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Category: Superbikes
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ALEIX ESPARGARÓ FORCED TO RETIRE DUE TO A PROBLEM WITH AN ELECTRICAL COMPONENT
The expectations that Aleix Espargaró had built with a great Saturday qualifying were not met due to a problem with a simple electrical component that began right from the start and which, after compromising his performance, forced Aleix to throw in the towel. The disappointment remains for a race in which Aleix entered as a protagonist after his great qualifiers yesterday, but also with the awareness that the potential demonstrated throughout the weekend, he is ready to bring home results on Sunday as well.
Scott Redding finished twelfth, thereby bringing home his first championship points with Aprilia. But his race - in any case positive - was conditioned by a backache that tormented him the whole weekend. For him as well, the Argentinian round represents a good base from which to pick up for the upcoming races, given the clear progress compared to his début race.
ALEIX ESPARGARO'
"To be honest, I felt very good today. But from the start, the bike responded strangely to the throttle when I accelerated from low speed. For everything else, the feeling was excellent, so much that for the first time in my career, I was able to handle the wet patches without any problems. Then things got worse with the collisions with Marquez and Petrucci who, quite frankly, took some avoidable risks. I cannot be happy with two consecutive zero finishes on two occasions when I felt like I could have battled for important positions. Now I want to recharge my batteries with my family before going to Austin, where we will pick back up from the good that we saw in these last two weekends."
SCOTT REDDING
"It was a very long race. After lining up on the grid, there were some rather confusing moments. Fortunately, the delayed start gave everyone a chance to gain a better understanding of the situation. Today it was basically about interpreting the track conditions straight away and I must say that things worked quite well. I lost ground on the longest straight, whereas on the rest of the track I managed to stay close to my rivals. I am happy with the final result, both because I rediscovered the feeling after Qatar and for the guys on the team who really had to work under pressure today. Riding along with the other riders for the entire race distance also gave me a chance to better understand where the RS-GP and I need to improve and that will help us in the upcoming races."
ROMANO ALBESIANO - APRILIA RACING MANAGER
"A difficult weekend but one in which we demonstrated our speed with both riders, referring to the good qualifiers on Saturday where we brought home some good results that could have been even better. In the race, we had an electrical problem with Aleix's bike and Scott did his job, considering the physical conditions in which he raced due to a devastating backache. A bit of luck will come."
FAUSTO GRESINI - TEAM MANAGER
"If I look at the entire weekend, I see a Saturday where we did very well. We won Q1 and we were also protagonists in the final qualifying session. Scott's race is certainly positive. He earned points racing with a bad backache. Aleix did very well in practice and in the race he was also in a position to bring home a good result. Unfortunately, it went the way it did and we just need to focus immediately on the next race."
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APRILIA FLIES TO TERMAS DE RIO HONDO IN ARGENTINA
It will be the 4.8 kilometres of the Argentinian Termas de Rio Hondo track hosting the second round on the 2018 MotoGP calendar. A fast track (more than 170 km/h average) with plenty of treachery, especially in terms of grip conditions. The weather forecast, with a chance of rain, contributes to increasing the uncertainty expected from the South American round.
This is an exam that Aprilia is tackling with renewed ambitions, comforted by both the potential of the new 2018 RS-GP and by the wide margins of improvement shown in Qatar.
ALEIX ESPARGARO'
"We need to keep working. In Qatar, the feeling in the race was rather good before the problem in the end that kept us from a top-10 finish that was well within our reach. I am confident because we confirmed our strong points, especially over race distance, whereas we have room to improve our flying lap in qualifying. We are at the beginning of the season. We have set some ambitious goals for ourselves which will certainly not be easy to confirm, but we have all our papers in order to have a good season."
SCOTT REDDING
“The sensations after Qatar were not the best, but I am sure that we will be able to solve the problems that came up in the race. The RS-GP worked well up to that point, so apparently we missed something and that is what we will focus on in Argentina. With so many new components introduced on the 2018 RS-GP, it becomes essential to analyse the data and the bike's reactions carefully in order to create a working base that can then be dialled in as the weekend progresses."
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Tyco BMW have today confirmed a new partnership with fifteen-time Isle of Man TT winner Michael Dunlop for the 2018 Isle of Man TT Races fuelled by Monster Energy and the other International Road Races.
The 28 year old Northern Ireland rider will campaign the TAS Racing-prepared Tyco BMW S1000RR in the RST Superbike and PokerStars Senior Races at the Isle of Man TT and further International road racing events including the North West 200 and Ulster GP.
With multiple race wins and lap records under his belt since his TT debut in 2007, Michael's skill and determination is without doubt and he remains the first and only rider to lap the 37.73mile Mountain Course in less than 17 minutes. His passion for road racing is mirrored by that of father and son pairing - Hector and Philip Neill - team owner and manager of TAS Racing. The Northern Ireland-based team have to date secured 27 International North West 200 victories and 18 race wins at the iconic Isle of Man TT.
The team's official full road race schedule will be announced in the coming weeks.
