VOL. 50 ISSUE 23 JUNE 11, 2013
Fixi Crescent Suzuki to fourth in
race one, easily his best finish
of 2013, but then a gearshift link
broke in race two and he failed
to finish.
Only the French seemed to
find more consistency this weekend, as Loris Baz was a good
fifth on his Kawasaki works bike
despite his imperfect set-up,
then he found more pace and
feel in race two and was fourth
- his second best finish after his
Assen podium in third. Not bad
for a 20-year-old rider.
BMW's Chaz Davies was also
consistent but not as high as he
wanted to be, in sixth and fifth
places, with Baz closing in on his
fifth-place championship placing just a little. He changed to a
softer front tire after race one and
wished he had done so earlier in
the weekend.
Another French pilot, rookie
Jules Cluzel, was a metronomic
marvel like his countrymen Guintoli and Baz, setting good laps for
eighth and seventh on the second Fixi Crescent Suzuki.
The big story largely goes to
a certain Carlos Checa, Ducati
Alstare and Ducati riders of all
shapes and inlet sizes. Checa
was his season-best sixth in race
two after finishing ninth in the
opener – and now all the Ducatis will run without air restrictors
at the next rounds. The gains at
Portimao came from the chassis,
but Ducati will be happy for any
help they can garner from a free
Jonathan Rea (65) finished
third in race two after mechanical problems in race one.
P89
Briefly...
Sunday. The project of MV Agusta
is many years in front of the other
one because the engine is very
much a racing engine, and the size
of the bike has been studied for
racing. And the MV Agusta is the
only Supersport bike with a contrarotating engine, such a high clutch
position - so this engine has a very
high potential and can stay for sure
at the same level of a four-cylinder
next year."
The official Kawasaki Racing Team
duo of Tom Sykes and Loris Baz
will be testing at their favored track
of Motorland Aragon on June 1314, but will maybe skip the test at
Imola on the day after the Italian
race.
