SBK, Melandri: "There's a lot of catching up to do"

Before going to Imola – where the 7th round of the 2013 World Superbike Championship will take place this coming weekend – Marco Melandri and the BMW Motorrad Goldbet SBK team met fans and journalists in Milan at the Italian headquarters of the Bavarian manufacturer.
Our mates from twin site Motoblog.

it were there, and obviously they did not miss the chance to ask a few question to the Italian rider, who now lies fourth in the standings behind Aprilia Racing boys Sylvain Guintoli and Eugene Laverty and Tom ‘Mr.

Superpole’ Sykes of Kawasaki.
Melandri’s season so far has been kind of swinging, but he cannot be blamed for that as the ‘missing points’ in the standings are due to some technical issues (see the faulted tire in Race 2 at Portimao or the broken chain at Assen) as well as some crashes he had no responsability for (think of Carlos Checa taking him down at Phillip Island), but with no such problems on his way, Melandri almost never missed a podium.

Here’s what he told us:Marco, we are almost halfway through the season and if the SBK was like MotoGP, with only one race on Sunday, you’d be higher up in the standings given the problems you had in some Race-2…“That’s true, it would have been better (laughs).

Unfortunately it did not go very well for us in the afternoons, but it wasn’t my fault so hopefully things will soon get better.
I always do and try my best at every race, but there’s still time to recover and so I hope to be able to make up for what we have lost along the way.
There’s a lot of catching up to do.
”To the public and TV audience is exciting to see at least four riders fighting for the win every time.
Being in the thick of it, how is it like for?“It gives me great motivation.
Then again, this year we have Guintoli who is always fast and always takes home the maximum he can get out of its potential.
He’s doing very well and keeps on extending his lead every Sunday.
We have had some difficulties, but maybe luck will come our way now.
”Is there something you would like to take from your rivals?“No.
Surely Laverty was the fastest man on the track in the last race, and Sykes was the fastest the race before that.
Then, as I just said, Guintoli can always be very consistent and do no wrong, and that is really important to climb on the podium at every race.
”Imola will be the home race for you …“I hope to give the audience a good time and, most of all, I would like to be able to salute them all in the end from the podium.
Unfortunately I haven’t won a race in Imola since I was racing in the 125 cc class.
In Superbike I’ve always had some difficulty on this circuit, but this year I feel pretty confident.
”Imola will also be the return of Noriyuki Haga.
Do you find it intriguing to race against him?“It really isn’t my main thought for Imola, but I’m glad he will be back.
”Haga aside, lately there have many speculations about the possible return of current SBK World Champion Max Biaggi (who retired at the end of the last season).
What would you have done in his shoes?“I never really thought about it, honestly.
”In the end you were right on one thing: there was something wrong with the Ducati motoGP machine, it wasn’t you…“Let’s just say that, in hindsight, when I decided to follow my instincts, I just did the right thing.
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