The victory celebration and the first flight to Italy to return home to hug your son. Kevin Calia: driver, team principal of Team74 and father. The Imola native, World Champion in Stock Loading with Kawasaki, joined Team Aviobike by Nuova M2/REVO Aprilia this year and last Sunday celebrated a historic victory at Spa together with Luca Bernardi and Francesco Cocco. It was Aprilia’s first in Endurance and an immense emotion for the Noale manufacturer, for the team and for the riders. Kevin Calia was the most experienced and there is a lot of him in this success.
“It was a very tough race also because there were two of us doing it, me and Luca Bernardi – Kevin Calia tells Corsedimoto– I knew from practice that we could do well because the others were fast but we had great pace so I expected us to get on the podium. I went very fast from the first stint. Luca Bernardi was very good, he drove an excellent race: he is a great driver. When I crossed the finish line and truly realized that we had won it was a huge satisfaction, an immense emotion. New project, second race and already the victory! We all hoped for it but few actually expected it. Among other things, I had a score to settle with Spa given that in the past I had fallen, broken the bike and we hadn’t restarted, so the satisfaction was double.”
Kevin Calia, what drove you to change and embrace the Aprilia project?
“I needed new stimuli. It’s true, last year we won the World Championship, but I didn’t enjoy riding the Kawasaki. I confess that my goal was to find a place in the EWC but I hadn’t received any interesting offers and I wasn’t interested in going to a smaller team. In the meantime, Giovanni Baggi (Team Principal Aviobike by Nuova M2/REVO Aprilia) contacted me and I thank him. It was definitely the right choice. I immediately liked the project and it gave me the stimuli I needed.”
Parallel to your successes as a driver, you are also experiencing a positive moment at home.
“In Spa we competed on Saturday and on Sunday I was already at home cuddling my son and enjoying my family. He’s too young now to understand what I do but maybe when he’s older I’ll tell him about it. When I’m not competing I also take care of my team, involved in the CIV Junior with the Ohvale. The team is entirely mine so I do a bit of everything, at home I’m also the electrician, the mechanic, I fix the bikes… In the last race of the championship we achieved two second places, we have some promising kids who are growing well: yes I’m achieving great satisfaction with my team too.”
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