DOUBLE DISAPPOINTMENT IN TEXAS FOR SIMEON AND BALDASSARRI

Xavier Simeon and the Team Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 leave Texas without collecting points: after leading most of the race, the Belgian rider has in fact been forced to retire after a crash during the 16th lap, while he was fighting for the third position.

Siméon mantained the lead until the 12th lap, when he did a mistake caused by the same gearbox problems he experienced during practice and qualifying, dropping to fifth. He then passed Mika Kallio and with just two laps to go, Xavier was targeting the podium, when he unfortunately lost the front at turn 19.

The disappointment was strong also in the Team Gresini Moto2 garage: Lorenzo Baldassarri, who had finally solved the set-up problems found during practice he was recovering several positions in the early stages of the race, before crashing as he lost the front at the penultimate corner of the fourth lap.

XAVIER SIMEON (DNF)

“I’m really sorry for the team, which is doing a great job: it’s the first time that I stay in the lead for so long and today we obvoiusly could get on the podium. In the early stages I managed to keep a good pace, although I continued to have some problems with the gearbox, struggling to engage first gear. I made a first mistake because of this problem, then I found myself in fifth position but I was able to recover: I overtook Kallio and I was catching Aegerter. At that moment, my goal was clearly the podium, when at a certain point, on turn 19, I lost the front. It’s really reassuring to be so competitive, although it is clear that the most important thing is making points and so far unfortunately we didn’t do it”.

LORENZO BALDASSARRI (DNF)

“I got off the line well, but then at the first corner a few riders crashed in front of me and I lost time: I felt good on the bike and I wanted to recover, but maybe I wanted to do it too quickly. I was catching the group of riders in front of me when, at the penultimate corner, while I was on the white line on the outside, I lost the front as soon as I touched the brakes. Too bad, because we had finally found the solution to ride well even on tight corners and I was faster than in qualifying”.

FAUSTO GRESINI

“Unfortunately, despite many beautiful expectations, to date we have no points. Today was another negative Sunday and it’s a shame because we have been protagonists until the end, with Siméon who led the race for many laps and he’s also been able to recover after a first mistake. Without the falls we would have been in the points with both riders, because also Baldassarri, until the crash, was showing a good potential. Our priority for the next round will be to finish the race”.

Race Results

1

Maverick Viñales

Pons HP 40

41’31.520

2

Esteve Rabat

Marc VDS Racing Team

+4.009

3

Dominique Aegerter

Technomag carXpert

+7.323

4

Mika Kallio

Marc VDS Racing Team

+8.590

5

Simone Corsi

NGM Forward Racing

+9.934

6

Thomas Luthi

Interwetten Paddock Moto2

+16.987

7

Anthony West

QMMF Racing Team

+17.561

8

Alex De Angelis

Tasca Racing Moto2

+18.948

9

Marcel Schrotter

Tech3

+19.720

10

Ricard Cardus

Tech3

+24.552

11

Takaaki Nakagami

Idemitsu Honda Team Asia

+28.463

12

Mattia Pasini

NGM Forward Racing

+43.955

13

Randy Krummenacher

IodaRacing Project Moto2

+44.344

14

Sandro Cortese

Dynavolt Intact GP

+45.666

15

Hafizh Syahrin

Petronas Raceline Malaysia

+49.291

16

Sam Lowes

Speed Up

+51.154

17

Franco Morbidelli

Italtrans Racing Team

+51.331

18

Azlan Shah

Idemitsu Honda Team Asia

+51.683

19

Axel Pons

Argiñano & Gines Racing

+52.113

20

Tetsuta Nagashima

Teluru Team JiR Webike

+1’02.103

21

Roman Ramos

QMMF Racing Team

+1’02.346

22

Thitipong Warokorn

SAG Team

+1’03.495

23

Julian Simon

Italtrans Racing Team

1’04.944

24

Robin Mulhauser

Technomag carXpert

+1’09.941

25

Gino Rea

AGT REA Racing

+1’20.330

26

Jordi Torres

Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2

+1’33.781

More, from a press release issued by Teach 3 Racing:

Strong top ten finishes from Schrotter and Cardus in Texas

The Tech3 Racing Moto2 Team completed a successful weekend at the Circuit of the Americas with both riders undertaking convincing displays and finishing inside the top 10 in round 2 of the Moto2 World Championship. The race was initially delayed at the start due to the weather conditions, however it did not disrupt the 19 lap race at the 5.513 kilometre Texan circuit.

