Rennie Scaysbrook | September 20, 2020
Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) won for the first time in 2020 after putting in a final front-running performance that made him the seventh race winner of the season.
Chaz Davies, Gerrett Gerloff and Michael van der Mark, Catalunya WorldSBK race2, 2020. Photos: Gold & Goose
Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) held off an astounding race-long challenge for the podium places by eventual third-place rider Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha), only earning second place on the final lap as Gerloff ran wide and VDM could cut inside.
Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Team GoEleven Ducati) looked set for a top finish but slowed and then was finally given the technical flag to stop, his bike blowing blue smoke.
Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) had a very tough race in the sunny conditions, losing places as his pace was consistently a little less than those around him. He went from fourth to fifth when Rinaldi passed him and that left Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) closing in for a time.
Rea would eventually finish fourth, but eight seconds down from Davies in a race many fancied him to win.
Redding slowed so much Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) took fifth place, leaving Redding sixth and over 14 seconds behind his teammate.
Eugene Laverty (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) kept himself ahead of the struggling Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team) for seventh, with Leon Haslam (HRC Honda) ninth and Loris Baz (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) tenth.
Alvaro Bautista (HRC Honda) retired in a race where only 15 riders finished.
In the championship Rea now has 290 points, Redding 239, leaving Rea two full race wins plus one point ahead of his only realistic championship rival, with two rounds remaining. Davies is third with 188 points, Van der Mark fourth with 178.
SUPERPOLE
Michael van der Mark won Superpole for the first time this year.
Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) broke his season duck of race win with a 10-lap sprint race success ahead of second-placed Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team). This was VDM’s fourth career race win.
In a massive reversal of recent fortunes, and in an upward direction, Loris Baz (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) was third in the race for his second podium of 2020, despite starting eighth on the grid.
Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) pushed his way to fourth, almost four seconds from van der Mark, but the sensation of the race was a fifth place for rookie Garret Gerloff GRT Yamaha) who even pressurized Davies in the final stages.
A spectacular highside from Alvaro Bautista (HRC Honda) ended his early lead of the race in dramatic fashion, with VDM squeezing past on the inside of the crashing Honda. Rea had to take avoiding action, clipped the side of the bike on the way through, and lost time to his Dutch rival – but still extending his championship lead once again, this time to 48 points.
Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Team GoEleven Ducati) was sixth, Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team) seventh.
On a non-X rear tire Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) placed eighth, scoring only two points and allowing Rea more championship breathing space.
In ninth was Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) while one-off rider Jonas Folger (Bononvo Action by MGM Yamaha) scored a top ten.
Leon Haslam (HRC Honda) and Federico Caricasulo (GRT Yamaha) crashed in an incident that is still under investigation. After medical checks, Haslam was declared fit for the final race, despite a leg contusion.
Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) did not make the sprint race after suffering chest injuries in a warm-up crash, plus right foot and ankle contusions.
One final full distance WorldSBK race to go at Barcelona.
WorlsSSP
Andrea Locatelli clinched the WorldSSP title.
Andrea Locatelli (BARDAHL Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha) won the Sunday race and with the 2020 FIM Supersport World Championship itself with two rounds to spare. He was involved in some great early fights inside a six-rider leading group at Catalunya, but he eased out to win by over two seconds at the flag.
The ever combative Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) was the only rider left who could stop Locatelli in the title and he tried so hard to win that he ran off track twice, gesturing to other riders to stay behind to let him try and take the fight to a fleeing Locatelli.
His efforts were in vain but he was joined on the podium by his own team-mate Philipp Öttl (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing), for the first double Kawasaki podium of 2020.
Raffaele De Rosa (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) was fourth, and after catching up to the remnants of the leading bunch Steven Odendaal (EAB Ten Kate Yamaha) was fifth and Isaac Vinales (Kallio Racing Yamaha) sixth.
Early top six-rider Manuel Gonzalez (Kawasaki ParkinGO Team) was seventh, but only after receiving a three-second penalty for exceeding the track limits. Another top six early runner Corentin Perolari (GMT94 Yamaha) eighth.
Danny Webb (WRP Wepol Racing Yamaha) was ninth and Hannes Soomer (Kallio Racing Yamaha) 10th.
In the championship standings, Locatelli has an unassailable 263, Mahias is now second with 159, the injured Jules Cluzel 146 and Öttl 124.
2020 Barcelona WorldSBK Results—Race Two
| 1. |
Chaze Davies |
(Duc) |
| 2. |
Mark Van Der Mark |
(Yam) |
| 3. |
Gerritt Gerloff |
(Yam) |
| 4. |
Jonathan Rea |
(Kaw) |
| 5. |
Tom Sykes |
(BMW) |
RACE ONE
Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) blasted away from pole to take the lead and with it the chance to extend his championship lead after scoring his 97th WorldSBK race win. At the flag, after 20 laps of the first-time WorldSBK Catalunya circuit, Rea had a 2.625 advantage over Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati), lifting himself over 40 points ahead in the overall standings. He dedicated his win the recently injured Ana Carrasco, Provec Kawasaki’s WorldSSP300 rider, who had to miss her home race.
As the race progressed Redding caught back to and passed Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Team GoEleven Ducati) for second and then set about trying to reel in Rea, who had the same A-B tire selection, front and rear.
Easy done for Jonathan Rea in race one.
The final podium place was taken by Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati), making his now familiar run through from a relatively poor Superpole qualifying position.
Fourth for Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) came after battles with other riders in podium contention were resolved by their fading pace and his constant pressure.
Alvaro Bautista (HRC Honda) was almost seven seconds down at the flag on an X rear tire, but he won the war for fifth place. At the flag, a 1:49 lap for Rinaldi saw him finish seventh, one place behind Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team). Rinaldi was top independent rider in race one.
