Qualifying went pretty much as expected with the caveat that nobody really expected Carlos to be on pole. In Supersport, Sam Lowes had been howling all through and it wasn’t surprising to see him on top after the session was over.
As most of my commitments were over I had the luxury of watching the races on the big screens in the Media Centre as well as seeing what was happening on track through the window. It wasn’t any surprise to see the Aprilias bolt straight to the front in Race 1 and, following Carlos’s unforced error that eliminated him and Melandri, it became a question of which Aprilia would win. Eugene Laverty spent most of the race brawling with Michel Fabrizio after Laverty’s team-mate had carved through to the front and established a big lead. Guintoli won easily and Laverty, saving just a bit for a last-lap charge, rounded up Fabrizio on the line to snatch second position by mere thousandths of a second. Aprilia 1,2,3, only the second time this has happened, the first being Nurburgring last year. Lots of smug looks from Dario and Andrea and all the Aprilia execs at the press conference afterwards. Laverty confessed to having “saved” his tyres a little too much and vowed to give them a hiding in Race 2. He was to make good on his promise.
As usual, the Supersport race was a cracker with a massive tussle between Lowes and reigning WSS champion, Kenan Sofoglu. These two broke away from Michel van der Mark on the Pata Honda, having his maiden WSS ride and slugged it out till a couple of laps from the end when Kenan pulled the pin and smoked off a couple of monster laps that convinced Lowes it was safer to settle for 2nd and the 20 points than end up in the kitty litter. “Superglue” also took the lap record. Lowes was gracious in defeat and vd Mark was totally overwhelmed by what he had just achieved, a podium in his first-ever WSS race. Awesome.
Race 2 of the Superbikes was a little less tense with Laverty pretty much controlling the race from about half race distance and leaving his team-mate, Guintoli, to deal with the aggressive attentions of Marco Melandri. Melandri came with a late charge and first displaced Fabrizio and then Guintoli but increasing pain from his already-injured shoulder, re-injured in the Race 1 clash with Checa, saw his challenge run out of steam and Guintoli re-passed at the end to make it another 1-2 for the “works” Aprilia outfit. Oh, and Laverty set the new fastest-ever lap of PI on his second last lap. What was that about tyres?
Out of six potential podium positions for the two races, Aprilias had secured FIVE. Have a guess which bike you’re going to need to be on to win this year?
As usual, winners are grinners and losers can please themselves. As a pointer to the rest of the season I think the meeting proved what I just said above as a fairly telling one and also it proved that, as long as he stays fit, Sofoglu is going to be hard to beat in Supersport.
My interviews at the three press conferences were actually easier to secure than what I thought they would be, I’m going to have to be a bit more “pushy” though if I want to do the same at PI in October.
It was a fabulous meeting, equalling and in some ways exceeding, the fun that I had had at PI just a month before. There are so many highlights that it’s hard to pick out just one, but, if pushed, I’d have to say that spending time with one of the heroes of my early motorcycling days, Ron Haslam, would have to be it.
The trip to PI is long and arduous, made more so by my still-painful leg, but it was well worth it, just the same. Oh, and speaking of the trip home. We stopped at Holbrook to have a drink and something to eat. Sitting down at a table out on the footpath we noticed a man and a lady sit at the table next to us. The guy was wearing a Kawasaki shirt so, one thing led to another as it does, and he told us that he was a past Post-Classic racer himself, had been to PI for the Supers and that they were on their way home to Brisbane. He asked about Zoltan’s bike and told us that he was dropping in to a friend’s place on the way home to pick up two ZX9R Kawasakis with a view to getting back into racing again. I explained that I had gone down to do some reporting for motopodcast and he said that he and his wife had been listening to the broadcast from the Island Classic on the way down from Queensland. He was more than just a little stunned when I told him that he had been listening to me!
I took about 300 photos in the pits while I was there and you can see them by following this link to my Facebook album. You don’t need to be a Facebook member to view it.
Part 1 of my PI interviews will be broadcast this weekend with Pt 2 the following week.
I certainly hope that I am asked to do the WSBK at PI again. It was fun.