FIXI Crescent Suzuki racer Jules Cluzel produced the
best ride of his fledgling Superbike career today as
he stormed from a pit-lane start to seventh in the second
race at Motorland Aragon.
As the riders lined up
for the start of the second eni FIM Superbike World
Championship race, Cluzel had a problem selecting
neutral and signalled to the starting official. The
Frenchman was pushed to pit-lane where he was then
required to begin the race from. As the lights indicated
the start, Cluzel was forced to wait until all the
remaining 18 riders went past him before he could
commence. He then produced two superb laps to make
his way up to 10th position by the end of lap two
and continued through the field before he caught his
fellow countryman Loris Baz and a long battle then
ensued between the pair for sixth. Cluzel managed
to get past his compatriot, but a technical issue
meant he couldn't hold the place and Baz re-passed
him, forcing Cluzel to settle for a hard-won seventh.
In race one Cluzel got
a solid start and was in eighth at the end of the
first lap. He made up a couple of places in the early
laps, before getting involved in a four-way battle
for the higher places. The Frenchman battled hard
on his Yoshimura-powered Suzuki GSX-R to try and make
in-roads into the top five, but as the race drew towards
a conclusion Cluzel looked to have settled for a comfortable
seventh, but on the last lap another rider slowed
with a problem and the FIXI Crescent Suzuki man capitalised
to take sixth place.
FIXI Crescent Suzuki
was joined at Aragon today by Leon Camier after he
was released from hospital. The Englishman underwent
surgery on Friday evening to repair a large wound
on his knee and as soon as he was discharged from
Alcaniz hospital, he made his way to the circuit to
support Cluzel and the rest of the team. Camier will
now return home and begin his recuperation in a battle
for fitness ahead of the next race in two weeks' time.
Today's two races were
held in near perfect conditions with bright sunshine
covering the 5,344m Spanish circuit, pushing track
temperatures up to 42°C. Chaz Davies on a BMW
took victory in both races in front of an enthusiastic
and passionate crowd. Aprilia's Sylvain Guintoli finished
second in both events to take the championship lead.
FIXI Crescent Suzuki will now return to the UK before
travelling to the Netherlands for the third round
of the season, which will be held at Assen on Sunday
April 28th.
Jules Cluzel:
"Race two was very
complicated and we had a few problems. As I came to
the grid I couldn't find neutral, it is normally easy,
but I could only get first and second. I was in second
gear waiting for the start and tried first again,
but that wasn't working and the bike was starting
to roll because the clutch was getting hot. I thought
if the lights come on soon it would be ok, but they
were a long time coming so I put my hand up to say
I had a problem. I then had to start from pit-lane,
so I tried to get away really quickly and do something.
I felt comfortable as the race went on, but as I passed
Baz I had a strange vibration from the engine and
then heard a noise and looked behind to check nothing
was broken, because also the power felt different.
There was no smoke so I continued, but Baz got past
me and made a bit of a gap. I caught him up again,
but my engine wasn't working properly, so I did all
I could to finish seventh and I am very happy with
that result.
"The first race
was difficult because I had some grip problems that
meant I was sliding a lot, but I was happy to finish
sixth. I was then looking forward to improve my result
in race two and maybe finish in the top-five, but
that was not to be with what happened at the start.
It has been a good weekend for us and I am pleased
with both results after everything that happened.
It was really good to see Leon at the track and I
hope he makes a full recovery as quickly as possible,
because we need him in the garage and out on the circuit."
Leon Camier:
"I am really disappointed
not to be riding and racing, but it is what it is
and now we have to concentrate on getting back for
Assen. There is a chance it won't be right for then,
so I need to do everything I can to be ready to race.
I need to make sure the chance of infection doesn't
happen and if the skin heals and swelling goes down
I will have a chance of being at the race. Where the
bone has tried to push through the skin is the problem,
because that could get infected. There is also a little
part near a ligament that's damaged, so I've got a
lot of internal stitching to repair everything. I'll
take things as they come and hopefully everything
will be ok.
"I want to say well
done to Jules, he did a great job in both races today
for the whole team, and I just wish I could have been
out there with him!"
Paul Denning - Team Manager:
"Jules did a fantastic
job today of waving the FIXI Crescent Suzuki flag
and keeping the Team's spirits high in Leon's absence.
He showed an incredible amount of aggression in the
early part of race two after having to start from
pit-lane and despite a fairly significant technical
issue from the middle of the race onwards, he adapted,
kept pushing and showed a lot of maturity. This is
only his second World Superbike event and for a rookie
he shows massive potential.
"It was great to see Leon come back to the track
today from the hospital, he'll be transported back
home this evening, where he has specialist help lined
up to help him for the rest of the week. We probably
won't know more until the end of next week, because
the surgery needs to heal before any assessment can
be made about the Assen race.
"It was a tough
weekend here at Aragon for a number of reasons and
we had to face quite a few problems, but the team
reacted very well and when things roll in our favour
I am very confident we will get some very interesting
results."
Aragon - eni
FIM Superbike - Race One: 1. Chaz Davies
(BMW) 39'50.332: 2. Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia) +5.216:
3. Marco Melandri (BMW) +7.089: 4. Jonathan Rea (Honda)
+8.196: 5. Loris Baz (Kawasaki) +14.417: 6. Jules
Cluzel (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) +18.332.
Aragon - eni
FIM Superbike - Race Two: 1. Davies 37'52.691:
2. Guintoli +5.035: 3. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki) +7.677:
4. Davide Giugliano (Ducati) +12.549: 5. Melandri
+19.766: 7. Jules Cluzel (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) +26.926.
Championship
Classification: 1. Guintoli 85: 2. Davies
63: 3. Eugene Laverty (Aprilia) 45: 4. Melandri 43:
5. Michel Fabrizio (Aprilia) 42: 7. Jules Cluzel (FIXI
Crescent Suzuki) 33: 14: Leon Camier (FIXI Crescent
Suzuki) 14. |
