Honda’s Michael Van Der Mark was delighted with his first World Superbike podium in seven races after a steady performance at Misano.
Van Der Mark last stood on the rostrum at his home round of Assen back in April, but in an incident packed race in Italy the Dutchman managed his race well to give a much-needed boost to his confidence.
“I wasn’t the fastest today, or all weekend to be honest but I was the one who had a decent pace and stayed on the bike,” he said.
“After quite a few difficult rounds we needed some points and the podium is even better, even during the race especially from the start I had problems on the front and I couldn’t push as hard as I wanted.”
It was a lonely ride to third for much of the race for the Honda rider, but with Chaz Davies closing fast and looking as if he may challenge the 23-year-old had to work through some problems.
Niggling problems saw the Rotterdammer’s times drop slightly, giving the advancing Davies a sniff of catching the Honda but in the end Van Der Mark was pleased with how he managed the tricky situation.
“The pace was okay, and there was a big gap behind me and the last couple of laps I saw the gap behind was dropping and I had some problems with the bike,” said the former World Supersport champion.
“The bike wasn’t working how it should be and then after a couple of laps it was working normally again so I was quite lucky.
“I am really happy with this podium because this is what we really needed.”