A difficult day for Team Althea at the sixth round of the World Superbikes at the Donington Park track, but a very positive one in the Superstock 1000 camp.
On this track, a technical limit made its presence felt, with riders unable to find much grip, partly due to the track’s characteristics and partly due to the Ducati that suffers somewhat between acceleration and braking. Matteo Baiocco did the best he could but unfortunately in race 1, while pushing to catch up, he crashed while in ninth position while in race 2 he concluded tenth, collecting more good points for the championship in which he currently positions seventh.
Matteo Baiocco: “I’m sorry I didn’t do as well as I’d hoped in the races. In race 1 I unfortunately crashed and in race 2 I preferred not to risk making further mistakes. The team has worked really hard and now I go to Portimao with a good base from which to continue working.”
Nico Terol wanted to compete here even if not at 100% fitness. The Spaniard, who has demonstrated courage and determination, didn’t give up and proved to be able to face up to the challenge. In race 1 he finished twelfth, in race 2 he lost feeling in this tired hand and crashed while he was lapping with a constant rhythm that would have given me a good result.
Nico Terol: “Coming back with the wrist injury I knew I’d have to grit my teeth against the pain. But in the race I had problems changing direction, unable to push with my wrist. It was a shame about the race 2 crash, but I’ll be ready to do better in a few days’ time at Portimao. The team deserves good results, to repay their encouragement and great work that they always do for me and I’m keen to achieve this as soon as possible.”
A great race on the other hand in the Superstock 1000 category where qualifying yesterday saw Raffaele De Rosa line up on the front row and Luca Salvadori on the fourth. De Rosa was quick off the line, immediately setting the two fastest laps of the race, after which a serious spinning problem made it difficult for him to accelerate out of the corners and he was losing a few tenths to his rivals. He nevertheless reached the podium, scoring a fantastic third place.
A somewhat surprising race for Luca Salvadori as, having only completed four races in this category, is already at the level of rivals who have a lot more experience. He is growing a lot from race to race, the team believes in his talents and the work completed until now is bearing fruit race after race.
Genesio Bevilacqua: “We’ve had a difficult Sunday for sure. Terol’s physical condition is still not ideal and Baiocco had a few problems which we didn’t expect after his positive qualifying. We hope we can make up for this at Portimao. We are now at round seven and both team and riders must be spurred into action. We are seeing the best results in the Superstock class in which De Rosa is continuing to progress. Despite having strong rivals, with bikes that seem more highly performing, he was been able to finish in third place, which has boosted the team, repaying them for their great work completed over the weekend. De Rosa is a main player in this championship, it was a pity about the Imola crash but he is still in the running for the title. Salvadori is also doing well, proving that he is not scared of his more expert rivals. He improves from race to race and has already finished in the top ten on two occasions. He could also be one of the surprises among the youngsters in the championship.”
More, from a press release issued by Yamaha Racing:
Fifth Place for Coghlan on the YZF-R1M at his Home Round
At his home round in the Superstock 1000 FIM Cup MRS Yamaha rider Kev Coghlan rode his Yamaha YZF-R1M to fifth place at Donington Park, having to give best to fellow YZF-R1M rider Jeremy Guarnoni (Team Trasimeno Yamaha) only in the final few corners of an intense 15-lap race.
Coghlan, who had qualified fifth, was aiming for a realistic fourth place but a great fight with Guarnoni on the final lap saw him eventually replicate his qualifying position in the race and finish just over ten seconds from the winner.
The two leading YZF-R1M riders passed and re-passed on the final lap with Guarnoni taking fourth by a small margin of 0.171 seconds as they flashed across the line.
With the other regular MRS Yamaha rider Florian Marino out of action due to an arm injury, top IDM rider Mathieu Gines was brought in for Donington. He found no luck in the race when he crashed out at the fast turn five, on lap six, restarting but finishing 28th after losing so much time in the gravel.
Coghlan is still fourth in the overall championship after Donington and only three points behind third place at the halfway point of the eight round season. He has 50 points, thanks in part to his podium finish in the opening round at Motorland Aragon.
Guarnoni’s 13 points for fourth place today put him 6th overall, with 37 points. Sylvain Barrier (G.M. Racing Yamaha Team) fell at Donington and restarted to finish 19th, but out of the points. The unavoidably absent Marino is now 12th in the rankings.
The next race takes place at Portimao, in Portugal, on Sunday June 7th.
Kev Coghlan
5th / +10.783/ 15 laps
“I noticed someone was there on the inside on the last lap so I tried to force it a little bit more going into the Melbourne Loop, ran a little bit wide and Jeremy managed to dive up the inside. I had another go at the final corner but I ran in a bit too hot and again he got past. I am a bit disappointed really, because I think overall I need to be first Yamaha rider home and that did not happen today. I think we were maybe a little bit closer to the podium here but we will see if we can work on something to help bridge that gap. It was not bad this weekend and we were a bit closer in qualifying and a bit closer again to the podium, so we are edging in the right direction and we will get there.”
