Comprehensive WorldSBK/SSP/SSP300 wrap from Saturday at Most

2022 FIM Superbike World Championship
Round Six – Autodrom Most, Most, Czech Republic
Saturday Wrap

WorldSBK Superpole

The Tissot Superpole session at the Autodrom Most for the 2022 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship was dramatic from the start. With spots of rain in the air after an overnight shower, riders were forced to exit onto the circuit straight away.

With no SCQ tyres available and the SCX tyre only available for Superpole and the Sunday morning Superpole Race, the session gave extra challenges compared to others. Getting the most out of the 15-minute shootout, Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) stormed to a 1’30.947 for a new lap record and a second consecutive pole position at Most.

Most WorldSBK Superpole Results

WorldSBK Race One

Alvaro Bautista started from the second row but soon was able to take advantage of Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) and Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) battling together which allowed the championship leader to close the gap.

Bautista moved into second place on Lap 11 with a move into Turn 20 on the reigning Champion, he then followed that up with a move on Rea into Turn 1 at the start of Lap 12.

The Spaniard was able to clear his charging rivals to win by more than two seconds, going on to take his seventh win of 2022 and 23rd victory of his career, while it was also a historic milestone for Ducati as they claimed their 1000th podium placement.

The battle for the podium went down to the last lap between Razgatlioglu, Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) and Rea. Razgatlioglu made a hard move on Redding at Turn 13, with Redding running a little bit wide and allowing Rea to close in on the BMW rider.

At Turn 15, Rea looked to make a move on Redding to move into the podium places but Redding was able to hold on, with Razgatlioglu and Redding completing the podium.

Places fifth to seventh in Race 1 were taken up by Italian riders. Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) claimed fifth place and finishes as the best Independent rider. In the early stages, Bassani had been running in fourth but was eventually passed by Redding and dropped back from the lead group.

Bassani also lost time to Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) in the closing stages but was able to finish a second clear of Locatelli, who in turn had a three second margin over Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) in seventh. Rinaldi had started from third place but lost ground through the opening corners before coming home in seventh place.

On his first visit to the Autodrom Most, Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) continued his run of top-ten finishes that has lasted his entire WorldSBK career, with the Spanish rookie finishing in eighth place. It is the best points-scoring streak in WorldSBK since Michael van der Mark scored 19 consecutive points-scoring positions in 2016. He was just over half a second clear of Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) in ninth place with Garrett Gerloff (GYTR GRY Yamaha WorldSBK Team) rounding out the top ten; Gerloff had started from the second row but dropped back at the start of the race.

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Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW) finished in 11th place, four seconds back from a top ten spot, while he was almost ten seconds clear of French compatriot Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) in 12th place.

Philipp Oettl (Team Goeleven) finished in 13th place, less than a second behind Mahias, with Luca Bernardi (BARNI Spark Racing Team) in 14th and Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) completing the points-scoring places with 15th.

Home hero Oliver Konig (Orelac Racing VerdNatura) finished in 16th place in Race 1 for his home round, his best result in his short WorldSBK career, with Leandro Mercado (MIE Racing Honda Team) in 17th place.

Kohta Nozane (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK) claimed 18th place ahead of Eugene Laverty (Bonovo Action BMW), while Christophe Ponsson (Gil Motor Sport-Yamaha) rounded out the top 20.

Roberto Tamburini (Yamaha Motoxracing WorldSBK Team), Peter Hickman (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) and Ryan Vickers (TPR Team Pedercini Racing) were the last classified runners in Race 1.

2022 Most WorldSBK Race One Results

WorldSBK Race One Quotes

Alvaro Bautista – P1

“I am very happy with this victory. We have achieved a historic result for Ducati and to be the rider who took podium number 1000 fills me with pride. To have done it with the first place is then something exciting. I think I did a very good race, I found more and more feeling, lap by lap, and the battle between Johnny and Toprak in the early laps, if I have to be honest, helped me to stay close to them. From the middle of the race, the feeling was really positive and I tried to attack. Now, though, great concentration and all energy turned to tomorrow.”

Toprak Razgatlıoğlu – P2

“Today I tried to win, in the first laps I tried to go alone but it was not possible. I kept fighting for a good result and had a good battle in the last laps with Scott, and also earlier with Johnny. I see last sector Scott is really strong and in second sector not really strong, so I know I have just one chance – I try, and I pass him but I almost crash and together we go wide… but anyway we finish on the podium and take good points for the championship. Everybody was a little slower with the rain and I just follow the other riders, but after this the tyre starts to drop and I’m just fighting for good position. I’m happy because second is not bad, but I hope tomorrow we can improve the acceleration, especially out of the final corner, and we are fighting again for the win.”

