The Nevers Magny-Cours circuit in France played host to the eleventh, and penultimate, round of the 2014 Superbike World Championship today. Race 1 The race, which took place in the rain, was shortened from 21 to 19 laps in line with the usual ‘wet race’ procedure. By the end of lap one, Davide Giugliano, from second on the grid, was lying sixth. Finding strong pace despite the wet track, he was able to pass first Melandri, then Sykes and Rea to move into second position. Unfortunately a small crash on lap five relegated him to fourteenth place, from where he immediately started pushing to make up for lost ground. With a much faster pace than those in front of him, Giugliano projected himself from fourteenth to seventh position over the course of only a few laps, holding that position to the line. Chaz Davies, in fourth place at the end of lap one, was part of the leading group. Unfortunately, while braking ahead of turn five, and going slightly wider than usual, the front of his bike unexpectedly locked up, resulting in a crash for the Ducati Superbike rider who was unable to rejoin the race. Race 2 Riders again faced wet conditions. Davies, sixth through the opening corners, gradually began to lose ground. Every time he passed along the straight, the rear tyre would slide around, causing the bike to move a lot. The British rider had difficulty reaching the finish line but managed to conclude the race, in final ninth position. Giugliano was second in the opening stages, soon passing Rea to take the lead before the end of lap one. Unfortunately on the very next lap the Italian rider crashed, at turn seven, hitting his left hand which prevented him from concluding the race. After this penultimate round of the championship, Davies is in sixth position in the general standings, with 195 points, while Giugliano is eighth with 162 points. Ducati lies fourth in the manufacturer’s classification with 269 points. Davide Giugliano #34 – 7th, DNF “I don’t know what to say. I don’t understand why I’m crashing so often and I’m really sorry. The only positive is that I have been up front with the bike in all the practice sessions this weekend. We’re not lacking speed, but of course we need to be finishing the races. The solutions that Ducati brought here this weekend work really well. Unfortunately we know that wet races can be difficult and today the weather really did condition everything. I apologise to Ducati, to the sponsors and to my team – my guys always give 100%. I will continue to work to improve and prepare as well as possible for the final races of the season…” Chaz Davies #7 – DNF, 9th “A very disappointing day. The crash in race 1 was really unexpected. I knew that that was a tricky section of the track, and that I needed to be careful when braking but then the front seemed to lock and there was nothing I could do to save it. In Race 2, I immediately realized that as soon as I stood the bike up, the level of rear spin became unmanageable. This was very strange and we need to look into the problem, it seems that the central part of the rear tyre offered no grip. A very difficult race, in which I couldn’t push hard – it was a challenge just to keep the bike upright.” Read the whole post here.
