2021 WorldSBK Round Six
Most – Sunday

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Most WorldSBK Superpole Race

Jonathan Rea and Toprak Razgatlioglu both got off to their usual good starts, with Razgatlioglu getting the holeshot ahead of his title rival, whilst Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK) shot up into third ahead of Scott Redding. Tom Sykes held his top five starting slot in fifth whilst Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) was up to sixth. By the start of Lap 2, Redding was into third, passing Locatelli at Turn 1 under braking.

Toprak and Rea had begun to break clear of Redding and Locatelli behind them with a gap of around a second, with Razgatlioglu putting the hammer down and setting the fastest lap on Lap 2. However, Rea was right on his tail and starting to pressure the Turk, both riders laying some serious soft Pirelli stripes around the circuit with some good sideways action even at lean.

At the halfway point, Razgatlioglu continued to relentlessly push and opened a quarter-of a-second over Rea. Further back Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) was once again impressing, as he had pushed his way through into sixth ahead of Alex Lowes and Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team).

With three to go, Jonathan Rea made another mistake at Turn 1, although this was without the consequence of Race 1 on Saturday. He made a mistake under braking and had to take to the Turn 1 run-off, ending his chances of victory but bringing him right into Redding’s vicinity. Redding was now right with the Championship leader and eager to get through as both danced luridly around the Most layout.

Onto the last lap and with Razgatlioglu was out in front by over a second-and-a-half, the battle was on though for second and Redding pounced on Rea at Turn 1, getting the job done and holding station to the flag. Razgatlioglu taking his tenth career victory in his 100th start.

Alex Lowes recovered to sixth in the battle with Axel Bassani, with the Italian coming home a strong seventh. Garrett Gerloff took eighth place whilst Michael Ruben Rinaldi clinched ninth, less than three-tenths ahead of Alvaro Bautista.

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Toprak Razgatlioglu and Scott Redding were first and second on the grid and on the same tyre combination (standard SC1 front and SCX rear), Jonathan Rea had opted for the SC1 front and SC0 rear. After hitting the front, Redding never looked back and beat Razgatlioglu to the flag, whilst Rea was a distant third.

It was a blinding start from Toprak Razgatlioglu, who grabbed the holeshot from team-mate Andrea Locatelli. Scott Redding didn’t get off the line well but quickly recovered to third, whilst Jonathan Rea was down in fourth with team-mate Alex Lowes knocking right at his door, with Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) in sixth.

There was a Turn 1 pile-up with Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) crashing, taking down Alessandro Delbianco (MIE Racing Honda Team); the incident forced Karel Hanika (IXS-YART Yamaha), Chaz Davies (Team GoEleven) and Isaac Viñales (ORELAC Racing VerdNatura) to go across the gravel. All riders were on their feet and relatively OK.

Prodding and probing all the time, particularly at Turn 1, Scott Redding finally got ahead of Andrea Locatelli on Lap 3 at Turn 20, placing his Ducati in the middle of the two Pata Yamaha riders. Jonathan Rea’s SC0 tyre had now come into its own and he was right with the three ahead of him, as team-mate Lowes started to drop off. Further down the field, it was a bright start from Leon Haslam (Team HRC), who came up through the order into seventh from tenth on the grid.

Lap 5 saw Redding hit the front at Turn 1, passing Razgatlioglu after drawing alongside his rival down the front straight and getting the job finalised in the braking area. Meanwhile, Jonathan Rea wasn’t making the in-roads predicted, he was now eight-tenths behind Andrea Locatelli and slowly slipping back towards Alex Lowes, just half-a second splitting them after seven laps. However, on Lap 8, Locatelli and Lowes both made errors, meaning Rea was now back in the fight for third and got ahead of Locatelli on Lap 9.

It was a tight fight for sixth place as Sykes held position ahead of Leon Haslam, whilst Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) was eighth. Michael van der Mark (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) was up in ninth from 17th on the grid, whilst Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) having a quiet race in tenth place, but his pace began to pick up as the race evolved. Three laps later and it was all change in a first chicane shuffle, with Rinaldi now sixth ahead of Sykes, van der Mark, Gerloff and Haslam, with the ‘Pocket Rocket’ suddenly dropping back into the clutches of team-mate Alvaro Bautista, who eventually got ahead of him with six to go.

