Saturday wrap from Jerez WSBK | All classes

2020 WorldSBK – Jerez

Superbike Race One Report

Reigning Champion Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) made a good start from the front row to take the lead from polesitter Scott Redding (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) while Toprak Razgatlioglu (PATA YAMAHA WorldSBK Official Team) was also able to jump from fifth to move into second; pushing Redding down into third place.

Redding had to fight his way past Toprak Razgatlioglu on Lap 11 to move back into second place, passing Turkish rider into Turn 6 to move into second place before instantly starting to apply the pressure to Rea.

It took just three more laps before Redding would make the move for the lead.

The race winning move came on Lap 14 out of 20 when Scott Redding (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) passed Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) down into Turn 6; using the power of his Ducati to get alongside before forcing the five-time WorldSBK Champion wide to claim the race lead and his first victory since moving to WorldSBK.

Rea came home in second place ahead of Razgatlioglu, who had to fend off a last-lap charge from Chaz Davies (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) to hold on to third place. Davies tried to make moves at the right-hander of Turn 1 and around the outside of the Turn 6 hairpin, but he ran wide; Razgatlioglu holding on to take third place with Davies in fourth.

Loris Baz (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) was the top Independent rider in the race with fifth place, running in the lead quartet for the majority of the race before a late charge from Davies moved him down to fifth place. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Team GOELEVEN) continued his impressive weekend with a sixth-place finish from a 10th place start.

Alvaro Bautista (Team HRC) finished in seventh place, four seconds away from Rinaldi and almost in a race of his own in the latter stages as he finished eight seconds clear of eighth-placed Marco Melandri (Barni Racing); the Italian finishing an impressive eighth place after making up 11 places throughout the race. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK), who led the Championship coming into the race, finished in ninth after being passed by Melandri in the latter stages.

Bautista’s HRC team-mate, Leon Haslam, was 10th ahead of Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team) and Christophe Ponsson (Nuova M2 Racing) scoring points on his return to the Championship as the privateer team brought Aprilia back to the Championship as part of a wildcard plan.

Xavi Fores (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) finished in 13th place with Sandro Cortese (OUTDO Kawasaki TPR) and Eugene Laverty (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) rounding out the points-paying positions. Sylvain Barrier (Brixx Performance), debutant Lorenzo Gabellini (MIE Racing Althea Honda Team) and team-mate Takumi Takahashi were the last classified runners.

Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) was running in the leading group but suffered a technical issue as he approached Turn 1 in the early stages of the race, ruling him out of contention in the early stages of the race. He was able to take the bike back to the pit lane despite the issue. Sykes was able to re-join the race on Lap 12; the issue not proving to be terminal.

Sykes’ issue was not the only issue during the race as Michael van der Mark (PATA YAMAHA WorldSBK Official Team) retired from the race on Lap 8, lots of smoke coming out the back of his bike forcing him to retire from Race 1 as he was running in the top 10. Federico Caricasulo (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team) suffered a high speed crash at Turn 4 but was able to ride the bike back to the pit lane, although it ended his race, while Leandro ‘Tati’ Mercado (Motocorsa Racing) also suffered a crash at Turn 6.

Scott Redding – P1

“It’s a great day for me: pole position and victory, couldn’t have done better. The race was very hard because of the temperature. In some moments I suffered a lot. I would like to thank the team for providing me with a bike that has worked very well. When did I start to suffer? Since I entered the pit lane. These are extreme conditions and tomorrow it will be even more difficult. But this is a problem all riders have to deal with.”

Jonathan Rea – P2

“That is probably the best performance we have done in Jerez for a number of years now. We have got to be really happy with our effort but I am a little bit disappointed that I had nothing left at the end for Scott. I had a few front slides in turn two and it was enough just to knock my confidence a little bit to start thinking to bring it home. We are not loading the front enough so we have some areas to improve for tomorrow. The good thing is that the rear tyre was working really well all race and had a lot of traction. This is not the strongest circuit for us but I was right there in the mix until the last few laps.”

Toprak Razgatlioglu – P3

“Today was very tough for all the riders, it was incredibly hot. I was fighting for the win, but it was just out of reach because in the closing stages the bike began to slide a lot. I tried my best and finishing third means we can take good points for the championship. I was fighting with Chaz Davies in the closing stages, but I managed to hold him off with some defensive riding. After practice I wasn’t completely happy, but it’s good to know that we can fight for wins even after a difficult Friday, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”

Chaz Davies – P4

“Unfortunately the start wasn’t the best and it compromised the possibility of fighting for the podium from the very first laps. During the race, however, the pace was good and allowed me to recover many positions. Satisfied? I would be if I raised a trophy. We have to work tomorrow morning to try and work out some small details that will allow me to be more incisive“.