Jonathan Rea – P4

“The race was quite good, to be fair. I had a good rhythm and good pace. I was fast, just not fast enough at the end when it counted. A little bit like Donington last time out, I ran into some brake fade issues. The brake lever was coming back to my fingers so I could not keep the pressure on. Stopping the bike was a problem but also putting the bike into position. I just struggled. In traffic I was worried about hitting somebody. If I braked at my normal brake point the chances were I could not stop the bike. The finishing position does not reflect our true potential. I feel we were strong. Unfortunately we were off the podium, but only two seconds from the race win. It is a good and a bad thing when you are disappointed with fourth place and so close to the winner, but that is the reality today. I hope to make amends tomorrow and clearly we need to be faster at the end of the race.”

Andrea Locatelli – P6

“It was an “interesting” first part of the race because I overtook four positions, so I was in P4 after the second corner –it was a good start! But I did a small mistake in the braking of corner four and had to cut across the gravel into six, so I went wide and when I returned on to the track I lost position on the racing line, so Redding and Bassani overtook me. In the end, during the race I lost a bit more time from another mistake but I tried to close the gap back to P5 but I was a little bit late. It is a positive race because we took some good points and we understand something for tomorrow. For sure we can improve the bike and in general the feeling is not so bad. I can push during the race and I believe I can do better tomorrow, so this is important for me.”

Michael Rinaldi – P7

“I’m really very upset with the way things went. After the incomprehensible maneuver, he made on the sighting lap, Locatelli pushed me out at the first corner and I had to lose several positions. From that moment it was difficult to think about recovering. It’s a real shame because the feeling was really positive. Tomorrow I will try to start even better than I did today so that I can avoid problems.”

Iker Lecuona – P8

“All in all, today wasn’t at all bad to be honest. After crashing in FP2 yesterday, I had a tough night as I was in quite a lot of pain and didn’t sleep much. I want to thank the doctors for their help in dealing with that. I was declared fit for action this morning, and so was back on my bike for FP3. Conditions were mixed but allowed me to understand if I was feeling physically OK or not. Things went well but the same can’t be said of the qualifying session sadly. I didn’t have good feeling with the bike and finished the session pretty angry with anyone and everyone, myself including, because twelfth place and 1.4” off the pace is too much for us. Then in the race we moved back into positive territory, with a solid performance. The start wasn’t bad, but it was a bit hectic, with some riders hitting me in the leg, but I maintained my focus and just tried to do my best. I have to say that our pace was good, especially in the second half of the race. I actually set my fastest time on the seventeenth lap, quicker than my qualifying effort in fact, and I was able to finish P8, very close to Rinaldi. So, my thanks to the team and everyone around me who believes in me and supported me after my crash yesterday. I’m happy with today and now we’ll see what we can do tomorrow.”

Alex Lowes – P9

“My illness got worse today. Qualifying wasn’t too bad, over only one lap, but I still did not feel strong on the bike. I have been struggling to keep food in me and then you just don’t have the energy when you need it. The race was tough. I wasn’t too comfy on the bike, as it was sliding more than I expected. I had wear on the front tyre and I did not have the body strength to manhandle it round that problem. I was setting my pace but I lost two places on the last two laps. The effort to do the race, and then lose two places on the last lap… Seventh would have been a lot more acceptable. I didn’t find anywhere I could pass easily on the track so we need to think about that tomorrow – where I can pass the other guys a bit more easily. And, I hope I am a bit stronger in myself.”

Garrett Gerloff – P10

“We had a good Tissot Superpole session, starting from the second row was a strong point. In Race 1, I enjoyed a good start, but the first two corners are really tight and tough to manage, so I lost a bit of time there. Overall, the pace was fine, but unfortunately the final position is not where we want to be. We’ll try again tomorrow; I know we can have a good result here.”

Xavi Vierge – P15

“I’m really disappointed with today’s race because I was expecting to feel better and be fighting for a better result. At the start some other riders hit me and I had to cut the first chicane, which was a problem of course, but after a few laps, once I’d passed a few riders and finally had a free track on which to try and close the gap, the pace just wasn’t there, and I couldn’t ride comfortably. We need to understand why I no longer have the confidence to go faster, because I had a similar feeling at Donington too. It’s true that I’ve missed a few tests due to my hand injury and that has probably caused us to lose our way a little. We will try to make the most of the chance to race at this track again tomorrow, making some big changes to try and understand which way to go and regain the good feeling we had a couple of races ago. Thanks as always to the team as they continue to work hard and support me in every way.”

