Sunday at Donington Park proved to be Scott Redding’s (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) best result of the season so far as he claimed a brilliant fourth place in front of the partisan British crowd. The Brit battled from ninth on the grid to take P4 during Race 2 at the Prosecco DOC UK Round as he hopes to kickstart a strong run of form in the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship, as he did at this venue 12 months ago.
Redding started Race 2 from the third row and he gained a place as the lights went out to move into eighth ahead of double WorldSSP Champion Dominique Aegerter (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team). He remained in eighth place until the second half of the race where his progress was clear to see. He picked off four riders between Laps 13 and 18 to claim a season-best fourth on home soil; the same circuit which kickstarted an impressive run of form for the Brit last year.
His move up the field started with a pass on Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) on Lap 13 and he stayed in seventh for two laps before passing Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) for sixth two laps later at Turn 11 to move into sixth. Another two laps in P6 followed before he made his move on Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK), again at Turn 11, for fifth with his old title rival next up.
Redding and Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) battled for several laps as the race neared its conclusion. The BMW rider passed him at Turn 11 on Lap 19 before Rea responded on Lap 21, the penultimate lap, under braking into the Foggy Esses. Despite being ahead, the six-time Champion was unable to remain there as the 12-time race winner re-passed his rival at Turn 11 to re-gain fourth place. From there, he was able to build a gap to stay in fourth. It is Redding’s best result of the season and his best since Race 1 at Magny-Cours last year.
Discussing his strong Sunday, Redding said: “It feels nice to feel like Scott Redding on the bike! It’s been a really tough season and to get the feeling of the bike talking to me and I can understand what to do and be able to ride and push the bike in the way that I want… it’s been an enjoyable two races. Race 1 was the same. In Race 2, I just let it come to me and there’s no better feeling than when you have tyre underneath you for the second half of the race. It was great to have that.”
Redding’s fight with Rea is not the only time he’s battled a KRT rider for a top position on home soil. Last year, he had a brilliant battle with Lowes as they squabbled over third place in Race 1 with the Kawasaki rider coming out on top on that occasion. However, this season, Redding was able to get the better of his compatriot as he fended off Rea’s late resurgence to hold on to fourth place.
Discussing his battle with Rea, Redding said: “I could see the guys coming and I thought I felt good and the tyre felt good. I was trying to get there so I could try to get to Petrucci and go for the podium. He was too strong. I got to the Kawasakis, got past Alex and we had the battle last year. I got to Jonathan and passed him from quite a long way back because it was the only place I was strong. I thought I won’t see him again. At the Foggy Esses, I had a Kawasaki steaming up the inside! I thought ‘oh, here we go’ because this was like 12 months ago with Alex. I came back, overtook him again and kept it clean. I was really surprised when he came back!”
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Source: WorldSBK.com