Cycle News

IN THE WIND P42 DAMAGE LIMITATION FOR NOYES A merica's defending European Superbike Champion Kenny Noyes escaped with minimal damage to his championship aspirations, when he clinched third place behind winner Carmelo Mo- rales (Yamaha) and Ivan Silva (Spain) in the latest round of the series at Catalunya, June 20-21. Noyes spent much of the weekend trying to solve the chatter issues that have been plaguing him this season on his Palmeto Kawasaki ZX-10R. He had to make the most of a bad situation as race day temperatures soared into the 120s. Qualifying fourth on the grid, Noyes narrowly avoided being taken out by Dani Rivas, as the Yamaha man went tumbling out of the lead pack on lap six, and settled into a race-long dice with BMW rider Ivan Silva, the Spaniard using the su- perior horsepower of the S 1000 RR over Noyes' Kawasaki to narrowly take second place by half a bike length. Morales had long cleared off for the win and now sits nine points clear at the top of the standings on 70 points from Noyes on 61. "It probably looked like a fun race on TV be- tween Silva and me but, to tell the truth, I was hav- ing a pretty hard time," Noyes said. "I could hold the slipstream of his BMW down the long home straight, but when I led, he could overtake me too easily. Even though we rubbed fairings a couple of times, it was a clean scrap all the way to the flag. "We got out of here with minimum damage. Mo- rales took nine points from us, but now we know where we are. We decided right after the race to go to Motorland on Tuesday and Wednesday for two days testing to try and get rid of the chatter and to find some more speed. Our rivals made some improvements after Portugal and now we have got to do the same." Noyes (1) tried valiantly to hold off Silva (22) for second but lost out on the line. PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE SEPANG OR NO SEPANG FOR BIAGGI? T he Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia has stated that it will feature Max Biaggi in the World Su- perbike entry list later this season, but the rider himself affirmed it is a maybe, not a yes. "It depends on the owner," Biaggi said. "He has to make the decision. For one point of view it is fixed. But for the most important things it is up to Aprilia. We will see. Until I see something sure, I've learned during the years to say '50/50'." Biaggi has not ruled out a full season return in 2016. "What we thought before this race was enough and maybe it is not what I am looking for, but never say never because at the moment I am going not race-by-race, but day-by-day," said the two-time World Superbike Champion. Gordon Ritchie Will Max Biaggi (left) have another go at Sepang?

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