As always the Donington round was closely followed & well attended, especially as the weather (for the UK) was great, particularly on the Friday. Of course we couldn’t be without a spot of rain for the whole weekend, so that added a bit of a hurdle for the Nolan riders to avoid.
For most of this year’s championship, Nolan riders have been the protagonists, riding well, as well as getting victories and podiums. That continued in this round, with a podium finish in race 2 after some nasty luck in race 1 for Chaz. And the other way round for Marco Melandri, with his bad luck coming in race 2.
What distinguishes the Nolan and X-Lite drivers, however, is always having the commitment and the desire to fight. It is this spirit that we will take into Misano for our home race.
And you? Will you be cheering for our guys?
SUPERBIKE
MARCO MELANDRI RACE1 4th:
“Today, the wind hindered our performance. During the race, the bike was moving a lot and the front kept lifting from the ground. For this reason, a gust pushed me off the track during the last lap, but I’m more disappointed for the sensations on the bike than the missed podium itself. I lacked confidence on the front and didn’t have much grip on the rear. I couldn’t replicate the times I did during practice yesterday, when we still weren’t at our 100 percent. In these cases, you need to think too much while riding, and it’s hard to push as hard as you want and make passes. We’ll start from pole position tomorrow, but first of all we need to find a better pace. We’re working on it, evaluating several ideas.”
LEON CAMIER RACE1 6th
It was a positive day for sure, considering we managed to close in 6th position. We lost a bit of time in same areas but I tried to take advantage of the ones where I could make some good passes. Honestly, today it wasn’t possibile to do much more and I am happy with this position. Let’s stay focused on tomorrow’s Race2 for another positive result.
LEANDRO MERCADO RACE1 7th
"I'm really happy with this result, I did not think I could keep this pace, especially in the first half of the race. In fact, honestly, before starting I was worried because I thought I missed a bit of grip, but the team made some changes that turned out to be correct because they allowed me to push. I started well, and I did a good race start. From halfway on, it was not that easy, and I think this is our real weak point. With the drop in tires the bike behaves in a completely different way. It really requires a lot of physical effort !. In the end, however, I'm satisfied, Donington is a tough track for everyone, so I think we're doing things right. I thank the team for the great work done, and to say, we are already working for tomorrow. "
CHAZ DAVIES RACE1 8th
“I’m disappointed for the crash, because we had a really good pace at the start of the race. Yesterday we lacked stability, but the crew worked hard overnight and I was able to push hard at the front and stress our rivals a bit. Unfortunately, I made a mistake in the last corner, which is quite bumpy. I let go the front brake a little too quickly and the front unloaded too fast. It’s always a fine line between winning and losing. Looking at the bright side, we got back on the bike and salvaged some valuable points for the championship. Hopefully we can show a strong pace in Race 2 as well and make it to the checkered flag.”
CHAZ DAVIES RACE2 3rd
“It would have been nice to get away with the Kawasaki pair, but third place is all we could ask for today. We had a terrible start, which made it for a very difficult race. We had to get through a lot of traffic, I was trying to avoid riders crashing in front of me, and it felt like playing a game of Mario Kart. To be here, on the podium, in front of the home fans, was the most important thing. Towards the end, when I was getting closer to VD Mark, I didn’t have great grip because I had to stress the rear a lot to come back through the field. I just dug in, trying not to make mistakes and figure out where to pass really quickly. It was close racing. Anyway I’m confident for the rest of the season because this track has always been difficult for us and we can take a lot of positives going into Misano.”
LEON CAMIER RACE2 6th
All in all it was a good race for us all and a positive result for the championship standing. We had some little issues over the weekend but luckily in race I had a good feeling with the bike and I was able to stay with the front guys. I now look forward to the next round in Misano, where I hope we can have another positive race weekend for all our Italian fans.
XAVI FORES RACE2 7th
"It was the toughest weekend of the year, today we have much improved the pace and have closed sevens is positive, even for the championship. Now we think of Misano that it is a circuit I like and where our bike works well. We hope to return to the Imola levels. "
SUPERSTOCK1000
MIKE JONES 10th
"It was a tough weekend, as it was fairly possible to expect, as it was the first time I ran to Donington. We have tried different setups and today we managed to get the right direction in the WUP. Unfortunately, it was a bit late because we did not make a good qualification and starting from the 17th position on the grid is never easy. That being said, we were able to push and finish in the top ten positions. Now we know in what direction we must do, we just have to refine the package and we count on doing it in the next tests before the race in Misano. "
