Davide did his best

It’s never easy when you are a number one. Nobody knows that better than five-time world champion Davide Fore. He’s been there, done that. In Sarno, a nudge was enough to prevent the Maranello driver from getting the result which he had been shaping up to get. Yet Davide can still take plenty of positives from this KZ1 World Cup race in Italy.

After having spent much of the season in KF1 getting to grips with the category’s new long life 125 engines, it was a pleasure for Davide Fore to race a 125cc/gearbox once again. “In 2006, I did the Italian Open Masters in this class, whereas this season I completed the championship in KF1. So I haven’t done much racing in a KZ1 since I won in Mariembourg last year, but with the guys at Maranello, we did our best to prepare for this important event in the weeks leading up to it”, said Davide. Although he was very quick in open practice on the Friday, Davide didn’t do as well as he was expecting in the timed laps. “I was perhaps a bit short of practice with the Dunlop tyres we had. The compound was a harder on those tyres than on the ones I run on usually. They take longer to reach their optimal running temperature and I probably should have stayed out on the track a bit longer to try and improve my time”. Ever his own biggest critic, Davide is always ready to question himself, despite a record that is the envy of many a driver. He managed to claw back one place during the heats, moving up from 9th to 8th place, and was lapping fast enough to raise hopes that he might be able to get on the podium. So Davide slept pretty well that night. “I don’t usually sleep very well the night before a big race, but this time it was different. It just goes to show that my entourage at the moment is helping me chill out !”

Unfortunately an unexpected mishap during warm-up on the Sunday morning was to have a major impact on the rest of his race. “The steering wheel bolt snapped and I rammed the barriers pretty hard. The chassis buckled so we had to change it for the final stages of the race,” explained Davide. Unfortunately doing so came at the price of a five tenths of a second penalty for the next race. Having gritted his teeth and fought his way back up to 5th place in the prefinal, with the penalty he found himself back down in 11th place. So he had it all to do once again ! In the final, however, Davide’s Maranello-Maxter machine showed its mettle. “Patrick Savard, who prepares my Maxters, made one last change that proved to be effective. In the initial stages of the race I was feeling that the podium was within my grasp. But just when I’d moved into 5th place I felt a big shunt from behind, which pushed me into another kart – there was nothing I could do about it. I managed to stay on the track but with the steering wheel and front suspension out of true. After that the chassis became difficult to handle and the best I could do was 9th place. I was full of regrets”.

Maranello team boss Armando Filini was first on the scene to console the five time world champion. “He could see I did my best throughout the weekend and in the name of the team he apologised for what had happened on the Sunday morning, because it had prevented me from starting from a better place on the final grid. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen a team manager do that, I thought it was really big of him. Even though I missed out on the podium, I’d like to congratulate Jonathan Thonon on his victory and to thank everyone in Maranello, Tec’Sav and Maxter for the excellent machine they put at my disposal in Sarno”. So you can bet that Davide Fore will be going flat out in the KF1 World championship race next September 23rd in Mariembourg, he’ll be wanting to improve on this result that’s for sure. “I’m glad I took a few days off in August to relax with my wife and daughter at home and on Lake Garda. I did quite a lot of cycling to stay in shape. It did me good to unwind a bit but I’m back now and raring to have a crack at the World Cup. We’ve already done some test laps with Maranello and Iame; and more practice is planned. I can see already that the machine has improved since the European Cup. It’s looking good !”