Welcome to the beta version of the new Women & Golf website. Our web monkeys are still hard at work and welcome your feedback.  

Advertisement

Assen WorldSBK: Ducati struggling for consistency

For the official Aruba Ducati team, there will be no concession parts after their dominant start to the 2018 season, but it was obvious at Assen they needed something drastic to get them into competition at the sharp end.

Marco Melandri’s obvious problem with wobble and weave was one thing, but even Chaz Davies struggled all weekend, as the Kawasaki’s more nimble and stable handling made itself felt, and the relative lack of slow corner exits negated his Ducati’s better punch onto the faster sections.

Race two had its own problems for Davies as well.

Advertisement

“We changed the bike a bit from yesterday and in the early stages struggled a little bit with edge grip and then got a strange and aggressive vibration. It went from nothing to vibrating a lot very quickly. Then I just brought it home.”

Assen was not a good weekend for the official Ducati squad, with Melandri struggling all weekend (sixth and then seventh) Davies eighth in qualifying, third in race one after some good work in the pits pre-race, but fifth in race two - and behind the non-official bike of Xavi Fores and Barni Racing Ducati.

“This weekend we were a session too short,” said Davies as to why he could not fight for the wins. “I think we have a good basic set up for our bike. We struggled here on Friday. We were a session too late but I think we improved the bike.”

It has been an up-and-down early season race to race for Davies, even if Ducati in general had been ascendant until Assen.

“We were especially better then previous years at PI and Buriram, I felt we struggled a bit at Aragon even though we won the second race. Aragon is normally a good track for me but we did not have the best set up there. Then we came here with that same set-up and struggled on Friday.

“Changes on Saturday gave me the feeling back we wanted. I think we know our bike well enough but we just have to react quicker. I think we made mistakes on Friday which should not really happen but it was not the undoing of our race today, that was maybe something out of our control.”

With Fores ahead in race two, on the same spec of bike as Davies, and sometimes ahead, something is not working as per the best possible Ducati plan, even for the factory crew.

But Davies, always paying respect to Fores as he has all year, said that Assen is maybe just not a Ducati track.

“Marco has different problems to what I have so I don’t know. It is not that we lack a base, but our package excels at some tracks and it is more difficult at other tracks. Like here, we really suffer quite a lot. Xavi was 11 seconds off the win on Sunday, and he was the best on our bike. And that is too far. It is a fight around here for us. I think the other manufacturers had a better package than us today and got it together more than us.”

Advertisement

Davies also now knows that his rivals may even be able to get better, after the championships balancing rules kicked in. At just the wrong time.

“The concession parts come and we have a really bad weekend,” said Davies. “We have had the best start to the year collectively at Ducati, but now everybody else has concession parts and we have the same bike. Typical isn’t it?”

Jonathan Rea, when asked why the factory Ducatis struggled so much, said: “It is difficult to explain. They have two of the best riders on their bikes, but guys like Rinaldi and Fores, they should not be in front of the factory Ducatis. So it is clear that some guys are making it work. It is strange to see that but Xavi is doing a great job.”

Articles you may like

Advertisement

More WorldSBK

Advertisement
linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram