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Full all classes wrap up from Assen WorldSBK Sunday

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2021 WorldSBK Round Five
TT Circuit Assen – Prosecco DOC Dutch Round – Sunday

Assen WorldSBK Superpole Race

Toprak Razgatlioglu moved into the lead at turn one but was challenged straight away by Michael Ruben Rinaldi and Jonathan Rea. Rinaldi and Toprak traded the lead numerous times on the opening lap.  Rea moved past Toprak and up into second place late on that opening lap before taking another three laps to then move past Rinaldi and into the race lead.

Scott Redding then moved past Toprak into third place while Andrea Locatelli then tagged on while Alex Lowes was a little late to the party.

Rea pulled away over the latter half of the race and left the rest to battle for second and do battle they did. The last lap was a thriller for second between Michael Ruben Rinaldi, Toprak Razgatlioglu and Andrea Locatelli with the Yamaha riders coming out on top, finishing second and third respectively, but then both were penalised one position subsequently for exceeding the track limits on the run to the flag. This promoted Michael Ruben Rinaldi up to second and demoted Toprak Razgatlioglu to third and Locatelli was pushed off the podium.

WorldSBK TT Circuit Assen – Tissot Superpole Race
1. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK)
2. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +3.542s
3. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK) +3.600s

Assen WorldSBK Superpole Race Results

Pos Rider Bike……………………………. Time/Gap
1 J.  Rea Kawasaki ZX-10RR /
2 M. Rinaldi Ducati Panigale V4 R +3.542
3 T. Razgatlioglu Yamaha YZF R1 +3.600
4 A. Locatelli Yamaha YZF R1 +4.343
5 S. Redding Ducati Panigale V4 R +4.501
6 A. Lowes Kawasaki ZX-10RR +5.215
7 T. Sykes BMW M 1000 RR +8.010
8 G. Gerloff Yamaha YZF R1 +9.126
9 C. Davies Ducati Panigale V4 R +11.891
10 A. Bassani Ducati Panigale V4 R +12.103
11 T.  Rabat Ducati Panigale V4 R +13.553
12 L.  Haslam Honda CBR1000 RR-R +15.585
13 I.  Vinales Kawasaki ZX-10RR +20.175
14 L.  Mercado Honda CBR1000 RR-R +23.075
15 K. Nozane Yamaha YZF R1 +23.130
16 A. Mantovani Kawasaki ZX-10RR +28.596
17 L.  Cresson Kawasaki ZX-10RR +43.204
18 A. Bautista Honda CBR1000 RR-R +1m08.267
Not Classified
RET M. Van Der Mark BMW M 1000 RR

Assen WorldSBK Two

A dramatic Sunday afternoon race came to an end with Jonathan Rea claiming his third win of the Prosecco DOC Dutch Round and the fourth hat-trick of his career despite finding himself in eighth place after Turn 1 after starting from first. Behind him, Scott Redding came home in second with rookie Andrea Locatelli claiming his maiden podium.

Assen WorldSBK

Toprak Razgatlioglu got a good start but found himself out of the race after American Garrett Gerloff made contact with the Turkish rider at Turn 1, with the American placed under investigation for the incident by the FIM WorldSBK Stewards and given a ride-through penalty for the incident. The crash put Razgatlioglu out of the race.

Andrea Locatelli leading

The incident forced Jonathan Rea down into eighth place while Andrea Locatelli, running the SCX tyre, found himself leading a WorldSBK race for the first time in his short career. It took until the fourth lap for Rea to be back in second place, as he looked to secure a hat-trick at Assen. Locatelli led the first half of the race as Rea closed the gap to Locatelli with the six-time Champion able to take the lead on Lap 12 of 21, with Rea on the SC0 tyre, on the run to Turn 1.Rea’s victory means he is now on 199 WorldSBK podiums, one away from a historical 200 podiums.

Rea eventually closed down Locatelli

Locatelli was able to stick with Rea for the next few laps, but Rea soon found himself extending the lead over the rookie, with Locatelli having to start watch out for Scott Redding in third as the British rider closed in.

Jonathan Rea

On Lap 19, Redding made his move in the final sector of the lap to move into second place, with Locatelli coming home in third for his maiden WorldSBK podium. Locatelli becomes the first WorldSSP Champion to claim a WorldSBK podium as a rookie since Michael van der Mark in 2015, also at Assen.

Rea eventually moved through to the lead

Chaz Davies missed out on his 100th WorldSBK podium on his 200th start for Ducati with fourth place after charging through the field, fending off the challenge from Alvaro Bautista by just one second with the Spanish rider claiming his best result of the season so far.

Chaz Davies put in one of his strongest races of the season

Behind Bautista, there was a titanic battle for sixth place that culminated with Tom Sykes crashing out at the final chicane while battling with teammate Michael van der Mark, Alex Lowes and Michael Ruben Rinaldi; The Ducati man falling down the order on the SCX tyre. Dutchman van der Mark claimed sixth ahead of Lowes and Rinaldi. Axel Bassani claimed another top ten finish with ninth as Leon Haslam rounded out the top ten.

Bautista showed promise at times over the weekend but also made some mistakes

Tito Rabat claimed 11th place in Race 2 at Assen with Kohta Nozane securing another points-paying position with 12. Leandro Mercado was 13th on his return to the Championship after undergoing a testing programme with the team. Isaac Viñales finished in 14th place, ending a run of results for the Spanish rider of finishing in odd-numbered positions, while Sykes claimed 15th after his crash.

Andrea Mantovani missed out on a second points finish of the weekend with 16th place, with Loris Cresson the last of the classified runners. Gerloff’s race came to an end after he had taken his ride-through penalty after he crashed at turn 9 on his Yamaha machine, joining Razgatlioglu as a retirement from Race 2.

WorldSBK TT Circuit Assen – Race 2
1. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK)
2. Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +1.605s
3. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK) +3.431s

Assen WorldSBK Race Two Results

Pos Rider Bike…………………………. Time/Gap
1 J.  Rea Kawasaki ZX-10RR /
2 S. Redding Ducati Panigale V4 R +1.605
3 A. Locatelli Yamaha YZF R1 +3.431
4 C. Davies Ducati Panigale V4 R +8.695
5 A. Bautista Honda CBR1000 RR-R +9.584
6 M. Van Der Mark BMW M 1000 RR +12.691
7 A. Lowes Kawasaki ZX-10RR +12.992
8 M. Rinaldi Ducati Panigale V4 R +13.752
9 A. Bassani Ducati Panigale V4 R +19.087
10 L.  Haslam Honda CBR1000 RR-R +19.629
11 T.  Rabat Ducati Panigale V4 R +20.974
12 K. Nozane Yamaha YZF R1 +34.615
13 L.  Mercado Honda CBR1000 RR-R +35.640
14 I.  Vinales Kawasaki ZX-10RR +38.917
15 T. Sykes BMW M 1000 RR +47.840
16 A. Mantovani Kawasaki ZX-10RR +56.387
17 L.  Cresson Kawasaki ZX-10RR +1m09.598
Not Classified
RET G. Gerloff Yamaha YZF R1 9 Laps
RET T. Razgatlioglu Yamaha YZF R1

WorldSBK Quotes

Jonathan Rea

“It was nice to make it three-from-three here at Assen. We achieved it after we changed the rear tyre choice from yesterday. With the overnight rain the track’s grip level was a little bit lower and the temperature was maybe three or four degrees lower. We figured that would be the crossover point to run the SC0. It was nice to win with the soft tyre choice yesterday and the standard race tyre option today. It is a massive testament to the guys in the pitbox and what they have done. We made quite a big chassis change in the set-up this weekend and it was easier to ride. You could see in my passes, I could put the bike where I wanted and it was very nimble, yet stable in the fast sections as well. I went over to see the flooding on the track first thing this morning, considering how much rain there was last night – and there was a lake on the inside of turn five! So massive respect to the track and everybody at Assen because they had lots of machines there, two fire trucks, three tankers and I think we were only delayed 45 minutes this morning. They did an incredible job.”

Jonathan Rea
Scott Redding

“I’m happy to end the weekend with another podium. I struggled a lot to find the feeling with the front tire but in Race 2 we were able to make that small step that allowed me to keep a better pace. In the beginning, I tried not to push hard to save the front tyre and for this reason, I lost a little bit of ground compared to the lead. The pace has improved a lot since the middle of the race but the gap with Rea was too wide to fight for the victory”.

Scott Redding
Andrea Locatelli

“I immediately forgot the situation from this morning because I had another chance to race today, and you still focus to get the maximum when you can do it. I’m really happy because we got the first podium, also to do it in the long race, it’s really an amazing feeling. In the short race, you need to push hard but also it’s a shame to make the tiny mistake with the track limits, it was only a few millimetres! Then in Race 2, I got the lead immediately and was able to keep a good pace but in the end I fought a lot with the softer rear tyre. With the conditions like today and yesterday with some sun, we can push in all sessions and I learned and improved every time – now we are faster and I was in front! We have been close to the front all weekend and I am so happy also for my crew. We work so well together, they work hard and we make no mistakes, and also the R1 is working so well. It’s nice to ride here in Assen and we have another chance very soon to continue in this way and try to get some more podiums!”

Andrea Locatelli leading
Michael Ruben Rinaldi

“Honestly I can’t be satisfied with this weekend. Yesterday I gave my best but I crashed,  while today I never had the feeling to be in the ideal conditions. The result of the Superpole Race is clearly positive, but it came after the penalisation of Razgatlioglu and Locatelli;  after a good start in the afternoon, since the tire performance started dropping,  I have been no longer efficient. It’s a bit frustrating: we have to work to find a solution that will allow us to be more consistent”.

Michael Ruben Rinaldi
Alex Lowes

“It was not an easy day or an easy weekend for us. I have had some physical restrictions which have been tough and this track is quite tough anyway, with lots of changes of direction. My tyre in Race Two was in better condition than Michael Ruben Rinaldi’s but the trouble was passing him. I did make a move on him and ran out wide, which allowed Michael van der Mark to pass, but in those last five or six laps I was getting held up a little bit. I could have maybe gone a bit quicker but I still enjoyed the battle through the second race. I was quite happy with sixth and seventh, as I was struggling quite a lot. That is a shame, but my target is to go out and rest and come back 100% for the next race at a new track in the Czech Republic. Sixth and seventh are not where I want to be finishing but all things considered, it was a better day than Saturday! This was the most we could do this weekend.”

Alex Lowes
Michael van der Mark

“This morning’s crash was a stupid mistake by myself. I really wanted to go for it, and on the fastest corners of the track I tried to go even faster which was a silly mistake on my behalf. In race two, I had an okay start. I had a bit of luck at T1 starting in P11 and by the end of lap one I was in fifth but I didn’t have the pace or the grip I was hoping for. I was struggling to keep the bike on track and I just didn’t have any more to give so it was quite tough. But at the end of the race I found a little extra pace and managed to catch and pass Michael Ruben Rinaldi and Alex Lowes so P6 wasn’t too bad in the end. But I really wanted more.”

Michael van der Mark
Tom Sykes

“We managed to start race two on the third row which was a lot better. We got a much cleaner start to the race as the guys did a bit of work to the BMW M 1000 RR. We used the harder rear tyre and just couldn’t find the grip we needed at the beginning of the race but having said that, the bike stayed very constant throughout the race. Unfortunately coming into the last corner before entering the final lap, I tried to close the line and square the corner off and lost the front. It was such a slow speed crash, but I wasn’t able to save it. It’s such a shame, the bike today was good enough for that top-six and it would have been nice to be consistent the whole weekend. It certainly seemed we have made some good improvements including both me and Michael. A disappointing end to the weekend but we can take the positives from it, and we will focus on that and try to build on it for the next round.”

Tom Sykes
Toprak Razgatlıoğlu

“In the second race, Garrett made a bad mistake, I am not sure why he tried to do hard braking like this in the first corner – I was surprised and I only feel angry because we lost so many points for the championship. At the start, I passed Rinaldi into the corner but it was not “easy”, it was difficult to stop my own bike so I cannot understand why Garrett arrived inside me. In Most I will only be looking to fight for the win, I am not looking at championship points any more. This weekend, maybe I just had some bad luck, but we fight hard again for the next race.”

Garrett Gerloff

“I’m devastated and I can only apologise to Toprak and to Yamaha for today. I got a good start from the third row of the grid, I felt the contact in turn one, but I didn’t realise it was Toprak until I looked back. I’m sorry for him, as he paid a big price for my mistake, but also for Yamaha, who have worked tirelessly to mount a championship challenge. I can only apologise to both, although I am well aware that this won’t change the outcome.”

Alvaro Bautista

“It has been a challenging weekend for us with two crashes in the first two races, something that quite annoys me honestly, because I think that our performance in those races could have been similar to what we did in race 2. For now, when I try to ride more naturally, I fall. Having said that, we finished the weekend with a positive result, a hard-fought top five, with some nice passes, and I think that this stems from the work we are doing. During the weekend we improved a lot on the electronics side, especially on the lower area of the throttle which gives me more confidence now. Maybe it’s not so apparent yet, but I hope it’s just a starting point for the upcoming races.”

Bautista showed promise at times over the weekend but also made some mistakes
Leon Haslam

“In the Superpole race, a rider caused me to lose many positions through the first turn. It was a difficult race and we struggled with both the front of the bike and power delivery too. In the second race, I made a good start but then Toprak crashed and I had to avoid him, which meant I lost ground again. I felt like I had good rhythm through the first part of the race anyway, but then from about lap ten I started to lose a lot of time, more than one second per lap. Overall, it’s been a tough weekend and I’m left frustrated as I expected top five results at this circuit.”

Kohta Nozane

“Today my Superpole Race was not that good and I discussed with the team about how we could make some set-up improvements for Race 2. These changes worked and I was very happy, my time in the race was quicker than my qualifying time. Unfortunately, my finger is not recovered 100 per cent still and with 16 laps to go I found it very difficult to keep my pace until the end, so it was tough to keep the rider behind. In the end, I finished 12th but of course at Yamaha everyone is riding the same bike, so when I see the others, I think that even though I’m a rookie, I have to convince myself to aim higher. To the next race in Czech Republic, it’s the first time for everyone, so there I hope to be able to reach another level to get closer to the other Yamaha riders.”

Jonas Folger

“It was a really great weekend – until the crash. I am delighted that we were able to show once again that we have the speed and that we can really compete. That did us all a lot of good. I actually wanted to race today. I am still in some pain and a bit stiff walking, but I felt ready. Unfortunately, the race doctors did not give me the OK. I would like to thank the team for their great work nonetheless and for getting us back on track. Thanks also to everyone who has sent their best wishes after my crash. Now it’s time for a few days of recovery and then we will go back on the attack at Most the weekend after next.”

WorldSBK Championship Standings

Pos Rider Points
 1  Jonathan Rea  243
 2  Toprak Razgatlioglu  206
 3  Scott Redding  162
 4  Alex Lowes  127
 5  Michael Ruben Rinaldi  111
 6  Garrett Gerloff  105
 7  Michael Van Der Mark  104
 8  Tom Sykes  102
 9  Chaz Davies  85
 10  Andrea Locatelli  84
 11  Alvaro Bautista  68
 12  Axel Bassani  60
 13  Leon Haslam  55
 14  Lucas Mahias  36
 15  Tito Rabat  23
 16  Kohta Nozane  21
 17  Isaac Vinales  15
 18  Eugene Laverty  14
 19  Jonas Folger  8
 20  Leandro Mercado  7
 21  Loris Cresson  3
 22  Andrea Mantovani  2
 23  Luke Mossey  2
 24  Christophe Ponsson  1

Assen WorldSSP Race Two

Racing for the FIM Supersport World Championship at the TT Circuit Assen came to a thrilling conclusion in the Prosecco DOC Dutch Round as Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) claimed his fifth consecutive victory and his second in his team’s home race, while Randy Krummenacher (EAB Racing Team) battled his way to the podium for the first time since 2019.

Assen WorldSSP Race Two

In a typical 2020 WorldSSP race start, the lead group were battling nose-to-tail and elbow-to-elbow throughout the opening few laps, with Steven Odendaal (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team) able to take the lead on the opening lap despite Aegerter getting a good start from pole position into Turn 1.

Assen WorldSSP Race Two

German Philipp Oettl (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) was able to take the lead of the race as he did in Race 1 on Saturday, but soon found himself behind Aegerter when the Swiss rider passed Oettl on the fifth lap, having passed Odendaal the lap before to move into second place as he looked to make it two wins in his special yellow livery.

Assen WorldSSP Race Two

After Aegerter passed Oettl, Aegerter was able to drag the German rider away from the chasing pack as they looked to secure their places on the podium. Odendaal’s race came undone on Lap 9 of 18 when he crashed at Turn 5, falling down to 20th place and had to battle his way through the field, eventually finishing in 13th.

Like in Race 1, Aegerter was able to start pulling away from everyone as he ramped up the pace to start pulling away from Oettl, leading by almost two seconds as Lap 13 got underway. Oettl was able to take advantage of the chasing group to claim second place and his second podium of the weekend.

Assen WorldSSP Race Two

The final podium place battled raged on throughout the 18-lap race between Luca Bernardi (CM Racing), Randy Krummenacher (EAB Racing Team), Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha), Manuel Gonzalez (Yamaha ParkinGo Team) and Can Öncü (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing). Krummenacher had been running third before Sammarinese rider Bernardi passed the 2019 WorldSSP Champion, although the Swiss rider was able to respond later on in the race.

On Lap 15, Gonzalez made his move on Bernardi to move into fourth in the hunt for his first WorldSSP podium before setting his sights on Krummenacher, but Bernardi soon made a return to fourth with an aggressive move on the 2019 WorldSSP300 Champion. Bernardi then made his move on Krummenacher at Turn 8 to move into third with two laps to go, but Krummenacher responded ay Turn 15; an error at the chicane meant Öncü was able to move into fourth. At the end, Krummenacher finished in third place to return to the podium in WorldSSP, with Bernardi in fourth. Krummenacher’s podium means it’s the first time two Swiss riders have stood on the rostrum in WorldSSP, while Switzerland now has as many wins as Germany in WorldSSP with 11.

Despite dropping to the back of the lead group, Cluzel was able to take fourth place after Bernardi was penalised with a one-place demotion for exceeding track limits on the final lap. Gonzalez claimed sixth place with Öncü in seventh after he was on the receiving end of an overtake by Bernardi which forced him wide.

Niki Tuuli (MV Agusta Corse Clienti) finished in eighth place with Marco Alcoba (Yamaha MS Racing) in ninth and Vertti Takala (Kallio Racing) completing the top ten; Tuuli and Alcoba around four seconds back from the group chasing down the podium.

Kevin Manfredi (Altogo Racing Team) was the highest placed WorldSSP Challenge rider with 11th place, while Peter Sebestyen finished in 13th place ahead of teammate Odendaal. Sheridan Morais’ (Wojcik Racing Team) secured another points finish with 14th place as he stood in for the injured Christoffer Bergman, with Michel Fabrizio (G.A.P. MOTOZOO Racing by Puccetti) completing the points.

WorldSSP Challenge rider Leonardo Taccini (Orelac Racing VerdNatura) missed out on a points finish by just 0.017s as he chased down Fabrizio, with Eemeli Lahti (HRP Suzuki) in 18th place. Stephane Frossard (Moto Team Jura Vitesse) was just 0.053s behind Lahti in 18th place, with Luigi Montella (Chiodo Moto Racing), Maria Herrera (Biblion Iberica Yamaha Motoxracing), Eduardo Montero Huerta (DK Motorsport) and Pawel Szkopek (Yamaha MS Racing) the last of the classified finishers.

The first lap was an eventful affair in WorldSSP with Indonesian rider Galang Hendra Pratama (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) a Lap 1 retirement following a crash, while Raffaele De Rosa (Orelac Racing VerdNatura) and Federico Caricasulo (GMT94 Yamaha) came together at Turn 10, with both retiring from the race. Daniel Webb (WRP Wepol Racing) was also a retirement from the race, as was Mattia Casadei (VFT Racing). Federico Fuligni (VFRT Racing) retired from the race in the closing stages of the 18-lap race.

P1 Dominique Aegerter

“It was a very great race. At the start, we had some small fights with Oettl and Odendaal. I could make the pace afterwards. The track condition was not like in the Tissot Superpole but the lap time was quite fast and I could make a gap. Thanks to the Ten Kate Race team, they gave me a perfect bike for their home Round. It’s very nice with the special livery. For sure, this weekend we made some history for Ten Kate and I hope the fans here enjoyed the nice weather in the Netherlands and thanks for your support.”

P2 Philipp Oettl

“It was a really good weekend for the team. We had some problems towards the end of the race because I chose again the softer tyre. Like yesterday, I wanted to stay with Domi as long as possible and create a gap. It was an intense race. The tyre moved on the rim a little bit, so I lost the weight, I had a lot of vibrations in the last few laps and lost a lot of time. In the end, it was a similar race to yesterday. Domi is in a league of his own but I think in Most we can work in the Free Practice sessions to have more grip towards the end of the race and the next step will be to stay with him for the whole race.”

P3 Randy Krummenacher

“It’s really nice to be back on the podium. Thanks to everyone who supported me in this difficult time. It was a long time. I want to thank you and it’s so good, so nice to be back on the podium.”

