Resuello upbeat on title repeat

MANILA, Philippines - Defending champion Raniel Resuello of Team Ducati Philippines remains optimistic of his chances for a back-to-back crown as he vows to stage a big comeback in the last three legs of the 2013 Bridgestone Philippine Superbikes Series.

Resuello bowed to Dashi Watanabe for the third straight time despite all efforts to stay close behind the phenomenal Fil-Japanese teen who dictated the tempo throughout and took the checkered flag at the end of the eight-lap race way ahead by 4.874 seconds at the Clark International Speedway.

“We will do everything to bounce back in the coming races.  We’re still in the thick of the fight to keep the crown for the second straight year.  This we owe to our Ducati fans. Anyway, it’s still a long way in the series and anything can still happen,” said Resuello.

The qualifying time trials of the past three races showed that Watanabe’s laptime was consistently one second faster than the Ducati franchise rider who admits the team is having problems finding the perfect setup for the 2012 Ducati 1199 Panigale.

“The 2012 Ducati 1199 Panigale is a new brand also engineered based on the traditional racing excellence of Ducati’s Italian Championship heritage.  And being new in motorcycle racing, there’s no comprehensive study yet on what perfect setup suits the Panigale particularly in our local racetracks,” explained Resuello.

“But Ducati’s race engineer together with the mechanics and crew has been working hard to extensively study the right setup and have been gaining some success. With a little more fine tuning, we would be competitively at par and hopefully come up with sweet victory,” he added.

The Ducati Cup 2013 will stage its championship round Oct. 19-20 also at the Clark International Speedway. 

Info: Ducati Cup Secretariat thru Cat at 0927-3100529 or 725-0897 or Aileen at 0917-5205938.