Zanotti secures good finishes despite torrential rain
SUPERBIKE contender Aaron Zanotti came away from round nine of the British Superbike championships unscathed after torrential conditions saw only seven finishers from 25 starters in race three.
Despite two crashes and electrical problems in practice and qualifying, Zanotti secured two good finishes and a retirement at the Silverstone triple-header.
The Platform Hire R1 pilot was the first superbike rider to slide off - on his first lap of free practice one and bad luck saw him sidelined for all but nine minutes of the second session with an electrical problem.
In changing conditions the Loughborough rider suffered another ‘off’ during his first flying lap of qualifying, but managed to get his Yamaha superbike back to the garage and repaired in time to complete two flying laps for 25th spot in the 18-minute session.
In a controversial first race, with two thirds of the track extremely wet and the remainder dry, tyre choice was a gamble for the riders.
Opting for a full wet set up, Zanotti started well, pushing from 25th to 18th in the first three laps, losing four places by the halfway mark only to regroup as his late-race pace improved and take 18th at the chequered flag, chasing Laverty’s factory Yamaha.
Irwin came from ninth to knock Brookes into second place with John Hop- kins taking third spot. Championship leaders Haslam and Byrne both crashed.
The first race on Sunday, despite being dry produced another seven crashes and was red flagged on lap nine when Winfield’s Yamaha expired, dropping oil on the circuit.
Zanotti never had the pace to compete for points, but ran a solid race to take 17th spot.
Haslam crashed two laps in leaving Brookes to slip past Byrne and Guintoli for the top spot. Ellison rode a fine race, coming from last to second and Byrne managed to squeeze in to the last podium place.
Despite questions from some of the top riders the last outing of the weekend went ahead in extremely wet conditions.
At the end of the second lap the Platform Hire man pulled in to the pits along with Winfield and Martin Jessop. Over the next seven laps, 13 riders crashed.
Of the seven riders still on track as the race was red flagged on lap nine, Linfoot took the win from Laverty and Jake Dixon. Byrne and Haslam were among the fallers
Speaking to the Echo, Zanotti said: “For some reason the track was extremely slippery. Our wet tyre option is extremely good at clearing water and usually offers a lot of grip as long as you can keep up a reasonable pace and to keep the rubber warm.
“But because the track was greasy under the water we had to be more cautious, allowing the tyre to cool and the grip to disappear.
“In the last race a few of us found no grip at all and pulled in. Most of the rest crashed. Both of my offs were slowish, losing the front on the greasy surface both times. The team did a great job getting me back out on track – particularly in qualifying which is only 18 minutes long!
“We are off to Oulton Park this weekend for the first of the Showdown rounds so I’m looking forward to getting out there again.”