Luke Power Close To WorldSSP Points At The Cathedral
Luke Power was back on track this past weekend at the iconic TT Circuit Assen in the Netherlands, racing to twenty first position in Saturday’s opening race before narrowly missing his third points scoring ride of the year on Sunday after crossing the line P17.
After missing the Portuguese races through an injury sustained during the season opener in Australia (where he battled through the pain barrier to claim two impressive top twelve finishes) Luke eased his way into the weekend, qualifying twenty ninth in Friday’s grid deciding Superpole session.
A strong start in race one saw him fighting for the top twenty throughout, the #68 Motozoo ME AIR MV Agusta rider satisfied to complete the full race distance, despite having discomfort in his still not perfect shoulder in the latter stages.
Rain on Sunday morning saw Luke shine in the morning warm where he finished second.
With the track completely dry for Race Two, Luke made another strong start, gaining places and immediately moving into the top twenty. An intense race long battle followed with the talented Aussie just missing his third world championship points scoring finish by a margin of less than two seconds.
He now has a fortnight before heading to Italy for the team’s first ‘home’ race of the season at the Cremona Circuit.
Luke Power:
“Overall it wasn’t a bad weekend after missing Portimão. I started a little bit behind, but we worked through the plan on Friday and were able to qualify. I made a good start in Saturday’s first race and was aggressive which was my focus before going into the race but I struggled a bit with pace and strength in the shoulder towards the end of the race, but it wasn’t the worst result we could have had. Finishing P2 in the warm on Sunday was really cool and I felt I had plenty in reserve if it had continued to rain. It dried out for race two and I made a big step with my riding to finish P17. I know on paper it doesn’t look that good but were close to the points and we showed some good speed, especially at the end of the race which is encouraging for the rest of the year. Thanks to the team for their hard work and for sticking by me. I am already looking forward to Cremona. See you there!”