With recent victories still fresh in the mind, Airwaves
Ducati pairing Gregorio Lavilla and Leon Haslam head to Croft for the sixth
round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship in confident mood.
Currently lying in second and fourth position respectively, the duo will be
looking for race victories at the 2.1270-mile North Yorkshire circuit, with
the team aiming to consolidate or even improve on their second position in
the manufacturers' standings.
Both racers have been boosted by recent performances. Gregorio took his
first ever BSB race victory at Mondello Park last time out and will couple
that confidence with some prior knowledge of the popular Croft circuit.
Following the recent official BSB test day, this will be one of the few
tracks he will have experienced before the race weekend commences.
The rain affected BSB test 9 days ago also gave further proof of Leon's
ever-increasing skill on the Airwaves-Ducati. Fastest in both sessions on
the day, the 22-year-old will look to build on that experience to celebrate
his recent birthday in style with more victory champagne this weekend after
his memorable effort at Oulton Park.
Team Manager, Colin Wright, confirmed the upbeat mood amongst the team: "We
have put together an impressive string of results, including the team's
first ever one-two at Mondello Park and this can't help but give us
confidence here. We know we won't have things all our own way this weekend
but are keen to build on the recent experience of the circuit that Gregorio
and Leon gained. Although it was heavily rain affected, the test was a
chance to learn the track layout so we will have plenty of data when Friday
comes around. The guys will be straight into their stride and raring to make it a successful weekend for the team".
Gregorio, particularly pleased to arrive at Croft with prior knowledge of
the track, commented: "It will be a relief not to have to learn the track
from scratch this weekend. At some of the rounds so far I have had to spend
time learning the track first and this has left the team less time to start
fine-tuning the bike in preparation for the race. Although conditions will
be different, hopefully we will be able to use some of the information
gained at the test to work immediately on finding the best settings for the
race and turn this into a good result."
Leon was pleased with his recent efforts: "It's tricky to read too much into
the test where conditions were terrible but it is always a boost to see your
name at the top of the time sheets. We will work on ensuring that we get
things set up correct this weekend and the Airwaves-Ducati should go well
round here. We've got a great package and are regularly challenging so I'm
hopeful for a good result to go with my recent podiums and Oulton victory".
The sixth round of the BSB Championship starts with two free practice
sessions on Friday 3rd June, followed by two qualifying sessions on Saturday
4th June and two 22-lap races on Sunday 5th June.
