VOL. 55 ISSUE 23 JUNE 12, 2018 P69
in the consistency side of it," said Lowes. "If
I can just get the last bit of comfort with the
bike we can be really strong every weekend.
But it is great to get the first win and I really
enjoyed it."
The race-two podium was completely
different to race one's, as Lowes led home
teammate Michael van der Mark, and the
second factory Ducati, ridden by Chaz
Davies. The tall Dutchman and Welshman
came good after a tough first race, with van
der Mark nearly 12 seconds from the win in
a highly-disturbed race that was restarted
three times.
Davies was even further back, 17 seconds
down on Rea in eighth.
Behind the podiums, van der Mark and
Lowes ended race one fourth and fifth, with
Eugene Laverty (Milwaukee Aprilia) sixth in
race one, and then fourth in the second.
The second race went all the way to a fin-
ish at 18 laps, but the first race was stopped
for a red flag when the air-fence burst again,
and then a problem when the starting lights
caused a melee in the restart. A third start
was handled well by most, especially Rea,
iii My Own Race:
22 ALEX LOWES 4TH, 1ST WORLDSBK
"The bike worked really well
for me today. I really enjoyed
the race, which is not easy
when it's so hot and slippery!"
said race-two winner Alex
Lowes. "I focused on being
as smooth and consistent as I
could be and now I'm over the
moon. A massive thank you to
Yamaha, I feel honored to be
part of this project and now
we need to keep trying to win
more races!"
7 CHAZ DAVIES 6TH, 3RD WORLDSBK
"We finally made a step for-
ward after a difficult couple
of days, where we struggled
with the setup and low grip
levels," Chaz Davies said.
"Despite still not having the
best feeling, it was enough
to put me in a position to
hold my own and not drop
off in the end of the race.
We want to do better, but I'm
really happy to be back on
the podium. It's important for
the morale of the team, and
we'll keep plugging away
without giving up."
33 MARCO MELANDRI 3RD, 15TH WORLDSBK
"Looking at our pace today,
it would have been enough
to get the win, so to finish in
15th position is disappoint-
ing," Marco Melandri said.
"We had a lot of bad luck,
because I was feeling good
and once I was in the lead I
was trying to push harder to
pull away, but the rear-brake
foot lever broke and I was
forced to go wide at turn
three. Still, I wanted to finish
the race to collect important
information ahead of Laguna
Seca. Looking at the bright
side, we regained our con-
fidence after improving the
bike's stability so I'm looking forward to the next round, where
we can surely fight for good results."
Marco Melandri was
looking good in race two
until his rear brake lever
broke, sending him into
the gravel trap.
