Mashel Al-Naimi, is competing at Assen for the second time
Assen June 23d 2011- QMMF Racing Team rider Ricky Cardús, who had missed both the Barcelona and the Silverstone Grand Prix due to appendicitis, made a promising comeback with 15th place in the first free practice session for the Dutch TT at Assen. The 23-year-old from Barcelona, who had never been on the Assen circuit before, needed just 14 laps to familiarize himself with the fast and demanding 4.5 kilometre circuit. Cardús also fell off twice at his first-ever Assen experience, with crash number two being a consequence of an oil spill caused by Italian rider Alex Baldolini – the same massive oil spill that eventually lead to the cancellation of all the afternoon sessions on the first day.
Team-mate Mashel Al-Naimi, who is competing at Assen for the second time but who wasn’t in his best form one year ago because of an injury, rode to 37th place but is nevertheless confident to go much quicker in final practice on Friday.
“15th place in his first practice session after almost 20 days of recovery at home is a good result for Ricky”, said team coordinator Luis Solano. “We know that he’s got great talent in the rain and that he has good feeling in this condition, so we are confident that there is even more to come. For Mashel on the other side, the conditions were still very difficult. He doesn’t particularly like the rain and on this fast track, you need to be brave and you need a lot of confidence. But he is determined to work his way through his difficulties and to improve!”
Mashel Al Naimi – 37th in 2.01,616
“I started here last year straight after an operation and I didn’t have a good pace then. But this time, I’m ready to go much quicker and to improve on last year’s result. It was an odd first practice session with rain showers coming and going, and then the oil spill happened and ruined the rest of the day. But I am happy because I am back to my usual good feeling in the rain. I hope to make a good result no matter what the conditions will be!”
Ricky Cardús
Ricky Cardús – 15th in 1.57,137
“It was not much fun to sit at home while my rivals in this class kept on racing, especially since I wasn’t able to do much. I only did a little bit of light exercise at the gym, because with an internal injury, it is better to take it easy. Now I am happy to be back at the races, and I am also happy with what we achieved today. I can’t say a lot about the circuit yet because we only did 14 laps in the wet, but considering that it was my first time here at Assen, I can’t complain about my 15th place. I had two silly little crashes, the second one because of the oil spill, but that’s part of racing and luckily nothing bad happened. Now I am determined to do even better tomorrow!”
