young riders. In the past, the Italian Championship has provided a very important grounding for riders who have wanted a racing career at the maximum level, but today if we put the stopwatch on these youngsters you can see we are far away from the lap-times of the World Championships, but this is where it all begins. There is a lot of work to do and the team must be professional and work hard, as a lot of younger riders end up staying in Italy instead of going to other countries and other championships where they can learn to be even more competitive. This Sunday’s race has a lot of interesting points, for the young riders the circuit will provide a tough race as it is very technical, but it will also be very informative and they will learn so much. Mugello is one of the most challenging tracks in the world and it has been the theatre of so many world championship battles in MotoGP.&rdq;
 
Matteo Traversa – Rider JiR Junior Team
“This is my second race and already I feel so many emotions! During the first race in Misano I learned a lot riding alongside the other racers. I not only learnt the lines around the track, but I also picked up many of the tricks of racing! This is all experience for me, as I have to run a few races to learn and understand what my potential is. The important thing on Sunday is to finish the race and learn a lot with the GP bike. I know I will be nervous when I get inside the Mugello paddock because the place is a motorcycle-racing temple, but I’m sure that when I shut my visor before the race these emotions will be replaced by adrenalin!”
 
Marco Antonio Bonesso – Technical Co-ordinator JiR Junior Team
“We start at Mugello which is a challenging and technical track. With Matteo we want to use this race as an opportunity for him to gain valuable experience and grow. In the first race of the Honda RS125GP Trophy in Misano, he showed some good technical knowledge and also that he learns a lot from the technical information given to him. I hope we have an interesting weekend where we will see him continue to learn.”