Milwaukee Aprilia had a tough first race at the Chang circuit for Round 2 of the World Superbike Championship.
Ahead of Race 1 the team performed well in qualifying, with Lorenzo Savadori joining teammate Eugene Laverty in Superpole 2 after a strong performance in Superpole 1.
Lining up on the grid 7th an 9th respectively, Eugene and Lorenzo made good starts in the race and maintained their positions as they fought with the pack.
Both riders had consistent pace, before separate technical issues caused them to slow. Eugene was eventually forced to retire from the race on the final lap, and will be looking to make up points tomorrow in Race 2.
Eugene Laverty #50
Grid – 7th / Race – DNF ”I was pretty happy with how Superpole went, and we found some good pace from Practice. In the race I was gong well for the first few laps, the rhythm was OK and I was able to go with the guys in front. In the middle of the race I had some vibrations which slowed me down but I held onto the position. Then on the last lap the bike broke which was disappointing. The guys will find out exactly what happened, but it was terminal and stopped my race.I’ve got more optimism for tomorrow. We’ve been making fairly big steps forward all weekend, even if the results don’t show it. Today showed that our race pace is improving, and I think we can push that further and do better in Race 2 tomorrow.”
Source: Milwaukee Aprilia