A Weekend of Mixed Fortunes For Michael Pensavalle at Donington Park
It was a weekend of mixed fortunes, along with the mixed weather conditions, for NY Racing’s Michael Pensavalle in the second round of the National Superstock Championship at Donington Park.
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 It was a weekend of mixed fortunes, along with the mixed weather conditions, for NY Racing’s Michael Pensavalle in the second round of the National Superstock Championship at Donington Park. Riding his AMES/Daikin, Ital Restaurant sponsored Yamaha R1 he experienced the low of being 23rd in first qualifying to the high of being 10th in second qualifying, and the disaster of a crash on the warm-up lap of a very wet race. Friday morning practice was going quite well until a near high-side at the Fogarty Esses resulted in a painful pulled muscle in his right shoulder. Before this unfortunate incident Michael had put in a lap time of 1.38.343 to claim 14th position. The National Superstock class had their first qualifying session on Friday afternoon. Riding with an injured shoulder Michael did improve his lap time but finished in a lowly 23rd place. He explained, “Near the end of the practice session I high-sided through Foggy’s, but managed to stay on the bike. I twisted my shoulder, which pulled a muscle. I was given some pain killers, but they didn’t work too well, so I was struggling with the pain in the afternoon qualifying session.” After a good night’s rest and a physiotherapy session on Saturday morning, Michael’s shoulder was some what better. His technician, Rob, had worked on the bike, raising the ride height and changing the gearing slightly. The team were now optimistic for a good qualifying session. The weather was cold and cloudy, but the rain held off for this session. Michael rode well to finish 10th, with a lap time of 1.36.539, which, on combined times, put him 12th, on the 3rd row of the grid. The team were happy with this performance and hoping for a good race on Sunday. Race day started sunny, but by lunch time it was rain and hail, and had turned very cold. With previous races delayed the Superstock race was put back to 16.45 hours, and run in wet conditions. Michael was delayed in the pits when it was found the revs were too high, and there was some frantic work to try and cure the problem. He managed to exit pit lane before it closed, taking his place on the grid with just seconds to spare. Then disaster struck at the end of the first warm-up lap, as exiting Goddards, in the treacherous conditions, he crashed out of the race before it began. He said, “I’m absolutely gutted to have crashed on the warm-up lap. I nearly crashed two or three times on my out lap. There was very little grip out there and the back was stepping out all over the place. It finally let go coming out of Goddards and high-sided me. Fortunately me and the bike are still in one piece. After a few minor changes to the bike for Saturday it went really well, and I knew I could do well in the race, especially if it had been dry. I need to put this behind me now and move on to Thruxton next weekend.” Team manager Neil Young commented, “Friday wasn’t a brilliant day with Michael injuring his shoulder, but then he had a good qualifying session on Saturday. We were all pleased with his 12th position on the grid, and looking forward to a good race. The weather was very wet for the race, and we were all gutted when he crashed, but these things happen, as it was a day of many top riders crashing. Now we will concentrate on preparing for the next round.”
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