Marco Melandri’s sheer determination pushed the Italian to a ninth placed finish at the Gran Premi Aperol de Catalunya on Sunday, as he fought increasing pain through the race to take an impressive top-ten finish.
Having dislocated his left shoulder just a week earlier in a practice session at Assen – a race he subsequently missed – Melandri was back on his satellite RC212V at Montmeló for round seven, not wanting to lose out on the chance of taking more valuable Championship points.
“That was a tough race - really tough,” admitted Melandri. “The temperature was incredible but the heat was the least of my worries and I was struggling most of all with my condition under braking. I could hardly get the bike stopped in the first corner but my pace was good and I was hopeful of following Spies and Capirossi to the end.”
He continued: “Unfortunately I made a couple of mistakes and I started to feel more and more pain. I was riding practically using only the right side of my body and when the front started to lose grip it was hard for me to hold on. I made one last attempt to pass Hayden at the end but I couldn’t hold it on the brakes so it was impossible.”
Melandri’s result moved him up to ninth place in the overall standings, where he is now level on 39 points with team-mate Marco Simoncelli and American Colin Edwards.
Source: http://www.motogp.com/
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