2021 WorldSBK Round Seven
Navarra (Spain) Saturday

Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) claimed his second consecutive WorldSBK win in a row and the ninth of his career after a commanding victory on Saturday at Navarra as he closed the gap to title rival Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) down to 45-points in the Championship standings.

As the lights went out for the first race of the weekend, Redding got the jump over pole-sitter Rea into Turn 1 but Redding’s advantage did not last long as Rea fought back at the Turn 6-7 section of the circuit to re-take the lead, also withstanding an early challenge from rookie Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) on the opening lap.

At the start of Lap 6, Redding got a better run out of the Turn 15 right-hand hairpin to make a move on Rea into the incredibly fast right-hand Turn 1, getting the move completed just before they turned in before pulling out a gap of over a second on Rea over the next handful of laps.

Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) was a rider making moves from the start as he battled from eighth place to fourth on the opening lap and found himself behind team-mate Locatelli, but spent numerous laps behind him before he was finally able to pass his rookie team-mate on Lap 7 after the Italian ran wide.

Rea was running in second place but survived a couple of mistakes at Turn 9, a big moment before running wide a on Lap 15, losing around two-seconds to Redding but did not lose out to Razgatlioglu in either the race or the Championship battle; Rea extending his lead over Razgatlioglu to seven-points.

There were plenty of battles up and down the field as riders searched for the best possible position, with Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) coming home in fifth place behind Redding, Rea, Razgatlioglu and Locatelli, with Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) in sixth and Dutch team-mate Michael van der Mark in seventh.

Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) and Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) had a battle in the latter stages of the race over eighth place, with American star Gerloff unable to make a pass on the youngest rider on the WorldSBK grid, Bassani holding on to take eighth place with Gerloff in ninth. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) completed the top ten after a challenging opening race, the Italian involved in battles in the midfield throughout.

Rookie Kohta Nozane (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) claimed 11th place after a strong race battling throughout the field ahead of Tito Rabat (Barni Racing Team) in 12th; Rabat involved in a long battle with Leon Haslam (Team HRC) with the British rider coming home in 13th place. Jonas Folger (Bonovo MGM Action) scored his first points since Race 2 at MotorLand Aragon with 14th place, with Christophe Ponsson (Gil Motor Sport – Yamaha) completing the points. Ponsson found himself on the ground at Turn 3 after an incident involving Leandro Mercado (MIE Racing Honda Team) on Lap 3 at Turn 3 but was able to re-mount his Yamaha machine to secure one point in Race 1; Mercado retired from the race.

Three riders finished the race but were unable to claim a points finish in Race 1 at Navarra with Suzuki wildcard Naomichi Uramoto (JEG Racing) finishing in 16th place, just two tenths behind Ponsson and narrowly missing out on points. Loris Cresson (OUTDO TPR Team Pedercini Racing) had been running in the points-paying positions during the 23-lap race but fell down the order to finish 17th, with teammate Jayson Uribe in 18th; the American having a crash on Lap 13 at Turn 13 but able to recover to finish the race.

Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) had an incident on his own at Turn 11. Chaz Davies (Team GoEleven) retired from the race after he crashed on his own at Turn 9 while, at the same time, Alvaro Bautista (Team HRC) had a crash at Turn 12 but was able to re-join before bringing his machine back to the pits.

Scott Redding – P1

“I’m really happy because it was not an easy race with such a high temperature. But we managed to find the ideal conditions to race at our best. Since the first laps, I had confidence, the feeling was excellent, I felt comfortable. The World Championship? I just want to keep thinking race after race. I’m doing my best, the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team and Ducati are doing their best. Let’s continue like this.”

Jonathan Rea – P2

“What a lap in Superpole! I really got the best out of the tyre but I was overcooking a few corners, missing some apexes, so I was really surprised at the lap time. I was a little bit nervous about the start of the race. It was very important to be at the front and we had quite a good start, but Scott was just a little bit better. At the beginning I felt I could go to the front and when Scott went quite wide in T5 and T6 I went on the inside and passed him. From there I just kept my rhythm until he blasted me on the straight. After that I thought, ’I’m there’ but then the front started to heat up, stability started to go down and the front was moving. Over-pushing the front, I had a few slides and enough to tell me to brake a bit earlier. I lost as much as one second during one mistake and Scott went away. I did not feel he was destroying us lap-by-lap when it was constant, the gap was quite similar, so I feel we can make some changes on the front tomorrow to make a step forward.”

