Cycle News

VOL. 50 ISSUE 21 MAY 29, 2013 Eugene Laverty tries to catch his teammate Guintoli in race two. Laverty was seventh in race one, but rebounded to third in race two. hard-earned second place after starting sixth, but he was not at the same ease as he had been at Monza after recent chassis changes. He was fifth behind privateer Davide Giugliano in race two – so not the stuff of potential legend. "It was too difficult for me in race two," Melandri said. "It was impossible to have a good speed and good feeling from upright to going into the middle of the corner. Every time I tried to push more I was just losing the front. Even in race one it was difficult. For sure I am not happy and we have to change something if we want to try and beat those guys. We must be consistent everywhere." The same goes for Eugene Laverty, who is now third in the rankings and who had to make significant changes to his Aprilia's chassis set-up between races to go from seventh in race one to third in race two. "Our set-up is something that we need to address at a circuit like this because my riding style is quite rear tire oriented," said Laverty. "This circuit does not suit it, same at Assen with all the banked corners. We did a few things on the bike at the rear just to support things more in race two and that is generally the direction we know we have to go in. The bike creates so much power and torque and you cannot have it sitting waiting because the other guys can drive away from you." Jonathan Rea had another weekend of a promising start (fourth in qualifying and fourth in race one) then a second race when electronic-sensor issues stopped him before he ever really got going and he finished 11th. "I was pretty happy with my pace at the start of race one but, as soon as my tire started to go, the electronics were cutting too severely and I lost a lot of pace," Rea said. "Race two was a complete disaster. Already, on the sighting lap, I told the guys that we had a sensor problem on the traction control. They said there wasn't enough time to fix it so I went out on a bike that I was really unsure of. In reality it was cutting way, way too much power and I even tried to turn the traction control off, but it wouldn't turn completely off. It was the worst 23 laps I've ever ridden. I feel like we should have been on the podium twice today." Chaz Davies was nowhere near his hopes at his home races, struggling with his 2013 BMW and losing tire grip each time out, but Leon Camier was in even worse trouble, at a circuit that should suit his Suzuki nicely. Camier was a non-finisher after a fall in race one and 13th after falling and remounting – at the same Goddards corner - in race two. Carlos Checa was 12th in race one, and a non-starter in race P91 Briefly... Monza overheats the brakes more and for longer than here at Donington, even if there are three big braking points." Aprilia is still learning secrets from its now ageing RSV-4 Factory works bikes, as both Eugene Laverty and Sylvain Guintoli were on the front row after Superpole. Once a bike that was either brilliant or struggling, depending on the track, the RSV is now a useable tool everywhere, according to Laverty. "The bike is pretty similar to the way we left Monza, just the electronics is different because of the many slow corners. It is just a more complete package. It works from track to track and the 17-inch tires, for me, are more consistent on the Aprilia. You have the same bike you have from the first lap to the 20th laps whereas on the 16.5s before you would not know what was coming on lap six. The new wheels and tires damp our bike down a bit. You just have to be smooth. A bike like the Kawasaki is a lot easier to ride; Tom [Sykes] rides it well, but Loris Baz gets away with a lot more things than we can. But the bigger wheels have damped it down a bit for us." The Ducati Alstare team swelled its ranks to include Niccolo Canepa alongside Carlos Checa and Ayrton Badovini as they made the numbers up on the entry list to 19, despite the loss of Mark Aitchison and Effenbert Liberty Ducati. Canepa was the fastest Ducati on day one, in 12th place, and then again in Superpole when he made it all the continued on next page

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