Gordon Ritchie | August 8, 2021
Sunday
WorldSBK Race Two
Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) ended his race-winning drought to take his eighth career WorldSBK race win and his first 2021 season victory since the second round of the season in Portugal.
He rounded out a perfect race with a marriage proposal – accepted – to his girlfriend on the top step of the podium…
Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) was second on track and Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) a distant third, 12.460 seconds from Redding on a tough weekend for the six-times champion after winning Superpole.
An early lead for Razgatlioglu was upturned by the sheer pace of Redding, with both those leading riders gapping the field to the tune of three seconds long before half race distance.
Behind the top two Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) finally had to yield third place to Rea with 14 laps to go.
Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team) was an integral part of the leading five early on but dropped pace to ride in fifth place on his own with half the race left to run. He was fifth all the way until the penultimate lap when Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) passed him, relegating Lowes to sixth.
Michael van der Mark (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) was seventh, just holding off Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha).
Long time top six rider Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) ended up a disappointed ninth, with Alvaro Bautista (HRC Honda) tenth, one place ahead of his team-mate Leon Haslam (HRC Honda).
A potentially nasty crash into Turn One on lap one saw four riders involved, with Axel Bassani (MotoCorsa Racing Ducati) and Alessandro Delbianco (MIE Racing Honda Team) failing to get out of the gravel trap. Bassani was struck by two bikes but walked away from the crash.
In the championship, Rea still leads, by a narrow three points. Rea has 266 points, Razgatlioglu 263 and Redding 216 – now just 50 points behind Rea.
2021 Czech Republic WorldSBK Results—Race Two
1 |
Scott Redding |
(Duc) |
|
2 |
Toprak Razgatlioglu |
(Yam) |
+ 3.587s |
3 |
Jonathan Rea |
(Kaw) |
+ 12.460s |
4 |
Andrea Locatelli |
(Yam) |
+ 15.206s |
5 |
M. Ruben Rinaldi |
(Duc) |
+ 19.479s |
WorldSSP Race Two
Having lost the first Most WorldSSP race to his great championship rival Steven Odendaal (BARDAHL Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha), and only finishing fourth himself, points leader Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) put on an SCX rear tyre and went for it from the off in Race Two.
He won by just over a second, in a race that finished very differently from how it started for some riders.
Philipp Öttl (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) held his usual early watching-while-pushing brief in second but a serious charge from young Spanish rider Manuel Gonzalez (Yamaha ParkinGo Team) halted Aegerter and Öttl’s attempted joint escape.
After Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha) was taken out of contention by another rider the leading four started to become a five and then a six, as Odendaal started to close in to the leaders. Thanks in part to a new lap record of 1’35.509 on lap ten he caught and then passed Öttl for third place.
Odendaal eventually also passed Gonzalez for second but Aegerter proved just too far ahead to catch at the flag and instead Odendaal had to fight Gonzalez again to make sure of second place and 20 points.
Behind the top three, Öttl held on for fourth place, with Luca Bernardi (CM Racing Yamaha) close behind.
Caricasulo was sixth, Valetin Debise (GMT94 Yamaha) seventh, with Niki Tuuli (MV Agusta Corse Clienti) just behind in eighth.
Can Öncü (Turkish Racing Team Kawasaki) started well but finished slowly in ninth, with Raffaele De Rosa (Orelac Racing VerdNatura Kawasaki) rounding out the top ten.
Randy Krummenacher (EAB Racing Team) crashed out.
In the championship Aegerter has 207 points, Odendaal 170 and Öttl 137. Gonzalez jumps up in fourth with 120 points.
2021 Czech Republic WorldSSP Results—Race Two
1 |
Dominique Aegerter |
(Yam) |
|
2 |
Steven Odendaal |
(Yam) |
+ 1.064s |
3 |
Manuel Gonzalez |
(Yam) |
+ 1.166s |
4 |
Philipp Oettl |
(Kaw) |
+ 7.303s |
5 |
Luca Bernardi |
(Yam) |
+ 8.528s |
WorldSBK Superpole Race
Toprak Razgatlioglu proved unstoppable again as he drew the following Jonathan Rea (KRT) into a small mistake that saw him run off track in his efforts to stay with the Turkish rider closely enough to contend for the race win.
