Mark Aitchison raised eyebrows in race one in the Netherlands by claiming a top ten finish for Team Pedercini.
The result was made all the more impressive by the fact he was the highest placed Kawasaki finisher, leaving factory riders Joan Lascorz and Tom Sykes in his wake.
Despite being forced to retire in race two, the Australian was delighted with his weekend's efforts which earned him his first points in World Superbikes.
“In the first race today I really enjoyed myself on the bike and managed to finish inside the top ten for the first time. The bike felt good, like other times during the qualifying and practice sessions, so I knew we could get a good result. My team was also very happy for the result which has made all our hard work worthwhile. In the second race during the first few laps I experienced a problem with the bike and had to stop as a result. We found that we had a speed sensor problem on the front of the bike and this caused the bike not to run correctly. In any case I have enjoyed my weekend in Assen and I thank my team for all their hard work.”
Teammate Roberto Rolfo couldn't secure a double points finish for the Italian team after crashing on lap four in the first race. Despite having a cleaner second race, he finished narrowly outside the points in 16th.
“Two difficult races for me today. In race one my start was pretty good and I was trying to find a fast race pace, but I lost the front wheel and crashed. I missed out on a good opportunity to take a nice result. For race two we decided to modify my bike's set up and the bike was working better. Unfortunately once the tyres began to lose grip I was unable to ride as I wanted and so I had to settle for sixteenth place”
Team Pedercini will now prepare for their home event, with the Italian round of the World Superbike Championship at Monza coming up in three weeks time.
