VOL. 50 ISSUE 29 JULY 23, 2013
When it was dry, this one
was all about Davies.
P97
Briefly...
It will be a tough race, but I think
many riders can stay at the front
of the race and I think we can stay
in the middle. Every time we feel
comfortable on the bike we can get
a good result."
unfortunately, we have had some
difficulties selecting first gear on
the start, but I got away after a
push from the officials and away
we went," Sykes explained. "The
race was going well after I had
a very good start and I was very
comfortable. It was difficult to
follow Eugene Laverty, it looked
like he was really struggling with
his bike, and that in turn made it
difficult to pass because he was
carrying a lot of speed on the
straights. I was really thinking
about pulling a passing move,
going into turn one I heard a
noise, stopped off the racing
line, and that was the end of that
for my race. Obviously, it is a big
shame as we made a change in
warm-up for race one and it felt
good. I was looking forward to
this race come rain or shine, but
unfortunately we were not able to
do much."
Aprilia's Sylvain Guintoli was
up to fourth place on lap four,
from his 12th place start. Not bad
for a man with a dislocated right
collarbone.
The white flag for spots of rain
on the track came out on lap six,
leaving the riders in a tricky position.
Laverty dropped two places,
but took one back from Loris Baz
as the red and white diagonal flag
came out to indicate drops of rain
in the first sector.
The fighting between Baz and
Laverty brought Pata Honda's
Jonathan Rea back into the equation, but shortly after lap nine
had started real rain began to fall
in sectors one and two and the
track became wet straight away,
Carlos Checa laughed off the
crash that almost put him out of
the Moscow race just as it looked
like the Ducati Alstare team had
turned a literal and figurative corner after a positive test at Misano
after the Imola round. "I am satisfied by the job we did, but a little
bit disappointed by the crash. But
sometimes these things happen.
The engine just locked and I could
not reach the clutch, I just could
not. Normally you can, but I was
doing 270 kmph, fifth gear and the
engine lock was really, really fast.
It started sliding and I was not able
to catch the clutch. Normally it is
your instinct to catch it in time, and
I rode many two strokes in the beginning of my career and for many
years, and always you ride with one
hand over it. Maybe this instinct will
wake up again and my hand will
be more reactive. I think my body
was not ready and at the end when
I started sliding I saw the rails, the
fence, the very narrow track and
I was more taking care where to
go and at one moment I thought
I could manage it because it was
wet, and sliding, but at a certain
point I had a highside."
The 40-year-old Checa even
made light of his fast recovery from
hard impacts on his hip, shoulder
and head to go onto the second
row after Superpole saying, "I am
only 20 years old so it is normal at
this age!"
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