Meanwhile, back at the front, Scott Redding was riding the race of his life as he eased clear of Razgatlioglu and broke the Turkish rider’s spirit. With the gap now over three-seconds and Razgatlioglu settling for second, Redding was able to run his own pace.

Behind the top two, Rea was a further seven-seconds behind whilst Locatelli was keeping him honest in fourth. Alex Lowes, also using the SCX tyre, was being caught by Rinaldi, van der Mark and Gerloff and with two laps to go, Lowes had less than a second back to Rinaldi.

Scott Redding rode the perfect race for a first win since Estoril’s Tissot Superpole Race, taking the plaudits of the passionate Czech fans at Most. Razgatlioglu finished second and is now just three-points behind Jonathan Rea in the Championship – Rea himself finishing third.

Locatelli took fourth in another stunning performance, whilst Michael Ruben Rinaldi got fifth on the final lap with a pass on Alex Lowes at Turn 1. Yamaha’s strength’s this weekend mean that they are now three points clear of Kawasaki in the manufacturer standings, with Ducati another three further back.

Lowes held on for sixth as he ran out of tyre life at the end of the race, whilst former team-mate Michael van der Mark was top BMW in seventh. Garrett Gerloff took a solid eighth as his trademark late-race pace saw him come on strong. Ninth went to Tom Sykes, whilst Alvaro Bautista completed the top ten. Leon Haslam was eleventh ahead of Chaz Davies who fought back after Turn 1-Lap 1 drama.

Tito Rabat (Barni Racing Team), Kohta Nozane (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) and Christophe Ponsson (Gil Motor Sport Yamaha) completed the points in Race 2. Behind them, Jonas Folger (Bonovo MGM Racing), Isaac Viñales, Karel Hanika, Marvin Fritz (IXS-YART Yamaha), Loris Cresson (OUTDO TPR Team Pedercini Racing) and teammate Jayson Uribe – after coming into the pits – completed the final results.

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WorldSBK Quotes

Scott Redding – P1

“I had a lot of emotions both in my head and in my heart. I only had one goal and that was to win for Jacey, for Brad (Jones), for myself. It was a very positive weekend even though I was a little upset yesterday with how the race ended. But it’s clear that hot reactions can be wrong sometimes. The championship standings? I don’t want to think in those terms. I just want to get the most out of every race. Then we’ll do the math at the end of the season.”

Toprak Razgatlioglu – P2

“I am really happy, for me it has been a very good weekend – my team did an incredible job and we are working really hard. Two wins, one second position – not too bad! In the last race, we tried a little bit different suspension set-up but in the race I did not feel quite as good. I tried to follow Scott, and I tried also to keep the rear tyre, but after some laps I felt some rear chatter and less grip. I say at this point, okay, second position is enough for me because we take such good points for the championship this weekend. It is also very good for Yamaha to be leading the Manufacturer championship, and also very good situation for me – this year is the first time that I am very close with Jonny in the Riders’ Championship. It is different for me and maybe I am feeling also sometimes a bit stressed! But I am focused only on each race, because I am fighting for the win always, this is important. It is not always easy! I am ready for the fight in Navarra, I like the track – we will see!”

Jonathan Rea – P3

“In the Superpole race I was completely on the limit, extracting all the potential from our Ninja ZX-10RR. It was a fun race but I made a small mistake and got sucked in behind Toprak a little bit. In the second race I had opted for the hard rear tyre, the more conservative option, because I never did many laps with the SCX tyre, except in the Superpole race for ten laps. My early rhythm was OK but I got a little bit stuck behind Locatelli, but after I went past him could not close the gap to Scott and Toprak. They had better rhythm today so it was more about third. I did not accept that on the grid but I thought maybe in the second part of the race it would come to me because I had the hard tyre, but I started with less grip and the drop off was the same. We are only halfway through the championship and the twists and turns that have happened already can happen in the second half of the season as well. At least I am at the top with a very small points gap to Toprak but we know who we are fighting and what we are fighting with. We have a lot of experience to lean on from the past, so I feel in a good position.”