Marcel Schrotter skilfully guided his Mistral 610 across the finish line in a hard fought 9th place, to score his first championship points of the Moto2 season. The young German had a positive start and held his qualifying position of 10th place during the opening minutes of the race. He then became involved in a battle for 9th, in the fiercely competitive intermediate class, before slipping back to 11th. Schrotter maintained a consistent pace and caught the 10th position rider in front. He proceeded to power past and clinch 9th at the chequered flag.

Stand in rider Ricky Cardus fought intrepidly during the Moto2 Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas to finish strongly in 10th place. After an unfortunate qualifying session yesterday, which saw him finish in 22nd position because of an early crash, the young Spanish rider had a magnificent start in a typically chaotic opening lap in the Moto2 class. He made ten places to find himself in 12th position when passing the finish line for the first time during the race. Cardus, then moved up to 8th, before battling for 7th place. The Spanish rider, who continues to replace the recovering Alex Mariñelarena, eventually slipped back and was overtaken by his teammate before crossing the line in 10th place while collecting his second set of championship points for the team.

Marcel Schrotter – 9th – 7 points:

“I am really happy about my race today. The start of the weekend was tough, but I managed to qualify well and had a strong race. It was not easy to keep concentration on the starting grid, as we had to wait for a long time and I was wondering how the track would be after the slight rain. Still my start was good, and I got through the first corner well. There was a lot of overtaking during the first laps, and all the riders were pushing hard, so I didn’t want to take too many risks straight away. Once everything had settled and I was alone, I got into a good rhythm, and caught the group in front of me half way through the race. I could have even overtaken DeAngelis at the end but unfortunately I continued to make several small mistakes just before the long straight, where the acceleration is vital. With the worn tyres, there was also a bit of chatter, but I am still very happy with our top 10 result, which is my best ever finish in the Moto2 class, and we will continue to work full of confidence for the next race in Argentina”.

Ricky Cardus – 10th – 10 points:

“I’m truly happy about today’s race, even if it has been a very hard and demanding one. Because of a small injury, I could not train as much cardio as I wanted to, so I felt really tired towards the end of the race. I had a great start and could recover positions quickly, so that even after starting from 22nd position I could stay the whole race with the group from 6th to 11th. Tenth is my best ever finish in the World Championship, so once again I want to say that I’m really thankful for the opportunity to be here with Tech3 Racing and I want to send a hug to Alex Mariñelarena who is recovering at home. His bike is waiting for him because even if it is an individual sport we have to be human and no one wants to take advantage of the injury of some another rider. For as long as I can, I will do my best and enjoy riding for Tech3 because they are really doing a fantastic job to help me”.

Herve Poncharal – Team Manager:

“We may have had better results in the past, with race wins and podiums , but I am really happy with today as both guys have done very well. It’s been a long time since we have seen both riders fighting for the top ten so it’s a strong emotion to see them back up there. It is really good to see both riders fighting in the top ten. I want to thank Marcel for his hard work over the winter and at the beginning of the year. He showed strong determination and rode through the difficulties. Also Ricky did a fantastic job. He jumped on our bike at the test in Jerez without any preparation during this winter, and with just three days of track time before the start of the first race, he wasn’t too confident at all. To see him now fighting for the top ten is brilliant, and his start in which he recovered 10 positions to move into 12th was just incredible. The whole team did a great job and we finally have two riders who believe in us and our project. For sure both will continue to push without being negative. This is the only way to move forward and after this strong race hopefully the positive boost will take us to another convincing performance in Argentina“.

