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) +32.609sSuperbike 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) +45.034s2008 World Superbike Championship Standings after Round 61, 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) 63ptsPicture courtesy of www.geebeeimages.co.uk.
