WorldSBK Estoril: ‘Difficult to stop the bike’ - Lecuona

Honda’s Iker Lecuona had a dramatic experience in race two at Estoril, as his front mudguard flew off before the WorldSBK action had even started.

“In the warmup lap,” affirmed Lecuona. “I arrived at corner one, it breaks. I listened and I felt something in the bike. I felt one piece to my right side, fast. I said, ‘no way!’ It’s not possible. I was in the front and I don’t have the piece. So, I said, it’s not very important for the race, but the problem is when I arrive corner three, four, six, I don’t have any brake. The brake is done. So, I’m scared because corner six it’s difficult to stop the bike. I tried to adjust, with the left hand, the brake. For this, I have a mistake and I went into the grass a little bit. Then after corner seven, I feel good brake, but I’m scared if something happen on the brake line or on the calipers. I’m on the limit to stop, if I’m honest.”

Lecuona almost pulled in, but changed his mind when he realised he should at least try to race on, and the bike was fundamentally OK. “When I reached corner 13, I put the leg outside the bike. I go in on the right side to check. I started to push and brake, push and brake, to feel what happened. I don’t feel nothing strange. I feel a lot of vibration when I brake, but the brake is still there. In the last moment, I said, ‘okay, I go to the grid’.

“When I got to the grid, I check. This mudguard is not there, but it doesn’t look really, really bad. But the reality is that when I start the race, it’s difficult to stop the bike. A lot of vibration. Difficult to manage the brake. Difficult to apply the angle with brake. On the straight, the bike moves a lot the front, full vibration. Very, very difficult, honestly. I lose the gap with one mistake. I went