Andrea Locatelli – P4

“This has been our best weekend, because we made the podium and two fourth places – we also take some good points and this is important for the championship position because we are in eighth position and not so far from P4, which is not so bad! The feeling with the bike now is coming more and more easy. I can ride and I can push, and for sure we now have a lot of races coming up where I think we can do very well. We had a good test in Navarra, and after we go to Magny-Cours where I had a really good feeling last year, and also Barcelona, Jerez are such good tracks. I think overall I have a little bit more experience compared to the start of the season, and I can fight with the first group. I improve a lot and this weekend we are really happy, we didn’t make any mistakes and the team did a really good job. I’m so happy with the whole team, we work so well together and the relationship is nice, like a small family and we aim to continue this way. Now, we will see for the next race!”

Michael Rinaldi – P5

“It was a positive race overall. Unfortunately, the result of the Superpole Race compromised our chances of fighting for the podium. At the beginning of the race, I didn’t have enough grip to push as hard as I could, but from the middle of the race the feeling improved and I was able to pass Haslam and Sykes to catch Lowes, too. I’m relatively satisfied even though it’s clear that we have to work to be faster. I would like to congratulate Scott for the beautiful victory and for his proposal to Jacey.”

Alex Lowes – P6

“In Race Two for the first few laps I felt quite good and I was able to follow the front group. Then obviously the second half it was not as easy for me. I have some restrictions on myself and I can’t ride like I want. This track is not an easy track, it is physical track, and it was not an easy track for Kawasaki. We could see how hard Johnny was having to push. We could see that today we made some good steps forward with the bike set-up. I was a lot better entering the corner and I was able to flow a lot more. In this track you need to be smooth and flowing. I felt better today with the bike that’s for sure.”

Michael Van Der Mark – P7

“I think the at the end of the weekend it was not too bad. Especially this morning in the Superpole race I had such good pace, I improved over a second compared to yesterday and I was really happy on the bike. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a good start, I was a bit unlucky at T1 and couldn’t gain as many positions as I hoped so for race two I had to start from 17th again. The first run off the line was good and then the bike started to wheelie so we lost a little bit of time. Something happened at T1, but I was quite smart and took a tight line and avoided a lot of people. After that we had good pace and I was catching the guys in front one by one but I just couldn’t get by Rinaldi. Together we passed some people and in the end I tried to grab sixth or fifth. Overall, I think after all the struggles this weekend the team deserved a solid result.”

Tom Sykes – P9

“It is what it is, I’m not entirely happy. In the sprint race I was able to maintain ten laps but in the second race I was struggling to just finish off the turn in the latter stages. There is still work to be done. We made a couple of small changes but we can’t do what our competitors are doing in the last eight laps. We have learnt a lot this weekend and certainly I’ve been close to several bikes, so I know where we are strong and where we need to work on. Overall, it was not the best weekend but there were some positives in Superpole and in the sprint race, so now for the longer race we can look to improve that package and keep working.”

Alvaro Bautista – P10

“Today was a difficult day for us in the sense that this morning, in the warm-up, we tried a slightly different set-up but in the end it didn’t give us the feeling we were hoping for and so we went back to what we had in Race 1. I made a decent start and finished ninth, earning a spot on the third row for Race 2. This afternoon unfortunately I had a bit of bad luck through the first turn because I got caught up in a race incident involving other riders and although I managed not to fall, I slipped a long way down the field. I recovered a little ground after that and was able to lap more or less with the times of the first five or six riders, but not faster than them so I could not close the gap. This is our limit, if we start well, we can stay with them but if we are behind, we never catch up. Having said that, I want to thank both the team and HRC because I know they are working hard and doing their best, but we have to take a big step forward if we want to fight for the positions we are aiming for.”

Leon Haslam – P11

“We didn’t change much on the bike today, but I tried carrying out a few different experiments throughout the race. We made a good start in race 2 and I was in a good battle with Sykes for P6/P7 and felt quite comfortable. But over the last eight or nine laps I had a problem with my shoulder and it was very difficult for me to brake effectively. So not a good situation with this small shoulder injury, and a little disappointing too, because through the first part of the race that was the best I’ve felt all weekend. I felt more at ease and know we had the potential to fight for sixth or seventh, but instead we closed eleventh.”

