Van der Mark just misses victory

06-08-2012

EAB Ten Kate Junior Team rider Michael van der Mark ended second in today’s wet Superstock 600 European Championship race. Teammate Bastien Chesaux scored a well-deserved fifth place while Fabio Massei finished tenth in today’s dry Superstock 1000 FIM Cup race.

During Saturday’s final qualification, Van der Mark set a new Superstock 600 European Championship lap record of 2'12.426 and took his second career Superstock pole. Last year he was fastest at Silverstone too but had to abandon the race due to technical problems. Fortunately, today it was much better as Van der Mark finished the race in second. The Dutchman took no risks in the beginning of the race as many other riders crashed out. Due to one of these crashes, the red flag came out and the race was shortened to five laps. Van der Mark gave everything he had in this sprint race but Riccardo Russo (Yamaha) took victory by a very small margin from the EAB Ten Kate Junior Team rider.

Bastien Chesaux made his comeback at Silverstone this weekend. The brave Chesaux raced at Aragon, three races ago, with a broken bone (!) in his right hand. In order to stabilize the fracture, surgeons placed a metal plate on his bone. Despite this operation, Chesaux had a lot of pain and on advice of doctors, he missed the Czech round of the Superstock 600 European Championship at Brno. During the race weekend at Silverstone, he made a lot of progress. Chesaux started from eighth and was fifth after the first lap. After an eventful race he finished in fifth, ten seconds behind winner Russo.

Fabio Massei had a difficult Superstock 1000 FIM Cup weekend in England but managed to get six important points in the bag. Starting from fifteenth on the grid, Massei had a decent start and was eleventh after the opening lap. With conditions less of perfect Massei entered the top-10 at the end of the race and finished in tenth. Thanks to this performance the EAB Ten Kate Junior Team rider is still ninth in the Superstock 1000 FIM Cup championship.

Michael van der Mark (STK600 race – 2nd + 0.600 seconds): “It was a hard race, especially in the beginning on a wet track. After the restart I was in the lead for a short period but other riders overtook me. In the last corner, I could secure second place, so I have to be satisfied after today’s race. I  am really looking forward to the Nürburgring in five weeks’ time.

Bastien Chesaux (STK600 race – 5th + 10.527 seconds): “It is a good result but I’m not satisfied as I didn’t find my normally good rhythm in the rain this weekend. The team did a great job, gave me a perfect bike and helped me find the right direction. Many thanks! It’s good to be back and the atmosphere in the team makes me really confident for the last three races.”

Fabio Massei (STK1000 race – 10th + 28.067 seconds): “It was a hard race but I managed to finished in tenth place from fifteenth on the grid. In better weather conditions, a better result was certainly possible, but we had been dealing with the difficult circumstances and that is racing too. We must remain positive and our full focus is already on the next race at the world famous German Nürburgring.”