CHALLENGING RACE 1 AT LAGUNA SECA FOR VAN DER MARK
Michael van der Mark fought his way through the field from 15th position on the grid to finish a respectable seventh in this afternoon’s 25-lap WorldSBK Race 1 at Laguna Seca. Van der mark crashed at turn four in the Superpole and, with his bike stranded at the side of the track, was forced to sit out the remainder of the session, which he ended in 15th position. But a good start and some aggressive overtakes saw van der Mark inside the top ten at the end of the opening lap. By midrace distance the 26-year-old was in eighth place but moved up one more place with a pass on fellow Yamaha rider Loris Baz with 11 laps to go. Van der Mark managed to pull away from the Frenchman in the closing stages to finish seventh.
Pata Yamaha WorldSBK – P7 – Championship Position – P3 – 215 Points: “I made a mistake in Superpole and crashed, which meant I had to start Race 1 from 15th position on the grid, which is not ideal but, fortunately, I have a bit of experience starting so far back this season! I got a good start and was up to tenth after the first lap. I felt a lot better with the bike and it was easier to follow the guys in front of me. When Leon Haslam crashed, I was sat behind Loris Baz and I followed him for quite a few laps because I didn’t feel that I was quicker at that point. With 11 laps to go I managed to make a pass stick and then pull away a little. My pace was consistent but nothing special and I was starting to struggle a bit towards the end, but I think everyone was the same. We know where we need to improve for tomorrow, but after a difficult Superpole I think we can be relatively satisfied with the race result today.”