Team Pedercini riders Roberto Rolfo and Mark Aitchison admitted to finding things tough at Monza this weekend, despite both scoring points in race two.
The Kawasaki powered team expected to struggle at their home event with the ZX-10R unable to match the power of many of its competitors.
Rolfo was unable to complete race one but stayed out of trouble in race two. The Italian avoided a three-rider collision at the first chicane and eventually came home 13th. Speaking after the race, he believes this was potentially the team's weakest track and expects to be stronger from here on in.
“In the first race I was forced to retire because I was suffering from some set up problems and I was not able to ride my bike effectively, especially through the chicane and so I preferred to top my race. For race two my technicians changed the setting and I soon found a better feeling with the bike. The rear grip was not sufficient enough to allow me to push and improve my race pace but near to the end of the race I was able to improve my lap times reaching the thirteenth position. I'm confident for the next races because the bike's performance improved here in Monza and this is a difficult track for the Kawasaki which means that at the other circuits we can obtain better results”.
Teammate Aitchison scored the best result of the season two weeks ago at Assen and the Australian was in the points again at Monza. Race one was fraught with difficulties for the 27 year old from start to finish but Aitchison was still proud of the team for improving the bike for the second race, with two points the reward.
“Today I have had a very difficult day in Monza. Both our races started well and I was hoping to move forward with the front rider, but after a few laps the grip level from the rear tyre decreased quite quickly. In the first race after our rear grip seemed to go away, I experienced some problems with the bike being nervous, causing some arm pump. I was able to manage this well enough but then on the final lap I also ran out of fuel. Luckily I was able to roll across the finish line in seventeenth position.”
“During the second race we attempted to fix a few of our problems with grip by making some small modification to the bike. Unfortunately our situation didn't really improve and I could not maintain a consistent lap time in the final six-eight laps. I would like to thank my team for all their hard work over the weekend and we will work hard to make the results I know we are capable of in Salt Lake City”.
