2008 HANNspree World Superbike Championship
Rounds 11 & 12 - Miller Motorsports Park, USA
Sunday 1st June 2008
LAVILLA SCORES POINTS BUT LEAVES AMERICA DISAPPOINTED
Continuing his unique and impressive record of scoring in
every race so far this season in the Hannspree World Superbike
Championship, Vent Axia VK Motorsport rider Gregorio Lavilla
scored a 13th and a 15th place finish at Miller Motorsports
Park near Salt Lake City in Utah, USA yesterday.
Handicapped by a qualifying position of 23rd place, the 34
year old Spaniard took to the grid and in the first race of
the day, started late and shortened to twenty laps after there
was a grid slot mix up, Lavilla battled through to 13th, despite
never finding a good set-up for his 2008 Fireblade throughout
qualifying.
In race two, he was set for another top thirteen finish but
an electrical problem on the exit of the last corner of the
last lap, lost him two places in quick succession and he crossed
the line just inside the points.
After six of fourteen rounds, Lavilla is now twelfth overall
heading into the next round at Nurburgring in Germany on June
15th.
Gregorio Lavilla:
"I just didn't ever get comfortable with the bike this
weekend, even though our engine performance was good. I hoped
that this new track, which was new for everyone, would give
us at least a level the same as everyone else, but it didn't
turn out like that. It was disappointing to lose a couple
of places in the last corner of race two as well, because
the set-up was a little better, but I was hoping for better
results than we got anyway."
Paul Bird:
"I was away contesting Rally Barbados so I never saw
the races, I just learned of the results which were a little
bit disappointing if I'm being honest. OK, so we scored points
and that's always the aim but I think we need to be challenging
a little further up the leaderboard now so I'll meet with
Greg and the team when we all get back and see where we need
to improve. If I can get a podium on my first ever visit to
somewhere, surely my rider can!"
Bird finished runner-up to World Championship driver Kris
Meeke on the two-day Caribbean event driving his Subaru WRC.
Superbike Race One Result
1, C Checa (Honda) 37m04.991s, 2, T Corser (Yamaha) +2.809s,
3, M Fabrizio (Ducati) +6.546s, 4, M Neukirchner (Suzuki)
+7.764s, 5, F Nieto (Suzuki) +16.475s, 6, J Smrz (Ducati)
+17.126s, 7, K Muggeridge (Honda) +17.284s, 8, Y Kagayama
(Suzuki) +17.416s, 9, M Biaggi (Ducati) +18.117s, 10, R Kiyonari
(Honda) +20.467s. 13, G Lavilla (Vent Axia VK Honda) +32.609s.
Superbike Race Two Result
1, C Checa (Honda) 38m44.105s, 2, M Neukirchner (Suzuki) +3.547s,
3, M Fabrizio (Ducati) +6.613s, 4, M Biaggi (Ducati) +7.878s,
5, Y Kagayama (Suzuki) +10.568s, 6, N Haga (Yamaha) +11.539s,
7, R Kiyonari (Honda) +18.381s, 8, F Nieto (Suzuki) +20.646s,
9, R Laconi (Kawasaki) +21.264s, 10, L Lanzi (Ducati) +24.863s.
15, G Lavilla (Vent Axia VK Honda) +45.034s.
2008 World Superbike Championship Standings after
Round 6
1, Troy Bayliss (AUS) 194pts
2, Carlos Checa (ESP) 166pts
3, Max Neukirchner (GER) 144pts
4, Fonsi Nieto (ESP) 126pts
5, Noriyuki Haga (JPN) 122pts
6, Troy Corser (AUS) 121pts
7, Ruben Xaus (ESP) 92pts
8, Michel Fabrizio (ITA) 87pts
9, Max Biaggi (ITA) 85pts
10, Ryuichi Kiyonari (JPN) 80pts
11, Yukio Kagayama (JPN) 73pts
12, Gregorio Lavilla (ESP) 63pts
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