WorldSSP TT Circuit Assen – Race 2
1. Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha)
2. Philipp Oettl (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) +7.697s
3. Randy Krummenacher (EAB Racing Team) +8.119s

Assen WorldSSP Race Two Results

Pos Rider Bike……………………. Time/Gap
1 D. Aegerter Yamaha YZF R6 /
2 P. Oettl Kawasaki ZX-6R +7.697
3 R. Krummenacher Yamaha YZF R6 +8.119
4 J.  Cluzel Yamaha YZF R6 +9.852
5 L.  Bernardi Yamaha YZF R6 +9.870
6 M. Gonzalez Yamaha YZF R6 +9.952
7 C. Oncu Kawasaki ZX-6R +10.360
8 N. Tuuli MV F3 675 +14.282
9 M. Alcoba Yamaha YZF R6 +14.305
10 V. Takala Yamaha YZF R6 +26.475
11 K. Manfredi Yamaha YZF R6 +26.679
12 P. Sebestyen Yamaha YZF R6 +26.899
13 S. Odendaal Yamaha YZF R6 +27.540
14 S. Morais Yamaha YZF R6 +28.443
15 M. Fabrizio Kawasaki ZX-6R +33.004
16 L.  Taccini Kawasaki ZX-6R +33.021
17 E. Lahti Yamaha YZF R6 +45.727
18 S. Frossard Yamaha YZF R6 +45.780
19 L.  Montella Yamaha YZF R6 +50.786
20 M. Herrera Yamaha YZF R6 +51.649
21 E. Montero Huerta Yamaha YZF R6 +1m26.567
22 P. Szkopek Yamaha YZF R6 +1m38.364
Not Classifieds
RET F. Fuligni Yamaha YZF R6 4 Laps
RET M. Casadei Yamaha YZF R6 10 Laps
RET D. Webb Yamaha YZF R6 11 Laps
RET R. De Rosa Kawasaki ZX-6R 16 Laps
RET F. Caricasulo Yamaha YZF R6 17 Laps
RET Hendra Pratama Yamaha YZF R6 /

WorldSSP Championship Standings

Pos Rider Points
 1  Dominique Aegerter  169
 2  Steven Odendaal  125
 3  Philipp Oettl  108
 4  Luca Bernardi  97
 5  Jules Cluzel  91
 6  Manuel Gonzalez  84
 7  Randy Krummenacher  62
 8  Hannes Soomer  47
 9  Raffaele De Rosa  46
 10  Can Alexander Oncu  43
 11  Marc Alcoba  40
 12  Federico Caricasulo  39
 13  Christoffer Bergman  34
 14  Niki Tuuli  28
 15  Vertti Takala  19
 16  Kevin Manfredi  19
 17  Galang Hendra Pratama  14
 18  Peter Sebestyen  9
 19  Sheridan Morais  8
 20  Maria Herrera  7
 21  Filippo Fuligni  6
 22  Michel Fabrizio  6
 23  Roberto Mercandelli  5
 24  Massimo Roccoli  4
 25  Matteo Patacca  3
 26  Stephane Frossard  3
 27  Luca Ottaviani  1
 28  Leonardo Taccini  1
 29  Davide Pizzoli  1
 30  Pawel Szkopek  1

Assen WorldSSP 300 Two

Assen WorldSSP 300 Two

The final race of the FIM Supersport 300 World Championship was full of action at the TT Circuit Assen for the Prosecco DOC Dutch Round with British rider Tom Booth-Amos (Fusport – RT Motorsports by SKM – Kawasaki) claiming a victory as he looked to make up for recent errors that cost him high-scoring points in the last two races.

Assen WorldSSP 300 Two

Booth-Amos claimed victory after being given a nine-place grid penalty for slow riding earlier in the weekend, one of nine riders to be given that penalty for the same offence, as he looked to close the gap to Adrian Huertas (MTM Kawasaki) at the top of the Championship. Booth-Amos claimed Kawasaki’s 90th podium in WorldSSP300 with his second victory of the season. Hugo de Cancellis (Prodina Team WorldSSP300) claimed his second podium of the season with second place, ahead of fellow French rider Samuel di Sora (Leader Team Flembbo); the first time two French riders have been on the WorldSSP300 podium together.

Assen WorldSSP 300 Two

Jeffrey Buis (MTM Kawasaki) finished in fourth place after being demoted two positions for exceeding track limits twice on the final lap, with teammate Adrian Huertas in fifth; the Spanish rider given the same penalty as Buis for the same offence. Yuta Okaya (MTM Kawasaki) was sixth as MTM Kawasaki secured a top six finish with three of their four riders; Koen Meuffels finishing in ninth.

Assen WorldSSP 300 Two

Italian Mirko Gennai (BRcorse) was in seventh place ahead of polesitter Victor Steeman (Freudenberg KTM WorldSSP Team) in eighth after the local hero dropped down the order as the race progressed. Steeman was promoted to eighth after the chequered flag when Meuffels was demoted one place for exceeding track limits on the final lap. Meikon Kawakami (AD78 Team Brasil by MS Racing) completed the top ten, the first rider more than one second away from Booth-Amos.

South African rider Dorren Loureiro (Fusport – RT Motorsports by SKM – Kawasaki) claimed 11th place, missing out on a top ten finish by just one tenth of a second, with Gabriele Mastroluca (ProGP Racing) in 12th. Czech rider Petr Svoboda (WRP Wepol Racing) claimed his best result of the 2021 season with 13th; a result that will give him confidence as the Championship heads to the Czech Republic next time out.

Ton Kawakami (AD78 Team Brasil by MS Racing) was in 14th place after the 14-lap race in the Netherlands with Ana Carrasco (Kawasaki Provec WorldSSP300) securing the last point on offer with 15th place. The 2018 WorldSSP300 Champion was one of three riders demoted a place after the race ended for exceeding track limits on the final lap. Alejandro Carrion (Kawasaki GP Project) finished just outside the points in 16th place with Victor Rodriguez Nuñez (Accolade Smrz Racing) in 17th; the Spanish also demoted one place for a track limits infringement on the final lap of the race. Johan Gimbert (OUTDO TPR Team Pedercini Racing), Kevin Sabatucci (Viñales Racing Team), who claimed a top five finish in Race 1, and Inigo Iglesias (SMW Racing) rounded out the top 20.

Two front runners lost their chance of victory on Lap 11 when Bahattin Sofuoglu (Biblion Yamaha Motoxracing) and Unai Orradre (Yamaha MS Racing) coming together, with Turkish star Sofuoglu and Orradre, the youngest ever race winner in WorldSSP300, able to re-join the race, with Orradre finishing in 25th and Sofuoglu in 32nd.

Young Aussie Harry Khouri claimed a 31st place finish.

Ruben Bijman (Machado CAME SBK) was a retirement on Lap 2 of the 14-lap race after he had a crash at Turn 1 at the start of the second lap. Christian Stange’s (2R Racing) comeback to WorldSSP300 ended with a Turn 3 crash on Lap 4. Vicente Perez Selfa (Machado CAME SBK) also retired from the race on Lap 4 after a crash at the final chicane. Jose Luis Perez Gonzalez crashed out of the race at around half-distance

P1 Tom Booth-Amos

“I’m very happy today after my crash yesterday. It was nice to repay the team with the win. This is a home race, they’re Dutch and German, so I can’t think them enough. It’s nice to be in front of some fans again.”

P2 Hugo De Cancellis

“I’m very happy because yesterday I crashed on the last lap. I can be happy to finish a race like this. It was a very difficult race. Thanks to all my team, all my family and all the people I have with me this year because we worked a lot.”

P3 Samuel Di Sora

“It was a crazy race, actually. Very, very crazy. We struggled a little bit on the back straight but managed to put the bike on the podium again. I’m very happy, third in the Championship, I think. We will be hoping for Most, a new track for us. A big thanks to the team, they did an amazing job. I’m so happy and just want to thank them for their excellent work. Let’s hope for a win in the next race, we’ll work for it.”

WorldSSP300 TT Circuit Assen – Race 2
1. Tom Booth-Amos (Fusport – RT Motorsports by SKM – Kawasaki)
2. Hugo De Cancellis (Prodina Team WorldSSP300) +0.513s
3. Samuel Di Sora (Leader Team Flembbo) +0.545s

Assen WorldSSP 300 Race two Results

Pos Rider Bike…………………………… Time/Gap
1 69 T. BOOTH-AMOS Kawasaki Ninja 400 /
2 64 H. DE CANCELLIS Kawasaki Ninja 400 +0.513
3 46 S. DI SORA Kawasaki Ninja 400 +0.545
4 1 J.  BUIS Kawasaki Ninja 400 +0.547
5 99 A. HUERTAS Kawasaki Ninja 400 +0.550
6 61 Y. OKAYA Kawasaki Ninja 400 +0.557
7 26 M. GENNAI Yamaha YZF-R3 +0.572
8 72 V. STEEMAN KTM RC 390 R +0.862
9 17 K. MEUFFELS Kawasaki Ninja 400 +0.863
10 83 M. KAWAKAMI Yamaha YZF-R3 +1.015
11 20 D. LOUREIRO Kawasaki Ninja 400 +1.185
12 80 G. MASTROLUCA Yamaha YZF-R3 +1.270
13 53 P. SVOBODA Yamaha YZF-R3 +1.430
14 87 T. KAWAKAMI Yamaha YZF-R3 +1.667
15 11 A. CARRASCO Kawasaki Ninja 400 +1.695
16 2 A. CARRION Kawasaki Ninja 400 +2.031
17 19 V.  RODRIGUEZ NUNEZ Kawasaki Ninja 400 +2.090
18 7 J.  GIMBERT Kawasaki Ninja 400 +3.221
19 85 K. SABATUCCI Yamaha YZF-R3 +3.323
20 58 I.  IGLESIAS Kawasaki Ninja 400 +3.421
21 48 T. BRIANTI Kawasaki Ninja 400 +3.610
22 59 A. ZANCA Kawasaki Ninja 400 +7.976
23 52 O. KONIG Kawasaki Ninja 400 +8.034
24 23 S. MARKARIAN Kawasaki Ninja 400 +21.946
25 10 U. ORRADRE Yamaha YZF-R3 +22.002
26 5T. SMITS Yamaha YZF-R3 +22.109
27 93 M. GAGGI Yamaha YZF-R3 +22.628
28 4 S. DOORNENBAL KTM RC 390 R +22.944
29 81 T. MOLENAAR KTM RC 390 R +23.837
30 97 F. PALAZZI Yamaha YZF-R3 +23.887
31 43 H. KHOURI Kawasaki Ninja 400 +27.626
32 54 B. SOFUOGLU Yamaha YZF-R3 +46.455
33 18 I.  OFFER Kawasaki Ninja 400 +50.405
34 22 J.  ROMERO Kawasaki Ninja 400 +50.455
35 14 J.  MCMANUS Kawasaki Ninja 400 +53.554
36 70 M. DUARTE Yamaha YZF-R3 +1m02.972
37 55 A. FRAPPOLA Kawasaki Ninja 400 +1m06.286
Not Classified
RET 73 J.  PEREZ GONZALEZ Kawasaki Ninja 400 8 Laps
RET 15 A. COPPOLA Yamaha YZF-R3 8 Laps
RET 44 C. STANGE Kawasaki Ninja 400 11 Laps
RET 21 V. PEREZ SELFA Yamaha YZF-R3 11 Laps
RET 77 R. BIJMAN Yamaha YZF-R3 13 Laps

WorldSSP 300 Championship Standings

Pos Rider Points
 1  Dominique Aegerter  169
 2  Steven Odendaal  125
 3  Philipp Oettl  108
 4  Luca Bernardi  97
 5  Jules Cluzel  91
 6  Manuel Gonzalez  84
 7  Randy Krummenacher  62
 8  Hannes Soomer  47
 9  Raffaele De Rosa  46
 10  Can Alexander Oncu  43
 11  Marc Alcoba  40
 12  Federico Caricasulo  39
 13  Christoffer Bergman  34
 14  Niki Tuuli  28
 15  Vertti Takala  19
 16  Kevin Manfredi  19
 17  Galang Hendra Pratama  14
 18  Peter Sebestyen  9
 19  Sheridan Morais  8
 20  Maria Herrera  7
 21  Filippo Fuligni  6
 22  Michel Fabrizio  6
 23  Roberto Mercandelli  5
 24  Massimo Roccoli  4
 25  Matteo Patacca  3
 26  Stephane Frossard  3
 27  Luca Ottaviani  1
 28  Leonardo Taccini  1
 29  Davide Pizzoli  1
 30  Pawel Szkopek  1

Source: MCNews.com.au

News, WSBK

Rea tops tight first day of practice at Assen

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2021 WorldSBK Round Five
TT Circuit Assen – Prosecco DOC Dutch Round – Friday

It was a close run Friday in the WorldSBK class at the TT Circuit Assen for round five of the Championship at Assen

Some 13 riders were covered by less than a second, with Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) leading the way on combined times ahead of Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team), whilst Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) was third, having led the way in FP1. It was a strong day for parity across the manufacturers, with all five brands inside the top five places come the chequered flag.

It was a solid first day for Jonathan Rea, as the Ulsterman enjoyed a strong afternoon session after finishing second in the morning. Despite a major moment with around 20 minutes to go in FP2 coming into the final chicane, he finished in first in the afternoon, thus placing him top overall.

Jonathan Rea – P1

“They have re-asphalted the track at Assen since we were last here and it is incredible. They have done a great job. Massive congratulations to them because it was like when Misano was resurfaced; it is like a different track. You can attack more and the rhythm is faster. I feel good with the bike and this morning I was up to speed quite fast, although also we had to understand different tyres and so on. We put what we thought would be the race package together for the second session and my crew chief Pere said that if it felt good, just stay out and do a longer run. We did a long distance stint and I felt quite comfortable all through the session. It was good for the first day but we need to improve in some areas. We will sit down now and come up with a plan for Saturday.”

Teammate Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) didn’t have the sharpest of mornings in the Netherlands as he was only 12th but was back inside the top ten in ninth overall and did a 13-lap run, gathering data for the weekend ahead.

Alex Lowes – P9

“It is nice to be back at Assen. It is my first time here with the Kawasaki and the times are quite close. We tried a couple of things in the afternoon and I felt pretty good on the bike. I was quite consistent. I felt a lot better than the final position and when we looked at the timesheets afterwards there were a lot of guys who did a couple of good laps, but then their overall pace was a bit slower. I would say it was fairly positive in that respect and I have got a lot more information about this track with this bike. Sometimes having a lot of experience of riding different bikes at one track goes against you because you are searching for something that feels different. I would say it has been a good day; plenty of laps and a nice, calm approach. I am looking forward to Saturday morning and FP3 to find some improvements in a couple of areas.”

Top Yamaha honours went to Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team), as he celebrated his Yamaha contract extension with P2 on day one, trading positions with Rea for top spot.

Garrett Gerloff – P2

“Riding here on a MotoGP bike is totally different from riding here on a Superbike. The hardest thing for me this morning was to change my muscle memory and my breaking markers from the ones I had developed on the MotoGP to the ones I need on the R1, but it was kind of difficult to do and I struggled in FP1. After resetting my mindset though, everything felt much better in the afternoon. I feel good, we have decent consistency, but I keep making mistakes that cost me more than half a second per lap, such as running off the track here and there. That is something I have to clean up tomorrow, but when I don’t run off I feel very consistent, also thanks to the great work the GRT Yamaha team has been doing with the setup. We have an idea of what direction we will take when it comes to the tyre compound, but I am not saying anything about it yet, I will just say we will choose a black and round one! The nature of this track allows the whole field to stay close together, no bike is the clear favourite, so it will be a big battle tomorrow.”

Garrett Gerloff

Championship leader Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK) had a busy day where he was inside the top six but didn’t feature inside the top three too much, as he adapts to Assen aboard the Yamaha. In the end, Razgatlioglu ended the session in fifth and was sixth overall.

Toprak Razgatlıoğlu – P6

“Every rider was very close today, and also all riders are trying to understand the rear tyre because the SCX tyre and soft tyre did not work so well in this conditions. We did not try a long run like normal, just focus to find a good tyre and good setting for the race. Tomorrow we will also try again a change to the setup in FP3 because I am not quite feeling ready. For me it is different from the last time in 2019 because it is the first time riding the Yamaha here, but it was not bad! Every rider was very fast and also we had a quite ok start, but I need a little more. I am focused on each race, to try to fight for the podium – but also tomorrow qualifying will be important for a good start position.”

Toprak Razgatlıoğlu

Teammate Andrea Locatelli had a more than dignified first WorldSBK appearance at Assen and was a firm fixture inside the top ten for the majority of the session. The Italian finished the day in 13th overall, although his position perhaps is not indicative of the potential he has.

Bouncing back and shining bright, Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) was fastest in FP1 and was in contention throughout the afternoon as he worked on race pace. Although he didn’t feature inside the top six in the afternoon and was relying on his morning time, he was third overall.

Scott Redding – P3

“I’m satisfied with how things went today. Since the morning, the feeling with the bike has been much better than the weekend in Donington. We worked a lot with the used tires to gather information ahead of the race. There are undoubtedly the conditions to get some good results. The important thing will be to stay with the leading group from the first lap, also because my race pace seems to be incisive“.

Scott Redding

Teammate Michael Ruben Rinaldi had a strong showing in the morning but like Redding, didn’t feature quite as heavily in the afternoon but was nonetheless in contention in eighth. Both factory Ducatis appeared to have a tougher afternoon session in comparison to the morning.

Michael Rinaldi – P8

“This morning’s session was quite difficult while in the afternoon we were much more consistent. We worked exclusively on the race pace and I’m sure that if we had tried to do a lap time we would have been with the leading group. We are all very close to each other so the important thing will be to work well to understand how to make the most out of used tire, especially in the final part of the race“.

It was a turnaround in comparison to the morning session for Alvaro Bautista (Team HRC), after having languished outside the top ten in FP1, bounced back to enjoy his best Friday of the season with fourth overall and just 0.350s off the top. Bautista was visibly more confident aboard the Honda and will hope that a solid opening day can be good foundations to build on ahead of the two upcoming race days.

Alvaro Bautista – P4

“This morning I didn’t have the best feeling with the bike, so I think we’ve worked well over the two sessions in terms of set-up and in FP2 I found it easier to keep a good line through the corners which is especially important at this track. We also improved on the electronic side of things, making a better connection with the gas. So we’ve finally been able to close the gap to the frontrunners, and quite consistently. We still have room to improve in terms of both general feeling and the bike’s set-up but for sure it’s much better to be close to the top, rather than further back in the standings! We have some ideas with which to try and improve further so we’ll see how it goes tomorrow. The new asphalt is pretty good, definitely less bumpy compared to last time we came here but actually, considering the weather we had in 2019, the track conditions were going to be much better in any case!”

Alvaro Bautista

Leon Haslam (Team HRC) couldn’t match the heights of Donington Park just yet and was 12th after day one, with plenty more yet to come.

Leon Haslam – P12

“Not a bad day today. Straight away, we felt quite quick during the morning’s session, which was nice. We’re losing quite a lot of time in the first sector compared to the fastest guys, but it’s only in that section really, and I’d say we’re not far off overall. We did some work with the tyres, but although I didn’t make the same step that a lot of the guys were able to make with the new solution, I’m not unhappy and the important thing is that we know where we need to improve. We’ll see what tomorrow brings, also in terms of track temperatures, and carry on from there”.

Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) was flying the BMW flag in fifth place overall and was fastest at varying points of the session. Come the close of the session, it was apparent that the BMW M 1000 RR had made strides, with Sykes fastest in sector two and four – high speed areas of the Assen track.

Tom Sykes – P5

“It’s been a good day one here in Assen. To start off the guys at the Assen circuit have done a good job with the resurfacing on the track, its smooth and such a pleasure to ride. The BMW M 1000RR is working well from the previous data at Donington. Myself and my crew chief have put a plan in place and have had a smooth Friday. We have been able explore the base set up this morning in FP1 and going into FP2 we were able to expand into different tyre options that Pirelli have brought here, so now I feel we are quite prepared on this. One thing we didn’t do was fine tune that base set up on the bike which is something we will focus on tomorrow. So overall, today was a good strong performance from the whole of the BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team and I am looking forward to tomorrow. Hopefully the weather stays dry and consistent.”

Tom Sykes

Teammate and home-hero Michael van der Mark was 11th overall and on the fringes of the top ten, albeit less than six tenths off top slot occupied by Rea.

Michael van der Mark – P11

“It was quite a positive Friday if you look at our lap times and pace. We made a big step from this morning’s FP1 to FP2 as this morning I was not happy with the bike. Unfortunately, the position is not where we want to be, but with the progress we made from this morning is a good step. There are a couple of tenths missing to the front guys which is really close, but if we make that time up we will be in and around where we are wanting to be. I am happy with how our Friday has gone and looking forward now to Saturday’s Superpole and Race 1.”

Michael van der Mark

Besides Gerloff in second, there were two other Independent riders inside the top ten, with Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) overcoming a crash in the opening moments to finish seventh overall. Next Independent was Chaz Davies (Team GoEleven), who had a solid morning session in third before slipping down the order to tenth on combined times, nearly six tenths slower than his morning time.

Jonas Folger (Bonovo MGM Racing) was 14th on his first WorldSBK experience at Assen, marginally ahead of Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) and Tito Rabat (Barni Racing Team). Isaac Viñales (ORELAC Racing VerdNatura), Leandro Mercado (MIE Racing Honda Team), Kohta Nozane (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team), wildcard Andrea Mantovani (Vince64) and Loris Cresson (OUTDO TPR Team Pedercini Racing) rounded out the standings.