Toprak Razgatlıoğlu – P3

“The race was not easy for me because of the very hot conditions, but it was the same for everybody. After five laps the feeling was like the front tyre was destroyed, there was a very early drop in performance, and every corner I feel like I nearly crash but I try my best. We are happy because again we arrive on the podium and take good points for the championship – but this is not enough for me. Tomorrow I want to try to win. Johnny and Scott were very fast today, but in the second lap I lost time with a big mistake with a missed shift so they got away. After I try again to catch but we did not have enough for second or first position because they were very fast. Tomorrow I will fight again – it is not easy in the heat, especially with the tyres, but we will see.”

Andrea Locatelli – P4

“The race for sure was not easy today but I say that we need to fight a little bit because in these conditions we were not quite strong enough. Also yesterday the feeling with the bike was not so bad but today we lost a little bit with the heat. In the end it was a good race because the gap to win is a little bit closer – it’s not so big! We had a little bit of a problem with the gear change, I missed some shift during the first and second lap and so I lost the gap with the front riders. We need to be happy though because we have another good result and for sure, tomorrow we try to find another solution to go a bit faster compared to today and then we will see. But today we did a good job overall.”

Alex Lowes – P5

“In Superpole I felt quite good and my laps were not too bad. I used a race tyre and two Q tyres. On the second one I made a mistake in the last sector. It was so close. Jonathan and Scott did good laps but behind it was only a couple of tenths, not even that. I ended up seventh and the position was not ideal coming from the third row. In the race I had a good start and was fourth until Toprak passed me. I thought I would sit behind those guys out front but I wasn’t fast enough because I was struggling with the front. I was a bit quicker than the guys behind so it was a bit of a boring race for me. But it was a long race – and hot. I used the Race One experience to try to be consistent and understand how I can improve for Sunday.”

Tom Sykes – P6

“It was not too bad. We had a good qualifying and starting from the front row is always a nice target. Coming off the start, another rider came by me and almost took my handle bar so I had to close the gas and a Kawasaki had gone by. So the first lap wasn’t very good and then, to be honest, behind Alex Lowes on the first couple of laps, it was just a bit too steady so I need to have a look at that for tomorrow. I need to try to get a better start and first couple of laps but after that I just settled into the rhythm that we found yesterday afternoon. It looks like everyone was suffering a little bit more today because the times were slower than yesterday afternoon. I really struggled with the front end of the bike with the turning and some of the rear traction so for sure it was a difficult race to manage. We had to change the way to approach some corners et cetera and try to find a way to ride around those problems so we’ve got a lot of work to do tonight and hopefully we can improve the set-up for these hot conditions tomorrow.”

Michael van der Mark – P7

“To be honest, I was expecting a lot more. This morning, we made a huge step in performance and in lap time consistency. Also in Superpole, we’ve made a good step. I was tenth but the gap to P5 was really close. I was happy with that, but in the warmer conditions in the race the bike just did not react like in the cooler conditions. It’s normal but I struggled too much so we need to find a solution for tomorrow.”

WorldSBK Race One

WorldSBK Championship Points

---

WorldSSP

Drama and tension throughout the opening race of the FIM Supersport World Championship’s first visit to the Circuito de Navarra as Championship leader Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) secured a sensational victory for the seventh time this season after a race-long battle with Championship rival Steven Odendaal (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team) at the Pirelli Navarra Round.

The opening laps of the race were unpredictable as the lead riders exchanged positions consistently. Steven Odendaal (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team) and Manuel Gonzalez (Yamaha ParkinGo Team) were the big winners as the lights went out with Spanish rider Gonzalez took the lead of the race from second, while Odendaal moved into second from fourth as Championship leader Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) fell to fifth.

After an impressive Friday and Saturday at Navarra, Simon Jespersen (Kallio Racing) moved into the podium places at the start of the race, challenging Gonzalez for second place in the opening laps after Gonzalez lost out to Odendaal. Gonzalez was able to respond on Lap 6 to re-take the lead in search of his first WorldSSP victory. Aegerter dropped down the order in the opening laps but fought back to be in the lead group on Lap 7 as he worked his way back through the field.