WorldSBK Championship Standings

WorldSSP Race One

It was a dramatic start to Race 1 as five riders crashed at the Turn 1-2 chicane including Championship leader Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha), who was out of the race following the crash and unable to extend his winning streak to a record ten races.

The Swiss rider was taken to the medical centre for a check-up following the crash and after being deemed to have suffered a concussion the championship leader has been ruled out for the remainder of the weekend.

Also involved were Yari Montella (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing), Raffaele De Rosa (Orelac Racing VerdNatura WorldSSP), Federico Caricasulo (Althea Racing) and Andy Verdoia (GMT94 Yamaha). The incident was placed under investigation by the FIM WorldSBK Stewards. Can Oncu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) was also involved but was able to continue, although he was given a ride through penalty for irresponsible riding.

Baldassarri was able to take advantage of the Turn 1, Lap 1 accident to pull a gap to the chasing pack and from there he extended his gap to around four seconds at the halfway stage, before increasing it further and winning by 6.2 seconds. Baldassarri set a new race lap record on Lap 16 of 19, around four tenths faster than the previous lap record. Baldassarri was able to claim his 10th podium of the season as well as well as his second career win, and his first since Aragon Race 1.

The battle for the remaining podium places lasted throughout the 19-lap race, with Adrian Huertas (MTM Kawasaki) and Bahattin Sofuoglu (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) running in second and third in the early stages of the race. The two rookies did drop back through the field as more experienced riders started finding their rhythm.

At the end of the race, Stefano Manzi (Dynavolt Triumph) finished in second place to claim his best WorldSSP result but also Triumph’s best ever with second and the British manufacturer’s first podium since Misano 2012, when Alex Baldolini finished third.

Steven Odendaal (Kallio Racing), racing as a WorldSSP Challenge rider in place of Alessandro Zetti, claimed third place behind Manzi on his return to the Championship for his 12th WorldSSP podium and also finished as the highest-placed WorldSSP Challenge rider.

Valentin Debise (GMT94 Yamaha) was in the fight for the podium right until the end of the race and missed out by just 0.019s to Odendaal after 19 laps, while he was less than a second ahead of Dutchman Glenn van Straalen (EAB Racing Team) in fifth; van Straalen had been running in the podium places but was overhauled by Manzi, Odendaal and van Straalen.

Niki Tuuli (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) battled his way back through the field to take an impressive sixth place on his comeback from injury and surgery, ahead of teammate Sofuoglu in seventh place.

Huertas eventually finished in eighth place, missing out on his joint-best WorldSSP career result by less than a tenth behind Sofuoglu. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team) was another who was in the podium fight but the Italian rookie finished in ninth place after he went through the gravel at Turn 10. This meant he was in a close fight for ninth place at the end of the race, with Bulega holding off Isaac Vinales (D34G Racing), taking the team’s best result of the season with tenth, and Ondrej Vostatek (MS Racing Yamaha WorldSSP) in 11th.

Patrick Hobelsberger (Kallio Racing) claimed 12th spot after a late-race battle with Oli Bayliss (BARNI Spark Racing Team) in 13th, with only around one second separating the pair at the end of the race.

Oli Bayliss

“It was a very strange race, it’s a tough one to explain. At first, we were doing pretty badly but then much better by the end. I continue to struggle too much in the first half, and in qualifying, and this means I lose too much ground. Then in the second half, I had similar speed to those fighting for the top five. But by that point it was too late. If we can improve in the first half of the race, we can do really well.”

Bayliss himself was less than a second clear of Peter Sebestyen (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team) in 14th and Tom Booth-Amos (Prodina Racing WorldSSP) in 15th, with the British rookie claiming the final point in Race 1.

Leonardo Taccini (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) narrowly missed out on a point in Race 1 as he finished in 16th place, just a tenth behind Booth-Amos. It was a close finish between Taccini and Maximilian Kofler (CM Racing) with only 0.007s separating the pair as they battled with Taccini for the final point. Unai Orradre (MS Racing Yamaha WorldSSP), Hannes Soomer (Dynavolt Triumph) and Marcel Brenner (VFT Racing) rounded out the top 20.

Australia’s Ben Currie (Motozoo Racing by Puccetti Kawasaki) was 24th and his team-mate Jeffrey Buis 25th in the opening WorldSSP race.

