SBK, Aragon, Melandri: "Good result, we'll try to do better"

Ducati scores its sixth podium of the season at Aragòn, but race one at Motorland came to a disappointing conclusion. The second place scored by Marco Melandri only went so far in making up for a possible win  Chaz Davies at "his" track. The Welshman, having held off a suffocating Jonathan Rea for most of the race, threw that away with a crash two laps from the end of the race.

A real pity for Chaz who sees his rival move further away in the standings, now 55 points ahead: It happened at the last corner - explains the Ducati rider -  the steering locked without much warning and I lost the front. I was lucky to escape without injuries. Tomorrow we’ll try to get a good start and see if we can make our way to the front again."

A race that, having missed Friday's practice before making up for that by scoring the pole, seemed to be back on the right track, with Davies ready to battle it out with the world champion for the win: "After having missed FP1, we knew we were a bit behind in figuring things out so today I just wanted to do my race. I was trying to keep Rea at bay, passing him each time I had the opportunity to do so, but with five laps to go I started to feel that the bike was a bit more nervous and harder to manage in corner entry, and the weight was coming on and off the front."  But Chaz is not one to give up: "We want to win races." 

Things seem to be going well for Melandri right now however. His best result of the season - albeit facilitated by his team-mate's crash - after a good start from the second row. Marco had some difficulties with the new tyres in the early stages before getting into a rhythm similar to that of the leading pair:“It was a tough race - confesses Marco - We expected warmer temperatures, which would have allowed us to use the softer rear tyre, but the grip level was much lower today and we all had to adapt, both with the electronics and riding style. Personally, I struggled with the front. I opted for the new development SC1 solution because I really liked it during practice, but I expected it to drop in a different way. I lacked grip at maximum lean angle, and early on it was really difficult for me to close the line in the fast corners. Still, a second place is a good result for us today. Of course, we’ll try to improve tomorrow as each race is a different story.”