World SBK Pirelli Teruel Weekend Review
By Mitchell Boyes | Pics by worldsbk.com
This past weekend was the second of two Aragon rounds for the WSBK, WSSP, and WSSP300 riders. Perhaps the biggest moment of the weekend was in WSBK Race 1 where Michael Ruben Rinaldi took his debut WorldSBK win ahead of Jonathan Rea and Chaz Davies while top Championship contender Scott Redding crashed out of the hunt for the win in rather dramatic fashion, giving a substantial points lead to Jonathan Rea. The brit recovered well in the Superpole race though to take the win leaving Redding on Pole for Race 2. Redding struggled to make the most of his prime starting position, only managing P3 in Race 2. Meanwhile, Championship leader Rea kept his consistency with 2 podiums and 1 win after a fantastic battle with Rinaldi to finish the weekend off with a 36-point lead ahead of his rivals.
In World SSP Andrea Locatelli once again Reigned supreme winning both Race 1 and race 2, also on the podium in race 1 was fellow Italian Rafaela de Rosa and Frenchman Jules Cluzel who took third. In race two things would be different. Coming into Turn 1, de Rosa made a mistake under braking and ended up ramming into the back of Cluzel’s Yamaha, taking them both out of the race and leaving Lucas Mahias and Isaac Vinales to finish 2nd and 3rd respectively. South African rider Steven Odendaal retired in Race 1 but managed a strong top 10 finish in race 2.
In WorldSSP 300 there was more exciting action. In race 1 Victor Nunez rode a simply spectacular race fighting his way through the pack and making up 29, yes 29, places to take victory with Turk Bahattin Sofuoglu taking second and Jeffrey Buis Taking third and managing to extend his championship lead. In race 2 though Nunez wasn’t able to repeat his win and championship leader Buis took the race win while at the same time further extending his points lead. Scott Deroue placed second with Sofuoglu taking another podium and finishing the weekend 5th in the title standings.
Overall, it was a good weekend of racing in Spain with close battles and drama in all three classes. All we can say is that we really hope that the close racing and drama continues for the rest of the season.