#ITAWorldSBK Misano, Saturday roundup: World Superbike, World Supersport, World SSP300

 In News, World Superbikes

World Superbike

The MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship’s Race 1 at the Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli” was won by Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) as he claimed a hard-fought victory during the Pirelli Emilia-Romagna Round to extend his Championship lead. Bautista started from pole position but dropped back before battling back to claim victory as he set a race lap record in the closing stages of the race.

Bautista initially lost out at the start but was able to battle back, first to take second place from Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) on Lap 4 before making his move on Rea at the high-speed Curvone corner on Lap 13 to move into the lead of the race and from there did not look back as he claimed victory for Ducati on home soil. In the first two-thirds of the race, it was a three-way battle between Bautista, Rea and Razgatlioglu, as has been customary throughout the 2022 season. However, at the end of Lap 14, Razgatlioglu suffered a technical issue on his machine and retired from the race.

Bautista’s victory, by 5.128s after the 21 laps were completed, gave him his 21st win in WorldSBK which puts him level with Max Biaggi on the all-time list. Rea’s second place gave him his 224th podium and ninth in 2022 as well as Kawasaki’s 498th in WorldSBK; just two shy of a landmark 500 podiums.
Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) started Race 1 from tenth place but soon found himself inside the top five after an incredible start by the Italian rider, looking to challenge the lead trio at the time for a podium place. He eventually dropped back and had to battle with Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) for what would turn out to be a podium position, but Rinaldi was able to make the move for his first podium of the 2022 season and the 11th of his career. Like Kawasaki, Ducati are on the verge of a podium milestone and sit just five away from 1,000 podium placements in WorldSBK. Bassani finished in fourth place as he took his best result of the 2022 season. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) secured fifth place after he battled his way back into a top five finish, finishing ahead of Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) who completed the top six with Locatelli just 1.4s back from Lowes.

Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) claimed seventh spot as he withstood the challenge from Garrett Gerloff (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team); the American, once again, putting on a late-race charge to claim eighth spot. Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) lost ground at the start of the race but was able to fight his way back to a top ten finish as he claimed ninth spot with Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) rounding out the top ten.

Roberto Tamburini (Yamaha Motoxracing WorldSBK Team) claimed his joint-best WorldSBK report with 11th place finishing ahead of Kohta Nozane (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team). Nozane got a good start and fought his way into the top ten but dropped back as the race progressed before dropping back to 12th. Eugene Laverty (Bonovo Action BMW) claimed 13th spot after passing teammate Loris Baz in the closing stages, while Luca Bernardi (BARNI Spark Racing Team) also passed Baz to finish 14th; Baz claiming 15th place.

Replacement rider Tito Rabat (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) narrowly missed out on points, finishing less than a second behind Baz, on his comeback to the Championship with 16th place ahead of Hafizh Syahrin (MIE Racing Honda Team), Illia Mykhalchyk (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team), Leonardo Mercado (MIE Racing Honda Team) and Oliver Konig (Orelac Racing VerdNatura).
Christophe Ponsson (Gil Motor Sport-Yamaha) was the first retirement from the race after he had a Lap 3 crash at Turn 4, forcing the Frenchman out of the race. Ponsson was taken to the medical centre for a check-up following the crash and declared unfit with a right collar bone fracture and cervical strain. Philipp Oettl (Team Goeleven) had a crash at Turn 8 on Lap 5 and, while the German was able to re-join the race, he retired a short time later. Italian rider Alessandro Delbianco (TPR Team Pedercini Racing) did not compete in the race. Wildcard Gabriele Ruiu (Bmax Racing) was also a retirement from the race after a Turn 14 crash. The Italian did re-join the race but retired from the race following the incident.

World Supersport

There was no shortage of drama in Race 1 for the FIM Supersport World Championship as Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) claimed victory after rival Lorenzo Baldassarri (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team) was penalised for a last-lap track limits infringement at the Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli”. The results of the race at the Pirelli Emilia-Romagna Round mean Aegerter has extended his Championship lead to 49 points after just seven races so far in 2022.

Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team) got a good launch off the line to move into the lead of the race and looked to pull a gap out, thanks to lap record pace in the opening laps of the race, over the chasing Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) and Lorenzo Baldassarri (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team). Despite a series of faster laps from both Aegerter and Baldassarri as the race progressed, Bulega was able to hold on to the lead of the race until Lap 17.

At Turn 1 on Lap 17, Aegerter made his move into the right-hander to move into the lead of the race with just two laps to go with Baldassarri taking advantage of Bulega losing momentum to swoop around the outside of Turn 2 and into Turn 3. On the last lap, Baldassarri, at the same corner, made his move on Aegerter for the lead of the race and withstood a move from the Swiss rider at Turn 14 to hold on. However, on the exit of Turn 15, Baldassarri was adjudged to have gone on the green by the FIM WorldSBK Stewards and was demoted one place, promoting Aegerter to victory.
Aegerter now has 16 wins in WorldSSP, putting him level with Andrew Pitt and Sam Lowes at 16th in the all-time list while his sixth consecutive win means he now has the second longest winning streak in WorldSSP; exceeding his best of five from last season and putting him only behind Andrea Locatelli who scored nine in 2020. Baldassarri took his sixth podium with second place, putting him level with Jonathan Rea while Bulega took his fourth podium. It means Bulega is level with Roberto Rolfo, Robbin Harms, Gianluca Nannelli and Rea’s WorldSBK Crew Chief, Pere Riba.

The battle for fourth was decided on the line in a battle with four riders looking to finish as high up as possible. Can Oncu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) was battling with teammate Yari Montella throughout the race and the pair were involved in the scrap for fourth place, with Oncu coming home in fourth. Stefano Manzi (Dynavolt Triumph), who started ninth, battled his way up to fifth place ahead of Montella in sixth and Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha) in seventh; with just three tenths separating the four riders.

Matia Casadei (MV Agusta Reparto Corse), standing in for the recovering Niki Tuuli, took a top eight finish as he withstood the challenge from Swiss rider Marcel Brenner (VFT Racing) in ninth as they battled on the final lap. Spanish rookie Adrian Huertas (MTM Kawasaki) continued his impressive start to his maiden WorldSSP campaign with tenth place.

Hannes Soomer (Dynavolt Triumph) took him 11th place as he battled with Peter Sebestyen (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team) in the closing stages of the race with the Hungarian rider finishing in 12th place. Andy Verdoia (GMT94 Yamaha), returning from injury, was 13th ahead of another rider coming back from injury with Leonardo Taccini (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) in 14th. Replacement rider Nicholas Spinelli (D34G Racing), standing in for Filippo Fuligni, scored 15th place on his first race in WorldSSP.

Ducati riders Raffaele De Rosa (Orelac Racing VerdNatura WorldSSP) and Oli Bayliss (BARNI Spark Racing Team) both had crashes during the race, with both bringing their bike back to the pits and returning to the race three and four laps down respectively, being classified in 22nd and 23rd.
There was drama on the opening lap at Turn 8 when Bahattin Sofuoglu (MV Agusta Reparto Corse), Tom Booth-Amos (Prodina Racing WorldSSP) and wildcard Matteo Patacca (Renzi Corse) all crashed at Turn 8; with Booth-Amos and Patacca retiring from the race. Booth-Amos was taken to the medical centre and declared unfit with a right wrist fracture. The incident will be investigated by the FIM WorldSBK Stewards after the race. On the opening lap, Glenn ban Straalen (EAB Racing Team) had a technical issue and he retired from the race. Jeffrey Buis (Motozoo Racing by Puccetti) crashed out on Lap 3 at Turn 13 which put the 2020 WorldSSP300 Champion out of the race, while Ben Currie (Motozoo Racing by Puccetti) retired following a Turn 4 crash on Lap 6. Patrick Hobelsberger (Kallio Racing) retired from the race after eight laps while Federico Caricasulo (Althea Racing), Kyle Smith (VFT Racing) and Unai Orradre (MS Racing Yamaha WorldSSP) all retired.

