Jerez de la Frontera (Spain), September 20th 2015
The eleventh round of the 2015 FIM Superbike World Championship came to its conclusion today under the Andalusian sun at Jerez.
Superbike race 1: Matteo Baiocco (Team Althea Ducati) did not make such a good start and battled with riders further back. He strived to catch up to the group ahead of him, against whom he’d proved competitive in the practices. From the mid-race he recorded a series of laps with times very close to those of the leaders and was finally able to get the better of Guintoli and Camier to conclude the race in eighth place. Superbike race 2: This time Baiocco made a better start and concentrated on setting a good pace to make up ground. He came across former world champion Guintoli and was caught up in a close battle with him, before passing him and moving on to aim for Pirro on the second factory Ducati. Matteo, proving that he has both ability and grit, was four tenths behind Pirro but was able to get past the Italian and achieve a fantastic sixth place finish, just 1.2 seconds from Sykes immediately ahead of him.
Matteo Baiocco: “It was a great weekend for me. I did well and limited the distance between me and the leaders. In race 1 I maintained a good pace after making a mistake at the start, but in the race 2, after a good start, I crossed the line sixth which has put me into eighth position in the standings. I want to continue like this until the end of the year.”
A difficult and hardworking weekend has been this for Leandro Mercado (Team Barni Ducati), who conquered a suffered 14th place in Race 1 and a good 10th position in Race 2, and Chris Ponsson (Team Pedercini Kawasaki), who completed a suffered 21th place in Race 1 and a better 15th position in Race 2.
Leandro Mercado, #36: “This weekend we worked really hard to try to solve the grip issues we have and the tyre consumption. Race 1 has been really difficult. Before getting to the half of the race the rear tyre had a significant drop, that didn’t allow me to ride at my best. I tried to defend myself, but the situation was too complicated! Before Race 2 we did other changes to solve the problem and fortunately these permitted me to have a good rhythm and to manage the advantage till the finish line, ending into the top ten. I am happy with this final result, but we need to do more in tomorrow tests to become competitive again in Magny-Cours! I would like to thank all the team for the great job done during the weekend”.
At the end of today round, Matteo Baiocco in in 8th position in general standing whilst Leandro Mercado is 11th. Next appointment will be in two weeks, on the 4th October, on the French track of Magny-Cours.