Loris Baz – P5

“Not quite a podium yet, but I’m still happy. We have to take the most points we can without making mistakes, and fighting with factory guys is always good. The qualifying was OK, I felt there was a bit more left but it still wasn’t a bad position. In the race, I struggled at the beginning, it took me three laps or so to be on the pace. The bike was sliding a lot and I had to stop using the rear brake, which is unusual for me. Then I started to come back towards the front three, but I couldn’t find a way to pass. In the slipstream the tyres overheated quite a lot and I dropped to fifth, but overall I’m happy with the job we’ve done today.”

Alvaro Bautista – P7

“I was hoping for better feeling during the race, similar to what I had during the practices. I’m not thinking to the race result here, I’m referring to my feeling with the bike because we’d worked well until this point of the weekend. My Superpole lap time was not so bad even though I didn’t exploit my qualifying tyre to its full potential. So we expected more from this race. Instead we struggled with front feeling and the bike’s turning, something that we had partially solved in the test in Aragon but that here, with higher temperatures and such a slippery track due to the extreme conditions, prevented us from pushing as we wanted during the race. So even though I’m not happy with the feeling I had today on the bike, on another hand I’m happy that we are very clear on where we need to work and the problem we have to solve.”

Alex Lowes – P9

“I tucked the front in the first lap of Superpole, which was a shame, as it put pressure on for the one lap on the qualifying tyre. In the race I struggled a lot more than I expected. The SC2 front tyre worked really well for me on Friday afternoon and I did a lot of laps on it, but today it did not seem to work as well. I think I need a bit more experience of the Kawasaki in hot conditions to get the most out of it. It is easy to forget that this is my second proper ride on it. When you go around Jerez in the winter and the weather is cool you just ride around, can do loads of laps, and everything feels good. The you come here in these temperatures and everything feels a bit different. I had to just manage the race the best I could and we will try to improve a bit for tomorrow.”

Leon Haslam – P10

“It felt like a very long race to be honest. We suffered a similar problem to Australia, which began in the opening laps and gradually got worse throughout the race. I struggled to manage the front and the grip and essentially went backwards. So we need to make a new plan for tomorrow, hopefully rectifying some of these problems. I think our pace through the opening laps can see us up with the top five so I’m confident we can take a step forward tomorrow.”

Superbike Race One Results

WSBK Championship Points

Supersport Race One Report

With track temperatures hitting and exceeding 60°c during the FIM Supersport World Championship Race 1, the opening WorldSSP race from the Pirelli Spanish took place in sweltering conditions but that did not stop Andrea Locatelli (BARDAHL Evan Bros. WorldSSP Team) taking victory despite an early-race battle with Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha).

Locatelli held the lead off the line but French rider Cluzel made the move to take the lead on the opening lap of the race. He was able to hold the lead until lap five when Locatelli was able to make a move back to take the lead and promptly extended his lead to Cluzel to take the Italian rider out of range; eventually finishing the race three seconds clear of Cluzel.

Cluzel finished a comfortable second, with a margin of almost five seconds, despite the lead group of three to break away along with Philipp Oettl (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing); Cluzel able to finish X seconds clear of German rider Oettl. Oettl also had a comfortable run to the podium on his Kawasaki ZX-6R, the top Kawasaki rider in Race 1 with both Locatelli and Cluzel both riding Yamaha YZF R6 machines.

Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) claimed a hard-fought fourth place ahead of Raffaele de Rosa (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) in Race 1; the pair fighting on the last lap with Mahias making a move through the fast right-handers towards the end of the lap to secure fourth place. De Rosa had been closing in on Mahias throughout the latter stages and passed him at Turn 6, the pair getting their elbows out as they made their way through the corner.

Steven Odendaal (EAB Ten Kate Racing) finished in sixth place as he held off a challenge from Corentin Perolari (GMT94 Yamaha). The pair were separated by just three tenths of a second as they crossed the line with 2019 WorldSSP300 Champion Manuel Gonzalez (Kawasaki ParkinGO Team) finishing in eighth. Spaniard Gonzalez had to fight off Can Öncü (Turkish Racing Team) and Hannes Soomer (Kallio Racing) who rounded out the top 10; the trio separated by seven tenths as they crossed the line.

