Scott Reddings’s WorldSBK race one fourth place at Misano may have been made all the worse by the fact that his team-mate Michael Rinaldi won, especially as Redding make not secret of the fact that he would have preferred the taller and more experienced Chaz Davies to stay in the official Ducati set-up for at least one more year.
Redding in general had a good weekend, especially with Rea not running away out front, but Rea did win Superpole and again had a great escape from potential disaster.
“Superpole went not bad, honestly; it was not bad,” Redding told bikesportnews.com on Saturday after an ice-bath to cool down from the asphalt furnace of Misano. “It was not great, but not that bad. Managed to get on the front row which is always important. But, the race was completely different.
'It was not completely different – it was how it was for me in all the practice session before, just not really having grip with the front tyre, no feeling. That was it. I just struggled for 21 laps. Couldn’t really get going. I pushed a lot and had a few big moments and I thought, ‘it’s not worth crashing for this.’ So I kind of tried to back it up a little bit to go a little bit slower, but I was still in this situation where I was still having quite big moments and almost crashing again.
"So, today was just survival, stay on the bike. It was definitely not a race for me where I could push in the race to make a result, and that’s what kind of disappointed me a little bit.”
No such problems for Rinaldi, who won by a relative home country mile. It left Redding bemused. “It is a shame because the other Ducati seems to be working exceptionally better than everyone else,” he stated. “I don't know why here, but the first lap when I was behind it was an eye-opener to see the grip that Rinaldi had. He just passed everyone wherever, whenever, however.
He just opened the throttle and he was gone. Maybe just a very good setup here with his bike and this track, but it was a very big difference and we all ran the same rear tyre, so it was strange. We need to go back and understand how we can sort this problem out we have with the bike because this is like us in Aragon. We just go around in circles and we don’t find the way to improve. Again, Jonathan freaking does a very good save.
'Then I thought, ‘okay, now he had a scare. This will slow him a little bit, maybe I can get there.’ He puts the hammer down straightaway again! Sure, it doesn’t feel great for everyone but there’s a difference between not having a feeling and being able to ride, and having no feeling and not being able to push. That’s the position that we were in.”
Given the fact that Alvaro Bautista has been the only rider to consistently beat Jonathan Rea - albeit for a third of a season in the Panigale V4R’s first WorldSBK year - and that Rinaldi was the winner at Misano, maybe all that Ducati horsepower or the basic design works best with smaller riders. Which Redding and Davies are not.
Redding disagreed. “Not really, because I think they developed it with Chaz, who was bigger,” he said logically.
“Maybe the smaller riders get a bigger benefit in this condition or in certain grip areas. Where the grip is low or your struggle with the front, having 20 kilos more trying to push on that front tyre is not what you want. Maybe this is the difference. When you’re lighter, you’re able to stop with less force and less stress and able to make the corner. The problem is we cannot stop, and when we arrive to the corner, we’re asking too much of the tyre and the front slides and you go off the line, no exit. So you lose two tenths. When I go in turn four, I go wide. It’s two tenths for this.
'That’s the problem. So, you try to work around but you ride a bit easier, your lap time goes slower. You push, you go a bit faster, but you risk a lot to crash. Michael just looked very comfortable. I must say he rode well, but just it looked very comfortable underneath him for him to do it, whereas I didn’t feel that. Jonathan struggled a little bit. Toprak, not so bad but it wasn’t easy for him. But we’ll see tomorrow.
'I did a couple of good laps, but it’s difficult for me to be consistent because I’m always fighting and trying to just get every small detail right, and I’m not thinking about push. I’m thinking, ‘don’t need to crash, don’t risk,’ because I don’t feel good on the bike when I’m sliding all the time. You cannot push. There’s no sense. I’m not upset. I’m not angry with myself or the team. Just the position that we’re in at the moment. I did what I could do, it just wasn’t it today. There’s no point in me getting frustrated about it. It’s how it is.”