WorldSBK Friday Combined Times

Pos Rider Bike………………………………………. Time/Gap
1 J. Rea Kawasaki ZX-10RR 1m34.391
2 G. Gerloff Yamaha YZF R1 +0.121
3 S. Redding Ducati Panigale V4 R +0.200
4 A. Bautista Honda CBR1000 RR-R +0.350
5 T. Sykes BMW M 1000 RR +0.362
6 T. Razgatlioglu Yamaha YZF R1 +0.364
7 L. Mahias Kawasaki ZX-10RR +0.380
8 M. Rinaldi Ducati Panigale V4 R +0.567
9 A. Lowes Kawasaki ZX-10RR +0.568
10 C. Davies Ducati Panigale V4 R +0.580
11 M. Van Der Mark BMW M 1000 RR +0.583
12 L. Haslam Honda CBR1000 RR-R +0.585
13 A. Locatelli Yamaha YZF R1 +0.690
14 J. Folger BMW M 1000 RR +0.952
15 A. Bassani Ducati Panigale V4 R +1.137
16 T. Rabat Ducati Panigale V4 R +1.208
17 I.  Vinales Kawasaki ZX-10RR +1.554
18 L. Mercado Honda CBR1000 RR-R +2.006
19 K. Nozane Yamaha YZF R1 +2.014
20 A. Mantovani Kawasaki ZX-10RR +2.755
21 L. Cresson Kawasaki ZX-10RR +4.195

WorldSBK Championship Points

Pos Rider Points
 1  Toprak Razgatlioglu  183
 2  Jonathan Rea  181
 3  Scott Redding  117
 4  Alex Lowes  114
 5  Michael Ruben Rinaldi  94
 6  Garrett Gerloff  93
 7  Tom Sykes  89
 8  Michael Van Der Mark  81
 9  Chaz Davies  64
 10  Alvaro Bautista  57
 11  Andrea Locatelli  51
 12  Axel Bassani  47
 13  Leon Haslam  41
 14  Lucas Mahias  36
 15  Tito Rabat  18
 16  Kohta Nozane  17
 17  Eugene Laverty  14
 18  Jonas Folger  8
 19  Isaac Vinales  8
 20  Luke Mossey  2
 21  Christophe Ponsson  1

WorldSSP

Swiss rider Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) topped the combined classification in WorldSSP as he took to the track adorned in iconic yellow colours on both his leathers and Yamaha YZF-R6 as his Ten Kate Race outfit celebrated their home race.

Aegerter puts Ten Kate Racing on top after day 1 at Assen

The morning Free Practice 1 session was a battle between Aegerter and Steven Odendaal (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team) as the South African rider looked to get back to winning ways and close the gap to Aegerter in the Championship. Both riders went under the lap record throughout the day, with Aegerter posting a 1’37.274s to top the times at the end of Friday by just 0.041s; the duo separated by just over a tenth but half-a-second clear of their nearest rivals.

Steven Odendaal (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team) finished in second 0.041s behind his main rival, Dominique Aegerter

Spanish rider Manuel Gonzalez (Yamaha ParkinGo Team) put in a strong last lap at the end of the disrupted Free Practice 2 session to slot into third place as he goes in search for his first WorldSSP podium at the venue he made his Moto2 debut at a few weeks ago. Philipp Oettl (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) claimed fourth place on his Kawasaki ZX-6R, the only rider to not improve in the afternoon Free Practice 2 session.

Philipp Oettl (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) ended Friday in fourth place, being the only rider not improving his morning lap time.

WorldSSP Friday Combined Times

Pos No. Rider Bike……………………… Time/Gap
1 D. Aegerter Yamaha YZF R6 1m37.274
2 S. Odendaal Yamaha YZF R6 +0.041
3 M. Gonzalez Yamaha YZF R6 +0.550
4 P. Oettl Kawasaki ZX-6R +0.711
5 R. Krummenacher Yamaha YZF R6 +0.883
6 J. Cluzel Yamaha YZF R6 +0.910
7 C. Oncu Kawasaki ZX-6R +0.991
8 H. Soomer Yamaha YZF R6 +1.050
9 N. Tuuli MV Agusta F3 675 +1.067
10 K. Manfredi Yamaha YZF R6 +1.255
11 F. Caricasulo Yamaha YZF R6 +1.284
12 R. De Rosa Kawasaki ZX-6R +1.420
13 M. Casadei Yamaha YZF R6 +1.573
14 L. Bernardi Yamaha YZF R6 +1.577
15 M. Fabrizio Kawasaki ZX-6R +1.693
16 S. Morais Yamaha YZF R6 +1.804
17 P. Sebestyen Yamaha YZF R6 +1.861
18 D. Webb Yamaha YZF R6 +2.029
19 V. Takala Yamaha YZF R6 +2.056
20 L. Taccini Kawasaki ZX-6R +2.155
21 G. Hendra Pratama Yamaha YZF R6 +2.257
22 M. Alcoba Yamaha YZF R6 +2.291
23 E. Lahti Suzuki GSX-R600 +2.506
24 F. Fuligni Yamaha YZF R6 +2.719
25 P. Szkopek Yamaha YZF R6 +2.986
26 M. Herrera Yamaha YZF R6 +3.040
27 S. Frossard Yamaha YZF R6 +3.273
28 S. Kawasaki Kawasaki ZX-6R +3.862
29 L. Montella Yamaha YZF R6 +4.508
30 E. Montero Huerta Yamaha YZF R6 +4.938

WorldSSP Standings

Pos Rider Points
 1  Dominique Aegerter  119
 2  Steven Odendaal  102
 3  Luca Bernardi  82
 4  Philipp Oettl  72
 5  Jules Cluzel  65
 6  Manuel Gonzalez  64
 7  Hannes Soomer  47
 8  Raffaele De Rosa  46
 9  Randy Krummenacher  35
 10  Christoffer Bergman  34
 11  Federico Caricasulo  31
 12  Marc Alcoba  26
 13  Can Alexander Oncu  25
 14  Niki Tuuli  20
 15  Vertti Takala  13
 16  Kevin Manfredi  13
 17  Galang Hendra Pratama  12
 18  Maria Herrera  7
 19  Filippo Fuligni  6
 20  Roberto Mercandelli  5
 21  Massimo Roccoli  4
 22  Matteo Patacca  3
 23  Stephane Frossard  3
 24  Michel Fabrizio  2
 25  Luca Ottaviani  1
 26  Leonardo Taccini  1
 27  Davide Pizzoli  1
 28  Pawel Szkopek  1

WorldSSP300

Home hero Victor Steeman (Freudenberg KTM WorldSSP Team) topped the timesheets in the FIM Supersport 300 World Championship ahead of his home round, running three tenths clear of his nearest rival.

Home hero Steeman claims Friday honours with lap record pace in WorldSSP300 at Assen

Steeman posted a lap time of 1’48.710s in the 30-minute Free Practice 2 session, with the Dutch rider one of only two riders to lap in the 1’48s bracket. He was joined by Bahattin Sofuoglu (Biblion Yamaha Motoxracing) in that bracket, with the pair separated by almost three tenths after the day’s running. Dutchman Koen Meuffels (MTM Kawasaki) completed the top three.

Bahattin Sofuoglu (Biblion Yamaha Motoxracing) and Dutchman Koen Meuffels (MTM Kawasaki) completed the top three.

WorldSSP300 has a reputation for being a close and competitive class and the start of the Dutch Round has proved no exception ahead of racing, with Ana Carrasco (Kawasaki Provec WorldSSP300) in fourth; the 2018 WorldSSP300 Champion less than a tenth away from a place in the top three. British rider Tom Booth-Amos (Fusport – RT Motorsports by SKM – Kawasaki) claimed fifth place, ahead of Samuel Di Sora (Leader Team Flembbo) in sixth; the French rider had topped Free Practice 1 in the morning in the Netherlands.

Reigning Champion and home hero Jeffrey Buis (MTM Kawasaki) missed out on a spot inside the top ten by just 0.021s.

Young Aussie Harry Khouri was back on track after hand surgery and managed P34 in what is a busy 43-rider field.

WorldSSP300 Friday Combined Times

Pos No. Rider Bike…………………………… Time/Gap
1 V. Steeman KTM RC 390 R 1m48.710
2 B. Sofuoglu Yamaha YZF-R3 +0.284
3 K. Meuffels Kawasaki Ninja 400 +0.405
4 A. Carrasco Kawasaki Ninja 400 +0.442
5 T. Booth-Amos Kawasaki Ninja 400 +0.513
6 S. Di Sora Kawasaki Ninja 400 +0.569
7 B. Ieraci Yamaha YZF-R3 +0.604
8 U. Orradre Yamaha YZF-R3 +0.676
9 A. Huertas Kawasaki Ninja 400 +0.709
10 V. Rodriguez Nunez Kawasaki Ninja 400 +0.711
11 J. Buis Kawasaki Ninja 400 +0.732
12 Y. Okaya Kawasaki Ninja 400 +0.761
13 O. Konig Kawasaki Ninja 400 +0.850
14 H. De Cancellis Kawasaki Ninja 400 +0.855
15 M. Gennai Yamaha YZF-R3 +0.915
16 M. Kawakami Yamaha YZF-R3 +1.048
17 J. Gimbert Kawasaki Ninja 400 +1.109
18 K. Sabatucci Yamaha YZF-R3 +1.139
19 R. Bijman Yamaha YZF-R3 +1.181
20 I.  Iglesias Kawasaki Ninja 400 +1.204
21 T. Kawakami Yamaha YZF-R3 +1.218
22 T. Brianti Kawasaki Ninja 400 +1.218
23 D. Loureiro Kawasaki Ninja 400 +1.327
24 C. Stange Kawasaki Ninja 400 +1.378
25 A. Zanca Kawasaki Ninja 400 +1.401
26 G. Mastroluca Yamaha YZF-R3 +1.530
27 P. Svoboda Yamaha YZF-R3 +1.590
28 M. Gaggi Yamaha YZF-R3 +1.615
29 S. Markarian Kawasaki Ninja 400 +1.807
30 T. Molenaar KTM RC 390 R +1.876
31 V. Perez Selfa Yamaha YZF-R3 +1.890
32 A. Carrion Kawasaki Ninja 400 +1.932
33 J. Perez Gonzalez Kawasaki Ninja 400 +2.163
34 H. Khouri Kawasaki Ninja 400 +2.188
35 S. Doornenbal KTM RC 390 R +2.286
36 T. Smits Yamaha YZF-R3 +2.335
37 F. Palazzi Yamaha YZF-R3 +2.484
38 A. Coppola Yamaha YZF-R3 +2.686
39 A. Frappola Kawasaki Ninja 400 +3.179
40 I.  Offer Kawasaki Ninja 400 +4.067
41 J. Mcmanus Kawasaki Ninja 400 +4.124
42 M. Duarte Yamaha YZF-R3 +4.459
43 J. Romero Kawasaki Ninja 400 +5.358

WorldSSP300 Championship Standings

Pos Rider Points
 1  Adrian Huertas  72
 2  Tom Booth-Amos  65
 3  Ana Carrasco  42
 4  Yuta Okaya  42
 5  Meikon Kawakami  37
 6  Samuel Di Sora  35
 7  Unai Orradre  33
 8  Hugo De Cancellis  29
 9  Jeffrey Buis  23
 10  Ton Kawakami  23
 11  Bruno Ieraci  21
 12  Dorren Loureiro  17
 13  Koen Meuffels  17
 14  Gabriele Mastroluca  13
 15  Bahattin Sofuoglu  10
 16  Mirko Gennai  10
 17  Filippo Maria Palazzi  10
 18  Vicente Perez Selfa  9
 19  Victor Steeman  9
 20  Oliver Konig  8
 21  Jose Luis Perez Gonzalez  8
 22  Harry Khouri  7
 23  Marc Garcia  7
 24  Victor Rodriguez Nunez  6
 25  Thomas Brianti  2
 26  Alex Millan Gomez  2
 27  Inigo Iglesias  2
 28  Ruben Bijman  1

Source: MCNews.com.au

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WorldSBK rolls into the Cathedral of Speed | Assen

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2021 WorldSBK Round Five
TT Circuit Assen – Prosecco DOC Dutch Round

After visiting Donington early this month, this weekend the Motul FIM Superbike World Championship now moves to the Netherlands for round five at the historic TT Circuit Assen.

WSBK Rnd Assen Sun Michael van der Mark
WorldSBK at Assen

The Assen venue has been a part of WorldSBK ever since 1992 and despite missing out in 2020 after the pandemic took hold, it’s back in emphatic style for 2021. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK) leads Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) by just two-points in what is a huge title scrap; but will the pendulum swing once again this weekend?

Three wins in the last four races, nine podium finishes from the opening 12 and finishing every single race inside the top six, Toprak Razgatlioglu is in the form of his life. The 24-year-old Turk has found consistency that has seen him leap ahead in the Championship standings. Assen is a circuit where Toprak took his first Superstock 1000 win back in 2017, whilst in WorldSBK, his record reads three ninth place finishes and a tenth – not spectacular but Toprak is a different rider in comparison to just two years ago.

Toprak Razgatlıoğlu

“I like the Assen track, but it feels like it has been many years now since I have ridden it! So this year it will feel new maybe, and also it will be new for me with the Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK team as I have never ridden the R1 here. It was disappointing to miss it last year due to coronavirus, but now we can return. I liked the circuit in the past, but like I said, I never rode so far with the R1. But also Donington was the same and it was no problem! I think I will be able to fight again for a good position, and the aim is always to fight for the win, but we will see. I like Holland as a country and we will try for our best position as always, and see what is possible during the races.”

Toprak Razgatlioglu

The last time Jonathan Rea came to Assen, he was also trailing in the Championship – although that was by 39-points to Alvaro Bautista and Ducati. With 12 victories, he is level on Assen wins with the legendary Carl Fogarty, both British aces being maestros around the legendary Dutch venue.

Jonathan Rea

“I am really happy to be returning to Assen after its absence last year. It is a really unique layout, a high speed circuit with fast corners and quick changes of direction. I never got to ride the ‘real’ old Assen but the modified version is, for me, incredible. One of the nicest and most flowing circuits on the calendar. I have great memories there and the fact that there will be lots of fans is a huge bonus because Assen and the fans go together perfectly! I had some nice battles there in 2019 and I am looking forward to more this year. I hope we can capitalise on it being a good circuit for me and the bike. The target is to win but we need to work smartly and calmly to put us in the best possible shape to compete come the races.”

Jonathan Rea

After a podium at home and a solid performance at Donington Park, Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) heads to Assen, the only circuit he’s taken a pole at – hoping to conjure something special up and be in the victory fight.

Alex Lowes

“Assen is a fantastic track and one of my favourites on the calendar. Speaking as a British bike racing fan, we’ve always had a close affiliation with the Dutch circuit. My first experiences of it were from my time in BSB. It is also a place I claimed my first WorldSBK podium at in 2014. As we didn’t race there last year this will be my first experience of Assen on the Ninja ZX-10RR. The target for this weekend is to fight for the podium – and have a lot of fun doing it with my ‘Team 22’ Kawasaki Racing Team crew.”

Heading into the round in fine form are the BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team of Tom Sykes and Michael van der Mark, with the latter at home and ready to put on a show in front of the Dutch fans. Van der Mark has an impressive seven podiums at Assen and on the last visit, he beat Jonathan Rea to second in a final run to the line to give the home crowd what they wanted. After achieving a first podium with BMW at Donington Park, will he go one step further than his last Assen appearance?

Michael van der Mark

“Assen is a special race for me, my home race, and I missed it last year. It definitely is one of my favourite tracks, also because I really enjoy the fast and flowing bits. Especially the last part of the circuit is great; it’s fast and flowing and with the last chicane there is always really nice action there. We are making steady progress with our BMW M 1000 RR and at Donington we had a really good weekend with both of our BMWs with finishing on the podium in the Superpole race and Tom also reaching the podium in race two. We now want to continue this progress and of course it would be really nice to even do a bit more at my home race. It is also fantastic that we will have fans at the grandstands for my home round. I am really looking forward to it.”

Michael van der Mark and Tom Sykes

For Sykes, he’s aiming to make it three consecutive podiums in 2021 at a track he took his last win at three years ago; will the BMWs once again be a prominent feature at the head of the field?

Tom Sykes

“Obviously I am very much looking forward to Assen. On the back of some strong results for the whole BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team at Donington I am going to Assen trying to keep that momentum going. We have certainly found some improvements with the new BMW M 1000 RR and Assen to me is a circuit I really enjoy. It’s a very exciting track and my target would be to get back on the podium. That’s what I am aiming for and for my team-mate Michael, it’s his home race, so he will be pushing for something extra. Overall I think we have all ingredients to try to make it a successful weekend again. It will also be a pleasure to see fans on the grandstands again after they already cheered us at Donington so I am looking forward to that as well.”

The dark days of Donington Park are behind Ducati as they head to Assen, with Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) some 66 points behind Razgatlioglu in the title race. No podium in seven races, this is Redding’s worst run since joining WorldSBK last year. Two Moto2 podiums in 2012 and 2013, third place in the 2016 MotoGP event, and two wins from the British championship in 2019, Assen may be the turning point Redding needs.

Scott Redding

“I’m ready to race on a circuit that has given me great emotions in the past. The TT is a circuit with a great history where I have always enjoyed racing. For the first time in almost two years, we’ll have the chance to race in front of a large crowd and this will be a great boost for me. I have many friends here and I consider this round a sort of “Home-GP”. I can’t wait to get on track on Friday“.

Scott Redding

On the other side of the garage is Michael Ruben Rinaldi who, after two victories at Misano, wasn’t in contention at Donington Park.

Michael Rinaldi

“I’m happy to arrive in Assen, it is a circuit I really like. I have a great desire to redeem the weekend at Donington, which was not a positive one. We’ve made progress in the last few months, we’ve found our speed but the English circuit has highlighted our weaknesses. In Holland we must find the confidence we had in Misano. I am sure that this is a favorable track both for me and for the characteristics of the bike.”

It was a mixed bag for Honda at Donington Park, with Leon Haslam (Team HRC) riding exceptionally well to get his best result of the year with fourth in the Tissot Superpole Race, whilst Alvaro Bautista (Team HRC) never truly got going. Bautista won the most recent two races at Assen in WorldSBK with a dominant double in 2019.

Alvaro Bautista

“We’re ready to go again after a couple of weeks down time. I’ve spent some time at the beach with my wife and kids and I’ve also kept up with my training to be ready for this second part of the season of course. It’s going to be intense because we now have quite a few races coming very close together. So we need to be as prepared as possible. I really like the Assen track anyway and can’t wait to get back on my bike after the break. We collected a lot of data last time out at Donington and hopefully this means we can start with a stronger base this weekend and work hard to take some more steps forward.”

Haslam has taken wins at the circuit in the British championship, as well as three podiums in WorldSBK at the track – two of which came on the Stiggy Honda in 2009 when he was battling for victory with Ben Spies and Noriyuki Haga. With some time to recharge and reset, expect Team HRC to be more towards the sharp end at Assen.

Leon Haslam

“I’m looking forward to going to Assen, a circuit where I’ve had some great results and podiums on almost every bike I’ve ridden there in the past. An historic track, it’s a bit like Phillip Island in some ways, and it’s always been one of my favourites. I have some great memories of the place too, like the double podium back in 2009 with the Stiggy Honda team. So I think the Honda will go well there and I’m looking forward to getting back to work, confident we can build on our recent results at Donington.”

Leon Haslam

Onto the Independent riders and it is Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) who leads the way after a fine second place in Race 2 at Donington Park – his best result in a full-distance race. Assen is also a track that he now at least knows following his solid substitute ride in the Dutch MotoGP. He’s sixth in the standings and 24 points from third overall.

Garrett Gerloff

Chaz Davies (Team GoEleven) is next best Independent in ninth overall at a circuit of which he’s had podiums but never won at. Fellow Ducati rider Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) has been a revelation in recent events and is continuing to improve.

Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) is the next Independent in 14th, as he also continues to improve each round, particularly in Superpole, whilst Tito Rabat (Barni Racing Team) is 15th.

Hoping to be fighting back is Kohta Nozane (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team), after he was declared unfit after FP1 of Donington Park due to the finger fracture he sustained in testing at Navarra.

Eugene Laverty

Eugene Laverty (RC Squadra Corse) is next on the BMW M 1000 RR, a past race winner at Assen in 2013, whilst Jonas Folger (Bonovo MGM Racing) and Isaac Viñales (ORELAC Racing VerdNatura) make their WorldSBK debuts at Assen.

Christophe Ponsson (Alstare Yamaha) will hope that he can find form on a circuit he knows, whereas Loris Cresson (OUTDO TPR Team Pedercini Racing) and the returning Leandro Mercado (MIE Racing Honda Team) aim to score their first points of 2021.

2021 Prosecco DOC Dutch Round Schedule

Source: MCNews.com.au

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Full Sunday wrap up from WorldSBK at Misano | All Classes

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2021 FIM Superbike World Championship
Round Three – Misano – Sunday

Superpole Race

Toprak Razgatlioglu took the holeshot from P2 on the grid to take the early lead in Sunday’s Superpole Race from Jonathan Rea and the Ducati duo of Michael Rinaldi and Scott Redding.

Rinaldi, Razgatlioglu, Redding and Rea

Rinaldi didn’t take long to squeeze past Jonathan Rea and then took the lead from the Turk on lap six. From there Rinaldi took control on the short ten-lap encounter to make it back-to-back victories.

Razgatlioglu was second while Rea rounded out the podium ahead of Redding and Lowes while Ducati mounted privateer Axel Bassani scored a brilliant sixth.