WorldSBK Championship Standings

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Most WorldSSP Race Two

Race 2 at the Autodrom Most for the FIM Supersport World Championship was another thrilling fight at the front for a 19-lap encounter. After taking a victory in Race 1, Steven Odendaal (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team) was aiming for a double win, but it wouldn’t be easy.

Odendaal and pole-sitter Manuel Gonzalez (Yamaha ParkinGO Team) had opted for the harder SC0 compound, whilst second on the grid and Championship leader Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) went for the SCX rear tyre, and it would be these three who went until the final laps in contention for victory. In the end, Aegerter came out on top, with Odendaal and Gonzalez close behind.

It was a messy run into the first chicane, as Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha) went sideways into the opening turn and went right off track, narrowly avoiding the gravel and re-joining way down field in tenth. He wasn’t the only one to make a mistake though as pole-sitter and Race 1 podium finisher Manuel Gonzalez (Yamaha ParkinGO Team) went through the run-off and re-joined at Turn 3.

Philipp Oettl (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) found himself at the front ahead of Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha), with Can Öncü (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) once again in third, ahead of Federico Caricasulo (Biblion Iberica Yamaha Motoxracing) who was fourth from 11th.

Soon, it would be a disaster for Jules Cluzel as he was wiped out at Turn 1 by Kevin Manfredi on Lap 2. A lap later and it would be Steven Odendaal’s turn to take to the Turn 1 run-off, whilst Dominique Aegerter was now the race leader after getting ahead into the first turn, but it was behind where the moves were also being made, as Manuel Gonzalez picked his way through on Luca Bernardi (CM Racing) and Philipp Oettl. Federico Caricasulo was fifth, but not in the lead group of four.

Gonzalez momentarily got into the lead on Lap 6 at the fast, sweeping Turn 4, but Aegerter held on through Turns 5 and 6, with just millimetres between the leading group. All of the battling allowed the leading six riders to concertina together, with Steven Odendaal now beginning to recover from his Turn 1 misdemeanour. He was up to fifth ahead of Caricasulo. Aegerter continued to lead ahead of Gonzalez and now Bernardi, who made a bold move at Turn 2 on Oettl for third.

On Lap 10 and going into Turn 1, Steven Odendaal got into fourth ahead of Oettl whilst Bernardi went wide at Turn 1 and took to the run-off, dropping to fifth place. This then meant that Odendaal was now third, whilst Aegerter and Gonzalez were up ahead of him and slightly spaced out. Odendaal set the fastest lap whilst Caricasulo was now back into the top five a lap later, passing Bernardi at Turn 1 on Lap 11, whilst a technical problem took Randy Krummenacher (EAB Racing Team) out of the race further behind.

As the race entered its final third, Aegerter’s pace at the front began to fluctuate between mid-to-high 1’35s and low 1’36s, bringing Manuel Gonzalez right back into play, whilst closing in like a shark behind them both was Steven Odendaal, with just half a second covering the battle for victory and the leading three riders.

Philipp Oettl was now a distant fourth, whilst Luca Bernardi was back in fifth ahead of Valentin Debise (GMT94 Yamaha). With four to go, Odendaal went into second place at Turn 21, keeping the power on and the bike turned between the final two corners – now, it was down to Odendaal to see if he could get ahead of Aegerter.

It was time to drop the pace at the front in the closing stages, as Dominique Aegerter had enough of a gap, with the Swiss taking a sixth win of the 2021 season and proving that his tyre gamble was the way to go, ahead of Steven Odendaal and Manuel Gonzalez.

The Spaniard backing up his first podium of 2021 from Saturday, despite being desperately close to second again in Race 2. With Aegerter back on top and Odendaal in second, the gap in the Championship is now 37.

Fourth place went to Oettl whilst Bernardi completed the top five ahead of fellow countryman Federico Caricasulo, who returned to the top six. Valentin Debise was a solid seventh ahead of Niki Tuuli (MV Agusta Corse Clienti), whilst it was Can Öncü who once again faded as the race wore on to finish in ninth ahead of fellow Kawasaki rider Raffaele De Rosa.