Aegerter’s fightback meant he was directly behind Odendaal in the middle phase of the race and soon found himself in second, behind Odendaal, as the pair made a move on Gonzalez on Lap 8 of the 20-lap encounter, with the top two in the Championship running as the top two in the race. On Lap 9, Aegerter made an aggressive move at the Turn 15 hairpin that ends the lap, but Odendaal was able to respond on the start-finish straight at the start of Lap 10.

Luca Bernardi (CM Racing) was another who battled his way up through the order including two aggressive moves into Turn 15 and joined the lead group, before an incredible move into the fast right-hander of Turn 1 on Gonzalez to move into third. He tried a similar move through the first two fast right-handers on Aegerter, but the Swiss rider was able to defend into Turn 3. With eight laps to go, Odendaal made a move on Turn 1 on Aegerter before Aegerter responded through Turns 2 and 3 to regain the lead. Aegerter eventually got past Odendaal and went on to claim victory at Navarra with Odendaal in second and Bernardi third; unable to take advantage of the battling duo ahead although he did battle Odendaal for second throughout the final laps.

Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha) claimed fourth place in the thrilling encounter with his former teammate, Federico Caricasulo (Biblion Iberica Yamaha Motoxracing) in fifth, his joint-best result since his WorldSSP campaign. Just half-a-second separated Cluzel and Caricasulo at the end of the race, with Randy Krummenacher (EAB Racing Team) coming home in sixth place.

German Philipp Oettl (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) finished seventh after battling his way up through the field, finishing a second clear of teammate Can Öncü after the Turkish star battled his way up from 24th to eighth in Race 1. Jespersen lost ground as the race progressed but still claimed a stunning ninth place ahead of Niki Tuuli (MV Agusta Corse Clienti); Jespersen taking the first top-ten finish for a Danish rider in WorldSSP since 2011 when Robbin Harms at Aragon.

Indonesian Galang Hendra Pratama (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) came home in 11th place after a strong Race 1 at the Circuito de Navarra ahead of the returning Hikari Okubo (G.A.P. MOTOZOO Racing by Puccetti) in 12th; Okubo making his WorldSSP debut in place of the injured Shogo Kawasaki. David Sanchis Martinez (WRP Wepol Racing) was 13th on his WorldSSP debut with Vertti Takala (Kallio Racing) and Christoffer Bergman (Wojcik Racing Team) completing the points.

Raffaele De Rosa (Orelac Racing VerdNatura) had a crash but was able to re-join the race, although he brought his Kawasaki machine into the pits later on. Eduardo Montero Huerta (DK Motorsport), Oscar Gutierrez Iglesias (Yamaha MS Racing) and Michel Fabrizio (G.A.P. MOTOZOO Racing by Puccetti) also retired from the race. Gonzalez was taken to the medical centre following the crash. Peter Sebestyen (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team) had an off in the closing stages of the race and brought his Yamaha machine back into the pitlane.

Gonzalez was out of the race after he crashed at Turn 9 after being shuffled out of the lead group, bringing to an end his record-equally run of points-scoring finishes of 25 consecutive WorldSSP races in the points, a record that stretched back to his WorldSSP debut at Phillip Island in 2020. Marcel Brenner (VFT Racing) was a late retirement after he had an incident at Turn 13 after a strong showing in the race, running inside the top ten.

P1 Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha)

“It was a very good day for me. It’s very hot out here in Navarra and it was a long 20-lap race, but we had a great battle in the first few laps, a lot of overtaking, big battles to get the lead. When I had the lead, I could go at my own pace and in the end, I had a three-second advantage.”

P2 Steven Odendaal (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team)

“It was quite a hard race today, the temperatures were really, really hot. When Aegerter passed me, I held on for a little while. I thought I could try to block pass him again but I just didn’t have it in me. Unfortunately, we have to settle for what we can. It’s a long run in the Championship, not that I’m thinking of that, but it is important. The maximum we could take was 20 points today.”

P3 Luca Bernardi (CM Racing)

“Today was a very hard race, very hot. Step by step, I worked with my team and I have a good feeling with the bike. It was a very hard race and in the last lap I tried to take second position.”

WorldSSP Race One

WorldSSP Championship Points

2021 Prosecco DOC Dutch Round Schedule

2021 WorldSBK Calendar

Source: MCNews.com.au