Knockhill; Airwaves Ducati Preview
Added on Thursday, June 28th, 2007 by Carole Nash Editor
Knockhill; Airwaves Ducati Preview
Knockhill Next for Airwaves Ducati
The Airwaves Ducati team arrived in Scotland today ahead of round 7 of the British Superbike championship this weekend. The team were in Glasgow to support the ‘Superbikes in the Square’ event which saw George Square turned into a mini BSB circuit to promote road and bike safety and provide a warm-up to the racing at Knockhill. Up to 20,000 spectators in the city centre had the opportunity to get close to the stars of BSB in a pit and paddock area and see the bikes being prepared before completing a lap of the square.
The team then head to the Knockhill circuit which, at only 1.29 miles long, is one of the shortest on the championship calendar. It is a track which holds mixed memories for Airwaves Ducati; in 2006 Leon finished 3rd in both races but Gregorio Lavilla experienced some problems finishing 11th in race one, he then slipped off and failed to finish race two. However, following their performance at Mondello, both riders are feeling confident.
Leon Haslam achieved his first win of the season in Ireland and is hoping to continue that form. “I was really pleased with my win at Mondello, I knew I had that kind of performance in me and I hope I can now build on that and win more races over the next few rounds. Last year I was 3rd in both races at Knockhill but I felt I could have done much better, so I am confident for a good performance. It is a physically demanding circuit but I am feeling great and we have worked really hard on the bike so I think it will be another successful weekend for me and the Airwaves Ducati team.”
Gregorio Lavilla has closed the gap on the championship lead to just 1 point after finishing 3rd in both races at Mondello and he is optimistic about the weekend. “I had a really disappointing time at Knockhill last year; it is the only circuit on the calendar that I have never won at but I will not be thinking about that too much. I want to put in a good performance in qualifying and then hopefully I will be up there fighting for the podium spots in the races. I am not really thinking about the championship yet; we are only just reaching the half way point in the season and there is still a long way to go, I just want to focus on getting a good result on Sunday.”
Round 7 of the British Superbike championship takes place at Knockhill on Sunday 1st July.
