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Team Reitwagen BMW>> Portimao Race Results

April 02 2010

Team Reitwagen BMW news

2010 Superbike World Championship
Round 2, Portimao, Portugal
Sunday 28th March
Circuit: 4.492 kms.    Crowd: 70,000 (3-day)
Conditions: Sunny/cloudy.  Temperature: Air: 18 - 23 °C, Track: 20 - 41 °C
 
The second round of this year’s Superbike World Championship will not be fondly remembered by
Team Reitwagen BMW. Some small technical problems and a crash put paid to any thought of top
fifteen finishes today, but the team are positive that improvements can be made and are looking
forward to the next round in Valencia and getting back to making progress. Neither Andrew nor
Makoto finished race one, but they both managed finishes in race two despite technical problems.
Italian Max BIaggi (Aprilia) won both races today, after terrific battles with Briton Leon Haslam
(Suzuki), with the victories going down to the wire in both 22-lappers. Jonathan Rea (Honda) took third
in race one and fellow countryman Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha) took third in race two.
 
Andrew Pitt - Race 1: DNF, Race 2: 20th:
“Well, not the best of days, but sometimes racing is like that and you just have to put it to one side and get on with. I was actually pretty happy in race one - up to the crash - and felt I was lapping pretty consistently and at a good pace. I had a good battle with Sykes and Lanzi, but Sykes was holding me up and I could see the group ahead pulling away, so I
thought I’d better pass him. I went to outbrake him, but hit some bumps and lost it instead. We had to use the second bike in race two and there was a problem with the speed sensor or something touching it and the bike kept cutting out on the inspection lap. So we had to pit and the mechanics changed a wheel and that meant I had to start the race from the pit-lane and half a lap down. It was a very lonely race and I did wonder what I was doing out there, but by staying out I was
able to give the team information on how the bike had been.

I feel we’re getting to the limit of what this bike can do in its current condition, so we need to push ahead with some new stuff as soon as possible and carry on the progress again. We’ll have some stuff to try in Valencia and I’m hoping that we don’t have any technical problems and I can battle for points again.”
 
Makoto Tamada - Race 1: DNF, Race 2: 19th:
“We needed to try and get good settings and keep making progress, but I believe that this bike has potential and we will improve quite a lot. The bike had an electronic problem in race one and I had no choice but to pull in. It was a shame,
because my start was not so bad. My start in race two was not so bad, but there was a lot of pushing and shoving into the first couple of turns. I had some problems with the traction control and also the setting of the engine braking was not
quite right, so it was difficult to go any faster. But, like Andrew, I stayed out on the track so that I could give as much information as possible to the team.”
 
Andy Werth (Sporting Director):
“Of course we are all a bit disappointed, but we need to be better prepared technically. Despite some problems (software and hardware), both riders stayed out. By doing so we gained some useful information and that is always good. In the end, today was more like a test session than a race, but that’s not the way we intended it to be. We struggled (as many privateers do) but it’s up to us to work hard and improve and that’s what we’ll do in Valencia.”
 
Team Reitwagon BMW is sponsored by Hotbodies Racing and uses our windscreens on all of their bikes. Hotbodies Racing specializes in manufacturing high-performance parts for high-performance sportbikes, and is the North American distribution of KR Tuned performance parts. Hotbodies Racing is the market leader in Undertails, Huggers, Windscreens, Flush-Mount Signals, Megaphone Exhausts and full-race Bodywork. Hotbodies Racing supports the sport with sponsorship around the world and encourages dealer and distributor inquiries. For more information visit: www.HOTBODIESRACING.com.