RACE 1
Difficult Race 1 for Milwaukee Aprilia at Donington Park
It was a tough day of racing for Milwaukee Aprilia at Donington Park on Saturday as Race 1 got underway at the team's home round. Riders Lorenzo Savadori and Eugene Laverty both scored points, but emphasised that big progress still needs to be made with the Aprilia RSV4 RF.
After a promising Superpole 1 session saw Eugene join Lorenzo in the pole position shootout, the team were hopeful for Race 1 as Eugene reached the second row of the grid in P6. Lorenzo's session was more difficult, where he lined up P12.
Lorenzo made a good start, getting past Torres on the first lap to take P11. He defended well against Torres, Lowes and Ramos, but due to his race pace falling he was unable to stop them passing. Catching team mate Eugene on lap 11, he made a pass to take 13th place before a crash ahead moved him up to 12th, where he brought the bike home with 4 points.
As the race started Eugene was forced wide at Turn 1 by Haslam, nearly collecting Lowes in the process. He quickly reasserted himself and set about chasing the leaders, scrapping with Melandri and Van der Mark. As he struggled with his bike however he dropped back into the pack, including team mate Lorenzo. Benefiting also from the crash ahead, he moved into 13th and held position to score 3 points.
The team now have Sunday morning's warm up session to prepare for Race 2, where they will line up in P11 and P13 for Eugene and Lorenzo respectively.