Bel-Ray-Weekend Racing Wrap Up – August 6, 2012

Bel-Ray’s teams competing in World Superbike and World Motocross were in action this past weekend with events taking place in the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom.

WSBK

Mother Nature reared her ugly head this past weekend at the World Superbike round held at the famous Silverstone circuit in the United Kingdom. The heavy showers caused a red flag condition in the first race and delayed the start of the second.

Bel-Ray backed Team Althea racer Carlos Checa rode conservatively in an effort to score points and maintain his hopes for a repeat world championship. Teammate Giugliano was able to score points in the first race despite racing with an injured right hand from a crash that occurred in Friday qualifying.

Checa spoke about his conservative approach to the day following the race. “The conditions today, especially in race 1, were dangerous; racing in the wet with slick tires is obviously no fun for anyway, although it probably makes for exciting races for the spectators. Before the rain started to fall, I was going really well, but then once the rain came, and certain sections of the track became wetter than others, I lost a bit of confidence and slowed down a bit, thinking that maybe one or two guys would come past me, but instead there were five or six of them! In the final stages, when I saw how the front group was pushing and how hard it was just to stay upright, I chose to stay put and follow them rather than push and take risks. Anyway, we’ve made up a few points in the standings and now we have to concentrate on the Russian round.”

Giugliano was disappointed that he could not finish as well as he hoped and discussed this following the race. “In the second race, I had a strong pace and was feeling quite happy in the now full wet conditions. I was there in fourth and felt I was in a position to push and try to catch Baz for third, but at a certain point I unexpectedly crashed. I don’t know it if was just me pushing too hard or if there was oil on the track, but anyway there was nothing I could do. It’s a pity because I know I had the pace in that race and could have taken a good result.”

With ten rounds of the series completed, Checa is fourth and Giugliano tenth in the overall series' standings. The series will take a three week break before returning to action in Russia on August 26^th.

World Motocross

Bel-Ray racers Tommy Searle and Christophe Pourcel maintained their sight of world championship titles with strong races at Loket in the Czech Republic this past weekend.

MX1

Team CP377 Monster Energy Kawasaki Pro Circuit racer Christophe Pourcel scored another podium finish this past weekend with 2-3 moto scores for second overall. Currently in third place in the overall season’s standings, Pourcel is still within sight of a championship should the top two falter.

Christophe spoke about his weekend following the second moto on Sunday. “I enjoyed the track; for sure it was slippery but it was also technical. I was able to take two good starts today, but in the first race, I couldn’t pass Cairoli for the win. I got very close a couple of times, but lappers got in the way and cost me time, though I have to admit that it would have been difficult to pass Tony anyway, as he was riding well. We had a good battle again in the second race; and he was able to make a pass at the right moment to win. I made a small mistake in a corner when I was second, so I had to pass back Nagl to get third position in the race and second overall. But it’s good to be back on the podium!”

Teammate Sebastein Pourcel struggled in Loket and was only able to score points in the first moto with a sixteenth place finish. “I felt really comfortable on this track after finishing third in the qualification, but race day was completely different. The track was more slippery and in the first race  I had a small crash when I was racing in eleventh position. I crashed again when I was holding twelfth in the second moto and retired as the bike was damaged.” Sebastein is currently fourteenth in the series standings.

MX2

Bel-Ray backed Team Floride Monster Energy Kawasaki Pro Circuit Tommy Searle retained his sight on the world championship with his tenth podium finish of the 2012 series. Currently second place in the standings, Searle is at a 57 point disadvantage with only four races remaining in the series. He has only finished off the podium in 3 motos this season, a trend he plans to continue as the season draws to a close. Searle has suffered from bad luck many times this season and has often been forced to race from the back of the field into his podium finish. Loket was no exception as he came back from a last place start to finish second in the first moto.

Searle was frustrated with his luck this season and spoke about it following Sunday’s racing action. "The first race just about summed up my luck this season. I got a good start, but another rider inside me on the gate never braked at the first corner and I was nearly last. I was second by half distance, but I had used so much energy that I had no chance to catch the leader too. In the second race, I went for a pass on Herlings, we touched and he went down. I knew he would think I did it on purpose so I wasn't surprised when he hit me later in the race, but I was missing my lines in the heat and just had to settle for third."

Teammate Joel Roelants had a disappointing result in Loket. A tenth in the first moto was backed up with a ninth in the second moto for eight overall. Despite this weekend’s results, Roelants is currently fourth place in the series standings. “It wasn't a great weekend for me. I got a decent start in the first race, but after a few corners, Tonkov crashed and brought down Ferrandis and me. I was last, but I found a good rhythm and got back to tenth. I didn’t ride so well in the second race; the track got really rough with deep holes and I crashed mid-race to finish ninth.”

The series continues at Matterley Basis in the United Kingdom on August 19^th.

Follow Bel-Ray racers in action all season long onwww.belray.com andwww.belrayracing.com.

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