Bendsneyder just outside the points

For a long time it looked very good for Bo Bendsneyder. The rider of NTS RW Racing GP could battle for the points in the GP of Teruel. However, a lack of top speed on the Motorland Aragon straight, meant that he ended up just missing the points, in 16th place. Teammate Piotr Biesiekirski took 23rd place.

It was an exciting battle that Bo Bendsneyder fought in a group with, among others, Marini, Roberts, Vierge, Manzi, Syarhin and Corsi, to whom the Dutchman was definitely not inferior. He fought fiercely and sought the limit, even in a way that he could barely avoid a crash in lap 10.
The only problem was the straight in the last sector of Motorland Aragon, where Bendsneyder faced a lack of top speed. For the rest of the lap, he could catch up, sometimes by more than half a second per lap, and attack, but on the straight his gain was wiped out and others could pass from the slipstream or open up a small gap. Bendsneyder finished 16th at 27.404 behind race winner Sam Lowes.
More or less the same problem struck Piotr Biesiekirski. In the beginning the Pole had trouble finding his rhythm, which caused him to lose connection. When he found his rhythm, he too lost on the straight, causing him to lose a bit more every lap. Biesiekirski finished in 23rd place at 1.00.394 behind Lowes.

Bo Bendsneyder: “The first part was good, because I always had a little space behind me before the straight. That space was needed to prevent the others from passing me from the slipstream. After I almost hit a highsider, a few guys were able to get closer behind me, allowing them to pass me on the straight. The feeling was good, the bike was great, but today it was very clear that we lack some top speed. It’s a shame that I just missed the points, but I am proud of myself and especially of my team – my crew chief, the data man, the mechanics who made sure that the bike was really good this weekend – because we have shown what we are capable of.”

Piotr Biesiekirski: “It was a bit of a bittersweet race to be honest. On the one hand I’m really happy with how consistent my pace was as most of my lap times were within three tents of my fastest. The race was five seconds faster than last Sunday and I was able to finish five seconds closer to the winner than last time out so we’ve clearly made progress. On the other hand I was hoping to finish at least five seconds closer, but lost most of that time on the first five laps which is something I must improve. I have the pace. I just need to find a bit more speed now. We’ve worked really well with the team and it was a very productive weekend so I’m hoping to continue that trend in Valencia.”