The Ducati Superbike Team and riders Chaz Davies and Davide Giugliano experienced a more difficult race day than they had perhaps expected today at the Misano World Circuit. After strong performances by both riders throughout the practice and qualifying sessions, Davies closed race 1 fourth before retiring from race 2 after a crash, while Giugliano battled his way to eighth and ninth position. Race 1 Conditions were warm and dry for the first race with a track temperature of roughly 38°C. Giuugliano, starting from second place, was lying fifth through the opening corners, with teammate Davies hot on his heels in sixth. After only a few laps the Ducati Superbike pair swapped place, with Chaz able to increase his pace through the central phase of the races. Davide, held back by bike vibration issues, maintained sixth place for the best part of the race, but from the fifteenth lap onwards the problems became more difficult to manage and, also due a drop in rear grip in the final stages, the Italian rider was passed by two riders to cross the line in final eighth position. Chaz, fifth at lap seven, pushed hard to reach Melandri, managed to get to within 0.2 of a second within the space of only a few laps. He did all he could to pass him but had to settle for fourth position in the end. Race 2 The track temperature had risen to 44°C for race two. Having changed tyre, Giugliano got off the line extremely quickly to position first. Unfortunately he then received a ‘ride through’ penalty as his start was considered to be a jump start by Race Direction. As a result the Ducati man went from first to seventeenth after completing the ride through on lap five. He immediately fought back, pushing to move through the field and was up to thirteenth by lap nine and ninth by lap twelve. Unfortunately the gap between him and the eighth placed rider was too large and although he did his best to reduce the distance, he was unable to gain any more positions, therefore closing in final ninth position. Chaz too started fast and was lying fifth by lap four. Unfortunately he then suffered a small crash at Turn 4 when, pushing on entry, he lost the front of his bike. Although he was able to return to the track without issue, he was down in 24th position. The British rider decided to remain out on track, in case something happened to cause a race restart, but once he’d completed fifteen laps, two thirds of the race distance, the rider returned to the garage. After seven of fourteen scheduled rounds, Davies holds sixth position in the general standings, with 143 points, while Giugliano is seventh with 111 points. Ducati lies fourth in the manufacturer’s classification with 178 points. Read the whole post here.
