At the Balaton Park Circuit on Saturday 2 May, Garrett Gerloff (Kawasaki WorldSBK Team) had an intense Race One experience on his way to recording a 13th place finish – and earning three more championship points.
On his Ninja ZX-10RR, Garrett had earned a fourth row grid spot for finishing 12th overall in Superpole Qualifying, setting a best lap of 1’39.419.
In Race One, held over 21 laps, Gerloff was eased off his chosen racing line into a chicane early in the race, ran across the chicane and then had to drop one second from his lap time or face a strict penalty. As it was so early in the race, this meant that Garrett lost several positions, and he ended Lap One in 16th position.
He pushed himself back up the order from that point on and joined a four-rider group in the latter stages, gaining one more position on the last lap to end his opening day of race action in 13th place.
The traditional ten-lap Superpole Race and then a second 21-lap Race Two will round out the action at Balaton, on Sunday 3 May, with Garrett looking to take an even better finish than in Race One.
Manuel Puccetti
“”Today’s results don’t reflect the work and improvements made by Gerloff and our team. After securing a fourth-row start in Superpole, our rider was forced into a straightaway in a chicane in Race 1 and lost several positions, but he still managed to finish in the points thanks to a very fast race pace. I’m confident he can achieve good results tomorrow in both the sprint race and Race 2.”
Garrett Gerloff
“I am actually pleased with today and I feel like I am riding really well and the bike is working in a good way. I qualified on the fourth row, which I was decently happy with. I am frustrated about the race because I had moved up one or two positions but I ended up getting pinched off in the braking zone into T9, and had to go straight through the chicane. When you do that, you have to lose one second on your lap time, otherwise you get a penalty. I lost that second – but I lost more than that – because it was the first lap of the race, so everybody passed me. I was like “you gotta be kidding me!” But I tried my best and was able to catch up to a big group and I feel like I was riding well. I am hoping that means we have more chance tomorrow to move up the ladder of finishing positions.”