Mathieu Gines
28th / +1’26.070/ 15 laps
“I pushed a bit, although my feeling was not perfect on the bike, because I did not want to lose time. I thought I could wait and fight at the end of the race but I lost the rear on a fast right. I was OK sitting behind some other riders and I though ‘be careful’ and when I exited the corner I gave the bike some gas and it started to slide. It did not stop and then fell. I wanted to restart to learn the track and I wanted to finish my weekend in Donington, because I like the circuit.”
Adrian Morillas – MRS Yamaha Team Manager
“Jeremy Guarnoni was behind Kev for a some time and I think he saw where he could pass Kev. In the last lap Kev wanted to brake harder to defend his position, he went too wide and Jeremy passed, this is racing. There was a gap to the front riders and we will test before Portimao. We have been making progress and little steps but I hope before Portimao we can make a bigger step. Our weekend was not so bad because Kev is now only three points from the third place rider.”
Results – Race
1. L. Savadori (ITA), Nuova M2 Racing, 22’39.058
2. R. Tamburini (ITA), Team MotoxRacing, 2.893
3. R. De Rosa (ITA), Althea Racing, 5.242
4. J. Guarnoni (FRA), Team Trasimeno, 10.612
5. K. Coghlan (GBR), MRS Yamaha, 10.783
6. O. Jezek (CZE), Triple-M by Barni, 16.531
7. K. Calia (ITA), Nuova M2 Racing, 18.799
8. F. Massei (ITA), EAB Racing Team, 23.831
9. L. Salvadori (ITA), Althea Racing, 29.153
10. T. Coveña (NED), EAB Racing Team, 29.222
11. C. Bergman (SWE), MG Competition, 32.839
14. L. Marconi (ITA), Team Trasimeno, 34.348
19. S. Barrier(FRA), G.M. Racing, 54.379
28. M. Gines (FRA), MRS Yamaha, 1’26.070
Championship Standings
1. L. Savadori (ITA), 95 pts
2. R. Tamburini (ITA), 65 pts
3. O. Jezek (CZE), 53 pts
4. K. Coghlan (GBR), 50 pts
5. R. De Rosa (ITA), 49 pts
6. J. Guarnoni (FRA), 37 pts
7. F. Massei (ITA), 32 pts
8. B. Staring (AUS), 22 pts
9. K. Calia (ITA), 21 pts
10. T. Coveña (NED), 21 pts
11. C. Bergman (SWE), 19 pts
12. F. Marino (FRA), 18 pts
13. L. Salvadori (ITA), 16 pts
14. S. Suchet (SUI), 12 pts
15. S. Barrier (FRA), 11 pts
21. L. Marconi (ITA), 2 pts
22. M. Magnoni (ITA), 2 pts
More, from a press release issued by Sixteen26 PR:
WORLD SUPERBIKE WEEKEND PODIUM HELPS ELLIOTT MAINTAIN TOP SPOT
Fermanagh’s Josh Elliott maintained his position at the top of the Pirelli National Superstock 1000cc Championship table after taking his fourth consecutive podium of the season at Donington Park yesterday.
The Morello Racing rider entered round four, which had been bolted onto yesterday’s World Superbike Championship calendar, looking for his second win of the year. But the Melbourne Loop – as it so often does at the Leicestershire venue – produced all the last lap drama, as Hudson Kennaugh forced his way inside Elliott and Seeley who were disputing the lead.
The South African held on to take the win, but Josh’s second place on the Morello Racing Kawasaki, ahead of Seeley, keeps him on top of the table by three points.
The 21-year-old Ballinamallard rider said afterwards: “I got into the lead early on lap one and lead it comfortably until lap five. I let Alastair take the lead as there was rain falling through the last sector and didn’t want to risk falling.
“The Saftey Car came out just after that for an incident on track and gave me a chance to regroup and work out a plan for the last couple of laps. Once it pulled in I started to attack Seeley as I felt I had a stronger pace. I put in some fast laps breaking the lap record on one of them, but couldn’t gap the riders behind.
“Alastair passed me into Redgate on the last lap and I could have passed him right back in two or maybe three areas before we got to the last sector, but I decided to sit behind him and make a move at Melbourne Loop or the last corner.
“I got great drive out of the Foggy Esses and went for the pass, but then I saw Hudson Kennaugh’s bike on the inside of me. He pretty much let the brakes off and put both of us wide.
“That meant it was a drag race between myself and Alastair to the last corner. I had the inside line and defended it well so he couldn’t pass. I was a little frustrated with the final result, but I’m still very happy to be leading the championship and we move onto Snetterton now, which is a track I like and go well at.”
Result
Winner – Hudson Kennaugh [BMW]; 2nd – Josh Elliott [Morello Kawasaki] +0.473sec; 3rd – Alastair Seeley [BMW] +0.600sec; 4th – Richard Cooper [Kawasaki] +1.194sec; 5th – Luke Quigley [BMW] +4.802sec; 6th – Michael Robertson [Kawasaki] +5.628sec
Championship Points [after 4 rounds]
Josh Elliott 85pts
Hudson Kennaugh 82pts
Alastair Seeley 68pts
Adam Jenkinson 43pts
Luke Quigley 43pts
James East 26pts