More, from a press release issued by Paul Bird Motorsport:

Laverty Denied A Point – Again

The second round of the 2014 MotoGP World Championship took place with the Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) at Austin this weekend and for the second round in succession PBM rider Michael Laverty just missed out on a point when he finished a determined 16th.

However, unlike Qatar, the attrition rate was low and the Ulsterman was battling aboard the Rapid Solicitors and Silkolene-backed PBM machine with a number of Open class rivals meaning he was on the verge of the points in the latter stages of the race.

Indeed, on the very last lap, he edged ahead of the Avintia of Hector Barbera into the last points scoring place but the Spaniard pipped the former British Supersport champion to the line, thus denying Laverty his first points of the season by just 0.167 seconds after 21 laps of the Texas track.

PBM team-mate Broc Parkes was hoping to add to the brilliant point he scored for 15th in Qatar on his Grand Prix debut and was confident having qualified half a second behind Laverty on row seven of the grid for the Penrith based team.

Despite a great start, it soon became apparent that all was not well for the Australian who dropped down the order and after eight laps of struggling with a front end problem on the machine, he called into pit lane to retire the Aprilia ART-powered PBM.

The results mean that Parkes occupies 20th overall in the 2014 MotoGP World Championship table, ninth in the Open class standings and third in Rookie of the Year. With a pair of 16th place finishes, Laverty has yet to register on the scoreboard but importantly for the PBM team, they occupy seventh place in the manufacturer’s table and 13th in the team’s standings going into the next race in Argentina in two weeks’ time.

Michael Laverty: “I’m satisfied with how I rode but quite frustrated to lose out on the final point scoring position on the final lap. I had a few small issues that hindered my progress but I pushed hard and caught back up to Barbera and Abraham mid race. I got into 16th place with around three laps to go but by then I had very little grip left and could do little to break Barbera. He put in a strong final lap and I couldn’t find a way back through. We had a good weekend steadily making chassis improvements in every session, the COTA circuit is more suited to our rivals’ power characteristics than that of our Aprilia engine so I feel we have done a good job overall considering.”

Broc Parkes: “Like a number of other riders as it transpired, I had no front grip and a lot of chatter from the front to the point that I could not ride it so it was either continue and risk a crash or reluctantly pull in so I chose the latter. It proved a wise decision as other riders continued and crashed. There were a couple of other minor things going on but I hope the boys get to the bottom of it. I was really upset to retire as I hate doing that.”

Phil Borley, Technical Director: “It has been a mixed weekend for PBM at COTA. Michael had a good qualifying and race but unfortunately just missed out on a point scoring finish. Broc’s first visit to COTA had gone well until the race when he felt some problems which resulted in his retirement. We will study the data to understand some of the issues the riders have experienced this weekend and also why the improvement in overall race time was not as big as we were hoping for.” 

More, from a press release issued by QMMF Racing Team:

Anthony West battles from 19th to seventh – Ramos grits his teeth and finishes in 21st place

QMMF Racing Team rider Anthony West fought his way from 19th place on the starting grid to a fantastic seventh place at the “Grand Prix of the Americas”, thrilling the audience with stunning attacks and overtaking manoevres on each of the 19 laps of the Moto2 race.

The 32-year-old Australian had found the right set-up for his Speed-Up bike in the warm-up practice on Sunday morning and was visibly comfortable on the Texan track, moving up to 15th on the opening lap and breaking into the Top Ten on lap two, before getting entangled in epic battles with Spaniard Ricky Cardús and, later on, Swiss rider Tom Luthi.

Team-mate Roman Ramos was a step behind with the set-up of his bike. The Spaniard looked strong during the first half of the race, in which he recovered from his 32nd grid position to hold 18th place for a while, but then dropped back and finished in 21st position.

