25/03/2019

SUPERBIKE, THAILAND: AT THE CHANG CIRCUIT, SPICY RACES WITH INTERESTING RESULTS!

For the second round of 2019 Superbike Championship in Thailand, 3 very interesting Superbike races and a really big one for Supersport.

Good races for Melandri and Rinaldi, less so for Chaz Davies who was unlucky, and Leon Camier who injured his knee in the proceedings. But looks to be back ready for Aragon.

 Very good, as usual, our Federico Caricasulo in Supersport, qualifying in Superpole and grabbing A 3RD place podium finish in the race!

 But what do you think of this Superbike made of 3 races a week end? Let us know on our social channels, in the meantime we begin the countdown to the next round  in Aragon, on the 1st weekend of April. Not long now!

Are you ready for Europe?


SUPERBIKE

Marco Melandri Race1 SIXTH

"It was difficult today. I didn't get a good start but initially I managed to come back and make up places, but then I was struggling a lot with the stability issue on the straights. It meant I couldn't sit on the seat on the straights but instead I had to keep weight on the footrests all the time, so there was no chance to breathe on the straights like normal. We made a set-up change to make the bike a bit more stable but the compromise was that we lost some rear grip, so I had to try and gain time under braking and by carrying more corner speed, but then the traction dropped off a lot after 10 laps."


Michael Ruben Rinaldi Race 1 EIGHTH

"I'm quite happy because after the tests the team managed to put at my disposal a much better bike. This allowed me to drive as I wanted and close in the top 10, a result that seemed far away after the Superpole. We still lack small changes because we have to improve in the last part of the race that, also because of the heat, I suffered a lot."


Marco Melandri Race2 SIXTH

"It was a very difficult weekend for me, because from the first session we struggled a lot with the stability of the bike. Also I wasn’t confident, as I had a lot of trouble to make the bike turn in the very long corner and the bike was moving a lot everywhere. Coming back to Europe I think we need to refresh the mind and start from zero, because I understand what I need, but it will take us some time. What is important is to keep working and making improvements step-by-step."


Michael Ruben Rinaldi Race2 EIGHTH, SUPERPOLE RACE ELEVENTH

"I am very happy to go home with two eighth places. Unfortunately when I arrive on a new circuit I am disadvantaged by the format: not having had too much time on Friday to fix the set-up, I paid the bad qualifying on Saturday and starting so back is hard to recover. Today we had the same pace as the fifth / sixth, but the gap accumulated in the first few laps prevented me from playing with them. Now that we are back in Europe I will no longer have this handicap and, working with the team as we have done so far, I believe that even better results can be achieved."


Chaz Davies SUPERPOLE RACE EIGHTH, RACE 2, RETIRED

“I’m obviously disappointed not to have been able to finish the race and see the true potential that we had today especially after the progress we made this morning. Regarding the technical problem, after feeling something was a little bit amiss when I lost some speed, I decided to save the engine and think about the season ahead. It was disappointing not to capitalize on our improvement, because today I had a good race pace and the feeling with the bike was much better. We’ve got some clear ideas on the direction to take and there’s some light at the end of the tunnel. Now we have the test at Aragon before the race, which is a good opportunity for us to make some more gains.”


SUPERSPORT

Federico Caricasulo THIRD

"Overall the weekend was positive. I think the race was conditioned by my choice of tires. Today the temperature was higher than in the tests. Initially the tire I chose favored me, but from mid-race onwards I started to slide and I couldn't push as hard as I wanted, but I have to be happy with my podium and to show that we are always in the top positions and fighting for the title, I thank my team that has always done a very good wo


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