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Despite the inclement weather that
affected the 13th round of the Hannspree World Superbike
Championship at Magny Cours in France over the weekend, Vent Axia VK
Honda riders Gregorio Lavilla and Chris Walker both came home in the
points in both races.
The team lost valuable practice time due to wet
practice sessions on Friday and qualifying was a bit of a battle for
both Chris and Greg but Greg managed to just make it into the
Superpole lying in 16th which remained his final grid position for
the race. Having not had a full dry weekend on the bike since
joining the PBM team at Brands Hatch, Chris spent more time getting
to grips with the Superbike and gaining more confidence on the bike
as he posted 23rd fastest time.
In the opening race, Lavilla posted a battling
tenth position with Walker bringing the second of the Paul Bird
Motorsport Honda Fireblades home in 15th and in race two, Lavilla
claimed 12th at the flag with Walker replicating his race one
position to score the final point.
Lavilla now lies in 12th place in the
Championship with 117 points.
Gregorio Lavilla:
"Having missed out on valuable
timed practice once again due to bad weather it was not an ideal
start to the weekend and I wasn't able to improve on my time or my
bike set-up for qualifying and Superpole. I was happy to finish in
the points and have two good results in the races and we are still
the leading privateers in the Championship so it's not so bad.
We still have a lot of work to do with the bike and I'm still
learning with every race. I'm looking forward to racing at Portimao,
a new circuit for all, and finishing the season on a
high."
Chris Walker:
"I'm happy to have two points scoring
finishes having battled in free practice and qualifying. Starting
from the sixth row doesn't make life easy so I really pushed
hard for a decent start so I'm happy to walk away with two 15th
positions. In race two, I had some good battles and finally felt
like I was racing rather than just riding. I really enjoyed the
races this weekend and the boys once again did a great job as I felt
that I could be more consistently fast. I'm looking forward to
the final race in Portugal."
Paul Bird:
"We started the weekend once
again in tough weather conditions and missed out on valuable
practice sessions on Friday. The guys battled to get a comfortable
bike set-up in time for Saturday morning qualifying and this showed
in our final grid positions. However, I was happy to see that we
kept up our consistency and brought both bikes home in the points
which is a good achievement having started from fourth
and sixth row on the grid. I'd like to congratulate two
Australians today, Troy Bayliss and Andrew Pitt, for their
respective World Championship successes. We look forward to ending
our rookie year in World Superbikes in Portugal on a high in a
month's time and planning ahead for 2009."
Race 1
Result
1. N. Haga (Yamaha); 2. F. Nieto (Suzuki)
+6.223; 3. T. Bayliss (Ducati) +6.875; 4. M. Biaggi (Ducati) +7.237;
5. M. Neukirchner (Suzuki) 8.925; 6. T. Corser (Yamaha) +10.714; 7.
C. Checa (Honda) +16.176; 8. Y. Kagayama (Suzuki) +22.661; 9. K.
Sofuoglu (Honda) +27.224; 10. G. Lavilla (Honda) +31.300;
15. C.Walker (Honda).
Race 2
Result
1. T. Bayliss (Ducati); 2. N. Haga
(Yamaha) +0.909; 3. T. Corser (Yamaha) +2.955; 4. C. Checa (Honda)
+7.175; 5. R. Xaus (Ducati) 12.822; 6. M.Biaggi (Ducati) +13.004; 7.
Y. Kagayama (Suzuki) +18.876; 8. F. Nieto (Suzuki) +19.512; 9. M.
Neukirchner (Suzuki) +19.527; 10. R. Rolfo (Honda) +21.425;
12. G Lavilla (Honda); 15. C Walker
(Honda).
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