FIFTH ROW FOR VAN DER MARK IN CALIFORNIA
Michael van der Mark will start the two ninth-round World Superbike championship races at Laguna Seca in the USA from the fifth row of the grid. The 22-year-old Dutch rider struggled for a positive front-end feeling throughout Friday’s practice sessions but a different front tyre choice improved his feeling on Saturday. Van der Mark is visiting the demanding Laguna Seca circuit for the first time and is still impressed by this world famous track.
Michael van der Mark – P15, 1m24.461s: “I’m still really enjoying riding this new track but obviously we need to find some more pace to be competitive in the races tomorrow. We were able to improve things a little when we used a different front tyre, but there is still a lot of work to do, of course. The guys will work through everything tonight and I’m sure there will be some things to try in warm-up. The position is not great right now but it’s awesome to ride here so I’ll try to enjoy myself with a couple of strong races tomorrow.”