Rounds 5 & 6 - Valencia, Spain
BEST YET FOR LAVILLA AT VALENCIA
 Paul
Bird Motorsport rider Gregorio Lavilla got to ride his 2008
Vent Axia VK Honda Fireblade in anger for the first time this
weekend at the World Superbike Championship round in Valencia
and set an immediate season best of seventh in race one.
The Spanish rider followed that up with eleventh in race
two, and he now sits eleventh overall in the championship,
with 32 points. He is the second highest Honda rider in the
rankings, two points ahead of his old BSB rival Ryuichi Kiyonari,
and has scored in every race so far.
After missing out in qualifying for Superpole by the narrowest
of margins, the 2005 BSB Champion had to start from row five
of the grid and on race day, the unexpectedly overcast conditions
of race one were replaced by bright sunshine and air temperatures
of over 30°C for race two. Lavilla was only 13 seconds
from the win in the opener; 18 seconds from glory in race
two with his bike being amongst the fastest through the speed
trap all weekend.
Lavilla's team tested in Spain twice in quick succession
before arriving at Valencia and despite still missing some
key parts to bring the machine up to full standard, due to
the late arrival of the machine itself, improvements have
already been made over the outgoing model.
Gregorio Lavilla: "It was a hard weekend
in qualifying but better in the races. To miss Superpole by
one thousandth of a second, and still be less than a second
from pole, was hard. But that's the championship; it gets
tougher and tighter every year. We could get the bike to work
OK on used tyres, not enough to win yet but not too bad. We
need to improve the set-up for use with new tyres and qualifiers.
That will come with knowledge of the bike. We need some more
parts for the gearbox and transmission but that is also just
time and opportunity to fit them. The rest of the riders seem
to have more punch than us out of corners on their gearing
right now, even though our engine is good."
Paul Bird: "A good weekend really,
especially after qualifying with the new bike for the first
time. It's been fantastic, the guys have done so well with
the bike and Greg has ridden great today. He's been impressive;
as fast as anyone on the track sometimes, and we are chuffed
with the speed of the bike. We will get the braking system
sorted for Assen, and I think the bike will be really strong
at the next round. I think from now on we will be very competitive."
The next race takes place in Assen, on April 27, giving the
team plenty of time to prepare the machine for its next stage
of upgrade.
Superbike Race One Result
1, L Lanzi (Ducati) 37m01.894s, 2 T Bayliss (Ducati) +2.987s,
3, T Corser (Yamaha) +7.287s, 4, F Nieto (Suzuki) +11.992s,
5, C Checa (Honda) +12.824s, 6, K Muggeridge (Honda) +13.125s,
7, G Lavilla (Vent Axia VK Honda) +13.191s, 8, R Laconi (Kawasaki)
+13.906s, 9, M Tamada (Kawasaki) +17.254s, 10, R Rolfo (Honda)
+18.606s.
Superbike Race Two Result
1, N Haga (Yamaha) 37m03.759s, 2, T Bayliss (Ducati) +1.551s,
3, C Checa (Honda) +2.903s, 4, R Kiyonari (Honda) +7.277s,
5, T Corser (Yamaha) +8.051s, 6, Y Kagayama (Suzuki) +9.223s,
7, R Xaus (Ducati) +10.164s, 8, M Biaggi (Ducati) +10.614s,
9, R Laconi (Kawasaki) +17.234s, 10, F Nieto (Suzuki) +18.100s,
11, G Lavilla (Vent Axia VK Honda) +18.288s.
2008 World Superbike Championship Standings after
Round 3
1, Troy Bayliss (AUS) 128pts
2, Fonsi Nieto (ESP) 80pts
3, Troy Corser (AUS) 72pts
=, Carlos Checa (ESP) 72pts
5, Ruben Xaus (ESP) 68pts
6, Noriyuki Haga (JPN) 47pts
7, Max Biaggi (ITA) 44pts
8, Lorenzo Lanzi (ITA) 42pts
9, Max Neukirchner (GER) 39pts
10, Michel Fabrizio (ITA) 37pts
11, Gregorio Lavilla (ESP) 32pts
Photo courtesy of Graeme Brown
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