Dutch TT Circuit Assen (The Netherlands), Sunday 26th April 2009 : The Ducati Xerox Junior Team were in fighting form today after the difficult qualifying session of yesterday. Xavier Simeon took second place behind Maxime Berger and thus maintains second position in the championship classification. Daniele Beretta finished in the points zone thanks to an eleventh place finish.

The team reacted well after the problems experienced yesterday, making modifications to Simeon’s bike that immediately took him to the front of the pack during this morning’s warm-up. In the race the young Belgian made a good start immediately making up a couple of positions and reducing, after just a few laps, the gap between himself and the race leader. Progressing to second place during lap seven, and unable to catch runaway leader Berger, Xavier resisted attacks from Barrier and Fores to take second.

XAVIER SIMEON – “The bike was better today but I felt we still weren’t totally there with the chassis set-up. I made a good start and then tried to catch first Fores and then Berger but unfortunately I couldn’t match the pace of the latter. It was hard work holding off Barrier and Fores but I wanted to be on that podium at all costs and second position is worth gold in terms of the classification. Now we go to Monza where we have recently carried out some positive tests and there I hope to take my first win of the 2009 season.”

Daniele Beretta was unlucky at the start of the race, practically forced to stop and restart due to a problem with Lowes’ machine in front of him. The young Italian did not lose heart and lapped with a continuously fast pace which allowed him to move up to an eventual eleventh place.

DANIELE BERETTA – “It’s a shame that Lowes’ bike had a problem which meant I had to stop and restart in order to avoid making contact. I was able to maintain a fast pace after that but the front-runners were too far ahead to be in with a chance of catching them. I am very sorry because I could have done better, but seeing how the weekend has panned out, today’s result is fairly positive.”

Race result:
1.M.Berger (Honda) in 22m19.407s and in an average of 159,156 km/h;
2.Xavier Simeon (Ducati 1198, Ducati Xerox Junior Team) 3.431s;
3.S.Barrier (Yamaha) 4.420s;
4.J.Fores (Kawasaki) in 4.369s;
5.C.Corti (Suzuki) in 7.504s…
11.Daniele Beretta (Ducati 1198, Ducati Xerox Junior Team) in 18.964s…

Championship classification
1.M.Berger 41 points;
2.Xavier Simeon 40;
3.C.Corti 36…
7.Daniele Beretta 15…