WORLD SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP
medical inspection and treatment
on his right hand after his race-
one misadventure.
On the more positive side of
things, it seems obvious that the
Aprilia team has finally found the -
very personalized – bike settings
that Melandri has been asking for
since the start of the year.
Even Toni Elias, the Red Devils
Roma privateer, made a break-
through in set-up this weekend.
There have been many deep
thought sessions in the Aprilia
camp of late, one at Donington
and then a more urgent on Sat-
urday at Sepang, and the result
is that Melandri went from relative
VOL. 51 ISSUE 23 JUNE 10, 2014 P97
Briefly...
Aprilia rocketed out of the blocks at
Sepang, taking all three top places
on Friday, albeit by a small amount as
the top five riders were covered by
only .187 of a second. According to
Aprilia Racing chief Romano Albesia-
no, the idea that hot weather helps
the Aprilia right now is not wrong, but
there is more to it than just that. "It is
a good start but only the first session.
It is fair to say that in hot conditions
we have a wider window with the set-
up but the most important thing is a
strong corner exit. We knew our bike
should work well here."
Sylvain Guintoli confirmed that
the Aprilia was excellent exiting the
corners at Sepang, stating on day
two, "Yesterday was about refresh-
ing the memory, but today we have
made quite a few modifications that
worked, even with used tires. We are
still tweaking the power delivery. It is
making a big difference. There are a
lot of long drives here, long corner
exits, and we have managed to im-
prove that a little bit."
Having qualified first into Superpole
2 with a clear lead because of the
2:03.921 lap set in Free Practice
3, Sylvain Guintoli improved on that
with a 2:03.581 on a rear race tire
in Superpole 2 - and then set a new
track best of 2:03.002 with a qualifi-
er to take his second pole of 2014.
Although Sepang was a new circuit
for World Superbike, and a very wel-
come Asian round after many years
of hopping over the entire continent
on the way to Australia, this was not
the first time the series had been to
Malaysia. There have been rounds
continued on next page
The Aprilias battle at the front while mayhem ensues behind them
If you weren't on an
Aprilia, you weren't
winning at Sepang.
Marco Melandri
(33) won both races
over his teammate
Sylvain Guintoli (50)
in World Superbike
racing's debut at the
Malaysian circuit.
Melandri Jumps Up
