Round two at Donington Park was an outstanding success for the Airwaves Ducati team with a first and third place in race one and a second and third in race two. Gregorio Lavilla showed his class on the Derbyshire circuit setting a new lap record of 1:31.243 in race one.
There was plenty of action in the opening race with a number of riders falling on the first corner and the safety car being called onto the track. The Airwaves Ducati riders were unaffected by the crashes and Leon Haslam took the lead with his team mate behind him. Lavilla overtook Haslam soon after the safety car had left the track and Lavilla remained unchallenged in first place for the remainder of the race. Haslam slipped from second to third as Kiyonari overtook on lap 6. The race was declared on lap 14 due to rain resulting in a win for Lavilla and a third for Haslam.
Prior to race two a wet practice was called for the superbike teams. In the warm up alone, a number of riders succumbed to the wet conditions and crashed. The race started with Haslam in fourth and Lavilla in seventh at the end of lap one. Scott Smart took the lead mid-race and remained there until the end of the 15 laps. The Airwaves Ducati riders held second and third position until the chequered flag with Haslam taking second place on the final lap from Lavilla.
Gregorio commented after the race, “We were very happy with this morning and to get another win and lap record was great, for the second race we had to look to just finishing because the conditions were so bad. The bike was working well but the conditions were hard and I was having problems with visibility. The spray coming from Scott Smart in front of me meant I had to let him go away from me so I could see more. After that I had to be happy with finishing the race as it would have been hard to catch him and overtake. It was so cold, I couldn’t feel my hands’ so braking was difficult, Leon just passed me on the last lap but I am happy that I had two podium finishes today and gained valuable points in the championship.”
Local hero Leon Haslam commented on the second race saying, “The conditions out there were terrible, I had no visibility and little feeling in my fingers! I saw the Honda’s crashing out and Scott was clearly riding well so I decided to sit in third place and have a go at taking second spot from Greg on the last lap. I was just happy to finish the race bearing in mind the conditions and obviously it is great to gain such valuable championship points.”
Team manager Colin Wright was quick to praise the Airwaves Ducati team effort saying, “It was a challenging weekend but the lads worked very hard, in return we came away with 4 podiums, another lap record and Ducati are now leading the manufacturers Championship by 12 points. Not a bad day at the office!
The Airwaves Ducati team now look ahead to Thruxton for round three on April 17th with Gregorio Lavilla top of the championship standings with 82 points and Leon Haslam in third on 56.
BSB Race One1) Gregorio Lavilla - Airwaves Ducati
2) Ryuichi Kiyonari - HM Plant Honda
3) Leon Haslam - Airwaves Ducati
BSB Race Two1) Scott Smart – Vivaldi Racing
2) Leon Haslam – Airwaves Ducati
3) Gregorio Lavilla – Airwaves Ducati
Related Linkswww.airwaves-ducati.co.uk
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