Gagne 19th In WorldSBK Race One

by Michael Gougis

Jake Gagne and the Attack Racing team made significant strides forward in qualifying at their wild card foray into Superbike World Championship competition. The two-time MotoAmerica Superbike Champion cut the gap to the front to less than 1.6 seconds in qualifying and put his Yamaha YZF-R1 into 16th.

Race One proved to be tougher, as Gagne found himself in an unusual position – in the pack battling for places as he headed into Turn One. His race pace was a step backward, his 1:42.493 best lap just a tick over two seconds slower than race winner Toprak Razgatlioglu’s quickest of 1:40.328, which was a new lap record.

Attack Racing’s Richard Stanboli summed up the difficulties of chasing down the last incremental performance gains that make so much of the difference at this level. “We’re about a day behind,” he said. “Everyone else comes here with so much data about all of the idiosyncrasies of the track. We’ll get this place right just about the time everyone else is in Argentina (for the next WorldSBK race).”