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There is just a bit of bitterness in Marco Melandri’s expression, because the podium was just around the corner. Race Saturday left a bitter taste in the Italian’s mouth after having third place snatched from him by Sykes on the last corner: “The heat definitely had an impact, but physically I was fine. In the first stages I pushed to the limit trying not to lose Rea - he explained - also managing to be more aggressive than at Phillip Island. Unfortunately we were still lacking something.”
In the finale, however, the Panigale standard-bearer struggled and Davies and Sykes capitalised: “Unfortunately, as the laps went by, we struggled with braking - he analysed - in practice it didn’t seem to be a problem, but it is also true that we didn’t do a long run. That made it difficult to maintain a consistent pace.”
There is, however, an encouraging aspect, because thanks to the inverted grid, he will start from the front in Race 2: “Tomorrow we will start from pole position and that could be an advantage - he concluded - since our direct rivals will be on the third row.”
In the Ducati camp, Chaz Davies took care of riding the Red to the second step of the podium, just like two weeks ago in Australia: “I had hoped to do more, but in the race I realised straight away that even second place would not be easy to achieve - the Welshman commented - we struggled a bit, especially in the first two sectors and that surprised me. Rea had a whole other pace and it wasn’t easy to overtake Sykes and Melandri either since I lost time.”
Chaz Davies may not have won, but he certainly confirmed his blend of intelligence and consistency: “Thinking in terms of the championship, last year we had a lot more points to recover - he pointed out - consistent performance is essential right now. We need to be realistic. Looking at the positive side, this is the best result for me and Ducati at Buriram, a track that is not easy for us.”
