Pata Honda riders battle for Imola Supersport points

Lorenzo Zanetti and Michael van der Mark finished in fourth and fifth places respectively in Sunday's seventh round World Supersport race at Imola in Italy.The shortened 14-lap race at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, which had to be restarted after an oil spillage caused the first part to be red-flagged, was won by Turkish rider Kenan Sofuoglu.Van der Mark had an eventful race, starting from 10th place on the grid the 20-year-old Dutch ace had fought his way up to fourth before he almost crashed on the oil spill. With a better grid position for part two, he was always in contention but front tyre problems restricted his progress.Zanetti, 26, also battled hard in both parts of todays race and the Italian rider pleased his home fans and supporters by exorcising the disappointment of the previous round at Portimao, scoring 13 solid points for the championship in which he holds fifth place.Lorenzo Zanetti4thPart of me is happy that I was able to fight for a podium at my home race, but another part is angry because another rider rode straight across me in the first start and that affected my position on the grid after the red flag. OK, thats racing, but I had to push a lot and use my head to stay calm and get into a good rhythm. I hoped that I might get into a podium position because Sofuoglu and Leonov used a softer tyre than me. Its a good result though and its been a good weekend compared with Portimao. The championship is OK and the team will be happy with these results. If we can continue this way, the podium will surely come to us.Michael van der Mark5thThe first start was OK and I was in a group that would be fighting for the podium. I felt that I could go faster than the others and I was waiting because my pace was better. Then we got an oil flag but it was on top of a hill so I could not see where the problem was. The others went through OK so I figured it wasnt too bad but then I hit it and I lost the rear. I though OK, this is going to hurt, but I was able to save it. I have no idea how! In the restart I was riding in third place and had a good feeling but I pushed too hard on the front and lost two places. I couldnt go any faster so I stayed safe for fifth. Im happy for that, and the good points I got, but a little unhappy that I wasnt able to fight for the podium in the restart.Pieter Breddelstechnical co-ordinatorBoth guys had quite a good warm-up this morning and we found some setting improvements. Michael was lucky not to crash on the oil that caused the red flag, and then we had a shortened race. It looked like Michael was pushing for a podium but his front tyre started to drop a bit and he dropped to fifth, which was a good result. Lorenzos fourth was also a positive finish, and they stand fourth and fifth in the championship. We didnt get them on the podium but, all in all, it was not a bad weekend.2013 World Supersport championship, round sevenAutodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, Imola Italy4.936km, 14 lapsRace result: 1 Kenan Sofuoglu (TUR) Kawasaki 2 Sam Lowes (GBR) Yamaha 3 Vladimir Leonov (RUS) Yamaha 4 Lorenzo Zanetti (ITA) Pata Honda 5 Michael van der Mark (NED) Pata Honda 6 Luca Scassa (ITA) KawasakiChampionship points after seven of 14 rounds: 1 Lowes 140, 2 Sofuoglu 106, 3 Fabien Foret (FRA) Kawasaki 85, 4 van der Mark 73, 5 Zanetti 68, 6 Scassa 63.Next round: Moscow Raceway, Russia19-21 July


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