Entering T1 on lap ten, Rea suffered two rear wheel judders and had to take to the escape road before rejoining the action. He was soon to lose his long-held second place to the closing Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati), who had himself lost places off the start on lap one.
Fourth in the sprint race was Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team), fifth Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team), who had started off the second row of the grid.
Top Independent rider was Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha), with Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team) seventh and the fast privateer Axel Bassani (MotoCorsa Racing Ducati) eighth.
The top ten was completed by lead Honda rider Alvaro Bautista (HRC Honda) with Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) tenth.
2021 Czech Republic WorldSBK Results—Superpole Race
1 |
Toprak Razgatlioglu |
(Yam) |
|
2 |
Scott Redding |
(Duc) |
+ 0.496s |
3 |
Jonathan Rea |
(Kaw) |
+ 1.384s |
4 |
Andrea Locatelli |
(Yam) |
+ 5.765s |
5 |
Tom Sykes |
(BMW) |
+ 8.964s |
Saturday
WorldSBK
Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) overhauled the long time leader Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) with a tough last lap pass inside at Turn 20 to hold his lead over the line and win Race One by just 0.040 seconds.
The tense last lap, in which pass and re-pass was made, saw Razgatlioglu come from way back and take Redding’s planned line into the penultimate corner, scoring a win that took him to within 12 points of double crasher and no-scorer Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team).
A mid-race faller as he tried to stay with Razgatlioglu entering Turn One, Rea finally crashed to a stop into Turn 20 with five laps to go.
The final podium place on offer behind Razgatlioglu and Redding was taken by Razgatlioglu’s suddenly competitive team-mate, Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team), some 13 seconds behind.
In fourth place the factory Ducati of Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) held off the privateer and top independent rider, Axel Bassani (MotoCorsa Racing Ducati). The top six was completed by slow starting but fast finishing Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha).
Alvaro Bautista (HRC Honda) was seventh and Leon Haslam (HRC Honda) eighth.
After all the worry about the first chicane Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad) and Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team) were the two to outbrake themselves on lap one and run into the escape road.
Sykes rejoined from his fourth place grid spot to fifth in the race but he would slip back as the race carried on, to finish ninth.
Tenth was Friday fast man and regular EWC rider Marvin Fritz (IXZ-YART Yamaha).
2021 Czech Republic WorldSBK Results—Race One
1 |
Toprak Razgatlioglu |
(Yam) |
|
2 |
Scott Redding |
(Duc) |
+ 0.040s |
3 |
Andrea Locatelli |
(Yam) |
+ 13.838s |
4 |
M. Ruben Rinaldi |
(Duc) |
+ 16.650s |
5 |
Axel Bassani |
(Duc) |
+ 16.935s |
WorldSSP
A red flag thrown just after two-thirds of WorldSSP Race One at Most saw the results declared in lap 12, putting Steven Odendaal (BARDAHL Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha) back on the top step of the podium for the first time since Race One at Estoril in May.
He had taken the lead from a warring faction of official Kawasaki riders, and would eventually win from the youngest ever pole position rider, Manuel Gonzalez (Yamaha ParkinGo Team).
The 19-year-old rider was gradually closing in on Odendaal but the possibility of his first win remained a question mark as the scheduled final seven laps did not happen.
Eventual eighth place rider Can Öncü (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) had finally and properly clashed with his own team-mate Philipp Öttl (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) and dropped down the order, without actually falling, which left Öttl in a clear third place after Gonzalez had moved past him.
In fourth place, recent five-in-a-row race winner Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) lost some of his championship lead to Odendaal, but he was only just over two seconds back at the – early – flag. Aegerter is now 32 points ahead of Odendaal, with another Most race coming on Sunday.