11th went to Max Enderlein (Kallio Racing) ahead of Marcel Brenner (VFT Racing), Luca Grunwald (HRP Suzuki), Ondrej Vostatek and Sheridan Morais (Wojcik Racing Team) who completed the points. There was a big crash in the closing stages for Croatian Martin Vugrinec (Ferquest – Unior Racing Team) at Turn 17, but he was up on his feet.

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WorldSSP Championship Standings

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Victor Steeman (Freudenberg KTM WorldSSP Team) got the holeshot into Turn 1 before Adrian Huertas (MTM Kawasaki) got ahead of the Race 1 winner. There was a pile-up at the first chicane however, with Meikon Kawakami, Perez Gonzalez (Accolade Smrz Racing) and Unai Orradre (Yamaha MS Racing).

As the race settled down towards the end of the opening lap, it was Oliver Konig (Movisio by MIE) who was starting to shine as he took second from Steeman at Turn 20, before leading at Turn 1 of Lap 2. Tom Booth-Amos (Fusport – RT Motorsports by SKM) was now into second too, as the Brit gained places.

The lead swapped and changed throughout the opening laps, with Huertas, Steeman and Booth-Amos hit the front on Lap 4. At the end of the lap, there was drama for Ruben Bijman (Machado CAME SBK) who, having qualified in fourth, was out after tucking the front at Turn 21.

Back at the front, Adrian Huertas was on rails and within a lap, had a half a second lead on Booth-Amos and Konig, whilst Alejandro Carrion (Kawasaki GP Project) was now right in the mix. Boot-Amos put in a stunning Lap 6 to bridge the gap to Huertas and set the fastest lap. Behind the front three, Konig, Bahattin Sofuoglu (Biblion Yamaha Motoxracing) and Steeman were also in contention.

With 7 laps remaining, it was a disaster for Samuel Di Sora (Leader Team Flembbo) who ran off-track before crashing as he re-joined, whilst Kevin Sabatucci (Viñales Racing Team) also went down but was up on his feet. A lap later, Miguel Duarte (Yamaha MS Racing) also retired.

Back at the front of the race, Huertas was defending his lead from Booth-Amos and Carrion, whilst Steeman had got his pace back and was in the mix in fourth ahead of Sofuoglu, who was working his way through the field but with four to go, he slowed up as a mechanical problem took him out.

With two laps to go, Alejandro Carrion got a massive slipstream to briefly lead, before Huertas and Booth-Amos returned to the front. It was a leading group of six as Oliver Konig had now dropped to seventh and became detached from the group.

Turn 1 on the last lap saw it all change as defending Champion Jeffrey Buis (MTM Kawasaki) hit the front whilst his teammate Yuta Okaya almost wiped out Huertas, pushing the Spaniard back to sixth before he recovered to fifth ahead of Konig.

It was all down to a run to the line for the leading four, as Carrion led coming out of the final corner before Booth-Amos slipstreamed into first. However, picking up the biggest slipstream, Jeffrey Buis – who was shuffled back to third at Turn 20 – blasted ahead to take victory by 0.008s ahead of Booth-Amos, whilst Carrion took third ahead of Steeman, with the Spaniard taking back-to-back podiums. Fifth place went to the recovering Huertas, who was robbed of a chance to fight for victory, meaning his lead in the title race is slashed to 11 points.

Sixth place belonged to home-hero Konig who did enjoy a stint at the front in the early stages, whilst it was Mirko Gennai (Team BRcorse) who took seventh, backing up his tenth place from Race 1.

Koen Meuffels (MTM Kawasaki) was in eighth place ahead of Victor Rodriguez Nuñez (Accolade Smrz Racing) and Hugo De Cancellis (Prodina Team WorldSSP300), after running off track in the incident with Samuel Di Sora.

Gabriele Mastroluca (ProGP Racing), Petr Svoboda (Wojcik Racing Team), Oscar Nuñez Roldan (SMW Racing), Ton Kawakami (AD78 Team Brasil by MS Racing) and Harry Khouri (Fusport – RT Motorsports by SKM – Kawasaki) completed the points.

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WorldSSP 300 Championship Standings

Source: MCNews.com.au