WSBK – An almost perfect weekend for Haslam! – Supersport race

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An almost perfect weekend for Haslam !

WSBK - An almost perfect weekend for Haslam! - Supersport race

Author of the pole and the fastest lap in the race, winner of the first round and second of the second: Leon Haslam was able to tame the Ducatis yesterday at Phillip Island! In Supersport, Eugene Laverty was intractable. Report of the three races.

Supersport Race

Eugene Laverty makes the outside to everyone, that is to say in the order Kenan Sofuoglu, Joan Lascorz, David Salom, Michele Pirro, Chaz Davies … The Irishman immediately widens the gap in the first Lascorz’s turn and strength to react: the Spaniard and his Kawa take 2nd, followed by the Triumphs of Davies and Salom.

Suddenly, Chaz Davies is at fault! A few moments later, we see Fujiwara cleaning his visor … Then Roccoli’s Honda catches fire, forcing the Italian to leave the track and get off his CBR! Alone in the lead, Laverty and Lascorz pull off a superb wad but the red flag is out…

"I felt good and without this broken tube I was sure I could get on the podium", will affirm Chaz Davies, forced to set out again on the handlebars of his second motorcycle … which will tackle him for electrical problem !

Second start…

The pilots not having completed three laps, they set out again for the number of laps initially planned: 21.

Lascorz takes the lead just ahead of Laverty, Pirro, Roccoli, Sofuoglu, Harms, Salom and Foret. But from the first loop, the young Irishman causes the powder again: he easily grabs the head and walks away from the hunting group in sight..

Lascorz and Pirro are engaged in a great battle for 2nd place. Not far behind, Sofuoglu leads the peloton made up of Roccoli, Foret, Salom and Fujiwara. Our second French representative, Sebastien Charpentier, rolls in penultimate position…

"I’m still trying to get a good feeling with the bike and I need a little more time to improve after two years of absence", admits the" General Seb ", double world champion of the discipline in 2005 and 2006.

The "leprechaun" Laverty, meanwhile, maintains a hellish pace in the following laps and leaves his little comrades for good. Behind, the fight continues between Pirro and Lascorz. Sofuoglu separated from the rest of the peloton and returned to the two troublemakers, managing to make the junction in the 7th lap in particular.

But the Turkish is not the only one to shoot in better times than Michel and Joan: Katsuaki Fujiwara and his Ninja are slowly but surely recovering from their predecessors! The halfway point is therefore spiced up by the fight between the two Honda Ten Kate and the two official Kawasaki.

Unfortunately, the fight ends for Pirro and Fujiwara. The first, Honda rider # 51 – a number to remember for the future! -, is forced to return to the pits: "i felt good, but something really was wrong with the tire", will testify after the race the young Italian, victim … of a puncture !

Fujiwara, for his part, can only blame himself: "my bike was really consistent and we made a good choice of tires. The settings were very good. I had just passed Joan and was trying to get back up when I lost the front", summarizes the Ninja n ° 37…

Thus, the Japanese rider lets the Spanish Lascorz and the Turkish Sofuoglu slip away towards the podium … but not towards the victory, promised to the solid Irish Laverty on his Honda Parkalgar !

The signal is given for Kenan who takes 2nd place and tries to separate from Joan … But the Kawa pilot has resources! At the start of the last lap, Lascorz brakes at Sofuoglu and retains 2nd place until the checkered flag.

"In fact, we knew we could have a problem during the race, but I am still very disappointed with this result.", declared Kenan Sofuoglu, 2006 Supersport world champion and 3rd in this first race in 2010.

Behind, David Salom and Fabien Foret both ride alone, respectively in 4th and 5th position. The first Triumph rider, the Spaniard would have liked to have had a better start to fight for the podium, "but I’m sure I will have other chances and the important thing is to have started the season with a good result".

For his part, the French Ninja will regret his choice of tires: "we lack experience on this bike", realizes Fabien who has a month to refine his knowledge of the ZX-6R and"join the Top 5 in Portugal" !

Eugene Laverty therefore won a superb victory and pocketed the corresponding 25 points: "it was a pretty easy race after a tough weekend trying to match the rhythms of Lascorz and Sofuoglu. These guys could have a good time but we knew we had the stamina"says Eugene.

Conversely, Lascorz will congratulate himself on his perfect qualifying but will complain about the jolts ("chattering" ine inegliche) of his machine during the race. "It’s not that bad to finish 2nd and score big points but we should be better in the next race", warns the Spanish.

The next race, in fact, will be held in Portimao, the garden of the Honda Parkalgar team in Laverty … Should we expect a new single rider from the Irishman? Mystery…

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