Cycle News

VOL. 50 ISSUE 21 MAY 29, 2013 P89 Briefly... the first time in an international event since 1976, according to some wise old heads at least. It was certainly a first in World Supersport and only five races after the start of an entirely new adventure for the ParkinGO team and MV. On a bike which is still pretty stock in some areas, is a 675cc triple, and needs much more work on engine spec and electronics to be the same as the others, Roby Rolfo's astounding run to third was a sight that will never be forgotten. He was 16th on the grid, 15th on lap one, but he had sliced his way to third by lap 15 and with some more laps he may also have caught Sofuoglu. Rolfo, who also loves Donington, said: "I did not sleep so much because I was thinking about the race and how I wanted to be top five. I thought it was not so easy at the moment as I have the same sensation. The podium was not a surprise, but I only started to feel that it was A pre-Donington Ducati Corse test at Mugello has shown the Ducati management that they still have a long way to go to find the bike's potential. "The idea that I have is that the Panigale has great potential, but we just have a much smaller window compared to the past ones," said Ernesto Marinelli. "You have to be sure you stay between these two 'rails.' We want to try and define what these two rails are. Set-up is difficult because it always depends on the rider. But we have to find where the two rails really are and widen them. This is a new bike and sometimes we come to racetracks with this bike that it has never been before. With the 1198 we had five years of data and more or less when you come to a new racetrack you knew already whether it is working or not. The engine life on this bike is pretty much aligned with the old one. The change in restrictor gives us one or two more horsepower, but we should see a bit more if they remove it completely." Sam Lowes was unstoppable in the World Supersport race at Donington. possible the more feeling I got on the front of the bike. The bike is very good in the chassis." Paul Denning, the team owner of the Fixi Crescent Suzuki squad, did not think a repeat of the premature wear that Leon Camier found on his brake pads at Monza would re-appear "The set-up on the brakes is the same as it has been. We have a more aggressive brake on the bike with slots in it, which caused more wear to the pads than we expected, so we went back to a conventional disc. But there is a bit more feel and performance with the more aggressive one so we will be running with that unless wear is an issue. I think the sheer speed at continued on next page

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