A difficult end to the season for Team SBK Ducati Alstare today at Jerez

Jerez de la Frontera (Spain), Sunday 20 October 2013: an unlucky day for Team SBK Ducati Alstare, taking part in today’s final races of the 2013 World Superbike championship at the Jerez circuit in Spain. Xavi Forés closed his first Superbike race on board the Panigale in ninth position while Ayrton Badovini took a thirteenth place finish. Unfortunately neither Ducati Alstare rider was able to complete more than two laps of the second race.

Race 1 – starting from eighth on the grid, Forés made a good start to the 21-lap race on board his Panigale and by the mid-race point he was in tenth position. Having passed Aitchison, and finding a good rhythm especially in the final stages of the race, he pushed to chase Camier, closing the gap but not quite able to reach the English rider immediately ahead of him. Xavi therefore closed the race in final ninth place. Badovini, starting from thirteenth, was up to eleventh after lap one. By mid-race he was in twelfth place but, losing a little of his pace in the final stages due to some grip issues, he crossed the line in final thirteenth position.

Race 2 – Forés made another good start but his race came to an almost immediate end when another rider made contact through the first corner, pushing him off track and into the gravel. Unfortunately, he was unable to return to the track, though luckily the Spaniard was uninjured in the fall. Badovini was equally unlucky in today’s second race. During the course of lap one he realised that he had a traction issue, and due to a serious lack of grip, and, having risked crashing more than once, he decided to return to the garage to see what was wrong. He was unfortunately unable to return to the race.

Ayrton Badovini: “All weekend we have been suffering from a lack of grip. In the first race we did all we could but we had some problems. So we made changes for the second but I could tell straight away that something was wrong and having risked crashing a couple of times, I decided it was best to come back to the garage and check nothing was really wrong. A pity because without this problem we could have closed the season with a good result.”

Xavi Forés: “The first race wasn’t easy but it didn’t go too badly. A lack of confidence stopped me pushing to reach the group in front at the start but once I got past Aitchison, I was able to push harder in the latter stages, I had a better feeling with the bike but I needed a couple of extra laps to be able to reach those I front. The second turned out to be a very short race for me, a real pity. I didn’t get off to a bad start but at the first corner I felt someone hit the bike and I was down, there was nothing I could do. Anyway, all things considered, it’s been a positive weekend for me, in that we improved with each exit we made. I thank everyone, Ducati and Team Ducati Alstare, for the opportunity they’ve given me this weekend and now I’ll get back to concentrating on the Spanish championship, where we still have two events to run.”

Team SBK Ducati Alstare