Cycle News

VOL. 51 ISSUE 28 JULY 15, 2014 P43 was red-flagged when Voltcom Crescent Suzuki's Alex Lowes hit the Kawasaki of Baz hard in the entry to the Corkscrew, al- most pitching Baz off and throw- ing Lowes down the road with his bike for the second time in a few hours. He had crashed at around 150 mph in morning warm up at the end of the main straight, just approaching turn two. A restarted race two was stopped yet again when Sylvain Barrier crashed his BMW Mo- torrad Italia SBK Evo exiting the final corner on lap two, in what was already slated as a seven- lap race. Barrier looked badly hurt at one time, but it was not as seri- ous as first thought. Yet another seven-lap restart was called, with Barrier con- scious in the medical center, but diagnosed with a left foot and heel fracture. Giugliano set a new lap record of 1:23.403 in race two, just before falling off at the Corkscrew and seeing his bike head across the track to lie right on the exit line of the riders. Another red flag should have been called as riders streamed past the stricken Ducati that for some reason did not warrant a red flag for its presence on the racing line. The following riders all missed it, Eugene Laverty very, very nar- rowly. Just as Melandri, who saw a double that may have rekindled his championship ambitions (if almost certainly too late) disap- pear in the dust, fell off on lap two of the second race, Sykes grabbed his bike and season by Briefly... The pre-race publicity stunt this time around was a behind-the scenes visit to the simply huge Monterey Bay Aquarium, with selected riders getting a whistle-stop tour around the facility - even in areas the public cannot see. Moment of the day was watching Leon Haslam, Marco Me- landri and wildcard Larry Pegram do- ing a mating dance with a rare breed of albatross, one of which took a small nip out of Haslam's arm. Sylvain Guintoli's current con- tract is up for renewal and although he would like to stay where he's at in the factory Aprilia team, he says he has options for 2015. "Everybody is still trying to work out which bikes are strong, but it is not too early to start talking about 2015. After this race we have two months off and when we come back it is almost next year." When asked about Aprilia's pos- sible move to MotoGP a year earlier than planned, in some form at least, Guintoli said, "I don't know how ad- vanced any other plan is, but they announced that it would be 2016. At the minute we are still early in the new rules for Superbikes, and ev- erybody is weighing their options, including Aprilia and including me. In the past year and half I have been re- ally happy with Aprilia and for me it is important to concentrate in what I am doing this year." Chaz Davies was quickest heading into Superpole at Laguna Seca and although he initially did not agree that it was partly to do with the fact that he is a former AMA rider, he did agree that he knows Laguna better than some of his home circuits in the the 'rear end drop' that had affected him on new tires this year, and although he could not maximize his time in Superpole he was still sixth. An encouraging seventh from Leon Haslam left him in the top Honda spot after Jonathan Rea had fallen on the final corner on his fast lap, just before Sykes came through. Rea was ninth. Loris Baz was deeply unhappy from Friday at Laguna, on the kind of track he normally enjoys, but eighth in the starting rankings was a decent result for a Laguna first timer, especially as he had to claw his way out of Super- pole one, despite toppling over in the gravel at one stage, after running wide. Fastest Evo was Niccolo Canepa's Althea Ducati, 12th overall. Tom Sykes qualified on pole position with a blistering fast lap of Laguna Seca. Melandri lost the front and crashed in turn 11 while leading Sykes in race two.

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