Superbike Race Two

The start was a precursor of what was to come throughout the 21-lap race as Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) moved to the front after he took advantage of Razgatlioglu’s aggressive move on Rinaldi on the opening lap, ducking down the inside the pair of them at Turn 4. Rinaldi was able to recover to pass Turkish sensation Razgatlioglu.

WorldSBK 2021 Misano

Rinaldi soon made his move on Rea to take the lead of the race before a slight mistake from the Italian allowed Rea to respond; although Rinaldi was able to take the lead a lap later. Razgatlioglu made his move on Rea at Turn 8 to move into second place and soon set his sights on Rinaldi in search of his first victory of the 2021 campaign.

WorldSBK 2021 Misano

Rinaldi was unable to pull a gap out to Razgatlioglu with the Turkish rider keeping the pressure on the two-time race winner in 2021, before Razgatlioglu caught Rinaldi by surprise at Turn 14 on Lap 8 to take the lead, instantly pulling out a gap of around half-a-second before extending that to over a second at the start of Lap 1, with Rea able to put pressure on Rinaldi.

WorldSBK 2021 Misano

As Razgatlioglu continued out in front, Rea started to apply the pressure to Rinaldi with the Italian able to resist the six-time Champion and, as the laps counted down, Rinaldi started closing the gap to Razgatlioglu at the front as the trio broke away from Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati). The gap closed to around three tenths between the pair of them before Razgatlioglu once again extended the gap to claim his first victory of the season, with Rinaldi coming home in second ahead of Rea; closing the gap at the top of the standings to just 20 points. Razgatlioglu’s victory means Yamaha breaks a streak of 15 wins by Kawasaki or Ducati since Race 1 in 2014.

Rinaldi, Razgatlioglu, Rea, Redding

Redding came home in fourth place, the only time in his WorldSBK career that the British rider has not collected a podium finish, with Redding finishing ahead of Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) after the American recovered from a challenging weekend to claim a top five position after a late-race battle with Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK), who rounded out the top six.

Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) continued his impressive weekend on home soil with seventh place, his third top seven finish from Misano and the best weekend of his young WorldSBK career so far. Bassani and Alvaro Bautista (Team HRC) battled it out for seventh place with the Spanish rider finishing in eighth, finishing clear of Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK) and Michael van der Mark (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) who completed the top ten; all five manufacturers taking a top ten finish in Race 2.

Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) secured 11th place finish, bouncing back from a Tissot Superpole Race crash to finish ahead of Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team), with the British rider unable to convert a top ten start into a top ten finish, finishing ahead of Kohta Nozane (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team), Tito Rabat (Barni Racing Team) and Eugene Laverty (RC Squadra Corse); the Irish rider securing a points finish in Race 2 after missing out on Saturday’s action after a Free Practice 3 crash.

German rider Jonas Folger (Bonovo MGM Action) finished just outside the points after a wide moment through Turn 4 in the latter stages of the race, but he was able to finish ahead of Isaac Viñales (Orelac Racing VerdNatura), Samuele Cavalieri (TPR Team Pedercini Racing) and teammate Loris Cresson rounding out the classified runners.

Leon Haslam (Team HRC) was the first retirement of the race when he crashed on his Honda machine at Turn 2 in the early stages of Lap 4, while Chaz Davies (Team GoEleven) retired for the third race at Misano with a technical issue.

2021 WorldSBK at Misano – Superbike Race Two
1. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK)
2. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +1.286s
3. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +2.987s

WorldSBK Quotes

Michael Rinaldi

“I’m very happy with this weekend: we just missed the icing on the cake. But I must admit that in Race 2 Toprak and the Yamaha were better than us and that’s why I want to congratulate them. I gave my best trying to chase the victory but in the last laps, I took a high risk and then  I decided to bring home this very important second place. It’s a very important step forward”.

Michael Rinaldi
Scott Redding

“It was a very difficult weekend for me. Today we were able to improve a little bit the feeling with the bike compared to yesterday but it was not enough to be able to reach the podium. Honestly, in the first laps of the Superpole Race, I thought I could fight with Jonny (Rea) in an incisive way, while in Race-2 I felt I had no grip with the front tire. The season, however, is still long and I hope to be much more competitive in Donington”.

Jonathan Rea

“In the second race I went with the ‘C’ rear tyre, the harder option, that I used in Estoril. With the temperature going up on the shoulder of the tyre I was missing a little bit of stability. Then from there I sacrificed a little bit of edge grip. I knew in the beginning I was maybe going to also sacrifice a little bit of turning but as the race went on I felt like I could still keep my brake performance, which I could. I could be in there and fighting to be there, but Toprak had a great rhythm. I was there or thereabouts, fighting like hell. I can’t even remember the short race! I was there at the front for three or four laps but after the warning of a front end slide yesterday I just had to accept my position. Congratulations to Toprak and Michael they had awesome races. I went all-in in Race Two and had some warning but was able to back-it off a little bit and consolidate a podium.”

Jonathan Rea
Alex Lowes

“This weekend we struggled in the hotter conditions to really find the feeling we wanted. In the Superpole Race I felt a little bit better so we made a change for the second race, with the balance of the bike a bit more forward. I thought that after this morning’s experience that was going to be better. But it looks like when the track temperature arrived above 50°C I was really struggling to carry corner speed after maybe six or seven laps. It was a shame because after 12 or 13 laps I could see Garrett Gerloff catching me and I had no chance to battle with him. Misano, in these hot sunny conditions, is a special place. I feel a lot better prepared now for other tracks if we have hot temperatures, as we have more experience on the Kawasaki.”  

Toprak Razgatlıoğlu

“I am really happy, because this weekend we worked really hard to make a good bike. Two races, second position in both – I say, ok, last race, now I need to win! Because too much second, second, second, second, I need the first win! I’m so happy this afternoon because I just ride without stress, I enjoyed it – but it’s also important to have a good bike and my team have made a great job this weekend and yeah, we did it! I am not looking at the championship points, because this makes me feel really stressed! For the first time I am close to Jonathan and I am building step by step, but this year there are many races to come. This weekend has been very good motivation for Donington and I am normally strong there, so we will see.”

Andrea Locatelli

“We improved a little bit today but in the end I am not really happy because I lost too much grip on full lean angle, I tried to stay with Bassani and Bautista in Race 2 but it was not possible. In general, we improved during the weekend but maybe we lost too much time on Friday and we could not understand the best way to improve. But we will see now we have two days of testing in Navarra to learn the new track and also continue to work for the next races. For sure, we will not stop and make sure that we arrive ready for the next round of the championship. Toprak’s win was very nice! I am really happy for him, he’s a very nice guy and he works a lot for it and it is a fantastic result for the team.”

Michael van der Mark

“I think we should not be really happy with this result. In this morning’s Superpole race I made a mistake by myself. I entered T1 way too quick and then I lost it. It was a shame because we tried something on the bike and we didn’t know if it was better or not. In race two, I had a not so great start. I had problems at the start and then I gained some positions back but unfortunately we can be really consistent but we are just too slow. It’s difficult, but it is like this now. Soon we will be testing and hopefully we find some solutions.”

Tom Sykes

“To be honest, it was a difficult day. After the Superpole race we had quite a good feeling actually but we were missing in some areas and only really could finish in the top-seven, which for me is not acceptable. So we tried something with the bike for the big race, but unfortunately that was not working out. At least we got a lot of information out of it. It was a difficult race for me and we learned a lot on the back of it now, so we keep working now. After another test we are going for the next round to Donington. I would like to think we’ve got the package to fight for the race there. We need to get on top of the little issues which we have got, so we hope for another step forward with the BMW M 1000 RR. For now there will be a disappointing end of the weekend here at Misano, but we pick ourselves up and try to move on.”

Tom Sykes
Eugene Laverty

“The important thing is to get back on the horse and that is all today was. I am a racer and when I feel that I can ride the bike and score one point then I feel I owe it to my team and to BMW. So to score one point makes it worth it for me. Today, I was physically far from 100 per cent but I am happy that I raced because this is the important thing, to get back on and then recover next week and be ready to come back 100 per cent strong again.”

Jonas Folger

“Race two was our best result here at Misano, at least as far as our speed is concerned. We felt the heat and the tyre really heated up nicely. After this morning, we changed the transmission ratio a little which improved things. I was running really well in the first half of the race and managed to catch Tom Sykes. However, my front tyre then gave up on me and I had three slides, which I was able to save. The fourth time, braking into turn 4, I had a highsider that I only just managed to save that resulted in me going through the gravel and I lost positions. It was a shame that we missed out on the points as a result of that. However, our speed was better and we will take the positives with us, even though it was a tough weekend.”

Jonas Folger
Alvaro Bautista

“Today was tougher than yesterday because in the Superpole race we had a problem with the set-up that affected our whole race, in that I couldn’t lap as fast as I did yesterday. Finishing outside the top nine also dropped us back on the grid for Race 2. I’m sorry because it was a small mistake, but it prevented us from performing well. In Race 2 I was able to make a good start and gain a lot of positions but, on a more slippery track and considering the braking and corner entry problems we’ve been having all weekend, I struggled more than yesterday. In the end I think eighth was the best possible result today. We have work to do, we know that, but we’ll get it done. I just want to thank HRC and the team as everyone’s working hard on this project. We will be back on track soon for some testing at Navarra and it will be very important to understand the track, one where we’ve never ridden of course, but also continue to work on the bike using the data we have collected this weekend”.

Alvaro Bautista
Leon Haslam

“Obviously the last race was a bit of a disaster as I lost the front in turn one, ran onto the green to try and save it but ultimately crashed. We have struggled with a few issues throughout the whole weekend, things we’ve been carrying since the first race actually. It’s a little strange as I’ve felt very positive during all the tests we have done. So yes, it was a less than ideal weekend here in Misano but we will work together as a team to seek a solution. We have some tests in a few days’ time before my home race at Donington where I hope to arrive feeling more like I did at the beginning of the year”.

Leon Haslam

World Superbike Results / Standings

Source: MCNews.com.au

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Rinaldi wins WorldSBK Race One at Misano

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2021 FIM Superbike World Championship
Round Three – Misano – Friday

Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) claimed an emotional victory in front of fans in the Motul FIM Superbike World Championship to claim the second win of his career, and the first on the factory Ducati.

Michael Rinaldi took first blood at Misano

Rinaldi got a superb start as the lights went out to start the race, first passing Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK) as well as teammate Scott Redding, before sweeping around the outside of Turn 1 on reigning Champion Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK).

Race one gets underway

Rea tried to defend on the outside of the left-hander of Turn 2, which forced Rinaldi around the outside of the next corner but allowed Turkish star Razgatlioglu to take advantage to briefly take the lead of the race. Soon, Rinaldi made his move on Rea to take the lead but was unable to build up a gap.

Rinaldi resisted all pressure from the six-time World Champion Rea in the first ten laps of the race, with the gap fluctuating up to a maximum of half-a-second but with Rea not able to even consider making a move on the race leader. It was a similar story throughout as the two riders looked to apply pressure to each other.

The pressure would eventually pay off for Rinaldi when Rea made a rare mistake at Turn 1, having to save a massive slide on his ZX-10RR; Rea was able to stay on his machine but lost time to Rinaldi as well as second place to Razgatlioglu, the pair around four seconds behind home hero Rinaldi. It meant Rinaldi became the first Italian winner at Misano since Marco Melandri in 2017. Rea’s podium meant he claimed his 150th podium with Kawasaki, while it was Kawasaki’s 350th race on the podium.

Jonathan Rea

It meant the podium would finish with Rinaldi claiming a maiden factory Ducati victory after a difficult start to the 2021 season with his new team, with Razgatlioglu and Rea completing the podium. Redding, who initially tried to grab the lead in the opening corners of the race, was not close enough to Rea to take advantage of his error.

2021 WorldSBK Misano Race 1
1. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
2. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK) +3.657s
3. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +5.104s

Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) claimed fifth place on his Kawasaki ZX-10RR, just finishing ahead of Team HRC’s Alvaro Bautista after the Spanish rider showed strong pace throughout the weekend. Less than a second behind was rookie and the youngest rider on the grid, Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing), with Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) in eighth. Bautista, Sykes and Bassani engaged in a titanic three-way battle for sixth place, with Sykes holding on until the penultimate lap of the race.

Alex Lowes and Tom Sykes

Italian rider Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK) claimed a ninth-place finish after a quiet but solid race battling his way up the order, finishing ahead of the rider he replaced at Pata Yamaha as Michael van der Mark (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) completed the top ten.

After a strong Tissot Superpole session, Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) came home in 11th place while Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) battled from the pitlane, starting there after being sanctioned for a crash with Rinaldi at Estoril, to finish in 12th place. Kohta Nozane (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) and Leon Haslam (Team HRC) engaged in a battle for the majority of the second half of the race, with the Japanese rookie coming out on top in that battle; Nozane finishing 13th and Haslam 14th. Tito Rabat (Barni Racing Team) completed the points paying positions with 15th. Haslam and Gerloff were the only two riders to use the standard SCX tyre provided by Pirelli, with the other 19 opting to use the development SCX solution for Race 1.

Jonas Folger (Bonovo MGM Action) just missed out on a points finish at Misano, finishing just 0.161s behind Rabat in 16th place, with Isaac Viñales (Orelac Racing VerdNatura) in 17th place, nine seconds behind Folger. Frenchman Christophe Ponsson (Alstare Yamaha) was 18th with TPR Team Pedercini Racing duo Samuele Cavalieri and Loris Cresson rounding out the classified finishers. Chaz Davies (Team GoEleven) had been running in the top ten when he had a crash at Turn 4 at the Italian venue, meaning the British rider was unable to re-join the race.

Race One Quotes

Michael Rinaldi – P1

“Winning the home grand prix is a unique emotion. Today it was even more exciting due to the fans back on the stand after a long time: they are always able to give an extra motivation. The race was long and difficult and I tried to find my pace.  Then Rea’s mistake while I was pushing hard allowed me to have less pressure. The smell of victory made the last two laps incredible for me. Now, however, maximum concentration on the two races tomorrow.”

Toprak Razgatlıoğlu -P2

“A good qualifying lap today, I started in second position and also finished in second position – but I am not fully happy with this race, because in the first laps I had too much sliding on corner entry with the rear tyre. I tried to stay with Jonathan and Rinaldi but it was not possible, because I was then fighting with Redding. But, I guess to finish P2 I can be happy as well because we take good points for the championship. Tomorrow, maybe I will try some changes to the set-up for the race because we need some improvement – Rinaldi is very fast – and we want to fight for the win. We need good points and position from the Superpole Race, and most important to be fighting for the win in the second race. We will try!”

Jonathan Rea – P3

“Saving a possible crash was more lucky than anything. I chose the new front tyre for this race. I used it in Superpole and felt quite good but we did not have a lot of information after ten laps in all. It seems like the temperature, especially in the race, meant I cooked the tyre too much. It started moving quite a lot. When I rejoined the track and had a gap up to Toprak it felt better, not perfect, but better. So tomorrow we need to revisit things to see if we can be fast with our ‘normal’ front tyre. The new one brought some confidence on the brakes but we need to be able to fight at the end of the race. My pace was still OK for the last laps but the moment I had in Turn One disturbed my rhythm and let Michael get away. He did fantastic today and the pace at the front was really good. I think tomorrow we can make a small step with the bike because I learned a lot from Michael and Toprak in Race One. Tomorrow we should be better prepared.”

Scott Redding – P4

“It was a very difficult race for me right from the start. The feeling with the bike was not ideal and I had to take a lot of risks to push in an attempt to stay with the leading group. At a certain point I preferred to think about taking some points rather than making a mistake. For tomorrow we definitely need to find more grip. We will work this evening with the team to understand which is the best direction to take”.  

Alex Lowes – P5

“I was a lot worse than I expected today. In the practices I thought, ‘I feel good,’. I set lots of good laps and changed the bike a little bit on the front. In the race I didn’t have the feel I needed and from the first laps I was struggling with releasing the brake and carrying some corner speed. The front was moving a lot. I had a couple of warnings so I did not have the confidence to push like I expected. It was a shame because I hoped to be a bit faster but this was my first time racing here on the Kawasaki and obviously the temperatures came up for the race too. So we have good information for tomorrow.”

Alvaro Bautista – P6

“Sixth is our best result so far this season, but it’s not what we’re aiming for of course. We struggled a lot in this morning’s FP3 and my feeling wasn’t good, especially in braking. We made some changes for the qualifying session, in order to find more stability. We improved a little and although the feeling wasn’t perfect, I could ride more comfortably. It was funny because after having my best lap at Estoril cancelled due to a yellow flag, the exact same thing happened today with my first qualifying tyre, when Gerloff crashed. Luckily, we now have a second tyre available and so I could do a decent lap, trying not to go over the limit. Starting from the third row of the grid was good because we were in a position to stick closer to the front, and our pace was good. But when I’m battling with other riders it’s difficult to change my line and it’s tough to overtake. Anyway, all in all it’s been a positive day. We collected a lot of data and made some changes to the set-up that we must analyse and then see if we can build on this to improve further tomorrow”.

Tom Sykes – P8

“We got a bad start to the race today and it definitely didn’t help our track position. We are very strong in some areas of the track but with our package we still lose in the area where I normally could gain the most on people. I saw that Alvaro Bautista was coming strong in race one and I changed my way of riding while still maintaining a respectable lap time and just kept the door closed as long as I could but eventually he managed to get through and pushed me a little wide. I tried to cut back on him which was not achievable and as a result lost a further spot to Bassani. We didn’t get what we hoped for today, but overall I feel we are improving our race performance and obviously we will go back to the drawing board tonight with a slightly different set up for tomorrow.”

Andrea Locatelli – P9

“Strange race weekend for me so far here in Misano, because the feeling yesterday was not so good – I lost some time yesterday in trying to understand the bike and the best set-up – and today it was better but also not easy. We tried to make the best result, but I am not really happy. We will try to improve for sure for tomorrow on the set-up of the bike, the feeling is already better and I think we can do more. Every race I need a little bit more time to understand the bike and also to take more confidence. In the end we will try to make a good result tomorrow, we will see. Tonight we will take time to look at the data and look at the right direction to take, but I am confident for tomorrow.”

Michael Van der Mark – P10

“I’m not really happy with the result. In this morning’s FP3, we made a good step forward but unfortunately I did not feel as good in qualifying. So it was P13 on the grid. I had an okay start, but I especially struggled with the front. To be honest I was just riding around with a too slow pace. Now we have to sort out some problems; so we have a lot of work to do for tomorrow.”

Garrett Gerloff – P12

“The race was definitely better than qualifying. My Superpole session was indeed quite bad as I crashed and wasn’t able to continue before even setting a lap time. Anyway, it was good to switch into race mode and, even though I had to start from pit lane, it was good to complete all the laps and collect a lot of information for tomorrow. We will use this data to try to set up the bike a bit better. Overall, I am happy that I could keep it on two wheels, make some passes and collect some points, but I am definitely looking for more. I am ready for tomorrow.”

Kohta Nozane – P13

“In the Superpole I could improve my fastest time. I wanted to go even faster but I just couldn’t. The final result is decent, but I feel more and more confident with my riding, with the new bike and with the team compared to the previous races in Aragón and Estoril. In the early stages of the race I could battle with Michael (Van der Mark) but towards the end I dropped back and couldn’t keep up with him. On the other hand, though, I could fight with Haslam – he would overtake me but I could always pass him back. This was a great step forward for me and it is the biggest positive I take away from today. Tomorrow there will be two more races: I will try to aim higher and do my best.”

Leon Haslam – P14

“For me it was a very difficult race. I made a good start but in the second sector of the track I came together with another rider and fell a long way back. I then made a little bit of headway but after a few laps we had an issue with a sensor and after this it was just really tough, as we were losing nearly one second every lap. In the end we finished the race with just two points, which is obviously frustrating, but tomorrow things will hopefully go better, and we will be able to score a better result”.

WorldSBK Race One

Pos Rider Bike Time/Gap
1 M. Rinaldi Ducati /
2 T. Razgatlioglu Yamaha +3.657
3 J.  Rea Kawasaki +5.104
4 S. Redding Ducati +10.247
5 A. Lowes Kawasaki +13.474
6 A. Bautista Honda +14.766
7 A. Bassani Ducati +15.587
8 T. Sykes BMW +16.694
9 A. Locatelli Yamaha +23.612
10 M. Van Der Mark BMW +28.364
11 L.  Mahias Kawasaki +28.699
12 G. Gerloff Yamaha +31.757
13 K. Nozane Yamaha +35.395
14 L.  Haslam Honda +35.603
15 T. Rabat Ducati +38.211
16 J.  Folger BMW +38.372
17 I.  Vinales Kawasaki +47.720
18 C. Ponsson Yamaha +1m06.736
19 S. Cavalieri Kawasaki +1m11.668
20 L.  Cresson Kawasaki +1m14.491
Not Classified
NC 7 C. Davies Ducati 7 Laps

WorldSBK Superpole

Pos Rider Bike Time/Gap
1 J.  Rea Kawasaki 1m33.416
2 T. Razgatlioglu Yamaha +0.099
3 S. Redding Ducati +0.118
4 M. Rinaldi Ducati +0.262
5 T. Sykes BMW +0.444
6 A. Lowes Kawasaki +0.481
7 L.  Mahias Kawasaki +0.508
8 A. Bassani Ducati +0.596
9 A. Bautista Honda +0.801
10  C. Davies Ducati +1.037
11 A. Locatelli Yamaha +1.048
12 L.  Haslam Honda +1.104
13 M. Van Der Mark BMW +1.258
14 K. Nozane Yamaha +1.261
15 J.  Folger BMW +1.476
16 T. Rabat Ducati +1.740
17 I.  Vinales Kawasaki +2.206
18 C. Ponsson Yamaha +2.493
19 S. Cavalieri Kawasaki +3.049
20 L.  Cresson Kawasaki +4.949
Not Qualified
NQ G. Gerloff Yamaha /
NQ E. Laverty BMW /

WorldSBK Championship Points

Pos Rider Points
 1 Jonathan Rea  126
 2 Toprak Razgatlioglu  95
 3 Scott Redding  85
 4 Alex Lowes  73
 5 Michael Ruben Rinaldi  50
 6 Chaz Davies  48
 7 Garrett Gerloff  46
 8 Michael Van Der Mark  46
 9 Tom Sykes  44
 10 Andrea Locatelli  37
 11 Alvaro Bautista  35
 12 Axel Bassani  25
 13 Leon Haslam  18
 14 Lucas Mahias  17
 15 Tito Rabat  14
 16 Kohta Nozane  14
 17 Eugene Laverty  9
 18 Jonas Folger  8
 19 Isaac Vinales  7
 20 Christophe Ponsson  1

WorldSSP

It was a race full of tension, drama and excitement for the FIM Supersport World Championship at the Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli” as rookie Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) claimed his second victory in as many races and took the Championship lead at the Pirelli Made in Italy Emilia-Romagna Round.

