IN
THE
WIND
P28
as he was a maiden Superpole
winner pre-race one on Satur-
day, third in the first overheated
20-lapper and then fourth—but
much closer to the leaders on
his rejuvenated Honda World
Superbike CBR.
Nicky Hayden (Honda World
Superbike) was desperately
unlucky to have an electrical
problem first hold back and then
terminate his first race on Sat-
urday, but Sunday saw him fifth,
10 seconds from the winner at a
track that was all new to him.
He worked at his pace well,
and despite finding some brake
stability issues, he got good
points for fifth.
"On Sunday after warm-up I
really thought I could put up a
little better fight," said Hayden.
"This morning on used tires I
was putting in some pretty good
lap times, and a lot of guys they
told me had new tires. So it was
maybe not win the race, but at
least be closer. I wasn't. Other
than the patches on the track I
have to say I am impressed with
the place. The track, the facility,
the safety, the medical facilities,
the whole country, the hotels…
overall I think it's a great event."
With BMW back in the mix
in 2016, in the form of two well
supported customer teams—Al-
thea and Milwaukee—it went to
Althea's Markus Reiterberger
to show the way to the older
guys, pitching in with fifth place,
albeit 18.894 seconds from the
best. He scored seventh in race
two, but was a better 14 seconds
from the winner this time.
Pata Yamaha had decent
finishes in race one, with Alex
Lowes sixth and Sylvain Guintoli
seventh. Race two saw Guintoli
sixth, and improving his setup,
but Lowes was out with a techni-
cal issue.
In the overall championship
Rea leads with a nigh on perfect
95, Sykes put himself second
with 66, van der Mark is third
on 65 and Davies fourth with
55. The next round is in Aragon,
Spain, with races on April 2-3.
Gordon Richie
Hayden (69) has a play with
Althea's Markus Reiterberger.
