#USWorldSBK: “THE RACE WAS DEFINITELY BETTER THAN IT LOOKS ON PAPER”
After the conclusion of a hot Laguna Seca weekend, the 27-year-old Superbike rookie was even more pleased about his performance during Sunday’s heat two.
Compared to the previous day, the temperatures were not as hot on Sunday afternoon. This fact had a positive effect to the track’s conditions, which was confirmed by a faster pace throughout the entire pack. In contrast to Saturday, Stefan Bradl also started much more aggressively into this season’s race No 16. The Honda rider already won two positions during the opening lap before he continued to make his way forward. Then, he was equal in terms of race pace with both Yamaha’s from Alex Lowes and Michael van der Mark for most parts of the 25-lap distance.
The FIM Superbike World Championship heads into a six-week summer break now. The next meeting mid of August at the Lausitzring is Stefan Bradl’s home race. But for the Honda rider, holidays get started just at the beginning of August because prior to this, Bradl takes part at the prestigious “Suzuka 8 Hours” endurance race in Japan later this month.
#6 Stefan BRADL (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team, Honda CBR1000RR SP2), 11th – Championship position 13th (64 points):
“Today’s race was definitely better than it looks on paper. Although I came home only in eleventh again, I was able to give more and also to fight even more, I could pass other riders by myself. This was fun. In addition, the gap to the overall winner’s time was lower. The race was a bit faster actually today, which was also the case for me, as the grip level was a bit better. We were also pleased about that fact that we could improve our package slightly, compared to yesterday. I had more confidence with the front and therefore I was able to compensate our yesterday’s issues during the initial stages quite well.”
“Most of all, however, I’m glad that I could stay with the two Yamahas for a long time and also sometimes to fight with them. Somewhat of that kind of a success story, as we were almost for the entire distance on eye with another factory bike, came at the right time. But it is always difficult, if you have to start from P17 on the grid. Therefore, the prospects for a better performance overall have been diminished from the outset. Nevertheless, there are enough positive things we can take from this race. The weekend reviewed as a whole, it was a pity that we ran into so many problems on Friday and we also had to use three different engines. The latter was such a great setback for us. But we continued working hard and we came back on the right way on Saturday. In the end I’m not dissatisfied, how things went finally.”
“According to yesterday’s findings, we have made a few changes to the bike today which have been largely positive. However, we are still struggling with the same problem as we don’t have enough edge grip in maximum lean angle. The electronic is not working sensitive enough in this range and therefore we lose time in corner exit. For many parts of the race, I managed it quite well to compensate this lack by pushing the front harder. But as soon I started to make mistakes, I just tried to control my advantage on the riders behind me.”
#USWorldSBK – Results Race 2 (25 Laps):
1 Jonathan REA / GBR / Kawasaki Racing Team / Kawasaki ZX-10R / 35´03.414
2 Tom SYKES / GBR / Kawasaki Racing Team / Kawasaki ZX-10R / +2.887
3 Chaz DAVIES / GBR / Aruba.it Racing – Ducati / Ducati Panigale R / +4.847
11 #6 Stefan BRADL / GER / Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team / Honda CBR1000RR SP2 / +36.756
WorldSBK Standings 2017:
1 Jonathan REA / GBR / Kawasaki Racing Team / 341
2 Tom SYKES / GBR / Kawasaki Racing Team / 282
3 Chaz DAVIES / GBR / Aruba.it Racing – Ducati / Ducati Panigale R / 226
13 #6 Stefan BRADL / GER / Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team / 64