Redding: Tough race caps a difficult weekend

A lack of feel from the rear high tyre temperatures left Scott Redding off the pace at Aragon and only able to finish 12^th. The Marc VDS rider had battled with the Pramac Ducati of Yonny Hernandez in the early stages but as the problem intensified his lack of confidence in the bike grew and he was eventually piped by Maverick Vinales in the closing laps.

“It wasn’t a great day and a tough race capped off a pretty difficult weekend to be honest,” said Redding. “We came here on a high after Misano knowing it would be difficult, but I had some brake issues getting up to temperature and a lot of pumping from the rear. I thought I could get Hernandez but in the last few laps I lost a lot of feeling with the bike. The rear tyre turned on the rim a bit but I don’t think that was my biggest issue. I felt some vibration and it had an impact on rear grip. But the last laps were a struggle and it was disappointing to see the times increase so much.”

His team boss, Michael Bartholemy, was left disappointed after the race and with Motegi next on the calendar he knows that the coming flyaway races will be a big challenge for the team.

“It was a difficult race and obviously we missed the target of finishing inside the top 10. The lap times at the end of the race dropped quite a lot and he had an issue with the rear tyre. But that aside we still expected to be stronger and closer to the group that was ahead fighting for the top six. We have a very tough period of the championship approaching now with the flyaway triple header in Japan, Australia and Malaysia where we will be giving our all to finish the season in positive fashion.”