28/02/2017

PHILLIP ISLAND: OUR RIDERS OPEN THE SUPERBIKE SEASON WITH EXCELLENT RESULTS

Nolangroup 2017 racing season starts with World Superbike. Nine riders for seven manufacturers.

Marco Melandri, Chaz Davies and Xavi Fores with Ducati, Markus Reiterberger new for BMW, Stefan Bradl from MotoGP on a Honda, Leon Camier on MV Agusta, Lorenzo Savadori and Tati Mercado of Aprilia and Ayrton Badovini with Kawasaki.

Some more #nolanriders in World Supersport, European Supersport and European Superstock 1000  where Nolangroup competes respectively with: Federico Caricasulo, Alessandro Zaccone, Mike Jones, Ilya Micalchik, Marco Faccani and Michael Ruben Rinaldi.

Someone has already begun its amazing adventure like Davies and Melandri ... while someone else must wait for the European Rounds to start his season!

All #nolanriders sharee one thing: the X-Lite or Nolan X-802 RR, which is also the official helmet of World Superbike Championship. 


Chaz Davies Race1 SECOND

“We’ve made a good step forward for the long distance today, but the race itself was a bit of waiting game, as always here in Phillip Island. We had to look after the tyres, playing cat and mouse, and it was a good show. I tried not to get caught too much in the battle and basically reacted to what was going on around me. We almost won, but we still lacked something on the straight. I could pass, but only after the finish line, so we’ll have to try something else. Anyway, we adopted a different strategy compared with the past, a bit safer, to not give away points. That’s the key at this point of the season, because more favorable tracks for us will come soon enough. But, I can’t wait to have another go at it tomorrow.”


Chaz Davies Race2 SECOND

“Today’s race was a bit more difficult to manage, given the hotter conditions. The glass is half full though, without a doubt. We tried something different but we lost a a couple of bike lengths here and there and we just couldn’t pass Rea before the finish line. When you look at the full picture, this is a really positive result. It would be easy to be disappointed because we barely missed two wins, but historically this has never been a favorite circuit for me and sometimes I lost precious points here, so two second places are a good building block for the rest of the season.”


Marco Melandri Race1 Ret.

“Since the race was pretty slow-paced and crowded at the top, I wanted to take my time and save the tyres to try and pull away with Rea and Davies towards the end. I passed Lowes at turn 1 and went a bit wide, but he changed direction earlier than usual at turn 2, cutting in front of me. I lost the front for a moment and had to pick the bike up, going off the track. I knew a group battle would be a weak spot for us, given my long absence from the races. Today, however, it was really busy out there, and sometimes the races end like this. I’m disappointed, but also confident and eager to bounce back, given our potential. I learned many things today, and tomorrow it’ll be a different game, even though I’ll start from fourth row.”


Marco Melandri Race2 THIRD

“It was a really tough race today. I got a good start but lost positions in the traffic early on, so I had to push hard to climb back, asking a lot to both myself and the tyres. When I took the lead, I tried to impose my own rhythm but it turned out not to be the right move. With three laps to go, when Rea and Davies gave the final push, I was struggling with grip and couldn’t attack them. Still, we needed a full race to understand where to improve, and a podium shows that we’re working in the right direction with the whole team.”


Xavi Fores Race1 SIXTH

"It was a good race although I honestly expected something more. Maybe I was a bit 'too cautious in the first half of the race to try to save the tires, but in the last laps I found bottled and I was not able to move up positions. Tomorrow we start on the front row so I'll try to stay with the four leading riders, which are the fastest and I will try not to be disconnected from them. I think that tomorrow we can improve the sixth place of today. "


Xavi Fores Race2 FIFTH

"Race 2 was great, I enjoyed very much to stay with the fastest riders, fighting with them for the top positions. It is a shame for the last few laps, but the front tire has awas a bit 'dumped me and I did not want to risk making mistakes and throw away a good result. From Australia I'm taking good feeling thinking to Thailand and I have to thank the team because this week the bike is very much improved. "


Leon Camier Race1 FIFTH

"I am really, really happy, I think we made a very good race especially considering the lack of track time for the weekend. We predicted quite well the race with the electronics and the chassis setup. I have a few ideas about what I want for the bike for tomorrow so hopefully we can make some good changes for the warmup and then see what happen for the race."


Leon Camier Race2 EIGHTH

"To be honest we were expecting a more difficult race than yesterday, with everyone pushing hard from the beginning. Maybe we made a little mistake with the chassis but now we know which direction we need to go with the setting. I am confident we can make some good progress in Thailand over the next two weeks and then we can go to Europe, where tracks suits us a little bit more."

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