Anthony West – 7th place

“Since our qualifying was not so strong, I had to make a good start. It went okay, but I was on the outside going into the turn one and I had to accept the risk of that. I was very lucky because I saw out of the corner of my eye some people crash and touch my rear wheel as I was exiting the corner. I had a small slide and I was lucky not to get taken out, it was very close. I then passed a lot of people on the opening laps and felt really strong. We had made some more adjustments to the bike in the warm-up practice this morning and it felt good, especially with a full tank of fuel. I passed a lot of riders before I got stuck with Ricky Cardús who fought like crazy. I sort of got held up with him, trying to pass him and get away from him, so I lost Corsi. When I got a clear track to catch Corsi, the fuel load had become lighter and I ran into problems with chattering. I also had some trouble with the gearbox. Every time I went from first to second, I got neutral, so I had to shift really early before the full revs. The group behind me got closer and Luthi caught up. We fought a lot during the last laps and I made a small mistake on the last lap going into turn one, which allowed him to make his final move. But nevertheless, I am happy with our strong result and the points we scored. We are improving the bike slowly but surely. Hopefully, we can start with this good feeling at the next race in Argentina!”

Roman Ramos – 21st place

“It was a difficult and hard race. We had a few problems with the bike and I couldn’t ride the way I would have liked to. Now we are looking ahead to the next race in Argentina, which is a new circuit for everybody. I hope I will feel more comfortable on the bike there, because this weekend, we suffered quite a bit, as we never found the best possible set-up. But I am sure that we will be much better in Argentina and that we will fight for positions higher up in the classification!”

More, from a press release issued by Bel-Ray:

Bel-Ray Racers Score Positive Results in Austin MotoGP

FARMINGDALE, N.J. (April 14, 2014) ? Round two of the 2014 FIM World Championship took place this weekend at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. The Circuit of the Americas first hosted a MotoGP event last season. As a sponsor of Team Aspar, Bel-Ray fields racers in all three championship classes, with Nicky Hayden and Hiroshi Aoyama in MotoGP, Nico Terol and Jordi Torres in Moto2, and Juanfran Guevara in Moto3.

Following a positive Qatar MotoGP and start to the 2014 season, both Drive M7 Aspar riders Nicky Hayden and Hiroshi Aoyama had good results in Austin. Hayden’s 11th was the result of a race-long battle with Scott Redding and Yonny Hernandez, while Aoyama used consistent laps to up his pace to a 12th place finish.

11th Nicky Hayden: “To be honest, the race went a lot better than I expected, and obviously it was much better than the rest of the weekend. It hasn’t been an easy Grand Prix for us; we had a few setbacks during practice, and to be honest, my reaction wasn’t the best. It was hard for me to be so far off the pace in my home race, and I have to apologize because I’m sure I wasn’t easy to be around. The team worked really hard all weekend. I gave the mechanics plenty to do, and they did their best to give me the best possible bike. In the end, we have come away with a positive result, and I had fun fighting with a strong group of riders. The positive thing is we have more experience with this new bike, and we know the season is long, so we have to keep going to make the most of our potential.”

12th Hiroshi Aoyama: “I think starting from sixteenth and finishing twelfth, we have to be satisfied, and it shows the progress we have made all weekend. I had a good start, but with us going for the hard tire, we had to wait for the feeling to come in. And as the laps went by, I was able to close on the group in front and make some passes. In the end, I almost caught Nicky, so I am really happy and grateful to the team for giving me a great setting. The bike worked well and I felt better than in Qatar, especially with the front end. We still need to build experience with this bike, but a twelfth place finish today is positive, and we are on the right lines. I want to thank the team, the sponsors, and everybody around me that helps us score results like this.”

