MAGIC MICHAEL CHARGES TO FOURTH IN RACE 2 AT MISANO
Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team’s Michael van der Mark bounced back on Sunday at Misano to charge through the field and secure fourth in Race 2 during round seven of the 2017 FIM Superbike World Championship, despite another technical issue with his rear tyre.
Van der Mark was determined to bounce back from Saturday’s Race 1 when a technical issue with his tyre caused him to crash while leading the race. He started from 12th on the grid and when the lights went out he immediately got his head down and started to charge through the pack. The 24-year-old Dutch rider caught his teammate Alex Lowes and passed him for sixth place after Lowes ran wide on lap 9, also managing to get past Laverty at the same time.
He then tried his best to close the gap to the riders at the front. He was lapping at the same pace as the leaders, and with a rider retiring in front of him, on lap 18 he was up to fourth place. Unfortunately, he had already felt vibration from his rear tyre and was naturally concerned that a repeat of his Race 1 problem might occur. This meant he had to back off although he bravely continued to cross the line in fourth and match his best result for the Pata Yamaha Team in 2017.
Van der Mark moves up to sixth with 115 points, 26 behind his teammate.
Michael van der Mark: “The start was not perfect, I didn’t know where to go in the first couple of corners, but one by one I passed a few people and made some good moves. I was behind Alex and I struggled to do my pace. I was struggling to stop the bike, but we hadn’t changed anything from yesterday. I saw that the guys in front were also not doing the same pace from yesterday, so I tried to do my own laps and got close to Alex and Eugene.”
“I passed Alex and then Eugene and tried to close the gap to the guys at the front, but we were doing similar times so I couldn’t really achieve that. Towards the end, I got another problem with the rear tyre. It’s a shame, but the positive is that we got some good points today. The best thing about the weekend was leading the race for so long yesterday. We can’t change anything, so we will take the positives and I look forward to Laguna Seca!”
Results
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