WorldSSP gets underway at Misano

It was Aegerter who stole a march on his rivals at the start as he got a superb launch off the line, with the Swiss rider remaining at the front of the field after he secured pole position in the morning Tissot Superpole session. It was a complete contrast to Manuel Gonzalez (Yamaha ParkinGo Team) and Luca Bernardi (CM Racing), who joined Aegerter on the front row, with both losing ground at the start of the race.

Oettl

Steven Odendaal (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team) jumped up from the second row of the grid to second place and immediately put Estoril Race 2 winner Aegerter under pressure, although the Swiss rider was able to withstand that pressure in the early stages of the race.

Odendaal

Gonzalez found himself being forced wide by Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha) in the middle stages of the race as the Frenchman looked to move into the podium places, and although he was able to briefly jump up into third place, he found himself shifted down to fourth place by a resurgent Bernardi, who also took advantage of Gonzalez running wide to move up the order.

Bernardi, Cluzel and Gonzalez

Once Bernardi passed Cluzel, he set about closing down Odendaal for second place while Aegerter pulled a gap on the South African rider, with Aegerter able to make it back-to-back wins following his success at Race 2, while also claiming Yamaha’s 100th victory in WorldSSP. Bernardi was able to pass Odendaal on Lap 14 in the 18-lap to move into second place, with Aegerter his next target. Odendaal had other ideas, though, and kept the pressure on the Sammarinese rider although Bernardi was able to hold on for second place.

Aegerter celebrates victory

Cluzel had no answer to Bernardi’s pace while he also had to hold back Gonzalez who was looking to move back ahead of Cluzel, with the battle ongoing throughout the second half of the race; Cluzel just about holding on by just 0.031s on a race to the line coming out of the final corner.

WorldSSP Misano 2021 Race One
1. Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha)
2. Luca Bernardi (CM Racing) +1.064s
3. Steven Odendaal (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team) +1.389s

Philipp Oettl (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) claimed a sixth place finish ahead of 2019 Champion Randy Krummenacher (EAB Racing Time) as the Swiss rider secured his best result of the 2021 season with seventh place, after working his way through the field and battling with Can Öncü (GMT94 Yamaha) with the Turkish rider taking his best result in 2021.

Finnish rider Niki Tuuli (MV Agusta Corse Clienti) finished in ninth place after battling back from two crashes in Tissot Superpole to secure a top ten finish, ahead of One Event rider Filippo Fuligni (D34G Racing) who rounded out the top ten after a strong one-off weekend for the Italian rider, although Roberto Mercandelli (Team Rosso e Nero) had crossed the line in tenth, he was demoted one place after the chequered flag after he exceeded track limits on the last lap; Mercandelli classified in 11th place.

Kevin Manfredi (Altogo Racing Team); Manfredi the highest place WorldSSP Challenge competitor in the field. Indonesia’s Galang Hendra Pratama (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) finished inside the points with 13th place, ahead of Finland’s Vertti Takala (Kallio Racing) and Leonardo Taccini (Orelac Racing VerdNatura) completing the points; Taccini claiming points in WorldSSP for the first time in his career.

Marc Alcoba (Yamaha MS Racing) had crossed the line in the points but was penalised for irresponsible riding with a four-position drop following a collision with Maria Herrera (Biblion Iberica Yamaha Motoxracing) at the final corner on the final lap; Alcoba classified in 16th place with Herrera forced to retire.

Luigi Montella (Chiodo Moto Racing) came home in 17th place, ahead of One Event rider Luca Ottaviani (RM Racing) in 18th place, while Stephane Frossard (Moto Team Jura Vitesse) and Davide Stirpe (Extreme Racing Service) completed the top 20. Armando Pontone (Bike e Motor Racing Team finished in 21st with Eugene James McManus (WRP Wepol Racing) and Federico Fuligni (VFT Racing) completing the classified runners.

Italian rider Davide Pizzoli (VFT Racing) was the first retirement following a crash at Turn 10 on the opening lap of the race, with Shogo Kawasaki (G.A.P. MOTOZZO Racing by Puccetti) crashing out on Lap 2. Massimo Roccoli (Promodriver Organization) was a retirement on Lap 3 following a crash, after the Italian was forced to start at the back of the grid following a tyre pressure infringement, while Sweden’s Christoffer Bergman (Wojcik Racing Team) retired with a technical issue in the early stages.

Matteo Patacca (Bike e Motor Racing Team) crashed out of the race at Turn 5 on Lap 5, while Raffaele De Rosa was also a retirement following his crash at the Turn 1-2 chicane. Federico Caricasulo’s (GMT94 Yamaha) re-adjustment to WorldSSP continues to be a difficult affair after he crashed out at Turn 3, while Italian veteran Michel Fabrizio (G.A.P. MOTOZOO Racing by Puccetti) also retired.

WorldSSP Race

Pos Rider Bike Time/Gap
1 D. Aegerter Yamaha /
2 L.  Bernardi Yamaha +1.064
3 S. Odendaal Yamaha +1.389
4 J.  Cluzel Yamaha +5.040
5 M. Gonzalez Yamaha +5.071
6 P. Oettl Kawasaki +10.283
7 R. Krummenacher Yamaha +10.438
8 C. Oncu Kawasaki +10.728
9 N. Tuuli MV Agusta +11.547
10 F. Fuligni Yamaha +14.532
11 R. Mercandelli Yamaha +15.182
12 K. Manfredi Yamaha +26.375
13 G. Hendra Pratama YYamaha +28.031
14 V. Takala Yamaha +29.342
15 L.  Taccini Kawasaki  +31.438
16 M. Alcoba Yamaha +33.331
17 L.  Montella Yamaha +37.412
18 L.  Ottaviani Yamaha +37.965
19 S. Frossard Yamaha +40.576
20 D. Stirpe MV Agusta +40.845
21 A. Pontone Yamaha +41.632
22 E. Mcmanus Yamaha +1m05.227
23 F. Fuligni Yamaha +4 Laps
Not Classified
RET M. Herrera Yamaha DNF
RET M. Fabrizio Kawasaki DNF
RET F. Caricasulo Yamaha DNF
RET R. De Rosa Kawasaki DNF
RET H. Soomer Yamaha DNF
RET M. Patacca Yamaha DNF
RET C. Bergman Yamaha DNF
RET M. Roccoli Yamaha DNF
RET S. Kawasaki Yamaha DNF
RET D. Pizzoli Yamaha DNF

WorldSSP Standings

Pos Rider Points
 1  Dominique Aegerter  94
 2  Steven Odendaal  91
 3  Luca Bernardi  62
 4  Philipp Oettl  62
 5  Manuel Gonzalez  51
 6  Jules Cluzel  49
 7  Hannes Soomer  41
 8  Raffaele De Rosa  37
 9  Randy Krummenacher  35
 10  Christoffer Bergman  29
 11  Can Alexander Oncu  25
 12  Federico Caricasulo  24
 13  Niki Tuuli  20
 14  Marc Alcoba  18
 15  Vertti Takala  13
 16  Kevin Manfredi  13
 17  Galang Hendra Pratama  10
 18  Maria Herrera  7
 19  Filippo Fuligni  6
 20  Roberto Mercandelli  5
 21  Stephane Frossard  3
 22  Michel Fabrizio  2
 23  Leonardo Taccini  1
 24  Davide Pizzoli  1
 25  Pawel Szkopek  1

WorldSSP300

The first FIM Supersport 300 World Championship race of the weekend was a thrilling spectacle at the Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli” for the Pirelli Made in Italy Emilia-Romagna Round with Spanish rider Adrian Huertas (MTM Kawasaki) claiming his second victory of the 2021 season in Race 1 at Misano.

WorldSSP300 underway at Misano

Unfortunately young Aussie Harry Khouri broke his hand in the Superpole session and thus took no part in the race. Khouri is expected to undergo surgery early next week.

Bahattin Sofuoglu (Biblion Yamaha Motoxracing) started the race from pole position and initially looked like he’d held on at the start of the race but his race came to an end on Lap 2 when Sofuoglu made contact with Victor Steeman (Freudenberg KTM WorldSSP Team), the Turkish rider retiring from the 15-lap race. Sofuoglu had already lost the lead prior to that incident with both Tom Booth-Amos (Fusport – RT Motorsports by SKM – Kawasaki) and Hugo de Cancellis (Prodina Team WorldSSP300) jumping ahead; the pair battling it out for victory.

De Cancellis

Soon, Spanish rider Adrian Huertas (MTM Kawasaki) was fighting for the lead and claimed top spot on Lap 5 of 15, although in typical WorldSSP300 fashion it did not last long when Booth-Amos and De Cancellis were able to overhaul Huertas. The lead group of five riders, featuring de Cancellis, Huertas, Booth-Amos and Steeman as well as Yuta Okaya (MTM Kawasaki), were trying to break away but could not pull away from the chasing Koen Meuffels (MTM Kawasaki).

Okaya

It meant 14 riders were separated by just two seconds as the ninth lap got underway with Huertas aiming to keep the lead he had re-claimed in the opening few laps of the race. Eventually the top six, now led by De Cancellis, were able to break away from Ton Kawakami (AD78 Team Brasil by MS Racing) in seventh place with six laps to go.

As the lead group fought with each other, the chasing group were able to re-join the lead six with Ana Carrasco (Kawasaki Provec WorldSSP300) now leading the group after battling up from 14th on the grid, sitting behind Italian Mirko Gennai (Team BRcorse) who also had to find his way through the field from 29th on the grid.

Adrian Huertas took his second victory of season 2021

It meant Huertas claimed a stunning victory ahead of Booth-Amos and De Cancellis rounding out the podium places, with Huertas moving to the top of the Riders’ Championship. Yuta Okaya (MTM Kawasaki) came home in fourth place, almost two seconds behind the podium trio, with Meikon Kawakami (AD78 Team Brasil by MS Racing) and Gennai completing the top six.

2021 WorldSSP300 Misano Race 1
1. Adrian Huertas (MTM Kawasaki)
2. Tom Booth-Amos (Fusport – RT Motorsports by SKM Kawasaki) +0.186s
3. Hugo de Cancellis (Prodina Team WorldSSP300) +0.230s

Vicente Perez Selfa (Machado CAME SBK) was in seventh place with Bruno Ieraci (Machado CAME SBK), who was forced to start at the back of the grid, finishing in eighth place ahead of Italian compatriot Filippo Maria Palazzi (ProGP Racing) in ninth and Victor Rodriguez Nuñez (Accolade Smrz Racing) completing the top ten.

Meuffels ended up finishing in 11th place in an epic four-way scrap for eighth place, with Ton Kawakami (AD78 Team Brasil by MS Racing) in 12th place. 2017 Champion Marc Garcia (2R Racing) claimed 13th place with Steeman, who had been in the lead group, in 14th and 2018 Champion Carrasco completing the points-paying positions after she lost positions in the latter stages of the race.

Team-mates Alessandro Zanca (Kawasaki GP Project) and Alejandro Carrion were both penalised with a double Long Lap Penalty following a jump start, while reigning Champion Jeffrey Buis (MTM Kawasaki), Samuel di Sora (Leader Team Flembbo), Jose Luis Perez Gonzalez (Accolade Smrz Racing) and Gabriele Mastroluca (ProGP Racing) were all involved in a four-rider collision at Turn 8; Buis and Di Sora able to re-join but Di Sora retiring later on with a technical issue.

Unai Orradre (Yamaha MS Racing) had a crash at Turn 10 which forced the youngest ever race winner in WorldSSP300 to retire from the race, while Joel Romero (SMW Racing) crashed out at Turn 16 with just a handful of laps to go.

WorldSSP300 Race One

Pos Rider Bike Time/Gap
1 A. Huertas Kawasaki /
2 T. Booth-Amos Kawasaki +0.186
3 H. De Cancellis Kawasaki +0.230
4 Y. Okaya Kawasaki +1.867
5 M. Kawakami Yamaha +1.950
6 M. Gennai Yamaha +2.078
7 V. Perez Selfa Yamaha +2.447
8 B. Ieraci Yamaha +2.601
9 F. Palazzi Yamaha +2.631
10 V. Rodriguez Nunez Kawasaki +2.684
11 K. Meuffels Kawasaki +2.727
12 T. Kawakami Yamaha +2.967
13 M. Garcia Kawasaki +3.220
14 V. Steeman KTM +3.479
15 A. Carrasco Kawasaki +3.481
16 D. Loureiro Kawasaki +3.596
17 T. Brianti Kawasaki +4.071
18 I.  Iglesias Kawasaki +9.845
19 M. Gaggi Yamaha +9.927
20 R. Bijman Yamaha +9.930
21 K. Sabatucci Yamaha +11.183
22 A. Zanca Kawasaki +17.082
23 J.  Gimbert Kawasaki +19.387
24 O. Konig Kawasaki +21.920
25 D. Berta Vinales Yamaha +26.536
26 A. Frappola Kawasaki +27.608
27 A. Carrion Kawasaki +28.495
28 J.  Buis Kawasaki +37.668
29 A. Diez Rodriguez Kawasaki +40.576
30 I.  Offer Kawasaki +44.926
31 J.  Mcmanus Kawasaki +46.027
32 M. Duarte Yamaha +1m02.079
33 I.  Carreno Kawasaki 1m12.312
Not Classified
RET P. Svoboda Yamaha 1 Lap
RET U. Orradre Yamaha 5 Laps
RET J.  Romero Kawasaki 5 Laps
RET S. Di Sora Kawasaki 9 Laps
RET G. Mastroluca Yamaha 10 Laps
RET J.  Perez Gonzalez Kawasaki 10 Laps
RET S. Markarian Kawasaki 10 Laps
RET A. Coppola Yamaha 12 Laps
RET B. Sofuoglu Yamaha 13 Laps

WorldSSP300 Standings

Pos Rider Points
 1  Adrian Huertas  66
 2  Tom Booth-Amos  65
 3  Yuta Okaya  42
 4  Unai Orradre  33
 5  Hugo De Cancellis  29
 6  Ton Kawakami  23
 7  Bruno Ieraci  21
 8  Samuel Di Sora  19
 9  Meikon Kawakami  17
 10  Ana Carrasco  17
 11  Jeffrey Buis  14
 12  Koen Meuffels  13
 13  Mirko Gennai  10
 14  Vicente Perez Selfa  9
 15  Filippo Maria Palazzi  7
 16  Harry Khouri  7
 17  Marc Garcia  7
 18  Victor Rodriguez Nunez  6
 19  Dorren Loureiro  6
 20  Jose Luis Perez Gonzalez  3
 21  Victor Steeman  2
 22  Alex Millan Gomez  2
 23  Inigo Iglesias  2

Source: MCNews.com.au

News, WSBK

Jonathan Rea dominates Sunday races at Estoril

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2021 FIM Superbike World Championship
Round Two – Estoril – Sunday

Jonathan Rea was unstoppable on Sunday at Estoril, winning the Tissot Superpole Race and then going on to give Kawasaki a brilliant double win with victory in Race Two to confirm his place at the top of the championship standings. Also on the podium in Race 2 were Chaz Davies and Toprak Razgatlioglu.

In WorldSSP, Dominique Aegerter had an outstanding race, taking home his first win of the season ahead of Luca Bernardi, who achieved an important result, finishing second, and Philipp Oettl rounding out the podium.

Superpole Race

Jonathan Rea came away with victory after the ten-lap Superpole Race on Sunday. Scott Redding, Toprak Razgatlioglu and Michael Ruben Rinaldi provided plenty of competition, but Rea’s choice to run SC0 tyres paid dividends.

Jonathan Rea chases down Scott Redding

Rea came out of Turn 1 with the lead of the race but soon found himself shuffled down to third by Redding and Razgatlioglu; Toprak Razgatlioglu moved from third to first in one move at Turn 1, although he did have to fight to keep the lead from Redding.

Redding found himself moving down the order again when he made a mistake at Turn 6, allowing both Rea and Garrett Gerloff through although Redding responded on Gerloff just a few laps later. Meanwhile, heading into Turn 1, Rea was able to make the move on Razgatlioglu to re-take the lead of the race and claim his first victory in Estoril. Razgatlioglu was unable to respond and came home in second place, ahead of Gerloff.

Jonas Folger

Rinaldi was unable to capitalise on his strong start to claim a podium with the factory Ducati outfit, coming home in fifth place after fending off the challenge from Alex Lowes  by just 0.040s to complete the second row for Race Two alongside Gerloff and Rinaldi.

The third row will feature two BMW machines with Tom Sykes coming home in seventh place ahead of his former team-mate, Eugene Laverty in eighth. Chaz Davies fought through from 15th to finish ninth in the Tissot Superpole Race.

Leon Haslam

Alvaro Bautista finished in tenth place, just six-tenths away from Davies, while Andrea Locatelli was only four tenths away from the Spanish rider. Tito Rabat was unable to convert his top-ten start into a top-ten finish as he came home in 12th place, while Michael van der Mark was only half-a-second back from Rabat in 13th place.

Race Two

The final race of the Gaerne Estoril Round was full of drama, excitement and tension as Jonathan Rea claimed his second victory of the weekend after rival Scott Redding crashed out from second place.

Sunday’s Race 2 Start

The race started with Toprak Razgatlioglu being given a double Long Lap Penalty for a jump start, while Redding was able to get the leap on the rest of the field on the run into Turn 1, while reigning Champion Jonathan Rea lost ground when Michael Ruben Rinaldi forced the British rider wide at Turn 4.

It enabled Rinaldi to move into second place, behind team-mate Redding, and the young Italian had a look at his teammate into Turn 1, he backed out of the move. It meant he lost time to American Garrett Gerloff before the American lost control of his Yamaha YZF R1 at Turn 6 and made contact with the Italian; forcing both to retire from the race on the second lap.

Scott Redding and Ruben Rinaldi

With Razgatlioglu’s penalties served, it enabled Rea to close in on Redding as the 21-lap race reached the halfway stage with the duo racing on different tyres; Rea once again on the SC0 and Redding attempting to complete the race on the SCX tyre as he did on Saturday when he claimed victory in Race 1.

On lap 14, Rea tried to make his first move at Turn 1 but, despite the advantage of the slipstream, Redding held on. Rea got briefly ahead at Turn 1 before Redding used the cut back move to stay ahead. Redding then ran wide at Turn 3, allowing Rea to get back ahead, before Redding lost the front of his Ducati Panigale V4 R at Turn 4, forcing the British rider to tumble down the order.

Toprak Razgatlioglu

Redding’s crash allowed Chaz Davies to close in on long-term rival Rea in the closing stages of the race although Rea was able to hold on to claim his second victory of the Estoril Round and fourth of 2021, with Davies on the rostrum for the first time in 2021. Razgatlioglu recovered from his double Long Lap Penalty to claim his third podium of the weekend.

Alex Lowes came home in fourth place in Race 2 as his strong start of the season continued, finishing 1.6 seconds clear of Andrea Locatelli in fifth; the Italian picking up his best result in WorldSBK so far in his debut season.

Alex Lowes

Michael van der Mark claimed sixth place on his BMW; three of the four BMW M 1000 RR bikes finished inside the top ten. Alvaro Bautista (Team HRC) battled through from 18th on the grid again to claim seventh place, ahead of Tom Sykes.

Michael van der Mark

Eugene Laverty was ninth with his second top ten finish of the weekend and the third BMW rider in the top ten. 2014 Moto2 World Champion Tito Rabat claimed his second top ten finish of the weekend with tenth while Axel Bassani equaled his best finish of the 2021 season with 11th.

Team HRC’s Leon Haslam came home in 12th place on his Honda machine, finishing just ahead of Kohta Nozane.

Leon Haslam

Redding finished the race in 14th place at the line, but was given a six-second penalty, the equivalent of two Long Lap Penalties, for a jump start in Race 2, meaning he was classified in 16th place behind Lucas Mahias and Isaac Viñales. Christophe Ponsson and Loris Cresson completed the race of classification with 17 and 18th.

Apart from Gerloff and Rinaldi from their Lap 2 crash, there was only one more retirement from the race with Jonas Folger retiring in the early stages of the race with a technical issue with his BMW M 1000 RR. Samuele Cavalieri retired on lap 17 of the 21-lap race.

