Andrea Locatelli created havoc before the start of the inaugural race of the Superbike Most weekend, missing the braking point at turn 1 of the warm-up lap, cutting the way to teammate Toprak Razgatlioglu, as well as Jonathan Rea and Michael Ruben Rinaldi in an attempt to take the escape route.
The Ducati rider himself is the one who complained the most about his compatriot’s maneuver, also because his frustration increased when the two found themselves elbowing at turn 2 once the race began.
After the race, Rinaldi underlined how the distraction for what happened at the start of the reconnaissance lap had an impact on his bad start from the front row, without hiding his disappointment at Locatelli’s behavior.
“Locatelli made a serious mistake at turn 1 (in the warm-up lap), he almost hit Toprak, Johnny and me”, recalled Rinaldi. “This made me very angry, so maybe I wasn’t in the right mindset for the start.”
“Then, at turn 2 [dopo la partenza], he pushed me too hard, I had to get the bike up to avoid crashing, and I think I lost four positions. It was my mistake, however, not being able to handle the situation. “
“Sometimes it is better to use our brains, because we are risking our lives. I try to respect the other riders, but apart from Johnny, Alvaro and Toprak, who fight hard but with respect, but there are some riders who give a damn about the possible consequences. “.
“I’m not a rider who normally complains. But sometimes you have to say something, because that’s not the way to race.”
Rinaldi said he hoped Locatelli would be penalized for his mistake in the warm-up lap, but in the end the Yamaha rider came out unscathed.
“He didn’t apologize and that’s not good,” Rinaldi added. “If you make a mistake and apologize, that’s fine, but if you try to justify yourself after such a weird maneuver, I think for the second time you’re not using your brain.”
For his part, Locatelli said he knew he had to make the most of the opportunity to gain positions at the start, having qualified with a disappointing eighth place.
“I was trying to take a reference for the first braking, but I realized I was too fast, so I released the brake and opened the throttle,” he said. “Since I was starting from eighth position, I needed to recover some positions, so I had to understand the braking reference.”
After finishing seventh in Race 1, Rinaldi swore he would finish the second race of the Most weekend “on the podium or in the gravel” and, true to his word, crashed at Turn 1 while battling Jonathan Rea for third in the first few. phases.
These results leave him fifth in the drivers’ standings in view of the summer break, 164 points behind team mate Alvaro Bautista, but only 14 behind Locatelli in the fight for fourth place.
#SBK #Rinaldi #attacks #Locatelli #pilots #dont #give #damn