VAN DER MARK PODIUMS AT ARAGON
Aragon – Spain – 13.04.2014
Pata Honda rider Michael van der Mark put right his no-score at the opening World Supersport championship round in Australia by finishing second in today’s second-round race at Aragon in Spain. Van der Mark got a great start to today’s 15-lap race at the 5.344km Motorland circuit two hours west of Barcelona and led for six of the early laps before out-braking himself at the circuit’s infamous hairpin. The Dutch rider composed himself after the two leading riders crashed out on the penultimate lap to cross the line just 0.8s behind Sofuoglu. The Pata Honda team now moves to round three at its and van der Mark’s home round at Assen in the Netherlands in two weeks.
Michael van der Mark:
I’m really happy with this result. We’ve been working all weekend to fix some strange problems and then this morning we found that our race pace was quite good. My start wasn’t great but I could see I was faster than the guys in front so I caught them step-by-step and tried to pull away after I got past. I felt the gap wasn’t that big and I tried to keep pushing. I made a small mistake at the hairpin and they passed me and I lost some contact after a couple of other mistakes. After Jules Cluzel and Kev Coghlan crashed, there was just me and Kenan Sofuoglu left. I couldn’t get any closer to him but I’m really happy after zero points in the first race.
Pieter Breddels (technical co-ordinator):
Michael got a good start and went to the front after a few laps. He managed to open a gap but a small mistake dropped him back. We were a bit lucky because the two front riders crashed and he came in behind Sofuoglu. But second place after Phillip Island is really good. He takes a good feeling to Assen, too. It was a good day for Supersport and now we look forward to a busy home round for the team.