A crash in race 1 stops Delbianco from improving further at Most
After continuously improving his feeling and performance and completing a positive qualifying session, MIE Racing Honda rider Alessandro Delbianco’s hopes were dashed by a crash in the early stages of the weekend’s first Superbike race at the Most Circuit in the Czech Republic.
In the morning’s final practice, which ran in dry conditions, the young Italian improved on his FP1 reference by more than a second to place eighteenth in the overall practice standings with a fastest time of 1’34.725. A short while later, during the 15-minute Superpole phase, Delbianco pushed hard to complete a solid flying lap. He set his best time in the final seconds, an admirable 1’33.434 considering the Italian’s lack of experience with both the bike and track. This result saw him place fourteenth at the session’s end, which translated into a fifth row start for the first Superbike race.
Said Superbike race got underway in the early afternoon and ran over 22 laps, in dry conditions. From fourteenth on the grid, Delbianco maintained his position through the opening turns. On lap three the young Italian unfortunately suffered a crash through the chicane, an incident that sadly prevented the rider from completing his race.
The MIE Racing Honda Team will return to the track tomorrow for the 10-lap Tissot Superpole race followed, in the afternoon, by the second 22-lap Superbike race.
Alessandro Delbianco 52
“Today we improved during virtually every lap in every session. We dropped a second in FP3 and shaved off another during qualifying. The direction we are working in is clearly the right one. In the race I made a mistake in that I was too prudent. Lacking experience, I didn't want to overdo it in the first few laps after making a good start. But this meant that I left the door open to others and no one’s exactly mucking around here. Another rider passed me a bit aggressively and while he only ran long, I crashed. As he passed me, I had to lift the bike back up and when I did, my steering locked. But that's racing, no recriminations. Tomorrow we'll try to do things differently because I'd like to try and see where we can end up."
