SBK, Melandri's anger: "Lowes is dangerous, he crosses the lines"

It is not the start that he wanted. Or rather, of all the possible endings, this is the worst. Marco Melandri's face is a combination of anger and disappointment. His race came to an end at the best point, as he was battling for the podium, due to a manoeuvre by Lowes that the Italian deems too much.

What exactly happened?   

“Lowes changed direction 50 metres early, without waiting. He cut across the front of my bike causing me to run off. You normally want to go faster than your rivals to be them, not to knock them out. Rea executed the same manoeuvre when he passed Davies, but he knew to wait”.

You've said it's not the first time.

“The same thing happened at Donington in 2014, he's dangerous, he crosses the lines and doesn't realise. That kind of riding can be dangerous for both him and for others”.

What kind of race did you expect?

“The battle was my critical area, especially at the start. It took me some time to get my pace back, but the times were good. I didn't want Rea and Sykes to get away, as they had the best pace. I'll try again tomorrow”.

You even took the lead at certain points.

“At first I tried to maintain a relaxed pace. I also tried to break away but I wasn't able to. Perhaps I should have insisted, but we've never used these tyres at these temperatures before, it was 20 degrees warmer than yesterday. When we tried to push it was a struggle, we were all a bit worried”.

What has today taught you?

“Nothing, this is racing”.

You were dreaming of the podium. What can we expect tomorrow?

“I pictured a lot of endings, but not this one, which is the worst of all I think. Tomorrow I just want to see the chequered flag”.

In the Yamaha camp, Alex Lowes is pleased with his fourth place finish. But he is shocked by what Marco Melandri says.

“To be honest, I don't know what happened, as I didn't touch him. If he has a problem, I think it's his and not mine”.

He's said you're dangerous.

“That's his opinion, when I see him I'll ask him”.

You came close to the podium today.

“I think it was an exciting and hard-fought race. It was great to battle for the podium and that's tomorrow's goal”.  

Did you expect to be so fast?

“We hadn't done a race simulation but I thought I'd be consistent. I was surprised to be so close to the leaders”.

What can we expect tomorrow?

“Tomorrow it's important for me to make a good start and keep pace. As I've said, the aim is to achieve my first podium with the Yamaha”.