Michael Van Der Mark kept up his World Superbike podium run at the Thailand round today, bagging second place in the opening race even though his Fireblade’s electronics got lost and the bike didn’t know where it was on the track, hugely affecting the engine braking, among other things.
The Dutch youngster had started from pole but an issue with the gearbox saw him run wide into turn one and then,after fighting his way to the leaders, he ran off track at turn eight and two fast laps by Rea and Sykes saw the end of his challenge.
“I’m not really satisfied. I made the same mistake off the start that I did last year, and then I was struggling with the gears so into turn one I dropped some place. Then step by step I got to the front guys. I was happy with a good pace but then the bike got lost on the track, so I didn’t have a good engine brake, a big moment in turn eight,” said Van Der Mark, speaking at the track.
“Then I pushed hard to stay consistent hoping they would drop but they put in two fast laps and I couldn’t hang on any more. Tomorrow we need to make some changes on the bike.”
