Marco Melandri - Photo Credit: WorldSBK.com
Marco Melandri feels he and the BMW Motorrad Motorsport team will begin this weekend's SBK meeting in Salt Lake City with a new level of confidence after breaking their victory duck at Donington Park.
The German squad finally made the breakthrough thanks to Melandri and Leon Haslam's 1-2 and the Italian is optimistic that they can add to their tally in the United States.
“For sure the WSBK victory gives us extra self-confidence. To get this first win was more difficult, because although we tried not to think about it, we knew it would be a first victory for BMW Motorrad, so that put more pressure on us. Now we reached that milestone we are more confident in ourselves. This was the first victory, but I am sure that we will get more.”
“Miller Motorsports Park is a nice racetrack. It is quite fast and smooth but not easy, although it should be a good circuit for my riding style. At the moment, I don't want to expect anything special – I just want to take it day by day. This season has shown that the championship is very open and different riders can win at any racetrack. I just want to get 100 per cent out of my RR and myself, and then we will see where we are compared to our rivals.”
Teammate Haslam didn't enjoy his last visit to the US with the mixed weather conditions catching him out but the Briton doesn't expect that to be a problem this time.
“Every weekend we have been challenging for podiums and have been really close to the win, so we want to do the same in the USA. Last year, it was one of our worst race weekends so I am interested to see how the RR works this year with all the improvements we have made. One problem last year was that the conditions were changing so quickly, so it was not easy to find a good set-up. We have been looking at the weather forecast and it seems to be promising, with temperatures perhaps up to 30 degrees so hopefully we are going to have sun.”
“The circuit at Miller Motorsports Park is a mixture of many different things. For whatever reason, Carlos Checa's way of riding seems to suit this track. But I finished second there before, so we know we can be strong.”
