ELIAS MANAGES TO FNISH 13th AT TRICKY LAGUNA SECA RACE TRACK

Monterey, 24 July: On a near perfect summer’s day with air temperature of 23 degrees LCR Honda MotoGP Team racer Toni Elias
managed to finish the 32-lap Californian round in 13^th position despite his usual front end issues. His team mate Ben Bostrom took a good start from the last spot on the grid ahead 52.070 country fellows dropping his lap time of one second after the first lap. Unfortunately the American SBK rider went wide into the gravel twice and preferred to enter the garage trying not to crash his RCV no. 23.

Now the MotoGP Championship is “on holiday” and premier class riders will be back on track on the 14^th of August for the Czech Republic GP in Brno.

Elias: “In this morning warm up we have changed rear set up of the bike and I felt immediately better. As always I took a good start but on this track you get stuck if you start from the last row so I pushed but in the first corner I went a bit wide. I was 12^th when I suddenly lost the front running off into the gravel. I could rejoin the race but for the rest of the race I felt like I was lapping on a frozen surface. We have finished the race in 13^th position but the situation is still very tough for us”.

Bostrom: “I took a good start and immediately felt very comfortable on the bike. I improved my lap time of one second from the practice so I was very optimistic to see that so early in the race. As I was riding so much faster I started to be uncomfortable in the first corner when I had to shift down because my foot hit the ground and after few laps I made a mistake running off the track into the gravel. It took me 30 seconds to rejoin the race but I wanted to continue but the next lap I had the same problem. So I have decided to enter the pits even if the bike was fantastic. Honestly I was thinking about my race and didn’t want to crash this bike. Once again I want to thank MJM, Lucio and all the guys here: it was an incredible experience for me!”

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