World SSP300

The FIM Supersport 300 World Championship battle went down to the wire as home hero Matteo Vannucci (AG Motorsport Italia Yamaha) claimed an incredible first World Championship win from pole position at the Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli”. Vannucci led most of the race but had to fend off a last-lap challenge from Alvaro Diaz (Arco Motor University Team) to take victory.

Aside from the opening lap where he lost out at the start, Vannucci led throughout the 15-lap race from pole position, where he started after breaking the lap record in Tissot Superpole on Saturday. He was able to open up a gap of around two seconds during the race but soon found himself under pressure from Championship contender Diaz, who closed the gap and took the lead on the last lap. However, Vannucci was able to fight back on the run to the line to win by just 0.020s; the third time Diaz has missed out by the smallest of margins in WorldSSP300 with all three inside the top ten closest finishes in WorldSSP300.
Vannucci’s win gave him his first win in WorldSSP300 and the fourth Italian winner after Alfonso Coppola (VM Racing Team), who finished fourth as a wildcard today, Manuel Bastianelli and Kevin Sabautcci (Kawasaki GP Project), who finished 24th in Race 1 at Misano. He also claimed Italy’s first victory since Donington 2019 and became the 23rd different winner in the Championship’s history.

Samuel Di Sora (Leader Team Flembbo) claimed third place as he maintains his Championship challenge, with the top three separated by just two points; Marc Garcia (Yamaha MS Racing) on 102 points, Di Sora one point back and Diaz one point further back. Di Sora was able to withstand a late-race challenge from Coppola to claim his 11th podium finish in WorldSSP300.

Coppola had a seven second gap to Victor Steeman (MTM Kawasaki) in fifth place after the Dutchman was penalised with a double Long Lap Penalty for jumping the start. Steeman had dropped down the order to the fringes of the points but was able to fight back for a top-five finish, ahead of Spanish rider Inigo Iglesias (SMW Racing) and Dirk Geiger (Fusport-RT Motorsports by SKM-Kawasaki); Iglesias and Geiger were separated by just 0.034s at the end of the race.
Japanese rider Yuta Okaya (MTM Kawasaki) finished in eighth place with a three-tenths margin over Hugo De Cancellis (Prodina Racing WorldSSP300) with the Frenchman fending off a challenge from Ruben Bijman (MTM Kawasaki) to claim ninth place; Bijman was tenth after being given a Long Lap Penalty for irresponsible riding in Free Practice 2.

Petr Svoboda (Accolade Smrz Racing) continued to show strong pace as he substitutes for Jose Luis Perez Gonzales as he finished in 11th place, three tenths clear of Garcia in 12th place; the Spanish rider’s gap in the standings cut by strong results for Diaz and Di Sora. Alessandro Zanca (Kawasaki GP Project) claimed 13thplace; the third time in a row he has finished there. Alex Millan (SMW Racing) was 14th as he picked up yet another points finish with Marco Gaggi (Vinales Racing Team) rounding out the points with 15th place.

Bruno Ieraci (Prodina Racing WorldSSP300) crashed out at Turn 4 on Lap 1 of the race although the Italian, who was given a Long Lap Penalty for irresponsible riding in Race 2 at the Estoril Round, re-joined the race before retiring from the race. After looking for another podium in the 2022 season, Mirko Gennai’s (Team BrCorse) hope of home success was ended on Lap 1 after he had a crash after tagging wildcard Mattia Martella (Prodina Racing WorldSSP300) at Turn 11. Martella’s race ended a lap later when he was involved in a crash with Lennox Lehmann (Freudenberg KTM – Paligo Racing) at Turn 14 with both riders retiring. Following their respective crashes, Gennai and Lehmann were taken to the medical centre for a check-up. On Lap 3, Iker Garcia Abella (Yamaha MS Racing) crashed out at Turn 16, something Harry Khouri (Fusport-RT Motorsports by SKM-Kawasaki) repeated a lap later. Following a crash in the early stages of the race, Fenton Seabright (Vinales Racing Team) retired from the race after re-joining following his Turn 5 crash.

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