Alejandro Ruiz (EMPERADOR Racing Team) finished an impressive 11th place after starting at the back of the grid following a penalty for incorrect tyre pressures; making up a number of positions throughout the 17-lap race to secure a points finish. Ruiz, the highest-placed finisher in the WorldSSP Challenge, finished two-and-a-half seconds clear of Danny Webb (WRP Wepol Racing) in 12th.

Federico Fuligni (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) finished in 13th place, three seconds behind Webb but a comfortable nine seconds clear of Belgian rider Loris Cresson (OXXO Yamaha Team Toth). Cresson was 16 seconds clear of WorldSSP Challenge competitor Luigi Montella (DK MOTORSPORT), who claimed the final point to be awarded in the race with 15th.

Australian newcomer Lachlan Epis as stand-in rider for the MPM Routz Racing Team was the last finisher home in 16th place, just missing out on a World Championship point after struggling with a lack of set-up time to make the tyres last in the hot conditions.

Axel Bassani (Soradis Yamaha Motoxracing) was running strongly in the points during his race but the WorldSSP Challenge competitor had a crash late in the race; the Italian taken to the medical centre for checks following the incident but was declared fit after the check-up. Peter Sebestyen (OXXO Yamaha Team Toth) and Andy Verdoïa (bLU cRU WorldSSP by MS Racing) had an incident at Turn 4 which meant Hungarian rider Sebestyen retired from the race and was taken to the medical centre for a check-up following the incident; later being declared unfit due to concussion. Verdoïa was able to continue in the race but later had an issue which meant he temporarily stopped on track.

Other retirements in the race included Indonesian rider Galang Hendra Pratama (bLU cRU WorldSSP by MS Racing), Hikari Okubo (Dynavolt Honda), Patrick Hobelsberger (Dynavolt Honda) and Isaac Viñales (Kallio Racing); the Spanish rider starting from the back of the grid following a stewards’ decision for incorrect tyre pressures.

P1 Andrea Locatelli (BARDAHL Evan Bros. WorldSSP Team)

“It’s a fantastic day today, we did a good job, but the conditions are very crazy. It’s so hot and so difficult to push on the bike but we need to understand to take a bit more confidence in these conditions because it’s important for tomorrow and the second race. I think we did a really good job today and this is important for the Championship and also for me.”

P2 Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha)

“I’m happy. It was the target after practice and qualifying. We knew we could not really follow the rider of the BARDAHL but I gave my best to be second. I tried my best, for sure, to be first but today was too difficult, too much risk. With the hot conditions I was sliding the front, sliding the rear. Actually, I’m happy, I’m proud because I trained hard for these hot conditions. I knew more or less the feeling and I tried to improve the bike in these conditions. It worked today so second is a good result. We still have a race tomorrow so we have to improve a little bit tomorrow and maybe I can fight with him.”

P3 Philipp Oettl (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing)

“I am very happy with my first WorldSSP podium. Manuel Puccetti gave me the opportunity to ride in this team and after one and a half difficult years before then it was a good sign that I can still ride a bike. At the first round in Phillip Island I had a good feeling with the bike and I thought I could be on the podium, but I threw it away. I thought today I could stay calm. I had a good start and immediately we were in front and the gap was already there. I said to myself to keep calm and do not throw it way again. The front was difficult in the race as we had 62°C on the asphalt. The heat was terrible but I am happy.”

Supersport Race One Results

Supersport Championship Points

WorldSSP 300 Race One Report

Thrilling racing and scorching temperatures greeted FIM Supersport 300 World Championship riders for the start of the 2020 WorldSSP season at the Circuito de Jerez – Angel Nieto, with the delayed season getting underway with a chaotic race, with Unai Orradre (Yamaha MS Racing) breaking away from the lead group at around half distance before going on to take victory.

Orradre took advantage of Ana Carrasco (Kawasaki Provec WorldSSP300) running wide on Lap 5 to move into the lead before pulling out around half a second to break the slipstream effect, enabling the Spanish rider to control the race without pressure from the chasing pack. Until Carrasco ran wide, there had been a lead group of nine riders.

The battle for second went down to the last corner of the last lap between Scott Deroue (MTM Kawasaki MOTOPORT), Carrasco, Tom Booth-Amos (RT Motorsports by SKM – Kawasaki) and Yuta Okaya (MTM Kawasaki MOTOPORT), Thomas Brianti (Prodina Ircos Team WorldSSP300) and Bahattin Sofuoglu (Biblion Motoxracing Yamaha WSSP300).

