Donington Park has to be up there in terms of having one of the strongest Superbike spirits on the world circuit. The English fans are passionate and as always have turned out in their numbers to support the riders. Unfortunately it was not a weekend full of success, but there are some parts to feel positive about, all riders from Davies, Melandri and Rinaldi at Aruba Ducati, to Savadori and Camier scored points, but were unable to get on the podium.
Positive but not impressive weekend for Caricasulo in his most difficult race of the season... but he will find a way to get back on top. There was a victory for Nolan Group however, thanks to Reiterberger, the German on BMW is back to winning and is now the leader in the Superstock 1000 championship.
How about you? Have you booked any 2 wheeled holidays for this summer? Will you bring your Nolan or X-Lite with you? Many questions we know, questions you couldn’t answer whilst riding.. Unless you ride with one of our N-Com, but that’s for another time.
SUPERBIKE
LORENZO SAVADORI RACE1: 5Th
"It was a difficult Superpole session for me. I didn’t find the extra grip with a new tyre and it was difficult to push. My start in Race 1 was OK but not great. I pushed hard and caught up with the riders ahead, but I lost a lot of time at the beginning.
We struggled in the middle and exit of the corners here and that really hurt me in the race. It made it difficult to pass riders ahead and is really important for us to fix."
CHAZ DAVIES RACE1: 8Th
"Before the race I was quite confident despite the not optimal grid position, I thought we could make it for the podium, but unfortunately it was not so and the race was more difficult than expected. We struggled to find the best feelings, of course the crash yesterday did not help in this sense because it took away precious time on the track, but I expected to make more significant steps forward today. We did not have much grip, so it was necessary to drive more smoothly to bring home the best result possible. Things change quickly in this sport, so I hope that we too will be able to reverse the course ahead of Race 2."
LEON CAMIER RACE1: 10Th
"What a day! That was a really tough race and in the last laps I managed to battle through the fatigue so to come away with a top ten finish is more than I could have hoped for today. The Fireblade was working really well and I could keep a great pace, particularly in the first two sectors but in the hard braking and left hand turns my injuries made it quite a struggle. The goal today was just to finish the race, but being able to keep pace with the Ducatis in front of me and finish in P10 was encouraging so I'm pretty pleased."
CHAZ DAVIES RACE2: 5Th
"Today has certainly marked a step forward compared to Race 1, even if our goals are more ambitious. I think I did a good race all in all. When they exposed the raindrops flag, I was determined to keep the gas open, but the conditions were not as such to worry those in front of us, I did my best to close the gap, and partly I succeeded, but we were a bit in trouble here. I had to ask a lot to the rear tire at the beginning, and I could not have done more. We hope to take advantage of the experience gained this weekend and take important lessons to put into practice in Brno."
LORENZO SAVADORI RACE2: 7Th
"We tried something different today which did not work perfectly in the race. The first part of the race was quite strong, but when the fuel level went down I struggled a lot to push. The rear tyre also looked strange after and I felt some unusual feelings in the race.
I'm quite happy with the results at Donington, we all worked very hard together and the bike felt good. In general we had a good weekend and P5 yesterday was a really good result that we deserved.
I am looking forward to Brno now and the Aprilia should be quick there. There is still work to do on the bike to be faster, but all the guys in SMR and Aprilia worked very hard this weekend and I think we can do well next time."
LEON CAMIER RACE2: 8Th
I was really happy with the result today, we weren't really sure whether I could finish both races so to finish in the top ten yesterday and today was a big bonus. In today's race I didn't attack too hard from the start, I just tried to get into a rhythm and see on what parts of the track I could push more. I had a good battle with Loris and Marco, changing positions a few times so given my condition it was great to be able to fight. Results aside, me and the team worked hard this weekend on developing our electronic settings and we made a lot of progress so that's another positive to take away this weekend. Things are heading in the right direction with the bike so I'll now look to rest up and continue my recovery ahead of Brno."
SUPERSPORT
FEDERICO CARICASULO 6Th
"Today it was impossible for us to do any better. It was tough for me and Lucas as we just could not match the pace of the other Yamaha's. This is the first race where we have struggled like this, it seems the others have improved and we need to make another step or it will continue to be tough. I am looking forward to Brno, I was quick in the recent test we did there but we need to find a solution to the issues and we will focus on bouncing back in Brno."
SUPERSTOCK1000
MARKUS REITERBERGER 1St
"The track in Donington is brutally exhausting – especially for the forearms. We worked hard as a team to make the bike easy and consistent. That was the key to success. The first few laps of the race were difficult, as Max Scheib was stubbornly close to me, but we were able to keep the pace, not the competition. In the end, I even managed to get some speed out and win the race safely. The team has been working in the right direction all weekend and we can all be really proud with the result. Everyone has done a perfect job. I’m now championship leader again with 10 points lead – a kind of half time champion. That was an important step after the Italian round in Imola. This is also my first victory in Donington – dedicated to Waldi († Ralf Waldmann). He made an impressive victory here in 2000 and I know how much this meant to him. I think he is also happy for us, wherever he is right now.“
