Salom storms podium at home race David Salom fought back from a poor start to take a career best of third after 18-laps of Aragon, making this his best race finish in his entire WSS career to date.
Salom was down in seventh on lap one, from his qualifying spot of second, as his team-mate and pole man Broc Parkes led. By the end of the race Salom had made up ground at a very high pace to take a clear top three, ending up 4.6 seconds behind winner Chaz Davies, with Sam Lowes second.
Parkes was unlucky in the final part of the race, having led and looked comfortable in that position until the mid-part of the race. Losing front tyre grip but trying to keep his closest rival Davies behind him, he slid off on lap 16 of 18. Despite trying to get going again he had to retire and did not score.
Despite the disappointment of losing the championship lead to Davies, Parkes is still a strong overall second after six rounds, with another six to go. The best news of the day for the Provec Motocard.com Kawasaki team is that Salom has now propelled himself to third overall, as he makes his own assault on the championship lead.
More good news came along for the battling Lorenzini by Leoni Kawasaki rider Massimo Roccoli, as the Italian posted a season best fourth, and in doing so jumped two places up the championship rankings to eighth. Right behind Salom for much of the race as they made forward progress, Roccoli eased off to make sure he scored points after some difficult early periods in this intense season. Roccoli’s team-mate Vittorio Iannuzzo retired from the race.
David Salom: “We got a podium, which I have been chasing all year, so that is fantastic. But, overall, I cannot say it was the best race it could be because I had problems with the clutch biting point at the start and lost some places. My race pace, I think, was better than the other riders. It was a good race for the team, but I wanted to have more. I think I could have had a first or second. But we took the first podium in Spain, so my first top three is great for the family, friends, my Spanish team, Kawasaki and for the first WSS race at Motorland Aragon.”
Broc Parkes: “It was all going fine at the front, all under control. Then the front tyre felt that it was moving a little bit under me, from about half race distance. I was struggling to control the pace and a couple of times I lost the front. I tried to back down a little bit and then it started to feel OK. I had three laps to go and I knew there were two riders behind me and the gap back to them was pretty much the same. Then I made a mistake and lost the front. Maybe on days like that you should finish and settle for the points in third, or something like that. Anyway, it didn’t work out and I am really upset because it was good points we lost.”
Massimo Roccoli: “Not so bad, a top four and I finished with very good points. I started the season with some bad luck so here, in the last three laps, I thought it was important to just arrive at the finish and take the points. The podium was not important. I am happy for the team and myself as this was a good result for our hard work. I hope the last six races of the year will be more like this one.”