Jonathan Rea – P1

“It’s a really difficult track. We just need to look at where we were last year and where the other Kawasakis have been. I can’t credit my team enough. Every decision we’ve made this weekend has been the right one, in a positive way, because on Friday we were really struggling. Struggling to make the rhythm, struggling to make the pace but if you said this on Friday, I would’ve snapped your hand off! Super happy. Of course, I was riding with Jason on my mind in the last few laps of the race because motorsport can be so beautiful but so tough as well. Still, sending lots of strength to his family, his team and all his friends.”

Jonathan Rea

Chaz Davies – P2

“That was a hard-fought podium, especially because we had an awful Saturday yesterday with everything that happened. We’ve kept plugging away, we worked really hard last night, we tried to pull some more info out of the data and tried to put together a better package this morning. I want to say a huge thank you to the GoEleven guys because they’ve been grafting really hard all winter and here, we are, second round and on the podium. Obviously, very happy to be there and I think today, these results are almost irrelevant with the tragedy that’s happened at Mugello, so my thoughts go out to Jason Dupasquier and his family.”

Chaz Davies

Toprak Razgatlioglu – P3

“For me, it was a very strange day because it was the first time I had a jump start – I am surprised because I have never made this mistake, and also never felt so disappointed like this after the race. Maybe I could have been fighting for the win, maybe possible to win… I don’t know! But I had to take the double long lap penalty, I tried my best and got on the podium now in all three races. I am also sorry for my team who worked so hard this weekend, but we take good points for the championship and we will see for the next race. Misano will be the first time for me on the Yamaha, but I am feeling very strong and we had two days testing there already so we will see if we can fight again for the win.”

Toprak Razgatlioglu

Andrea Locatelli – P5

“I am very happy with this weekend, because in the end we have a really good result. Yesterday the first race was not easy, I made some mistakes during the first laps, I lost positions and the opportunity to have a better result – but, today we made a big improvement and with this I’m really happy. I now take some confidence with the bike and it’s just the second weekend. We are closer to the front, we are faster and we just need to try and learn a little bit more and also to try to take even more confidence with the set-up of my R1. We did a really good job overall, working really well with the team and I am very happy for this. We took P5 in Race 2 and this is a big result for me in just the second weekend!”

Andrea Locatelli

Michael van der Mark – P6

“This morning’s warm-up was really good: at least I felt good – I was consistent. Also for the Superpole Race I felt really good, but in warm-up we had changed the bike a little bit. That was good, but as soon as the temperatures went up I struggled a little bit. So the Superpole Race was not that ideal and we even lost two places on the grid. But anyway, in race two the temperatures were much higher than yesterday so we gambled to go for the ‘SC X’ tyre, which was the right choice. The start was a bit messy – I had a good start but in all three races I was a bit unlucky and could not improve my position in the first corner. But at the end I was able to go at quite a consistent pace. I had the chance to follow many riders and I think our bike has made a huge improvement, especially over a race distance and when it comes to conserving the tyre. We just need to find a little bit more drive out of the corners and that should be our next big step to improve on the bike.”

Michael van der Mark ahead of Chaz Davies

Alvaro Bautista – P7

“Another hard-fought race because I had to start eighteenth again, after just missing out on securing a better grid position with my tenth-place finish in the sprint race. In the end, the afternoon’s race was trickier than yesterday’s, as the temperature was different and the track was more slippery. I took many risks with the front and was very close to the limit. Our pace was not bad though and I think that was worth a top-five finish. But starting from the back and lapping with similar pace to the frontrunners, it was tough to close the gap. A pity really, because when they cancelled my qualifying lap, they basically eliminated any chance for me to fight for better positions. The positive is that we were able to rebuild confidence with the bike after a difficult start to the weekend and I can head into the next round with good feeling again. Now we must take another step forward”.

Alvaro Bautista

Tom Sykes – P8

“The bike was much better today than yesterday. We made a small change and really felt a big improvement on the bike. And again, just struggling, such a shame when fighting for track position. For whatever reason, at the moment we lose track positions to some other riders. The BMW M 1000 RR is certainly strong in some sectors of the track and we are just getting an understanding why. Unfortunately, I got stuck behind some other riders and that gave us an issue today with the braking system. Once I got a clear track, I picked up a lot more speed and found a much better rhythm. Obviously I am not happy with the result but, considering where we were yesterday, it’s a big, big improvement. We definitely learnt a lot on this Sunday afternoon in Estoril and now we need to keep improving.”

Tom Sykes

Eugene Laverty – P9

“It has been a bitter-sweet day, because my speed is there and, honestly, this year the BMW M 1000 RR is such a huge step forward. The Aragón race weekend was my first proper ride on this new bike, so I am still understanding how to get the most from it. This weekend, wow, the bike was fantastic, and in the final race I felt so good to fight with these guys in the first laps and to get up into third position. But in this heat I had to take care of the brakes, so I had to let the other riders’ go and ride in clear air to cool the brakes. Now we will be 100 per cent ready in Misano. These first two rounds have more been like a test, and from Misano on we will start the season properly.”

Leon Haslam – P12

“It’s been a tough weekend all in all. We’ve struggled to make headway with the issues we had at Aragón unfortunately. We had slightly better feeling in the last race but I didn’t get the start I wanted and so although I passed a few riders I couldn’t do better than twelfth. We’ve worked hard here though and I’m confident that we understand the direction we need to take as we move on to Misano. Hopefully we can make a more positive start to the race weekend there.”

Scott Redding – DNF

“I am very sorry for the team. I was having a good race, the strategy we had studied was perfect and things were going well. Maybe the feeling with the front tire was not the best but without a doubt, I made a mistake. It’s a pity because I felt I could have had a good race and fight until the end for the victory.”

Michael Rinaldi – DNF

“It’s a real shame. This weekend we worked very hard with the team and the feeling with the bike has been growing steadily. I felt very good today, I had a great start and the feeling was very positive. Unfortunately, I was hit by another rider who, considering the level of this competition, made a serious mistake. Anyway, we have to focus on Misano now, with the aim of keep working in this direction.”

World Superbike Results / Standings

Source: MCNews.com.au

News, WSBK

Redding takes first blood at Estoril to pull points back on Rea

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2021 FIM Superbike World Championship
Round Two – Estoril

The first race of the Gaerne Estoril Round proved to be a thrilling spectacle that ebbed and flowed throughout between the leading trio at the Circuito Estoril as Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) claimed his second MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship win of the season with the top three separated by less than one second.

2021 WorldSBK Estoril Race One

Redding and Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) both got a good start but it was the Ducati of Redding who got the jump on Rea on the opening lap before Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK) was able to jump Rea into second place.

Redding and Razgatlioglu broke away

As Redding and Razgatlioglu broke away at the end of the opening lap, Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) was able to fight with Rea to pass him on Lap 2, although Rea responded the following lap to move back into the podium places. The trio battled it out throughout the race, with Rea on the SC0 tyre and both Redding and Razgatlioglu on the SCX tyre.

Rea and Rinaldi had their own battles

Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) got a good start on his SC0 tyres, one of only six riders to start on that tyre, to move from seventh into fifth on the opening lap before moving down the order as riders who had lost positions through Superpole times being deleted made progress; Mahias would eventually finish in 13th place.

Although the battle for the lead settled down in the middle stages of the race, Rea’s SC0 tyre appeared to hold on more throughout the 21-lap race as he put pressure on Razgatlioglu in the latter stages. Rea was able to get a run on Razgatlioglu on the start and finish straight, although the Turkish star was able to keep the position on the brakes into the right-hander of Turn 1.

Rea got away from Rinaldi

It means Redding claimed his first back-to-back wins following his Race 2 victory at the Aragon Round last time out, while Rea stepped onto the podium for the 189th time in his WorldSBK career; while it’s Kawasaki’s first podium at Estoril since 1993.

Gerloff chasing Rinaldi

Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) finished fourth after fighting back through the field after losing out at the start, including a battle with Rinaldi in fifth; Gerloff passing the Italian rider in the latter stages of the race to claim a top-four finish. Rinaldi was unable to keep his pace going throughout the race and dropped four seconds to Gerloff at the end of the race but was able to finish ahead of Chaz Davies (Team GoEleven) in sixth.

Michael van der Mark ahead of Chaz Davies

Dutch rider Michael van der Mark (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) battled from outside the top ten to claim a seventh place finish as the new BMW M 1000 RR showed strong pace yet again, ahead of Alvaro Bautista (Team HRC) after the Spanish rider started 18th following his Superpole time being deleted. Tito Rabat (Barni Racing Team) claimed his best WorldSBK result to date with ninth while Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK) secured a top ten finish after losing out in the early laps of the race.

Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing), the youngest rider on the grid, was another rider who had a Superpole time deleted but the Italian rider was able to come home in 11th place and take home his best WorldSBK result to date, five seconds clear of Leon Haslam (Team HRC). Mahias finished in 13th place with Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) in 14th despite the British rider moving up the order in the early stages before falling back down. Kohta Nozane (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) claimed the final point available in Race 1 with 15th place, finishing one second clear of Jonas Folger (Bonovo MGM Action).

Isaac Viñales (Orelac Racing VerdNatura) came home in 17th place on his first visit to Estoril on WorldSBK machinery, while Eugene Laverty (RC Squadra Corse), who had made progress from 13th on the grid to run in the top seven lost the front of his BMW M 1000 RR at Turn 4 when battling with van der Mark, forcing the Irishman to tumble down the order although he was able to rejoin the race. At around the same time on Lap 9, another rider who was making up ground, Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) crashed at Turn 7 as he also lost time after fighting from tenth. Like Laverty, he was able to rejoin the race to finish ahead of Loris Cresson (TPR Team Pedercini Racing).

Scott Redding – P1

“I felt pretty good. I wasn’t really confident before the race because I saw Toprak had quite good pace earlier in the weekend and the two Kawasakis were quite strong today, so I was not really confident. I just said ‘ok, get the start, go to the front and you’re going to have to muscle your way around a little bit’. I was quite good but a couple of small mistakes I was making into Turn 1 were costing me about two-tenths that I would gap and then lose it again. In general, quite happy. The tyre kind of worked okay. I went off the start and then I realised I choose the SCX. I was a little bit in panic for a little while, but it stayed quite stable and I think I was quite lucky because Torpak had the same tyre, only Jonathan with the SC0. It was good and it kind of paid off here because it was not so abrasive. We’ll see tomorrow, maybe we’ll try the SC0.”

Scott Redding and Team Ducati celebrate
Toprak Razgatlioglu – P2

“Today, I had a really good start in the race, but I tried to follow Redding because he was really fast, and his sector two times are incredibly fast but I tried in the race just to close the gap. On the last laps, my tyres had a big drop but I was fighting again for first place but not enough. On the last two laps, I see Jonny and I’m pushing again for second because I need these points, I need good points for the Championship. We are happy because again we’re on the podium, but we will see tomorrow because I like this track, I need the win.”

Jonathan Rea – P3

“Yesterday I thought that this race would be a little bit different. We made the bike much better today and winning Superpole helped to have track position in the first lap. But it is such a long start straight at Estoril I was just a gauge for other people making a holeshot to brake. I made a mistake and Rinaldi came past. When he did that I just lost grip a little bit and I had to work so hard to catch back up. I was getting there, and I felt my rhythm was the same as the leading guys at the end. I was just not really sure where I could pass. I am happy to be on the podium because I was terrible here last year. I never found a rhythm with the track. This morning I felt like I had a good rhythm and continued that today. It was quite clear to see where I was losing and it is very hard to rectify that right now. Step-by-step, we are improving.”

WorldSBK at Circuito Estoril – Race 1
1. Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
2. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK) +0.877s
3. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.915s
Garrett Gerloff – P4

“I had an excellent start in the race, but then, when braking into Turn 1, a rider got to my inside and I had to pick the bike back up and go wide. Four or five people ended up passing me, which was frustrating because I just wanted to have a clean first lap so that I could settle in and run a smooth race. It was a bad way to start, but then I put my head down and did the best I could to finish in the best possible position. We had a good pace, I made a couple mistakes here and there but still finished fourth and as the top independent rider. Not bad, but I definitely wanted to stand on the podium today. We will give it another go tomorrow.”

Michael Rinaldi – P5

“Today was a pretty positive race. We come from the difficult weekend in Aragon but both yesterday and this morning we did a great job with the team. This is the reason why I was competitive especially in the first part of the race. I am a bit disappointed for the last few laps because honestly, I think we could have done a bit better. We will work tonight to analyze the data and I’m sure we will find solutions to fix some details and be able to fight for the podium tomorrow”.

Michael van der Mark – P7

“We lost some valuable track time again this morning, so that was not how we wanted to start the day. But anyway, in Superpole I felt good; I improved my lap time and then in qualifying I had really good first three sectors, but then the tyre was gone so I could not gain any time in the last sector. That was a pity because that meant starting initially from P14, which was then P12. I had a really good start and the race was my first long run this weekend. I was surprised by the pace I had and with the consistency of the bike. I am happy with this position, but I am happier with the consistency we had and also when I changed some electronics during the race. We took a really good step forward. I am happy with P7 but even more about the whole pace.”

Alvaro Bautista – P8

“Our performance today in race 1 was significant, not so much for the result as we aim to do much more than eighth of course but for the feeling that I had with the bike after yesterday’s crashes. I was quite careful in the early stages, especially on the brakes, but although I started a long way back on the grid – which didn’t help – lap after lap, and pass after pass, my confidence increased, and in the second part of the race my pace was much faster than in practice. This means we can head into tomorrow’s races with a better feeling and can hopefully make another step forward. We do still have work to do on the bike if we want to continue improving. At Aragón we made some progress on the electronics side but here we’ve had some issues and the bike was moving a lot into the corners. If you struggle on entry, you lose time through every corner because you can’t exploit your corner speed and enjoy good traction. That’s one of the points we need to focus on generally. As for tomorrow, we’ll try and build on today’s performance”.

Alvaro Bautista had to fight his way forward

WorldSBK Race One

Pos Rider Bike Gap
1 S. Redding Ducati /
2 T. Razgatlioglu Yamaha +0.877
3 J.  Rea Kawasaki +0.915
4 G. Gerloff Yamaha +9.518
5 M. Rinaldi Ducati +13.636
6 C. Davies Ducati +17.177
7 M. Van Der Mark BMW +19.316
8 A. Bautista Honda +20.185
9 T. Rabat Ducati  +25.625
10 A. Locatelli Yamaha +27.772
11 A. Bassani Ducati  +30.349
12 L.  Haslam Honda +35.722
13 L.  Mahias Kawasaki +35.885
14 T. Sykes BMW +36.887
15 K. Nozane Yamaha +45.434
16 J.  Folger BMW +46.472
17 I.  Vinales Kawasaki +51.132
18 E. Laverty BMW +1m09.888
19 A. Lowes Kawasaki +1m09.903
20  L.  Cresson Kawasaki +1m06.686
Not Classified
RET C. Ponsson Yamaha 6 Laps
RET S. Cavalieri Kawasaki 14 Laps

WorldSBK Superpole

Pos Rider Bike Time/Gap
1 J.  Rea Kawasaki  1m35.876
2 S. Redding Ducati +0.171
3 T. Razgatlioglu Yamaha +0.288
4 G. Gerloff Yamaha +0.474
5 T. Sykes BMW +0.493
6 M. Rinaldi Ducati +0.656
7 L.  Mahias Kawasaki +0.987
8 T. Rabat Ducati +1.016
9 A. Locatelli Yamaha +1.155
10 A. Lowes Kawasaki +1.173
11 J.  Folger BMW +1.252
12 M. Van Der Mark BMW +1.317
13 E. Laverty BMW +1.390
14 L.  Haslam Honda +1.523
15 C. Davies Ducati +1.546
16 K. Nozane Yamaha +1.735
17 A. Bassani Ducati +1.781
18 A. Bautista Honda +1.855
19 I.  Vinales Kawasaki +2.636
20 C. Ponsson Yamaha +2.978
21 L.  Cresson Kawasaki +4.132
22 S. Cavalieri Kawasaki +4.412

WorldSBK Championship Standings

Pos Rider Points
 1  Jonathan Rea  73
 2  Scott Redding  65
 3  Toprak Razgatlioglu  50
 4  Alex Lowes  45
 5  Garrett Gerloff  36
 6  Michael Van Der Mark  30
 7  Chaz Davies  27
 8  Tom Sykes  25
 9  Michael Ruben Rinaldi  20
 10  Andrea Locatelli  19
 11  Alvaro Bautista  16
 12  Leon Haslam  12
 13  Axel Bassani  11
 14  Lucas Mahias  10
 15  Jonas Folger  8
 16  Kohta Nozane  8
 17  Tito Rabat  7
 18  Isaac Vinales  6
 19  Christophe Ponsson  1

WorldSSP

The FIM Supersport World Championship’s racing started at the Gaerne Estoril Round in thrilling fashion as five riders battled it out for victory with just 1.023s covering the top five riders at the Circuito Estoril as Steven Odendaal (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team) secured his third win of 2021 after a stunning battle at the front of the field.

FIM Supersport World Championship

South African rider Odendaal got the jump on polesitter Federico Caricasulo (GMT94 Yamaha) at the start and immediately looked to build a gap ahead of the Italian who claimed his first pole position since returning to WorldSSP. Caricasulo was unable to hold on to second place as the race moved onto Lap 2 as Philipp Oettl (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) jumped the Italian at Turn 1 and started to close in on Odendaal.

Caricasulo was the first rider to have an incident when under pressure from teammate Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha) with the Italian losing the front of his Yamaha machine at Turn 4; promoting Cluzel into third place while Caricasulo tumbled down the order although he was able to rejoin the race.

Despite taking the lead of the race, Oettl was unable to pull away from Odendaal who kept the pressure on throughout the middle stage of the race as the South African kept the pressure on Oettl; the pair losing time to Cluzel as they went side-by-side onto the start and finish straight and into Turn 1.

Oettl in the lead

Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) and Manuel Gonzalez (Yamaha ParkinGo Team) also joined the lead battle with less than a second separating the top five on Lap 10 of the 18-lap race. As the race headed on to Lap 14, Cluzel and Aegerter battled it out for third place with Swiss rider Aegerter making the move at Turn 1 on Cluzel before the Frenchman responded on the same lap at Turn 4.

Oettl had kept the lead until Lap 16 when Odendaal made his move, taking advantage of extra pace heading into Turn 6 as the South African rider took the lead before Oettl responded at Turns 1 and 2 on Lap 17 to re-gain the lead of the race, but as the race entered the last lap, Odendaal and Aegerter made their move at Turn 1 although Cluzel moved back on Aegerter; the pair going on a drag race until the line with Cluzel claiming third by just 0.015s, behind Odendaal and Oettl. Gonzalez equalled his best result in WorldSSP with fifth place as he held on to the lead group throughout the race.

Italian Raffaele De Rosa (Orelac Racing VerdNatura) responded from a bad start to move into sixth place but was unable to take advantage of the battling ahead of him to latch onto the lead group, while Luca Bernardi (CM Racing) secured another top ten finish with seventh place. Estonian Hannes Soomer (Kallio Racing) claimed eighth place with 2019 Champion Randy Krummenacher (EAB Racing Team) in ninth place.

Christoffer Bergman (Wojcik Racing Team), who had shown strong pace in the early stages of the Estoril Round, finished in tenth place with Niki Tuuli (MV Agusta Corse Clienti) in 11th despite starting the race in the pit lane following the crash with Cluzel at the Aragon Round. Caricasulo responded from his crash to claim 12th place, ahead of Marc Alcoba (Yamaha MS Racing), Stephane Frossard (Moto Team Jura Vitesse) and Davide Pizzoli (VFT Racing) completing the points; the latter being penalized by one position for track limits infringements while defending from Frossard. Swiss rider Frossard was the highest place WorldSSP Challenge competitor.

Michel Fabrizio (G.A.P. MOTOZOO by Puccetti Racing) finishing just three tenths away from a point scoring result at Estoril, finishing two seconds clear of Leonardo Taccini (Orelac Racing VerdNatura) in 17th place while Vertti Takala (Kallio Racing) in 18th; Takala demoted one place at the end of the race.

Maria Herrera (Biblion Iberica Yamaha Motoxracing) finished in 19th place ahead of Galang Hendra Pratama (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha). Luigi Montella (Chiodo Moto Racing) was 21st, 19 seconds away from Indonesian rider Pratama. Eugene McManus (WRP Wepol Racing) was 22nd on his first start of the season, finishing clear of Pawel Szkopek (Yamaha MS Racing) and Shogo Kawasaki (G.A.P MOTOZOO by Puccetti Racing).

Kevin Manfredi (Altogo Racing Team), Can Öncü (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) and Federico Fuligni (VFT Racing) all retired from Race 1.

Steven Odendaal – P1

“I couldn’t have imaged to start this way especially with injury. I’m carrying with the shoulder but honestly I’m so happy with this victory because it was really difficult, and I had to really think a lot to win this race. I was really battling in the changes of direction. I’m so happy, thanks so much to the team because they did a fantastic job and also, once again, thanks to everyone supporting me”

Steven Odendaal taking victory
Philipp Oettl – P2

“I’m happy with 20 points, it’s a good result for us as a team and the team did an amazing job yesterday and especially today. In Superpole, we had a really quick pace and I tried to control the race from the front because, to be honest, it’s a little bit easier and nicer. It was a good race, I tried to block Steven but… I’ll try tomorrow!”.