A strong Friday led to a very strong Saturday for American rider Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha), who placed eighth, 15 seconds down on Rea but three seconds up on the second KRT Kawasaki of Alex Lowes. Leon Haslam (HRC Honda) was tenth, heading up a three-rider group that included 11th placed Eugene Laverty (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) and 12th placed first-time WorldSBK rider, Jonas Folger (Bononvo Action by MGM Yamaha).
2020 Barcelona WorldSBK Results—Race One
| 1 |
Jonathan Rea |
(Kaw) |
|
| 2 |
Scott Redding |
(Duc) |
+2.625s |
| 3 |
Chaz Davies |
(Duc) |
+4.459s |
| 4 |
M. van der Mark |
(Yam) |
+6.078s |
| 5 |
Alvaro Bautista |
(Hon) |
+6.989s |
WorldSSP Race One
Andy Verdoia (bLU cRU WorldSSP by MS Racing) scored a race win by staying out on track longer than anyone else once a dry WorldSSP opening race at Catalunya had become suddenly wet, after the arrival of heavy rain.
Andy Verdoia outlasted everyone to become the youngest-ever WorldSSP race winner.
Most of the field, and then the previous leading riders, had just entered the pits but Verdoia carried on. With the results being called from where each rider had passed their most recent timing sector as the red flag had come out, the 17 year-old Frenchman Verdoia—recently a WorldSSP300 rider—was classified the winner. He is the youngest WorldSSP race winner in history.
Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) was awarded second and stand in rider for the injured Jules Cluzel, Kyle Smith (GMT94 Yamaha) took third.
Andrea Locatelli (BARDAHL Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha) was thus, for the very first time in his astounding first WorldSSP season, not a race winner, being awarded fourth position.
Kevin Manfredi (Altogoo Racing Team Yamaha) was fifth, and series regular Steven Odendaal (EAB Ten Kate Yamaha) sixth.
Manuel Gonzalez (Kawasaki ParkinGO Team) was seventh and one time podium certainty Philipp Öttl (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) eighth.
Stand-in rider Miquel Pons (Dynavolt Honda) was ninth and Axel Bassani (Soradis Yamaha MotoxRacing) tenth – after what was a crazy end to the first ever WorldSSP race at the Montmelo circuit in Catalunya.
2020 Barcelona WorldSSP Results—Race One
| 1 |
Andy Verdoïa |
(Yam) |
| 2 |
Lucas Mahias |
(Kaw) |
| 3 |
Kyle Smith |
(Yam) |
| 4 |
Andrea Locatelli |
(Yam) |
| 5 |
Kevin Manfredi |
(Yam) |
Friday
Thanks to the times set in the dry morning session at the first ever WorldSBK full race outing in Barcelona, Yamaha riders took a running flush of the fastest positions on combined times for the 2020 Barcelona WorldSBK round.
Toprak went quickest in Barcelona, but Gerloff landed a career-best third.
Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team), Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) and American rookie Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha) proved to be the top three, with Alvaro Bautista (HRC Honda) fourth fastest, from Jonathan Rea (KRT) and recent first time race winner, Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Team GoEleven Ducati).
Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team), Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) and Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) placed seventh to ninth, as Loris Baz (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) completed the first day’s fastest ten riders.
The run of warm and dry weather the WorldSBK riders have enjoyed since the season restarted in August ended on Friday afternoon at Barcelona, with rain leaving a wet and slowly drying track surface.
A fall from Maximilian Scheib (Orelac Racing VerdNatura Kawasaki) saw his bike block the track, and almost catch out the following Rea. The five times champion avoided the potential problem and after the red flag finished up fastest in wet conditions, 14 seconds or so slower than the best times in the dry. Van der Mark was second quickest in the wet, Rinaldi third and Bautista fourth.
2020 Barcelona WorldSBK Results—Friday combined
| 1 |
Toprak Razgatlioglu |
(Yam) |
1:42.140s |
| 2 |
M. van der Mark |
(Yam) |
+0.169s |
| 3 |
Garrett Gerloff |
(Yam) |
+0.338s |
| 4 |
Alvaro Bautista |
(Hon) |
+0.373s |
| 5 |
Jonathan Rea |
(Kaw) |
+0.474s |
WorldSSP
Andrea Locatelli (BARDAHL Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha) was not the fastest rider at Catalunya, on a day that featured one dry and one damp session.
With the FP1 session times counting for all in the final analysis of day one rankings, Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) was quickest on combined times, from local rider Isaac Vinales (Kallio Racing Yamaha) and a second official Puccetti Kawasaki ridden by Philipp Öttl.
Mahias made a welcome return to the top spot on Friday in Catalunya.
Locatelli was fourth, 0.258 seconds from Mahias, with Steven Odendaal (EAB Ten Kate Yamaha) fifth and Corentin Perolari (GMT94 Yamaha) sixth.
Raffaele De Rosa (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) placed seventh and replacement for the injured Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha), Kyle Smith, was eighth in his first ride back inside the WorldSSP paddock.
Rookie rider Manuel Gonzalez (Kawasaki ParkinGO Team) was ninth and Danny Webb (WRP Wepol Racing Yamaha) was the second British rider inside the Friday top ten.
2020 Barcelona WorldSSP Results—Friday combined
| 1 |
Lucas Mahias |
(Kaw) |
1:45.682s |
| 2 |
Isaac Viñales |
(Yam) |
+0.059s |
| 3 |
Philipp Oettl |
(Kaw) |
+0.231s |
| 4 |
Andrea Locatelli |
(Yam) |
+0.258s |
| 5 |
Steven Odendaal |
(Yam) |
+0.289s |
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