Two new faces climbed upon the FIM Women’s Circuit Racing World Championship podium at the Cremona Circuit. Roberta Ponziani (Yamaha Motoxracing WCR Team) made it an Acerbis Italian Round to remember with a home rostrum, while Tayla Relph (TAYCO Motorsport) battled from a poor start to claim third. Ponziani had been in the fight for victory and Relph was P5, but both benefitted from a last-lap crash to secure the podium.
Ponziani has often been fighting in the top five this season – in fact, she’s only had one finish outside of the top five once when she was P6 in Race 2 at Portimao. However, until Cremona, she had been unable to break into the top three. In Race 2 in Italy, the #96 started from pole and was running with leaders Maria Herrera (Klint Forward Factory Team) and Ana Carrasco (Evan Bros Racing Yamaha Team) but was unable to get ahead every time she looked at Turn 11. On the last lap, Sara Sanchez (511 Terra&Vita Racing Team) and Herrera collided and took both out of the race, promoting Ponziani and Relph to first WorldWCR podiums.
Reflecting on her home rostrum, Ponziani said: “The only thing I can say is that I am so, so happy. I knew I was fast here, but Saturday was difficult to overtake, and I was always behind. On Sunday, I said to myself, ‘I have to overtake because I’m fast and can reach the podium’. I did my best. The race was fighting with Ana and Maria. Maybe we had a gap with Sara but in the end, she caught us. When I saw we were in fourth, I knew I wasn’t on the podium, so I had to fight to overtake and on the last lap, I tried to use the slipstream to overtake Ana and Maria. When I braked, I saw Sara and Maria crash together. I’m sad for them but it’s racing. I’m happy to be on the podium at home, it’s fantastic.”
For Australian rider Relph, it was a different story to get the podium. The #8 started from P8 on the grid but lost a position on the opening lap. However, by the end of Lap 2, she had moved into seventh after getting ahead of Astrid Madrigal (ITALIKA Racing FIMLA), Jessica Howden (Team Trasimeno) and Pakita Ruiz (PS Racing Team 46+1). She gained two more positions on Lap 8, moving ahead of wildcard Avalon Lewis (Carl Cox Motor Sports) and Beatriz Neila (Ampito / Pata Prometeon Yamaha) before staying in P5 until the final lap, when she was promoted to second following the Sanchez-Herrera crash.
Relph: “That was a very hard-fought race. I absolutely cooked the start, and I was 10th or something going into Turn 1. A little part of me thought the race was over after such a good Race 1, I knew I had the pace to run with Beatriz. When I cooked the start, I was quite devastated., but then I guess the Australian grit in me came out and I just kept pushing. I saw I was always making up ground and I know my strengths at this circuit, and I used them to the best of my ability. I managed to make a fair few passes so it definitely wasn’t an easy podium, no matter what happened on that last lap. It was a hard-fought race and for sure the hardest and strongest I’ve ever ridden in my career.”
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Source: WorldSBK.com