Jules Cluzel – P3

“I was looking for a little bit better, but third today was the best I could do. Actually, the last lap was really hard, with Aegerter. He passed me on the first turn, but he missed the apex, I tried go back but then I lose a little bit of time. Then I came back, I passed him, he passed me again, and then I just waited until the last turn and the last straight to pass him. It’s a good race for me. Hopefully we will make some improvements for tomorrow and the target is to get at least a podium and, if possible, a little bit better.”

WorldSSP at Circuito Estoril – Race 1
1. Steven Odendaal (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team)
2. Philipp Oettl (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) +0.350s
3. Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha) +0.750s

WorldSSP Superpole

Pos No.  Rider Bike Time/Gap
1 F. Caricasulo Yamaha 1m39.973
2 P. Oettl Kawasaki +0.121
3 S. Odendaal Yamaha +0.211
4 J.  Cluzel Yamaha +0.246
5 D. Aegerter Yamaha +0.318
6 R. De Rosa Kawasaki +0.485
7 N. Tuuli MV Agusta +0.581
8 H. Soomer Yamaha +0.594
9 L.  Bernardi Yamaha +0.691
10 M. Gonzalez Yamaha +0.799
11 R. Krummenacher Yamaha +1.067
12 C. Oncu Kawasaki +1.358
13 K. Manfredi Yamaha  +1.577
14 C. Bergman Yamaha +1.583
15 M. Alcoba Yamaha +1.623
16 M. Fabrizio Kawasaki +1.705
17 F. Fuligni Yamaha +2.063
18 D. Pizzoli Yamaha +2.094
19 S. Frossard Yamaha +2.133
20 V. Takala Yamaha +2.323
21 G. Hendra Pratama Yamaha +2.702
22 L.  Taccini Kawasaki +2.806
23 M. Herrera Yamaha +2.858
24 L.  Montella Yamaha +3.021
25 E. Mcmanus Yamaha +3.377
26 P. Szkopek Yamaha +3.708
27 S. Kawasaki Kawasaki +4.679

WorldSSP Race One

Pos Rider Bike Gap
1 S. Odendaal Yamaha /
2 P. Oettl Kawasaki +0.350
3 J.  Cluzel Yamaha +0.750
4 D. Aegerter Yamaha +0.765
5 M. Gonzalez Yamaha +1.023
6 . De Rosa Kawasaki +4.519
7 L.  Bernardi Yamaha +7.442
8 H. Soomer Yamaha +9.624
9 R. Krummenacher Yamaha +11.696
10 C. Bergman Yamaha +19.197
11 N. Tuuli MV Agusta +23.673
12 F. Caricasulo Yamaha +28.832
13 M. Alcoba Yamaha +30.330
14 S. Frossard Yamaha +34.147
15 D. Pizzoli Yamaha +34.269
16 M. Fabrizio Kawasaki +34.544
17 L.  Taccini Kawasaki +36.922
18 V.  Takala Yamaha +36.923
19 M. Herrera Yamaha +36.927
20 G. Hendra Pratama Yamaha +37.898
21 L.  Montella Yamaha +57.290
22 E. Mcmanus Yamaha +59.529
23 P. Szkopek Yamaha +1m09.861
24 S. Kawasaki Kawasaki +1m22.100
Not Classified
RET K. Manfredi Yamaha 6 Laps
RET C. Oncu Kawasaki 6 Laps
RET F. Fuligni Yamaha

WorldSSP Standings

Pos Rider Points
 1  Steven Odendaal  75
 2  Dominique Aegerter  44
 3  Raffaele De Rosa  37
 4  Philipp Oettl  36
 5  Jules Cluzel  32
 6  Hannes Soomer  30
 7  Manuel Gonzalez  27
 8  Christoffer Bergman  24
 9  Luca Bernardi  22
 10  Randy Krummenacher  19
 11  Federico Caricasulo  14
 12  Marc Alcoba  12
 13  Vertti Takala  8
 14  Can Alexander Oncu  8
 15  Galang Hendra Pratama  7
 16  Kevin Manfredi  7
 17  Maria Herrera  7
 18  Niki Tuuli  5
 19  Stephane Frossard  2
 20  Michel Fabrizio  2
 21  Davide Pizzoli  1
 22  Pawel Szkopek  1

Source: MCNews.com.au

News, WSBK

Toprak tops opening day of WorldSBK practice at Estoril

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2021 FIM Superbike World Championship
Round Two – Estoril

The 2021 Motul FIM Superbike World Championship takes to the Circuito Estoril this weekend and after a sunny opening Friday to start the Round, patterns are already emerging. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK) was shining brightly like in 2020, but the opposition are right behind him with very little to split them going into the remainder of the weekend, with three different manufacturers inside the top three.

Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK) was once again on fine form in the hotter afternoon session at the Circuito Estoril, with the Turkish rider putting in a strong run of fast laps to head the majority of FP2 and therefore, both sessions, despite a closing-stages off-track excursion.

Toprak Razgatlıoğlu – P1

“It was a very good day in Estoril! We know from last year that me and my Yamaha R1 can be very strong at this circuit, but like I said at the start of the week – we are not coming here relaxed. Today we did some very good work with my team, which will be very important for the race. And also today we managed to be in first position in Free Practice, which I am happy about, we worked well to see how the performance is in the long run and how the bike reaction is after 15 laps. Speed and rhythm are both quite good, I’m happy with both so far and I think we are ready to race tomorrow.”

Toprak Razgatlıoğlu

Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) put together a 19-lap run on the SCX tyre throughout the afternoon, with numerous laps inside the 1’37s bracket. The British rider was second in FP2, and second overall on the combined times, as he aims to cement another challenge to the top this weekend.

Scott Redding – P2

“In the afternoon we tried the soft tyres and the feeling was not bad. I still cannot say for sure what my choice will be for the race but in these two sessions, we have collected very important data. In any case, I’m confident to have a good race tomorrow because last year, despite the problems in qualifying and in Race-1, I felt very comfortable on this track. It’s clear that it will be important to do a good qualifying session to start in the front”.

Scott Redding

Championship leader and reigning six-time World Champion Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) placed third overall and fifth in the afternoon session, as he got about dialing himself into the Circuito Estoril layout.

Jonathan Rea – P3

“The red flag gave us a chance to try something different on the bike. I am struggling on the last part of braking to stop the bike. Trail braking into the corner is an area we need to focus on to improve for Saturday. Everything else felt quite good – mechanical traction, the agility of the bike, even turning, which was something I felt weak with last year. I am just not comfortable on the brakes, but I am sure if we find this it will put us closer to Toprak. He is really in his own race at the minute but I feel like I am in there in the battle for the podium. We need to improve a little bit to fight for better positions tomorrow. It is quite bumpy out there, especially the stadium section, after the little chicane, but I feel the bike is working quite well over the bumps.”

Jonathan Rea

Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) took fourth place overall behind teammate Rea, with the Kawasakis not on top after the opening day of action, much like MotorLand Aragon. Both riders are relying on their morning time, as neither improved in the afternoon session.

Alex Lowes – P4

“We had a good day. The track conditions we had this afternoon were a lot hotter than the ones we had for the race weekend in October, and a lot hotter than we had this morning in FP1. I wanted them to be hot to be honest, to see how I feel on the bike. I felt quite good, I used the same tyres as I had this morning to start the second session and was still able to go quite fast. Then I put some new tyres on and tried to do a longer run. I struggled a bit with a full tank, on the bottom of the suspension a little bit. I was going to ride right to the end but then the red flag came out, so I came in and we made a small adjustment. Even on the very last lap, on the same tyres I had been riding on, I felt quite good. We have a bit of direction and I feel a lot better than I did last October, so I am looking forward to tomorrow. I understand where I can improve my riding, especially in the second sector.”

Alex Lowes

Ducati’s Michael Ruben Rinaldi had it a little bit quieter in the afternoon, as he improved his time and dipped into the 1’37s, placing third in FP2 with a final flying lap to propel him up the order and to fifth overall.

Michael Rinaldi – P5

“We arrive in Portugal after the difficult weekend in Aragon. Since FP1, therefore, our approach has been different: we tried to learn from last week’s mistakes and I think this day has been positive. The third place in FP2 and the fifth in the combined standings are two encouraging results, especially on this track that I don’t consider one of my favorites. We still have FP3 to work on but I’m confident that we can do a good result in the race“.

Michael Rinaldi

Leading the charge for the Independent riders was Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team), with the American once again shining on his way to sixth overall.

Gerloff was joined by three other Independent riders in an opening day that showcased great pace from the non-factory entrants. Eugene Laverty (RC Squadra Corse) had his best day of the season so far as he placed seventh overall, ahead of Chaz Davies (Team GoEleven) and Jonas Folger (Bonovo MGM Racing), both of whom were eighth and ninth combined. For Davies, the afternoon session saw him suffer a technical issue, meaning he missed the majority of the session.

Completing the top ten overall was the top factory BMW and Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team), although he crashed at Turn 1 in FP2.

Tom Sykes – P10

“We stayed on the same tyre during this morning’s FP1 session which meant we significantly dropped down the order in the latter stages of the session. Then this afternoon in the hot conditions it was tricky, we needed to do some trial-and-error tests but in the end, we found some positive information which was good. We had a small crash during the session, but big credit to the boys as they soon put the beauty back together again, so we were back on track with fairly limited track time lost. Overall good information today, we do know its going to be difficult track conditions for everybody tomorrow, but certainly now we hope to make some good improvements tomorrow.”

There were all sorts of issues for Michael van der Mark (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team), as he missed almost the entirety of Free Practice 1 in the morning, before having a clearer run at things in the afternoon to finish 12th overall.

Michael van der Mark – P12

“It was not an easy Friday, unfortunately this morning we lost most of the session with a technical problem, which was a lot of important time lost. Then this afternoon’s session we went out, but in the opening stages I struggled with the grip of the bike. We made some changes during the session which was a big improvement, and I was able to improve my lap time which I was happy about. For us, the most important thing is to complete a full session tomorrow morning and make some progress from today.”

Alvaro Bautista (Team HRC) crashed not once, twice but three times throughout the course of the day, as he suffered one of his worst Fridays to finish 15th on the combined times.

Alvaro Bautista – P15

“I feel good physically and haven’t hurt myself but the day didn’t go as we expected or wanted. I started the first session fast and strong and felt I could push because my feeling with the bike was quite good. But then I crashed without any real reason; I just lost the front through turn 3 at full lean. The bike wasn’t too damaged, and the team did well to fix it quickly, but unfortunately I then had another crash. At Aragón we made some changes to the set-up that looked promising, and we wanted to try them again in the ideal conditions we had today. In the afternoon we reverted to a more standard set-up, but the session was kind of a repeat of the morning. Good feeling, good speed but I crashed in the first corner of the second lap without warning. At that point, I lost a little confidence and so although we were a bit faster than in session one, I rode a little more carefully. We will now try and understand what happened. We definitely have some ideas for tomorrow and can better understand the bike’s limit. A pity about today though as I felt so strong during the morning. Tomorrow is another day anyway, and we just have to put it all together and better exploit our potential”.

Alvaro Bautista

Team-mate Leon Haslam didn’t do much better, as he was only 13th.

Leon Haslam – P13

“It’s been a difficult day and unfortunately it looks like some of the Aragón set-up issues have carried over to this round, at least today. On a positive side, we made a few steps towards the end of the second session but we still have work to do, I think. We will analyse the data carefully this evening and see what we can find during tomorrow’s final practice. Hopefully we can improve our feeling and take another step before the Superpole and Race 1”.

Leon Haslam

Tito Rabat crashed at Turn 4 in FP2 on his way to 14th overall, but it was Kohta Nozane (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) who was 18th but suffered a huge crash at Turn 13 which sent his motorcycle cartwheeling through the air. He went to the medical centre and was thankfully declared fit. Christophe Ponsson (Alstare Yamaha) also suffered a spill at Turn 9 but re-joined. Samuele Cavalieri (TPR Team Pedercini Racing) suffered technical issues in the afternoon session, although he finished ahead of teammate Loris Cresson, with both 21st and 22nd respectively.

WorldSBK Friday Combined Times

Pos Rider Bike Time/Gap
1 T. RAZGATLIOGLU Yamaha 1m36.920
2 S. REDDING Ducati +0.414
3 J. REA Kawasaki +0.581
4 A. LOWES Kawasaki +0.684
5 M. RINALDI Ducati +0.895
6 G. GERLOFF Yamaha +0.906
7 E. LAVERTY BMW +0.933
8 C. DAVIES Ducati +0.976
9 J. FOLGER BMW +1.021
10 T. SYKES BMW +1.119
11 A. LOCATELLI Yamaha +1.334
12 M. VAN DER MARK BMW +1.373
13 L. HASLAM Honda +1.507
14 T. RABAT Ducati +1.549
15 A. BAUTISTA Honda +1.549
16 L. MAHIAS Kawasaki +1.563
17 A. BASSANI Ducati +1.796
18 K. NOZANE Yamaha +2.116
19 I.  VINALES Kawasaki +2.317
20 C. PONSSON Yamaha +2.803
21 S. CAVALIERI Kawasaki +3.958
22 L. CRESSON Kawasaki +4.285

WorldSBK Championship Standings

Pos Rider Points
 1  Jonathan Rea  57
 2  Alex Lowes  45
 3  Scott Redding  40
 4  Toprak Razgatlioglu  30
 5  Tom Sykes  23
 6  Garrett Gerloff  23
 7  Michael Van Der Mark  21
 8  Chaz Davies  17
 9  Andrea Locatelli  13
 10  Michael Ruben Rinaldi  9
 11  Jonas Folger  8
 12  Leon Haslam  8
 13  Alvaro Bautista  8
 14  Lucas Mahias  7
 15  Kohta Nozane  7
 16  Axel Bassani  6
 17  Isaac Vinales  6
 18  Christophe Ponsson  1

WorldSSP

It was a dramatic day of action in the FIM Supersport World Championship as the paddock descended on the Circuito Estoril for Round 2 of the 2021 campaign, the Gaerne Estoril Round. Swiss rookie Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) usurped the rest of the field with a last gasp effort to top the timesheets after Friday’s two practice sessions.

Dominique Aegerter

It had looked like Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha) and team-mate Federico Caricasulo would be at the top of the timesheets with nothing to separate the pair as the session came to a close. However, Aegerter put in a lap of 1’40.571s with just a few minutes remaining of the session to head the field ahead of Frenchman Cluzel by 0.164s. Caricasulo eventually finished in third despite looking like he was going to go faster than Aegerter later in the session, with the Italian also topping the morning running in Free Practice 1.

German Philipp Oettl (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) finished in fourth place, just three tenths off Aegerter’s pace, while Manuel Gonzalez (Yamaha ParkinGo Team) was fifth in both sessions as well as the combined times; the Spanish rider yet again showing his consistent pace in WorldSSP. Christoffer Bergman (Wojick Racing Team) was sixth with the Swede showing strong pace in the early stages of Free Practice 2 by topping the times in the early stages of the session although he did have a crash at Turn 1 later on in the session.

Philipp Oettl

Steven Odendaal (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team) was in seventh place, less than half a second away from Aegerter’s pace, showing how compact the field is in the 2021 campaign. He was just ahead of Finnish rider Niki Tuuli (MV Agusta Corse Clienti) who recovered from a crash at the final corner in Free Practice 1 to finish eighth in the combined standings, with 2019 Champion Randy Krummenacher (EAB Racing Team) and Italian Raffaele De Rosa (Orelac Racing VerdNatura) completing the top ten; all ten riders separated by less than 0.7 seconds after Friday’s action.

WorldSSP at Circuito Estoril – Friday

Pos Rider Bike Time/Gap
1 D. AEGERTER Yamaha 1m40.571
2 J. CLUZEL Yamaha +0.164
3 F. CARICASULO Yamaha +0.177
4 P. OETTL Kawasaki +0.316
5 M. GONZALEZ Yamaha +0.339
6 C. BERGMAN Yamaha +0.446
7 S. ODENDAAL Yamaha +0.495
8 N. TUULI MV Agusta +0.625
9 R. KRUMMENACHER Yamaha +0.632
10 R. DE ROSA Kawasaki +0.644
11 L. BERNARDI Yamaha +1.040
12 H. SOOMER Yamaha +1.165
13 C. ONCU Kawasaki +1.278
14 M. FABRIZIO Kawasaki +1.286
15 K. MANFREDI Yamaha +1.455
16 D. PIZZOLI Yamaha +1.843
17 V. TAKALA Yamaha +2.061
18 F. FULIGNI Yamaha +2.313
19 M. ALCOBA Yamaha +2.357
20 G. HENDRA PRATAMA Yamaha +2.845
21 S. FROSSARD Yamaha +2.856
22 M. HERRERA Yamaha +3.107
23 L. MONTELLA Yamaha +3.309
24 L. TACCINI Kawasaki +3.429
25 E. MCMANUS Yamaha +4.018
26 P. SZKOPEK Yamaha +4.383
27 S. KAWASAKI Kawasaki +4.976

WorldSSP Standings

Pos Rider Points
 1  Steven Odendaal  50
 2  Dominique Aegerter  31
 3  Raffaele De Rosa  27
 4  Hannes Soomer  22
 5  Christoffer Bergman  18
 6  Jules Cluzel  16
 7  Philipp Oettl  16
 8  Manuel Gonzalez  16
 9  Luca Bernardi  13
 10  Randy Krummenacher  12
 11  Federico Caricasulo  10
 12  Marc Alcoba  9
 13  Vertti Takala  8
 14  Can Alexander Oncu  8
 15  Galang Hendra Pratama  7
 16  Kevin Manfredi  7
 17  Maria Herrera  7
 18  Michel Fabrizio  2
 19  Pawel Szkopek  1

Source: MCNews.com.au

News, WSBK

WorldSBK hits Estoril this weekend

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2021 FIM Superbike World Championship
Round Two – Estoril

The Estoril Circuit in Portugal will host the second round of the Motul FIM Superbike World Championship this weekend, May 28-30.

The Estoril Circuit has previously hosted the production-derived Championship only on three occasions: the first time in 1988, the year of the series debut, then five years later in 1993, and finally in 2020 after twenty-seven long years of absence.

WorldSBK at Estoril 2020

Now in 2021, the WorldSBK Circus makes a stop to this legendary Portuguese circuit, which is a rather technical track and consequently very demanding on tyres.

Toprak Razgatlioglu took two wins at Estoril last year before Chaz Davies won the final encounter that weekend. Scott Redding then topped the 2021 pre-season test at Estoril last October.

#EstorilWorldSBK at Circuito Estoril – Race 1.
1.) Toprak Razgatlioglu (PATA YAMAHA WorldSBK Official Team)
2.) Chaz Davies (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) +3.039s
3.) Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team) +4.220s

Kawasaki Racing Team were hot out of the blocks at the season opener and it is safe to say they dominated much of the proceedings and head to Portugal 1-2 in the championship chase. Jonathan Rea took pole at Aragon and then went on to win two races and take second in the final one, putting him 12 points clear of his team-mate Lowes in the championship rankings.

Rea currently leads with 57 points, Lowes is on 45 and race two winner Scott Redding has 40. In a strong start for the new Ninja ZX-10RR Kawasaki already leads the manufacturers championship by 13 points.

Rea capped off his amazing weekend at Motorland with his 100th and 101st career race wins, and cannot wait to get back into action to see if he can continue his early winning form at the circuit he secured his sixth successive world championship at – right at the end of the short but intense 2020 season.

Jonathan Rea took two victories last time out at Aragon
Jonathan Rea

“I really enjoyed Estoril last year and I had a lot of happy memories of winning the championship there. But to be honest from a track point of view I was quite average. I never started FP1 in the right way so I always felt I was playing catch up and the weekend was getting away from us. And then I had a crash in Superpole. So, we will bring a fresh mindset and also with the new Ninja ZX-10RR, I am feeling really comfortable. At Motorland we had three different track conditions thrown at us and we were competitive in all of them. I am optimistic because we have worked on some of the weaker aspects and the characteristics that Estoril has – the turning, really stopping and changing direction. So I think the benefits of that will show through when we go there.”

Jonathan Rea celebrated his sixeth World Championship at Estoril last year

Lowes had to work hard for little reward at Estoril last year, but is looking to build on his highly positive first race weekend in 2021 to push for what would be a second Kawasaki race win in WorldSBK, and the third of his career.

Alex Lowes

“We waited so long for the first race weekend and now we’ve got two races back to back. Honestly, Estoril is a track that was new on the calendar last year. I’m looking forward to it again. It’s a completely different track to Motorland but when we rode it last year it was great. It’s a small track with some character. It’s not an easy track, but I’m looking forward to getting going. The good thing I understand the bike a lot more so I should be able to adapt and manage the weekend better than last time.”

Alex Lowes is in good form

One of the strongest manufacturers at Estoril in 2020 was Yamaha, as they took a first-ever podium lockout in the Superpole Race. With the YZF-R1 turning a corner by being competitive at their weakest track – Aragon – it may be more of the same in 2021. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK) took a podium at Aragon, whilst also taking two wins at Estoril in 2020 and a career-first pole.

Toprak Razgatlıoğlu

“In Estoril last year I was very strong, so we know we can fight here but I am not coming to the weekend relaxed because this is the WorldSBK Championship and the competition is very high! We will try for the best position and also I aim to be fighting for the win, but we will see. Now the new R1 is much better, also a big improvement like we saw in the Aragón races, but now it’s not possible for me to say if we can continue like this in Estoril until I ride at this circuit on Friday. My feeling is very strong but I will say again, we’re not coming here relaxed and we stay focused for the weekend.”

