ROAD RACE
FIM WORLD SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 8 / JULY 7-9, 2017
MAZDA RACEWAY LAGUNA SECA / MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA
P68
riders finished sixth through
eighth in race two, with Laverty
from privateer Leandro Mercado
(IodaRacing Team Aprilia) and
then Lorenzo Savadori (Milwau-
kee Aprilia).
In the first race Michael van
der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official
WorldSBK Team) was the man
who headed up Mercado and
Savadori.
There were small but visible
improvements in the official Hon-
da effort this weekend, meaning
Stefan Bradl (Red Bull Honda
World Superbike Team) was 11th
each time, despite the obligatory
technical stag on day one.
Raffaele De Rosa (Althea
and I could hear the roars all the
time. Everything was different so
I can't pick one thing. Tires are
big, electronics—when I am not
really used to having electron-
ics at all. All the data they have,
they have so many squiggly lines
on those screens I do not know
how to deal with it! I had a good
race on the first day and we got
right up in a battle and finished
not too far off Stefan, which is
unreal because that guy is a
world champion."
Further up the field Aprilia
In each 25-lap contest, held
under numerous Nicky Hayden
and #69 banners and symbols
that lined the track, 18th-place
qualifier Jake Gagne (Red Bull
Honda World Superbike Team)
secured a point for 15th. A ster-
ling effort when so much other
than the basic bike design was
new to him.
"It was a heck of a time and I
learned so much from that World
Superbike team," said Gagne
after his first-ever WorldSBK
weekend. "It is a Honda super-
bike but, man, it is a whole dif-
ferent machine. A whole differ-
ent beast. The support from the
fans here was seriously unreal
For Rea (center) it'll take a miracle
for him not to wind up champion
at the end of the year.
