Memorial Day a day to remember for Melandri
Another victory, another second place, another best race lap, the best ever team points result and second place in the riders' and manufacturers' standings made Memorial Day a day to remember for Marco Melandri and the BMW Motorrad Team at Miller Motorsports Park. The Italian took his second victory in two races on the BMW S 1000 RR in race two " after finishing second in race one and his overall result moves him into second place in the championship just 18 points behind Biaggi.
"It is amazing," said Melandri. "My team and BMW did an awesome job. Here in Miller it was my worst weekend last year, and it was the worst for BMW, too. So going home with two podiums, a win and a second place, is like a dream."
At the start of race one, Marco used the long straight and the powerful BMW engine of his RR to catapult himself from ninth into the leading group, but he had to take second best to Checa, who took his fifth personal win at the Utah track. "In race one, I was pushing like in qualifying from the first lap until the end. The tyre was working very well until the end. Yesterday we were struggling a bit too much, but today fortunately the weather was better for us. And I was feeling even more comfortable on the bike with less fuel in the tank. I tried to make the life not easy to Carlos, but in some corners, I could not go his line with the four cylinder bike. I tried to catch him, but on the last lap I tried not to push too much because it was easy to make a mistake, and a second place and the podium was good after such a tough qualifying."
Melandri then went even better to take the maximum points in the second encounter when Checa crashed out early on but he now feels that the bike is competitive almost everywhere. "In race two, for sure I had a little bit of luck with Carlo crashing. I was struggling a bit in the beginning, and when Johnny passed me I lost the concentration. It took me some time to catch him. But again, when the fuel level dropped down I felt so much better on the bike and fortunately I could pass Johnny on the straight because my BMW engine was so strong. Otherwise it would have been very difficult for me to try to make a pass. I am happy because the bike is working well on different types of tracks. But now we have to be focused, we cannot think that we are going to be on the top every Sunday so we have to keep working. But my team made a great job, thanks to everyone, to all the guys back in Germany. I am so happy and proud to be with BMW. This is the best team I ever worked with."
