APRILIA ON THE PODIUM AT PORTIMÃO WITH LEON HASLAM.
IN SUPERSTOCK 1000 LORENZO SAVADORI, FINISHING SECOND, CONFIRMS HIS LEADERSHIP AND THAT OF THE APRILIA RSV4
Portimão, 7 June 2015 – Leon Haslam finished the Portuguese weekend brilliantly riding his Aprilia RSV4 RF to third place in Race 2. Leon's podium is the just reward for the hard work done by Aprilia Racing - Red Devils and the determination of the English rider, still struggling with rib pain from his accident at Imola.
In the first race Haslam was comfortably managing fourth place before the rains came in the fifteenth lap and forced all the riders to change tyres. Coming back out of pit lane, Leon had a bad slide in turn 5, slipping on the treacherous asphalt. He got back on the bike and finished in twelfth place.
Starting Race 2 with severe pain in his side, aggravated by the crash in Race 1, Leon struggled for the first few laps and then found a good race pace. The English rider moved steadily up into third position and he was gaining on Giugliano who was in second place when the chequered flag came out.
The two Portuguese races did not bring the results Jordi Torres had hoped for, despite the leap of quality demonstrated during the practice sessions. In the first race the Spanish rookie didn't get off to the best of starts so he was forced to make up positions. The rain toward the end of the race complicated matters: In fact, Jordi had never before ridden the RSV4 on the wet and he settled for finishing the race without taking any pointless risks.
His start in Race 2 was good, as was the way he managed the middle part of the race. Only an abrupt loss of grip kept Jordi from a fifth place finish which was well within his reach.
SUPERSTOCK 1000: APRILIA AND SAVADORI STILL FIRMLY IN THE LEAD IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP
With his second place finish at Portimão, Lorenzo Savadori and the Team Nuova M2 Racing Aprilia RSV4 confirmed that they are in grand form. Thanks to a shortened race, Lorenzo managed his second place finish which allows him to keep a firm grip on the championship lead just three races from the end of the season.
Kevin Calia made his nth top-10 finish, seventh under the chequered flag and now ninth in the rider standings.