The fourth round of the Superbike World Championship is in play at the Cremona Circuit, with teams on track for the second day of practice and racing.
Riders Bahattin Sofuoglu and Tito Rabat completed Friday’s practices in fifteenth and twentieth place respectively and were back out today for the Superpole, which decides the grid for the first two races at the Cremona Circuit.
The Turkish rider set the nineteenth time (1’29”306) while the Spaniard closed twenty-first (1’29”425). These results meant that both started from the seventh row of the grid for the afternoon’s 23-lap race.
It was an unfortunate race for Rabat, who was forced to retire due to a technical problem. Sofuoglu started well and immediately got into a good rhythm, which allowed him to make up places and cross the line seventeenth, just a few seconds form the points zone.
On Sunday, the Yamaha Motoxracing WorldSBK Team will round out this fourth championship event with the Superpole Race and Race 2.
"I’m really sorry about the technical problem Rabat experienced. We soon resolved it with the Brembo technicians so it won’t arise again in tomorrow’s races, but it was a pity because Tito could have fought for the points zone. Bahattin struggled with the change of temperature with respect to practice and found himself dealing with a lack of track grip. We’ll try to make up for this tomorrow.”
“We definitely haven’t had much luck here at Cremona so far. In Race 1 a technical problem forced me to retire which was a real shame because I’m sure I could have scored points today. We’ll try again tomorrow seeing as we have two more races. Thanks to the team as they’ve all worked really hard.”
“We used a different tyre today compared to yesterday but retained the same setup and with today’s high temperatures the bike behaved differently. I tried to compensate with my riding, but we didn’t achieve the result we wanted. For tomorrow we’ll change something to try and be more competitive. I want to thank the team for all their help.”
