With Magny Cours Round the Superbike World Championship is finished. A second place in race 2 for Melandri is the main result of this last race, that was once again with track and weather conditions very difficult. The proof has been the crash of Camier and Checa during race 1 (while he was third) and that of Melandri and Fabrizio in Race 2. Good sixth place for Badovini in race 1.
The season's assessment is certainly positive: 6 victories, 5 second places for Melandri and 3rd position in the final ranking. Checa has gained 4 victories, 2 seconds and 3 thirds with the 4 place final. One podium for Fabrizio, Badovini and Camier.
Thank you Marco, Carlos, Michel, Ayrton, Leon and all others for the commitment, the determination with which you have honored our colors, in this very fought championship.
See you next season.
The rider's declarations:
MARCO MELANDRI Nolan X-802
"It felt good to finish a race on the podium again after the last two unfortunate race weekends. My BMW 1000 RR was working very well. In the first couple of laps of race one I was still struggling a bit with warming up the tyre, but once the tyre was working I could go at quite a good pace. Anyhow, it was a tough race and I did not want to overpace and risk too much. Unfortunately the track dried up more and more, which did not play into my hands. When I finally passed Tom the track was not really wet anymore, and in these conditions I had no chance to follow Sylvain who really showed a strong performance today. The track conditions were very difficult in race two. I pushed 100 per cent but I could not change direction quickly. When I crashed I must have hit a wet patch, and I lost the rear of my RR. My back and my leg are very sore now. Overall, this was a great season for us. We can be proud of what we have achieved. When we started the season we were quite far from the top guys. We closed the gap quickly and fought with them for the rest of the season. We won races, but we also had some bad luck and I made mistakes. Everything was possible this year, and we can be happy. I hope to start from that point next year. A big ‘Thank You’ to all the team in Germany and at the track."
CARLOS CHECA X-lite X-802
"It was a strange weekend. A pity for the crash in race 1 but conditions were difficult and the track was very slippery, these things happen. Then in the second I didn’t have the same feelings that I’d had yesterday, the bike seemed different and was moving a lot more. This made it hard and I couldn’t lap with the kind of times that I expected. Anyway the season is over, it was long and we had highs and lows along the way. I’m happy to close in fourth overall because considering the problems we’ve had I don’t think the final result is bad."
