Cycle News

VOL. 51 ISSUE 36 SEPTEMBER 9, 2014 P51 Aprilia may regret the admirable sporting way in which they let their riders compete in each race. Guintoli and the team under- stood the situation, but after a clash between the two top at Por- timao that hurt Melandri's push in the title chase, it is still every man for himself. "I think finish twice today was a bit of strategy, a bit of setting," said Guintoli. "On Friday and Sat- urday, even on race pace, I was quite a long way down. I think today was more me today not having such great race pace, but sticking my neck out. I rode both races really hard from the start and tried to smoke everybody straight away. I had no choice because I really did not have an answer when the tires got used so I just rode to get some space." Sykes was unsurprised that Aprilia had not issued team or- ders, as both riders could have – however unlikely the scenario for Melandri - won the title. But all the same it could be argued that after fighting for a fifth place against an imperfect set-up in race one, and then taking a bat- tling and far from easy podium in race two, the best performance of the day for him was Melandri's. Sykes was not too disconso- late to lose lots of ground in the championship – 13 points to be precise, but a 31-point lead with only four to go is still a nice gap to have. Sykes knew Jerez would not be that great for him or his bike, despite some good winter test showings, and he played a cham- pion's part by recovering well from a first-race problem. "I have to say I am satisfied be- cause we had some misfortunes in race one and in race two we did a good job," Sykes said. "I am still upbeat and very motivated. my career I have been training with him. That is the way to win a world title. The bike worked almost every- where with the same set-up which showed how good the bike was this year." Van der Mark's father, former World Endurance rider Henk van der Mark, had his own classic race this weekend so he was not in Jerez. Cluzel, the man who lost his slim chance of the title, was unrepentant about his late ambitious pass that ended in a crash. "I am very proud because I had so many problems in the race," he said. "Every lap I had a problem with the gears, one time or two times. I was able to be fastest in these conditions. I just tried, but I was unable to finish the work because I crashed in the final corner because I tried so hard. That's it." For Jacobsen, sporting a special helmet with family and friends' names on it who are fighting cancer, it was his best World Supersport result so far and his second podium after third at Misano. "That was not too bad to hang into the top three," Jacobsen said. "Van der Mark and Cluzel were going for the championship, so there was a lot of banging. I knew something was go- ing to happen because you could not go the whole race like that. We capi- talized on that mistake at the end and it was great to get a second podium in my first year." Michael van der Mark won the World Supersport Championship in his rookie season in the series. Briefly... global balance of spec tire suppliers. MotoGP superstar Jorge Lorenzo was in town at Jerez, riding a Ya- maha R1 in Alfa Romeo colors with a competition winner on the back, and doing a lap in an Alfa Romeo car. The Italian car manufacturer sponsors him and there were great demands on his time from his adoring local fans.

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