PODIUM FOR VAN DER MARK AT MISANO
Michael van der Mark has returned to podium ways by taking third place at the end of the 21-lap opening race of the weekend at Misano World Circuit ‘Marco Simoncelli’ in Italy, where the eighth round of the 2016 FIM Superbike World Championship is currently underway. The Honda WorldSBK Team rider enjoyed a great start to the race and was running fifth on the opening lap. He was promoted to fourth when Davide Giugliano crashed and shortly afterwards promoted to third as teammate Nicky Hayden low-sided at the last turn before the completion of lap two. Once in third place, Van der Mark rode a superb race and maintained a competitive pace up to the chequered flag, claiming his fifth podium of the season despite a strong comeback by fourth-placed Chaz Davies.
Michael van der Mark (3rd): “This is the result we needed and I’m so happy to be back on the podium! We have been quite fast throughout the weekend but definitely not enough, but yesterday afternoon I was finally happy with the set-up of the bike. Superpole 2 didn’t go as planned but I was really lucky in turn two after the race start: I played a little bit safe so, when the guys in front of me crashed out, I could make up some places. Davide (Giugliano) and Nicky’s crashes were like a warning for me, because definitely the feeling with the front was not the best. Jonathan (Rea) and Tom (Sykes) pulled away but I kept my head down and, towards the end, I could see that Chaz was coming up really strong but my pace was really good in the final laps. I take this podium with both hands and I look forward to tomorrow: if we manage to improve the feeling with the front, then we’ll be up for another great race.”
Race two will be contested tomorrow from 13:00 local time (GMT +2) and will be preceded by the traditional 15-minute morning warm-up at 9:25.