Having recently left the GMT94 Yamaha team Federico Caricasulo (Biblion Iberica Yamaha) was fifth, from Luca Bernardi (CM Racing Yamaha) sixth, early leader Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha) seventh and the luckless Turkish rider Öncü eighth.
The top ten was rounded out by Niki Tuuli (MV Agusta Corse Clienti) and Peter Sebestyen (Racing Team Hungary Yamaha).
2021 Czech Republic WorldSSP Results—Race One
1 |
Steven Odendaal |
(Yam) |
|
2 |
Manuel Gonzalez |
(Yam) |
+ 0.430s |
3 |
Philipp Oettl |
(Kaw) |
+ 0.521s |
4 |
Dominique Aegerter |
(Yam) |
+ 2.192s |
5 |
Federico Caricasulo |
(Yam) |
+ 5.294s |
Friday
WorldSBK
A sharp fall of rain shortly after the start of FP2 saw everyone in the WorldSBK category head for the shelter of Most’s few and relatively small pit garages. The shelter was welcome all the same as the rains thickened and effectively halted the meaningful action.
Garret Gerloff led the times in FP2 before the rains arrived but the dry morning session was faster in any case, with Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) topping the charts with a 1’33.022 best time, fully 0.600 seconds up on second-placed rider Alex Lowes (KRT).
Third was Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati), who had some degree of testing experience at Most recently.
Wildcard rider Marvin Fritz (IXZ-YART Yamaha) was a remarkable and Most-experienced fourth, with Assen podium first-timer Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) fifth.
Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) was sixth, and top BMW rider proved to be Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) in seventh place.
Alvaro Bautista (HRC Honda) was top Honda rider in eighth place, ahead of another wild card rider Karel Hanika (IXZ-YART Yamaha) in ninth and Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha) tenth.
A few brave souls went out to set laps in the rain in FP2, notably Razgatlioglu and Leon Haslam (HRC Honda) among them.
2021 Czech Republic WorldSBK Results—Friday
1 |
Toprak Razgatlioglu |
(Yam) |
1:33.022s |
2 |
Alex Lowes |
(Kaw) |
+0.600s |
3 |
Scott Redding |
(Duc) |
+0.641s |
4 |
Marvin Fritz |
(Yam) |
+0.787s |
5 |
Andrea Locatelli |
(Yam) |
+0.839s |
WorldSSP
A new track for WorldSSP at Most but the now-familiar name of Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) ended up on top of the combined Friday qualifying times. From then on in the surprises came thick and fast as Manuel Gonzalez (Yamaha ParkinGo Team) went from the operating theatre (to rectify compartment syndrome issues after Assen) to second fastest, having headed up FP1 this morning.
Third was a wildcard rider, Patrick Hobelsberger (GMT94 Yamaha), thanks to his fast morning time and such experience of Most from German championship races. He did not set a full lap time in the afternoon session.
Steven Odendaal (BARDAHL Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha) placed fourth after two sessions and some delays in the morning, due to fog at the local hospital preventing the rescue helicopter from operating.
New GMT 94 rider Valentin Debise was a strong fifth, Marc Alcoba (Yamaha MS Racing) sixth.
Philipp Öttl (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) was top Kawasaki rider in seventh place ahead of two top Yamaha riders most weekends – Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha) and Randy Krummenacher (EAB Racing Team).
Niki Tuuli (MV Agusta Corse Clienti) added some different colours to the top echelons in tenth, ahead of the second official Kawasaki of Can Öncü (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing).
With wildcards and one-off riders no fewer than 35 riders tried their luck around the ‘old’ track that is a WorldSSP debutant this season.
2021 Czech Republic WorldSSP Results—Friday
1 |
Dominique Aegerter |
(Yam) |
1:35.446s |
2 |
Manuel Gonzalez |
(Yam) |
+0.210s |
3 |
Patrick Hobelsberger |
(Yam) |
+0.332s |
4 |
Steven Odendaal |
(Yam) |
+0.425s |
5 |
Valentin Debise |
(Yam) |
+0.613s |
For more WorldSBK news and results, click here