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. His Honda WorldSBK Team mate Nicky Hayden crashed out of third place in the early stages of the race.
In what was an ultra-close Superpole 2, Nicky Hayden claimed sixth place on the grid despite being only 0.084secs away from third place. Michael van der Mark impoved on his FP2 lap time by half a second to take the tenth slot on the grid.
Both Hayden and van der Mark enjoyed a great start to the race and were running fourth and fifth on the opening lap. They were promoted to third and fourth when Giugliano crashed out but shortly afterwards, it was Hayden who 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.
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.
Michael van der Mark 60 - 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.
Nicky Hayden 69 - DNF
I had a good start and was closing up on the Kawasakis, when Giugliano lost the front and I had to wait a little before opening the gas. At the last turn I ended up on those couple of bumps just because I was simply one and a half km/h faster than the lap before. I went through that corner quicker yesterday, but this time I push too hard to stay with Rea and Sykes. It was just a rider error but It’s a shame, because we had the pace to be on the podium. This is how it goes sometimes but I’m happy there’s another race tomorrow.
Pieter Breddels - Technical Manager
We worked well this morning and made some changes to both bikes: Nicky continued on his good form and missed a front-row start for less than a tenth of a second, while Michael had a bit of a harder time but definitely improved his feeling with the bike especially with engine braking. Things were really looking good for us at the beginning of the race. Nicky and Michael had a great start ad were running in the top-5, although then Nicky had the most common of crashes at the last turn after losing the front. He was pushing a lot to close the gap with the Kawasaki riders ahead. Michael rode a spectacular race, especially in the second part of the race as he managed not only to keep a fast pace, but also to reduce the gap with the leaders. Well done to him and to the team and now we focus on race two. If we keep going this way we’ll have a chance for another great result.
Podium for van der Mark as Hayden crashes out of opening race at Misano
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