Roberto Rolfo reversed a disappointing season in style with two strong rides at Monza - but was agonizingly forced to surrender a debut podium when he ran out of fuel on the final lap of race one.
While world championship leading team-mate
James Toseland had taken five race wins and three further podiums in the ten races prior to Monza, Rolfo's best was a solitary fifth place at Assen.
However, with pressure mounting on him to perform, the Italian looked like a man transformed at Monza, holding a podium place for all but the closing stages of the opening race - when a problem with his Hannspree Ten Kate Honda cruelly forced him to retire at the very final turn.
"Race one was going so well for me, but I just needed it to be one lap less to be perfect," said Rolfo, who broke his screen with frustration on the way back to the pits. "I have found a very good feeling on the bike at Monza this weekend. After the second race in Assen we modified the set-up of the bike to better suit my riding style. The start of race one was very, very good, but in the end it wasn't to be."
"Yesterday we changed the engine on his bike and in the morning session we watched very carefully to see how much fuel it was using," explained team manger Ronald ten Kate. "It looked to be the same as the previous engine, so we didn't think there would be a problem. For whatever reason this was not the case and the bike used a lot more fuel than we had anticipated. For the second race we just adjusted the fuel setting and the injection side of things and it was perfect - we didn't have any problems."
That second race again saw tenth-on-the-grid Rolfo running up front and this time he crossed the finish line in fourth, just ahead of Max Biaggi and just behind
Troy Bayliss, after a hectic final lap in which he secured his best WSBK finish to date.
