Good 7th position for Reiterberger
On the MotorLand Aragon race track in Spain, where the FIM Cup Superstock 1000 riders were racing for the first time, Markus Reiterberger did very well in the race after some difficult practice, and he finished seventh. Randy Pagaud scored his first ever point while Beau Beaton unfortunately crashed.
There was a great fight for the victory between the Ducati of the championship leader Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing) and the BMW of Lorenzo Zanetti (BMW Motorrad Italia). Both men quickly had a nice gap on their followers and the race between them was pretty entertaining. Finally, Giugliano won the event one second in front of his countryman and this was the third win out of four races for the Althea rider, team mate of David Checa.
The fight was much closer for the third position on the podium between the two Ducatis of Danilo Petrucci (Barni Racing Team) and Niccolò Canepa (Lazio MotorSport). On the finish line, Petrucci finished barely in front of Canepa for 5 little hundredths of a second.
Markus Reiterberger started from the third row, with the ninth time of the qualifying. He had a great start and was fifth at the end of lap 1. He could stay with the leading riders for a long while, but then at about half distance his tyre started to deteriorate. He still finished in seventh position, which is a good result allowing him to score some precious points for the championship.
Randy Pagaud kept on learning this category which is new to him. In Spain, he had roughly the same level as Eddi La Marra and Marco Bussolotti, which is a good proof of progression. His Australian team mate Beau Beaton was not very lucky in Aragon. He tried hard all weekend but crashed early in the race while he was 18th. Of course, things will be better for him at the next race in Brno on July 10.
Michel Garnier (team owner): “Markus fought well, he had a great start and worked very well all weekend long. His tyre started to deteriorate after five or six laps. Antonelli caught him and took his sixth position. He had the best top speed with 314,6 km/h. Randy scored his first point and I am very happy. Too bad Beau crashed. He was disappointed, but overall he worked well. For the team, it’s a good weekend and everybody did a good job. We must continue. I believe a lot in Markus who is a champion.”
Markus Reiterberger: “The start was very good. In the first laps I was in sixth position. I could do quick times and stay no far from the leading group. But in the last laps my tyre was destroyed and a rider passed me. Seventh position it OK for me. Overall, it was a good weekend.”
Randy Pagaud: “It was a good race. The start was average, and then my team mate crashed. I stuck behind Bussolotti. We were about 2 seconds behind the La Marra-Svitok-Mercado group. We did some good lap times. I was 0.9 faster than during practice. I passed Bussolotti in the last lap, which allowed me to score my first point. It’s positive, going in the right direction.”
Race result:
1- Davide Giugliano – Althea Racing – Ducati 1098R
2- Lorenzo Zanetti – BMW Motorrad Italia – BMW S1000RR – + 1.078
3- Danilo Petrucci – Barni Racing Team – Ducati 1098R – + 2.785
4- Niccolò Canepa – Lazio MotorSport – Ducati 1098R – + 2.790
5- Sylvain Barrier – BMW Motorrad Italia – BMW S1000RR – + 8.806
6- Andrea Antonelli – Team Lorini – Honda CBR 1000RR – + 16.656
7- Markus Reiterberger – Garnier Alpha Racing Team – BMW S1000RR – + 16.881
8- Bryan Staring – Team Pedercini – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 20.834
9- Lorenzo Baroni – Althea Racing – Ducati 1098R – + 27.850
10- Fabio Massei – Team Piellemoto – BMW S1000RR – + 28.011
11- Jeremy Guarnoni – MRS Yamaha Racing France – Yamaha YZF R1 – + 28.428
12- Eddi La Marra – Team Lorini – Honda CBR 1000RR – + 36.245
13- Tomas Svitok – SK Energy Team – Ducati 1098R – + 37.959
14- Leandro Mercado – Team Pedercini – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 38.019
15- Randy Pagaud – Garnier Alpha Racing Team – BMW S1000RR – + 38.419