Toprak Razgatlioglu

Toprak’s Team-mate Andrea Locatelli took two top ten results at Aragon during the first round and won in World Supersport in 2020.

Andrea Locatelli

“I’m excited for Estoril this week, because last year the Yamaha was very fast! The team had some podiums and wins, but my idea with Andrew and the guys is to continue to work and improve as it is only the second weekend of WorldSBK racing for me. For sure I think we can do really well like the last weekend in Aragón, my goal is to stay in the top 10 and qualifying well – and maybe for the races we can fight more in front, we will see but for sure I think we can take another step forward.”

Andrea Locatelli

Garrett Gerloff is top Independent and heads back to the track where he was on the podium twice in 2020 and took a best finish of second. He may well be another contender for victory, especially after an Aragon podium last weekend.

Garrett Gerloff

“I felt good in the Superpole, and I was happy about the second row, since I have never been particularly good at qualifying and this track has never been the best for us. The bike felt great, so I was really looking forward to exploiting that in the first race, but then the sun came out and the track lost some grip. It was a bit difficult for me to ride consistently. Our Sunday started off really well with a third place in the Superpole Race. The team and I made a perfect decision to go with the intermediate tyre, and it worked. It was nice to be on the podium, even though I felt like I could have gotten second place. In Race 2, I felt really good from the start, and wanted to at least fight for the podium, so I’m very frustrated with the mistake I made. After the off, the bike was a bit bent, but overall it still felt good, so I tried to give the team the best possible result despite the mistake. It was nice to be the top independent rider at the finish. Next weekend we go to Estoril, a track that both I and my Yamaha R1 really like.”

Garrett Gerloff

Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) lies third in the Championship standings and was on good form at the Circuito Estoril in 2020 until his Superpole crash. He recovered for Race 2 and was second and won Race 2 at Aragon last weekend. He aims for back-to-back victories for the first time in his career.

Scott Redding

“I liked the Estoril Circuit a lot last season even though the results don’t seem to confirm this feeling. The crash in Superpole and a technical issue in Race-1, however, were two determining factors; during Superpole Race and Race-2 the feeling was really positive indeed. The race pace has always been very good and I hope that already from Friday we can accomplish our progress“.

Scott Redding

Team-mate Michael Ruben Rinaldi will hope for better weekend at Estoril, after a tricky Aragon gave the Italian just nine points and one points-scoring finish in Race 1 of 2021. He took the Independent title at Estoril in 2020 and aims to rekindle good memories. Leading Ducati’s Independent charge is Chaz Davies (Team GoEleven), winner at Estoril in 2020 and eager to build on two top five finishes at Aragon from round one, despite his Race 2 crash.

Michael Rinaldi

“We started the championship uphill. We can use this very close round to turn the page immediately, and we will work hard with my team to make it happen. I am very motivated and I want to redeem the negative results obtained in Aragon. We will start from scratch, giving our best starting from Friday’s free practice“.

Michael Rinaldi and Scott Redding

One of the hottest headlines coming into the second round of the season is that BMW have visibly made a step forward in performance in race trim. The new M 1000 RR made major gains in a straight line, as it was not only staying with its rivals in a straight line but passing them too. Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) is fifth in the standings – the first time inside the top five for him since Losail 2018 – and achieved two tenth place finishes in 2020 at Estoril. Michael van der Mark (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) was on the rostrum in the Superpole Race of 2020 at Estoril, whilst he led a race at Aragon in Race 2 and setting a fastest lap in the opening round’s Tissot Superpole Race.

Aiming to turn a corner after a difficult opening three race of the year, Team HRC’s Alvaro Bautista and Leon Haslam will hope to put the Fireblade CBR1000RR-R SP in front-running contention at Estoril. A best of seventh from Bautista in the Superpole Race at Aragon has left the manufacturer hoping for more this weekend, whereas Leon Haslam returns to a place where he took three top eight results last year – a best of fifth in Race 1 having started on the front row in second. With Haslam 12th in the standings and Bautista one place further behind, a turn-around in fortunes is a must this weekend.

Alvaro Bautista

“We have good feeling after the Aragón round, and I don’t think our actual race results last weekend really reflect our current situation. We feel we’ve taken a step forward and have a good base on which to work and continue to improve this coming weekend. I’m feeling confident, also because we scored a top five result here at Estoril last year. So I think we can be competitive, at what is a different kind of track, more stop-and-go in layout compared to Aragón. Our aim is to work hard, just as we did last weekend, and bring home some strong results.”

Alvaro Bautista
Leon Haslam

“I can’t wait for Estoril and am pleased that this round comes straight after Aragón, where we didn’t have the best weekend. Last year’s Portuguese round went well; I hadn’t raced at Estoril for 20 years previously, so it was good to be back and have some good battles. I’m looking forward to this weekend, also because we made a good find in the final Aragón race, so hopefully we can hit the ground running in Friday’s first practices and be back fighting at the front where I know we can be.”

Leon Haslam

With Gerloff and Davies sixth and eighth in the Independent standings, next best is Jonas Folger (Bonovo MGM Racing) who took a stunning eighth in Race 2 at Aragon, having gambled on slick tyres. The German rider rode a Yamaha at Estoril in 2020 as a wildcard but faces a new challenge on the BMW M 1000 RR. Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) is 14th in the standings, with a tenth in Race 2 at Aragon – he was also a race winner in WorldSSP in 2020 at Estoril.

Kohta Nozane (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) was mightily impressive and is one of just seven riders who scored points in all three races so far this year, although Estoril will be a whole new challenge with it being a track he’s never visited. Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing), Isaac Viñales (ORELAC Racing VerdNatura) and Christophe Ponsson (Alstare Yamaha) also all scored points from round one.

Kohta Nozane

“The next race will be my first time in Estoril, so it will be tough for me, but I will try to be as prepared as possible to do my best for the team. They are working so well with me and helping me a lot, so I will try to get a good result for them in Portugal.”

Kohta Nozane

Still aiming to get their 2021 underway on the points board is Tito Rabat (Barni Racing Team), who failed to finish both full-length races at Aragon; Eugene Laverty (RC Squadra Corse) who couldn’t break into the top 15 and TPR Team Pedercini Racing duo Loris Cresson and Samuele Cavalieri. Leandro Mercado (MIE Racing Honda Team) will be absent from the grid at Estoril, following the team’s announcement to follow an intensive development programme.

After Estoril, and the intense sprint between back-to-back race meetings, there is one free weekend before race action resumes again at Misano in Italy, between June 11 to 13.

WorldSBK Championship Standings

Pos Rider Points
 1  Jonathan Rea  57
 2  Alex Lowes  45
 3  Scott Redding  40
 4  Toprak Razgatlioglu  30
 5  Tom Sykes  23
 6  Garrett Gerloff  23
 7  Michael Van Der Mark  21
 8  Chaz Davies  17
 9  Andrea Locatelli  13
 10  Michael Ruben Rinaldi  9
 11  Jonas Folger  8
 12  Leon Haslam  8
 13  Alvaro Bautista  8
 14  Lucas Mahias  7
 15  Kohta Nozane  7
 16  Axel Bassani  6
 17  Isaac Vinales  6
 18  Christophe Ponsson  1

WorldSSP

After returning to action at MotorLand Aragon last week, the FIM Supersport World Championship heads straight across the Iberian Peninsula for the Gaerne Estoril Round for the second round of the 2021 campaign at the Circuito Estoril, the same venue that closed out the 2020 season in sensational style. In Race 2 last year, the top four were separated by just one second at the line as the chequered flag fell on the season.

South African Steven Odendaal (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team) leads the Riders’ Championship after taking a maximum points haul from Aragon with two wins in different styles. Last year at Estoril, Odendaal secured his joint-best result of the season with fourth place after a thrilling four-way battle in Race 2, and with two of the four from that battle having moved on, he will be looking to move up the order. If the Race 2 battle from Aragon is anything to go by, as well as last year’s Estoril thriller, then the 2021 edition could be just as dramatic and exciting.

Rookie Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) made a strong start to his WorldSSP career and currently lies second in the Championship after taking second and fifth at Aragon. Although he has not raced at Estoril on WorldSSP machines, he has competed there on three occasions while in the Moto2 World Championship, claiming a best result of fourth place. The Swiss rider will be hoping he can at least repeat that performance as he looks to close the gap to Odendaal.

Aegerter lies just four points ahead of third-placed Raffaele De Rosa (Orelac Racing VerdNatura), who so narrowly missed out on his maiden win in WorldSSP last time out, finishing 0.100s behind Odendaal. Like Odendaal, De Rosa was involved in the mega Race 2 scrap at Estoril last season, finishing ahead of the South African to claim a podium place. De Rosa also brings Moto2 experience with him with a best finish of sixth. It’s been a strong circuit for the Italian in the past, could this be the weekend he finally claims his maiden WorldSSP victory?

Hannes Soomer (Kallio Racing) is five points behind De Rosa, on 22 points, after another strong showing at Aragon, as he continues his fine form. Soomer claimed one podium at last year’s Estoril Round, in Race 1, and was only just over three seconds away from victory in Race 2 despite finishing in eighth. Another rider who has had strong performances at Estoril, Soomer will be one to watch out for.

Christoffer Bergman (Wojcik Racing Team) finds himself fifth in the standing after a history-making Aragon Round where he became the first Swedish rider to lead a race in WorldSSP. Bergman did not race at Estoril in WorldSSP last year but did make an experience in endurance racing at the venue, his experience could prove to be useful as he looks to continue his fine start to the season.

One rider who can count himself very unlucky to not be further up the standings after two races is Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha) after the Frenchman was taken out of the lead by Niki Tuuli (MV Agusta Corse Clienti) in Race 1, while he led Race 2 for a few laps after starting at the back of the grid. Cluzel has experience of Estoril having raced there in 2020, securing two ninth places. However, for Cluzel it was his first race back after suffering an injury following a crash at MotorLand Aragon.

Philipp Oettl (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) and Manuel Gonzalez (Yamaha ParkinGo Team) go into Estoril level with Cluzel in the standings, with San Marino’s Luca Bernardi (CM Racing) three points behind. Gonzalez secured his best result in WorldSSP last time out at Aragon while Bernardi secured San Marino’s best ever result in the class; with all three riders showing rapid pace throughout the Aragon Round.

2019 Champion Randy Krummenacher’s (EAB Racing Team) return got off to a challenging start at Aragon but the Swiss rider brings with him experience of Estoril having competed there in Moto2, taking a best result of ninth. Federico Caricasulo (GMT94 Yamaha) also had a challenging weekend on his WorldSSP return, but heads into Estoril with experience of the circuit from his 2020 WorldSBK exploits.

WorldSSP Standings

Pos Rider Points
 1  Steven Odendaal  50
 2  Dominique Aegerter  31
 3  Raffaele De Rosa  27
 4  Hannes Soomer  22
 5  Christoffer Bergman  18
 6  Jules Cluzel  16
 7  Philipp Oettl  16
 8  Manuel Gonzalez  16
 9  Luca Bernardi  13
 10  Randy Krummenacher  12
 11  Federico Caricasulo  10
 12  Marc Alcoba  9
 13  Vertti Takala  8
 14  Can Alexander Oncu  8
 15  Galang Hendra Pratama  7
 16  Kevin Manfredi  7
 17  Maria Herrera  7
 18  Michel Fabrizio  2
 19  Pawel Szkopek  1

Source: MCNews.com.au

News, WSBK

Razgatlioglu and Davies set opening pace at Aragon

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2021 FIM Superbike World Championship
Round One – Aragon – Friday

Toprak Razgatlioglu took top spot in the morning session as WorldSBK 2021 got underway at Aragon as Yamaha found good form in the cooler morning session. The Turkish rider has historically struggled at Aragon, as have Yamaha, and in the higher afternoon temperatures, they did drop off once again. Razgatlioglu was fastest overall on the combined times but the Independents were in fine form on Friday too.

Chaz Davies (Team GoEleven) finished second overall, taking top Ducati honours. The Welshman was also on top form in the afternoon session and is the most consistent at all times of the day, a possible sign of what is to come throughout the rest of the weekend.

Chaz Davies

Joining him inside the top three was American Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team), with the Texan on fire in the morning but towards the bottom end of the top ten in the afternoon. Third overall, it’s a strong start for Gerloff.

Garrett Gerloff

Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) led the charge of the Kawasakis, having led the morning session at points before eventually finish fourth, whilst he was sixth on the time-sheets in the hotter afternoon outing.

Alex Lowes

Reigning Champion team-mate Jonathan Rea was only fifth after the opening session, but in contrast to Lowes, took charge of Kawasaki’s assault in the afternoon by finishing second. Both Kawasaki riders trialled the SCX tyre in the afternoon, a major talking point throughout Friday. With Lowes and Rea fourth and fifth respectively, expect them to improve on Saturday.

Jonathan Rea

The Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team had a fairly unassuming day of action at MotorLand Aragon. Michael Ruben Rinaldi was sixth overall on the timesheets and relied on his FP1 time from the morning, whilst Scott Redding was only 11th in the morning but shaved half-a-second off his time in the afternoon, placing him seventh at the close of the day. Plenty of work to do for the factory Ducati, but they were winners at Aragon in 2020, so they have the potential to bounce back to the front.

It was a mixed Friday back in action for Team HRC, with Alvaro Bautista fourth in FP2 but only eighth in the combined times, whilst Leon Haslam was one place behind him in FP2 in fifth, but tenth overall. Both Bautista and Haslam worked well throughout Friday and will be eager to showcase their strength at a circuit they achieved a podium at in 2020. Both riders tried using the SCX tyre throughout the afternoon, perhaps contemplating it as a possible race option for tomorrow, just as Bautista did last year.

Over at BMW, it was Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) who was flying the flag, but only from his FP1 time in the morning. He was ninth overall, although team-mate Michael van der Mark had a torrid first day at the office at Aragon, crashing at Turn 8, bringing out the Red Flag. He was OK but missed the rest of the session, leaving him down in 11th overall and completing just 19 laps, the fewest of anyone throughout the day. The other BMWs were also struggling, with Jonas Folger (Bonovo MGM Racing) in 14th and Eugene Laverty (RC Squadra Corse) only 16th.

The rookies battle was also intense further down the order, with honours eventually going to Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) in 12th. He was just ahead of ex-MotoGP star Tito Rabat (Barni Racing Team) who completed his first day of action at a WorldSBK round in 13th, ahead of Jonas Folger and then Japanese sensation Kohta Nozane (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team).

Christophe Ponsson (Alstare Yamaha) was 18th but suffered a Turn 5 crash in FP2 but finished ahead of the Kawasaki rookies of Isaac Viñales (ORELAC Racing VerdNatura) and Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing). Leandro Mercado (MIE Racing Honda Team) took 21st ahead of Loris Cresson (TPR Team Pedercini Racing) and his teammate Samuele Cavalieri.

WorldSBK Friday Combined Times

1. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK) 1’49.952s
2. Chaz Davies (Team GoEleven) +0.308s
3. Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) +0.490s
4. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.546s
5. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.738s
6. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +0.789s

WorldSSP

It may be three years since Niki Tuuli’s (MV Agusta Corse Clienti) last appearance in the FIM Supersport World Championship but the Finnish rider topped both Free Practice sessions at MotorLand Aragon for the Pirelli Aragon Round as he looks to immediately add to his race wins tally upon his return to the class, posting a time of 1’54.394s in the morning Free Practice session.

Niki Tuuli

The recent experience of both Steven Odendaal (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team) and Philipp Oettl (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) was not enough to overhaul Tuuli at the top of the timesheets, with Odendaal finishing less than a tenth away from the Finnish rider. Oettl was another four tenths back in third place as both the German and South African riders search for their first wins in WorldSSP.

Steven Odendaal

Always close at the front, Frenchman Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha) goes in search of his first WorldSSP title in 2021 and started the season with fourth place in the combined Free Practice standings, fending off the challenge from the returning Federico Caricasulo (GMT94 Yamaha) by just 0.034s. Rookie Dominque Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) was in sixth place, just ahead of Sweden’s Christoffer Bergman (Wojick Racing Team), whose fine form continued in the second practice session.

2019 Champion Randy Krummenacher’s (EAB Racing Team) return marred by limited in running in Free Practice 1, although the Swiss rider was able to set plenty of lap times in Free Practice 2 to sneak into the top eighth of the combined classification, just over a second away from Tuuli’s best time with most riders not improving from the morning session.

Spanish rookie Marc Alcoba (Yamaha MS Racing) claimed ninth spot in the combined classification with Raffaele De Rosa (Orelac Racing VerdNatura) rounding out the top ten on his first appearance for his new team at a WorldSSP round; the Italian the highest-placed rider to improve their time in the afternoon.

Hannes Soomer (Kallio Racing) bounced back from a crash at Turn 10 towards the end of the first Free Practice session to claim 11th in the combined classification, finishing three tenths clear of VFT Racing’s Davide Pizzoli in 12th. Manuel Gonzalez (Yamaha ParkinGo Team) was another who improved in the afternoon moving into 13th place. Federico Fuligni (VFT Racing) was in 14th place with San Marino’s Luca Bernardi (CM Racing) completing the top 15. Kevin Manfred (Altogo Racing Team) was the highest placed WorldSSP Challenge rider in 16th place.

45-year-old Pawel Szkopek (Yamaha MS Racing) had a crash in the first practice session of the day at Turn 8 but was able to re-join the circuit. Verti Takala (Kallio Racing) came off his bike at the end of the second practice session although the Finnish rider was able to walk away from the accident at Turn 3.

WorldSSP Friday Combined Times

1. Niki Tuuli (MV Agusta Corse Clienti) 1’54.394s
2. Steven Odendaal (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team) +0.073s
3. Philipp Oettl (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) +0.434s
4. Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha) +0.653s
5. Federico Caricasulo (GMT94 Yamaha) +0.687s
6. Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) +0.936s

WorldSSP300

The first day of FIM Supersport 300 World Championship action came to a close after two Free Practice sessions with Unai Orradre (Yamaha MS Racing) topping the combined sessions as he looks to start the season in the perfect fashion at the Pirelli Aragon Round at MotorLand Aragon.

Unai Orradre

Orradre remained top of the combined standings on day one of WorldSSP300 after posting the best time of 2’06.814s, over half-a-second clear of Tom Booth-Amos (Fusport – RT Motorsports by SKM Kawasaki) in second place as they both prepare for their second campaign in the class.

Jeffrey Buis

In third place was reigning Champion Jeffrey Buis (MTM Kawasaki) with the Dutchman returning to the Championship as he looks to defend his crown; returning to the venue he secured his first win at in his title-winning campaign.

Tom Booth-Amos

South African rider Dorren Loureiro’s (Fusport – RT Motorsports by SKM Kawasaki) WorldSSP300 comeback continued with a strong fourth place in the combined standings, half-a-second down on his team-mate who competed in WorldSSP300 in 2020. Samuel di Sora (Leader Team Flembbo) was fifth for the day, just 0.009s behind Loureiro and 0.011s clear of Adrian Huertas (MTM Kawasaki) on his first competitive outing for his new team.

Ton Kawakami (AD78 Team Brasil by MS Racing) finished in seventh place with just over a tenth separating Loureiro in fourth and Kawakami in seventh. Turkish star Bahattin Sofuoglu (Biblion Yamaha Motoxracing) was in eighth place with Koen Meuffels (MTM Kawasaki) and Australian Harry Khouri (Fusport – RT Motorsports by SKM Kawasaki) rounding out the top ten.

Harry Khouri #43 in the thick of the action

2020 race winner Yuta Okaya (MTM Kawasaki) was 11th overall for the day despite topping the afternoon Free Practice 2, with times faster in the morning session for the majority of the 44-strong field. It meant he fended off the challenge from Inigo Iglesias (SMW Racing); with the Spaniard coming off his Kawasaki Ninja 400 at Turn 2 in Free Practice 1 but was able to return to the track in the afternoon. Wildcard Joel Giral Romero (Viñales Racing Team) was in 13th placed and the highest-placed rider from the Viñales Racing Team for Friday.

Ana Carrasco’s (Kawasaki Provec WorldSSP300) return to WorldSSP300 continued with 14 place in her first Round action since an injury sustained in testing last year, with Jose Luis Perez Gonzalez (Accolade Smrz Racing) completing the top 15.

Alejandro Carrion (Kawasaki GP Project) and teammate Alejandro Diez both had crashes in the afternoon session in WorldSSP300 in separate incidents that occurred close to each other during the session, with Carrion coming off his bike at the tight Turn 5 left-hander early on in the session. Ruben Bijman (Machado CAME SBK) had a huge moment coming out of the right-hander of Turn 13 in the sequence of four corners leading onto the back straight; the Dutchman able to return to his machine. Filippo Maria Palazzi (ProGP Racing) crashed at Turn 8 in the afternoon Free Practice 2 session while Dean Berta Viñales (Viñales Racing Team) had a technical issue during the second session.

WorldSSP300 Friday Combined Times

1. Unai Orradre (Yamaha MS Racing) 2’06.814s
2. Tom Booth-Amos (Fusport – RT Motorsports by SKM – Kawasaki) +0.573s
3. Jeffrey Buis (MTM Kawasaki) +0.972s
4. Dorren Loureiro (Fusport – RT Motorsports by SKM – Kawasaki) +1.077s
5. Samuel di Sora (Leader Team Flembbo) +1.086s
6. Adrian Huertas (MTM Kawasaki) +1.097s

2021 WSBK – Aragon Round 1 Schedule

Source: MCNews.com.au