The Bel-Ray supported Mapfre Aspar Moto2 team of Nico Terol and Jordi Torres had an Austin GPO that they would soon like to forget. Both experienced misfortunes at the beginning of the race that ultimately affected their results. Jordi Torres started from twelfth on the grid and was determined to chase the front group, but contact with another rider in turn one damaged his exhaust and he was forced to pit for a repair. His impatience to get back on track saw him break the pit-lane speed limit and suffer a ride-through penalty, after which Jordi composed himself and set a pace in the 2’10s, matching that of the lead group and clocking one of the fastest times on the penultimate lap (2.10.342), bettered only by Maverick Viñales and Esteve Rabat.

26th Jordi Torres: “I’m annoyed because we did a great job during practice here, and we had the pace to run with the guys at the front. This morning in the warm-up, we made a couple of changes that allowed me to really maximize my riding style at this track, but after the contact in the first turn, I realized I couldn’t get the bike leaned over on the left-hand side and I had to come in. The mechanics quickly realized it was an exhaust problem, and they got me back out on track, but then I broke the pit-lane speed limit and had to come back in. It made no difference because my race was ruined by another rider in the first turn, but the positive thing is that we had the pace to run at the front.”

Nico Terol (DNF): “Despite the problems we had this weekend, I got a pretty good start to the race. Unfortunately, another rider tried something crazy in turn one and wiped a bunch of us out. I tried my best to save it, but I ran over another bike and went flying. I got back up, and even though the fairing was hanging off and the handlebar was bent, I wanted to finish the race and gather whatever data I could. But the bike started to fail towards the end of the race and I had to come in.”

In the Moto3 competition, Bel-Ray supported MAPFRE Aspar rider Juanfran Guevara started from a best ever grid position of thirteenth, and he made up two positions on the first lap. The young Spaniard continued his charge up to eighth place, but from the fourteenth lap his tire performance dropped and some front-end chatter ultimately cost him positions inthe final lap. However, eleventh place represents his career best finish so far and his first five World Championship points.

11th Juanfran Guevara: “Last year, I didn’t score any points all season, and this year we have picked up five in the second race. I am happy because it’s my best result in the championship, and we finished not too far off the front group. We have struggled this weekend to get comfortable with the front end; I just didn’t have the same feeling with it as Qatar. All things considered, to come away from here with eleventh place means that when we go to circuits where the bike is working, we can aim much higher. We have to take the positives and keep moving forward step by step. I got a pretty decent start in the race, but got a bit distracted in the early laps. I tried to hold my position to the end, but as the tires wore down, I suffered from chatter and got passed by a bunch of riders in the last sector. I am just as happy with the result as I am with the work we have done here.”

Team Aspar relies on Bel-Ray lubricants to protect their machines and provide maximum power.

The FIM World Championship continues with round two in Argentina on April 27th.

To learn more about Bel-Ray specialty powersports lubricants, visit www.belray.com/powersports or call (732) 938-2421.

Follow Bel-Ray racers all season long at www.belray.com.

Racers like Nicky Hayden, Hiroshi Aoyama, Nico Terol, Jordi Torres and Juanfran Guevara all rely on Bel-Ray to perform on their way to success. You can find the same great products they use in their machines at your local powersports dealer.

ABOUT BEL-RAY COMPANY, LLC.

Bel-Ray Company, Llc.was founded in 1946 to serve the lubrication needs of powersports, industrial and mining customers worldwide. Bel-Ray is recognized as the leader in the specialty lubricants industry for setting high standards of quality and performance with products formulated for the motorcycle, automotive, aviation, energy, food, marine, military, mining, OEM, industrial steel, and textile industries. “Flex Your Engine” with Bel-Ray’s superior Powersports line that delivers top quality Made-in-the-USA products to motorcycle and recreational vehicle enthusiasts around the world. Bel-Ray products are available at powersports dealers worldwide. Visit Bel-Ray.com for a complete dealer listing. Find the right lubricant for your equipment with Bel-Ray’s Lubricant Advisor. Like us on Facebook.com/BelRay or follow us on Twitter/Bel_Ray.