Carrasco was second heading into the final corner after an aggressive move on Deroue on the final lap but the 2018 Champion ran wide at the final corner; moving her down to seventh place. Booth-Amos took advantage of this to move into second place while Deroue finished third, Okaya fourth and Brianti fifth; just 0.058s separating the trio at the line. Booth-Amos had a Margin of 0.087s ahead of Deroue.

Behind Carrasco in seventh, Kevin Sabatucci (Kawasaki GP Project) finished in eighth place around four seasons behind Carrasco but in a tight battle with Alvaro Diaz (Biblion Motoxracing Yamaha WSSP300) with the pair separated by 0.002s at the line. Sabatucci and Diaz were part of a second group of riders behind the leaders which also featured Nick Kalinin (Battley-RT Motorsports by SKM-Kawasaki) and Ton Kawakami (Yamaha MS Racing); the pair finishing tenth and 11th respectively. The top 11 were separated by just 7.836s after the 10-lap race.

Samuel Di Sora (Leader Team Flembbo) was 12th after making his way through the Last Chance Race to claim a point-scoring finish, finishing two tenths clear of Kim Aloisi (ProGP Racing). Alejandro Carrion (Smrz Racing – Willi Race) finished in 14th place with Koen Meuffels (MTM Kawasaki MOTOPORT) claiming the final point. Like Di Sora, he had to fight his way through the Last Chance Race to make it onto the grid.

There was an incident involving Johan Gimbert (GP Project) and Hugo De Cancellis (Team TRASIMENO) in the race with a battle on track, with both riders retiring from the race following the crash after completing one lap. De Cancellis had been at the back of the grid following a penalty for a tyre pressure infringement and had made his way into 24th position before the incident. Other retirements include Tom Bercot (ProGP Racing) on the opening lap, Mika Perez (Prodina Ircos Team WorldSSP300) who had came off his bike of his own accord.

Australian Tom Edwards (Kawasaki ParkinGO Team) also failed to finish while countryman Tom Bramich did not make the WorldSSP300 Main after going out of the earlier Last Chance Race.

P1 Unai Orradre (Yamaha MS Racing)

“To take my first world championship win here today is an incredible feeling and I’m very happy. In the first part of the race I stayed in the lead group, but just after the halfway point I decided to try to go alone and I managed to pull a bit of a gap at the front. From then it was just a case of trying to maintain the advantage, but I actually managed to extend the gap over the final laps. To win today was amazing, but now we need to focus on Race 2 tomorrow, where I hope we can be in the lead group again and in a position to fight for another victory. Thank you to both the MS Racing Team and Yamaha for their incredible support.”

P2 Tom Booth-Amos (RT Motorsports by SKM – Kawasaki)

“Obviously it’s nice to be on the podium but I had the pace to win today. Unfortunately in qualifying I was on my fast lap and the red flag came out, so I started 15th today. I made some mistakes but it was my first Supersport 300 race coming from GP. I made some mistakes, dropped back to 17th then pushed my way forwards and finally it worked. I think tomorrow we can get a better start and push for the win.”

P3 Scott Deroue (MTM Kawasaki MOTOPORT)

“I had a good start from 13th position and my first lap was good too, then I was just looking at what was my pace, what was the pace of the others and it wasn’t too bad. But my bike was getting really hot and in the end, I was thinking “okay, I go first” but I didn’t have the pace to be first to be honest. Then Unai overtook me, I made a mistake, Unai had a gap and I made another mistake and then there was a gap. Second was the ideal to finish. On the last lap, Ana overtook me on the straight and the next corner she touched me, then we came together at the last corner. I took the inside; she went for the inside too and we touched again so I outbraked myself and finished third. I’m happy with that but I was hoping for second.”

WorldSSP 300 Race One Results

WorldSSP 300 Championship Points

WorldSBK Sunday Schedule

2020 WorldSBK calendar

1. March 1 – Phillip Island, Australia
2. August 2 – Jerez, Spain (WSBK-WSSP-WSSP300)
3. August 9 – Portimao, Portugal (WSBK-WSSP-WSSP300)
4. August 30 – Aragon, Spain (WSBK-WSSP-WSSP300)
5. September 6 – Aragon, Spain (WSBK-WSSP-WSSP300)
6. September 20 – Catalunya, Spain (WSBK-WSSP-WSSP300)
7. October 4 – Magny-Cours, France (WSBK-WSSP-WSSP300)
8. October 11 – Circuito San Juan Villicum, Argentina (TBC) (WSBK-WSSP)
9. November 8 – Misano, Italy (WSBK-WSSP-WSSP300)