WorldSSP Race One Results

WorldSSP Championship Standings

WorldSSP300 Race One

Race 1 for the FIM Supersport 300 World Championship was held in difficult conditions with rain falling but most riders opting to use slick tyres, and it was 2017 Champion Marc Garcia (Yamaha MS Racing) who dominated the race at the Autodrom Most for the Prosecco DOC Czech Round as he won by more than ten seconds.

With rain falling prior to the start of the race, the race was declared wet meaning the race distance was reduced from 14 to 12 laps for the WorldSSP300 field.

After fighting his way up from 11th on the grid, Garcia was able to gap the chasing group and was, at one point, lapping around two seconds quicker than that group as he extended his lead to 10.984s.

Taking his third win of the 2022 season, Garcia closed the gap in the Championship. Garcia’s victory puts him level with Ana Carrasco and Jeffrey Buis on seven wins, the all-time record in WorldSSP300, as he claimed Spain’s 30th win in the class.

Garcia was joined on the podium by French rider Huge De Cancellis (Prodina Racing WorldSSP300), who took the sixth podium of his career and Alvaro Diaz (Arco Motor University Team), with Diaz battling back like Garcia to claim a podium spot; the seventh of his career.

Humberto Maier (AD78 Team Brasil by MS Racing) started from the front row and converted that into fourth place, at the line but was then demoted two places for irresponsible riding, being classified in sixth place, exactly 11 seconds back from Garcia, for the best result of his WorldSSP300 career.

Maier’s penalty therefore promoted Daniel Mogeda (Team#109 Kawasaki) to fourth, the best result of his WorldSSP300, with Matteo Vannucci (AG Motorsport Italia Yamaha) battling from the back of the grid to finish in fifth place; Vannucci able to continue the theme of incredible fightbacks in WorldSSP300 races in 2022.

Australian rider Harry Khouri (Team#109 Kawasaki) took his best result in WorldSSP300 as he finished in seventh place, missing out on a podium place by just three tenths at the end of the 12 lap race.

Iker Garcia Abella (Yamaha MS Racing) was another who took their best result in Race 1 at the Autodrom Most as he claimed eighth spot, the first time the 2021 Yamaha R3 Cup winner has finished in the top ten this season.

Troy Alberto (Fusport-RT Motorsports by SKM-Kawasaki), like Abella, secured his first top ten finish as he finished in ninth spot, and he had a 20-second margin to Jose Luis Perez Gonzales (Accolade Smrz Racing) who rounded out the top ten; the Spanish rider returning from injury at the Autodrom Most.

German rider Lennox Lehmann (Freudenberg KTM – Paligo Racing) took 11th place after fighting through the field from 17th on the grid, finishing less than a tenth away from Perez Gonzales in 11th, but he also had a big margin to the riders behind him.

It was an eventful race for Yeray Saiz Marquez (Accolade Smrz Racing) who started from the back of the grid, fought his way into the points-scoring positions in the opening laps before having to serve a double Long Lap Penalty for a jump start. Despite all this, he finished in 12th place and scored points.

Marquez was just over a second clear of Samuel Di Sora (Leader Team Flembbo), one of a few riders to risk Pirelli’s wet-weather tyres, with the Championship contender finishing in 13th place. Mirko Gennai (Team BrCorse) claimed 14th spot with Victor Steeman (MTM Kawasaki), another who started on wet-weather tyres, rounded out the points-paying positions as he came home in 15th place.

At the start of Lap 2, wildcard Petr Svoboda (Accolade Smrz Racing) lost the front of his Kawasaki Ninja 400 and collected polesitter Kevin Sabatucci (Kawasaki GP Project) at Turn 1, while Dirk Geiger (Fusport-RT Motorsports by SKM-Kawasaki) was also involved. Geiger and Sabatucci were unable to rejoin the race, while Svoboda did. Alex Millan (SMW Racing) crashed at Turn 6 on Lap 4, taking him out of contention for a strong result. Gabriele Mastroluca (ProGP Racing) also retired from the race. Ton Kawakami (AD78 Team Brasil by MS Racing) crashed out of the race on Lap 11 at Turn 8 after a highside.

WorldSSP300 Race One Results

WorldSSP300 Championship Standings

Yamaha R3 bLUcRU  Race One Results

Yamaha R3 bLUcRU  Race Two Results

Yamaha R3 bLUcRU  Championship Standings

Autodrom Most WorldSBK Schedule
All Times AEST