Philip Neill – Team Manager:
“It has taken some time for this to come together and I’m very happy to confirm Michael Dunlop and TAS Racing/Tyco BMW will finally work together in 2018. Michael and I have discussed options to work together on various occasions and I honestly believe this is a partnership that simply had to happen at some point. My father and I, together with all the guys at TAS Racing, are excited and looking forward to the challenge. We would not be in this position without the support of our partners Tyco and BMW Motorrad and both are extremely happy to reach agreement with Michael for the 2018 season”
Michael Dunlop:
“Tyco BMW and I have spoken many times but nothing ever came of it, but this year everything fell into place. I think it’s a good time for us both to work together and I think both of us can bring something to the table. I’m looking forward to seeing the outcome”
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In an unprecedented move, two of the Isle of Man TT’s greatest ever riders will join forces at this year’s Isle of Man TT Races fuelled by Monster Energy with John McGuinness set to ride for Michael Dunlop’s MD Racing team in the two Monster Energy Supersport races. 
McGuinness, who will be making his return to the TT this year after missing the 2017 meeting due to injuries sustained at the North West 200, will ride a similar CBR600RR Honda to team owner and rival Dunlop in the four-lap races, which will be held on Monday 4th and Wednesday 6th June.
Dunlop and McGuinness both have an excellent track record in the class with the Northern Irishman winning last year’s four lap race when Yamaha-mounted while 23-time winner McGuinness was victorious in both 2005 and 2006 for Yamaha and Honda respectively. Riding for the latter exclusively since 2006, the Morecambe Missile added further Supersport podiums to his haul in 2007, 2008, 2011 and 2013.
Since 2010 McGuinness has lined up in the colours of Padgetts Racing and, more recently the Jackson Racing team, finishing in the top five on no less than eight occasions with his most recent outing in 2016 seeing him finish fifth. His fastest lap in the Supersport category, 127.210mph, came in 2013 when he made his last visit to the podium in the class which makes him the fifth fastest rider ever to have lapped the Mountain Course on a 600cc machine.
Dunlop still holds the lap record for the class having lapped at 128.667mph on his way to a double victory in 2013 when riding the CBR600RR. MD Racing will be making their return to Honda for the two Monster Energy Supersport Races for the first time since 2015.
Speaking about the tie up, John McGuinness commented:
“I’m excited to be riding Michael’s bike at this year’s TT. It’s started off as a bit of a joke conversation between us both and has developed into him going off and building me a bike. I’m a big fan of Michael’s both as a rider but also for what he has done in terms of running his own teams and winning races out the back of his van against the factory teams over the years. The Dunlop name means so much to TT fans and as a fan myself, I can’t wait to represent that name at this year’s event. We’ve won 38 TT’s between us so together we know what needs to be done and I am sure we will be right at the sharp end.”
Michael Dunlop added:
“I hadn’t ever really planned on building another bike, but when John started talking to me about it, I thought it was a great idea and I couldn’t really say no. It’s good for me, it’s good for my team and no matter who you are, the man has won 23 TT races so there is always going to be something that can be learnt by having him in working alongside you. People don’t see him as a 600cc rider, but he’s won races and had lots of podium finishes on a 600cc bike and I will give him a bike capable of winning on.”
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ESPARGARÓ STOPS WITHIN A SHOUT OF THE TOP TEN
SCOTT REDDING TWENTIETH IN HIS DÉBUT RACE ASTRIDE THE RS-GP
A fuelling problem stopped Aleix Espargaró on the final lap, just as a good placement in the top ten was within reach.
In the second half of the race, Aleix had found a good pace, moving up several position, thanks in part to a couple of crashes by riders ahead of him. At the start of the final lap, he had caught up to Miller (tenth) and Iannone (ninth) with a good chance of overtaking them, considering the significant difference in pace. However, precisely during the last lap, a fuelling problem silenced the V4 in the number 41 Aprilia. In any case, Aleix managed to cross the finish line (in 19th place), but he had already lost his chances for the good result.
In his first race astride the Aprilia RS-GP, Scott Redding had to reckon with grip problems and was unable to move up from the rear guard, finishing twentieth.
ALEIX ESPARGARO'
"Despite the result, I am satisfied with the way I managed the race. I gave 100%, using a very conservative map straight away and managing in any case to maintain a good pace. I hoped to be able to use the more aggressive map in the race finale, where we know that we are faster, but that wasn't possible. During the final lap I was about to attack Miller and Iannone, but some fuelling problems cost me a lot of positions. A ninth place finish in these conditions would have been an important result. We need to work together to solve this problem, without which I am convinced that we would have been able to battle in the group of the best 5-6 down to the end."
SCOTT REDDING
“I can't be pleased with the way the race went today. From the start I had poor grip on the rear and then at the end of the race things started working, so much that I did my fast lap on the last lap. Right now I am struggling to understand why. We need to analyse the data and it is most likely a problem that we did not have during the tests. Now we need to start working straight away to improve in view of the upcoming races. We know that our potential is greater than what we demonstrated today, but evidently we are missing something.”
ROMANO ALBESIANO - APRILIA RACING MANAGER
"This was a rather troubled weekend because of grip that came and went - extremely particularly tyre use conditions. These were very different conditions from last year as well as from those in the last pre-season tests. Even if we are still lacking something, we found a good solution with Aleix in the race, but we had a fuelling problem just as we were about to bring home a good top ten finish."
FAUSTO GRESINI - TEAM MANAGER
"It's a pity about a problem like that right in the last lap that frustrated all the hard work done by the riders, Aprilia and the entire team. We still need to get to know this new bike well, but I think it has huge potential. This complicated the entire weekend but, given the way Aleix's race finished after a brilliant comeback ride, I'd say that we were also a bit unlucky. It was a difficult weekend, but the bike has improved a lot and I am sure that we are not far behind the leaders. We know that we still need to make an effort, but we have a whole championship season ahead of us."
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