ROAD RACE
FIM WORLD SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 8 / JULY 7-9, 2017
MAZDA RACEWAY LAGUNA SECA / MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA
P64
"The first race was a bit disap-
pointing because we had a really
strong pace during practice but
we unexpectedly struggled a lot
with grip during the race itself,
both with the front and rear,"
said Melandri. "At the beginning,
strategy, after an amazing start
where he made it from seventh
on the grid to the lead after just
a handful of corners. "I came out
of the last turn, looked at the big
screen and saw my teammate
there. I wanted the riders behind
to battle for a while but it wasn't
the case."
Behind the top three each
time was Melandri, 17 seconds
behind each time, although race
two was over 10 seconds longer
than race one.
and did not go into too much
detail. He came up with a good
plan in warm-up and it seemed
to work."
Rea enters the summer break
with a championship lead of way
more than two races' worth, on
a weekend when, again, Sykes
could not beat him in a straight
Ninja scrap.
"I was in a bit of a hurry to get
to the front in race two and I was
hoping to be going there alone,"
Sykes said of his race-two
(Above) After challenging for
podiums in Misano, the factory
Yamahas were nowhere near as
competitive at Laguna Seca.
(Right) Jordi Torres leads Lorenzo
Savadori, Alex Lowes and Michael
van der Mark early in race two
before crashing out.
