PARKALGAR HONDA'S Miguel Praia set his fastest laps of the weekend to take a superb 11th place at the second round of the World Supersport Championship at Donington Park after starting from 20th on grid.

Sam Lowes on the other Parkalgar Honda was forced to retire from third place during the race due to a clutch problem. The third round of the World Supersport Championship is at Assen in Holland on 17th April.

Miguel:

"That was a strange race with riders falling off and engines blowing up in front of me - I had to take avoiding action both times. Then I settled down and we started making some good lap times that we knew we were capable of. In the last five laps my tyre was gone but I kept riding hard and from 20th on the grid I am happy with 11th as the result. More importantly we know we have good pace and this is something to take to the next round and build on."

Sam:

"It is a real shame that I had a clutch problem as I was closing in on the two leaders and feel sure that I could have won the race - I got the lap record just before retiring. I was upset, I really wanted to win here in front of my home crowd. On the positive front we have shown how fast we are and now I am looking forward to making amends at Assen."

Simon Buckmaster, Parkalgar Honda Team Manager:

"Well done to Miguel for finishing 11th from a 20th place start. If he had qualified higher up then the result could have been much better. He has shown his true colours and we will build on this performance.

"Sam suffered a clutch problem when he was in third and looking like he could challenge for the victory. It is immensely disappointing for all of us. The team will be looking hard into what caused the problem to minimise the chance of it happening again. However, Sam has again shown a level of maturity and speed that marks him out as something special and we look forward to seeing what he can achieve at Assen in three weeks time."


Race Result

1. Luca Scassa ITA ParkinGO Yamaha YZF-R6 21 Laps

2. Chaz Davies GBR ParkinGO Yamaha YZF-R6 +0.270s

3. Gino Rea GBR Step Racing Honda CBR600RR +20.374s

4. Robbin Harms DEN Harms Benjan Honda CBR600RR +23.469s

5. Broc Parkes AUS Kawasaki Motocard.com ZX-6R +24.872s

6. David Salom ESP Kawasaki Motocard.com ZX-6R +32.001s

7. Massimo Roccoli ITA Lorenzini Kawasaki ZX-6R +42.128s

8. Florian Marino FRA Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR +43.826s

9. Vittorio Iannuzzo ITA Lorenzini Kawasaki ZX-6R +52.936s

10. Alexander Lundh SWE Cresto Guide Honda CBR600RR +55.956s

11. Miguel Praia POR Parkalgar Honda CBR600RR +1min 00.717s

DNF. Sam Lowes.


Championship positions after two of 12 rounds

1: Scassa 50

2: Parkes 31

3: Harms 24

4: Salom 23

5: Davies 20

6: Marino 17

7: Rea 16

8: Lowes Parkalgar Honda 16

9: Iannuzzo 15

10: Lundh 13

15: Praia Parkalgar Honda 5.