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WorldSSP Podium For De Rosa
After an early crash and retirement for Kawasaki Puccetti Racing rider Philipp Öttl, Raffaele De Rosa (Orelac Racing VerdNatura Kawasaki) made use of his experience in tricky conditions to finish in second place in Sunday’s WorldSSP race. Can Öncü (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) was to finish 14th.
In uncertain drying track conditions, Öttl took the lead from his first row starting position, but then crashed into the second corner. He restarted but was to retire in the pits soon afterward.
Öncü finally finished 14th after feeling a set of full wet tires would have ultimately been a better option for him than the intermediates that were fitted to handle the tricky and always changing conditions.
The track surface was neither fully wet nor fully dry, with the surface offering its best condition early on for those who had chosen full wets.
As the track dried, even light rain in the final few laps did not stop the riders on intermediate tires, or a combination of wets and intermediates, making great progress toward the podium battle.
De Rosa’s option of a wet front tire and an intermediate rear may have been the best one as he made huge progress to get to the front-runners and then lead for a time.
Four riders contested the top three positions at the end and only a pass under braking from eventual race winner Steven Odendaal into the final corner prevented De Rosa from scoring a race win during his first weekend in Kawasaki colors.
After Saturday and Sunday’s Aragon race, and a podium finish apiece for Öttl and De Rosa, the championship table sees De Rosa third and Öttl sixth. Öncü is 13th.
The Estoril Round in Portugal will provide the next WorldSSP venue, with race weekend held between 28-30 May.
Philipp Öttl, stated: “We made the right tire choice going with Intermediates. Turn two at this track is always the same. I tried to ride as slow as I could but it was not slow enough. I tried to be very gentle but the front just slid away. I think it was just a cold tire. In all the races you have to finish and I am a little bit unhappy with myself. The team did a good job all weekend long so we were unlucky.”
Can Öncü, stated: “I feel bad about the race because I am really disappointed. I have nothing to say except that it was possible to make a podium today but in my opinion, we made a mistake and we need to learn from this. We need to try to not do this next time.”
Raffaele De Rosa, stated: “I am really happy for this race results especially because I had a bad crash in the winter and injured my shoulder. I chose a wet front and an intermediate rear and I think it was the best one for the conditions. Thank you to everyone in the Calero family for all their hard work and everyone who helped me after my injury.”
Leonardo Taccini (Orelac Racing VerdNatura Kawasaki) placed 19th today, Shogo Kawasaki (Motozoo Puccetti Racing Kawasaki) 20th, and Michel Fabrizio (Motozoo Puccetti Racing Kawasaki) was the final finisher in 21st place.
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