World Superbike

The records and the Championships keep coming for Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) as he secured his sixth consecutive MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship, although the wait will go on for his 100th win as Toprak Razgatlioglu (PATA YAMAHA WorldSBK Official Team) took a stunning victory for the Pirelli Estoril Round at the Circuito Estoril, while challenge Scott Redding (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) retired from the race with a technical issue.

Razgatlioglu made a good start from pole position and held first place as he converted his first career pole into his second win of the year; following on from his victory at the season-opening Australian Round. He was joined on the podium with Chaz Davies (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) and American Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team) as they fought off Rea to secure a podium place.

Rea started from the middle of the grid following a crash in the Tissot Superpole session but soon found himself inside the top ten as he gained an impressive eight laps on the opening lap, and quickly improved his position on the follow lap as he passed teammate Alex Lowes and Michael van der Mark (PATA YAMAHA WorldSBK Official Team) at Turn 1 to move into the podium places.

He moved into second place as he made a move on Gerloff into Turn 1 but the American rookie was able to respond a few laps later, after Davies was able to make a move on Rea to move into second place. Rea and Gerloff engaged in a sensational battle for third during the remainder of the 21-lap race; allowing Razgatlioglu and Davies to pull away at the front as they finished first and second. Gerloff moved ahead at Turn 1 on Lap 14 and started pulling away from Rea as he secured his second career podium.

Rea finished the race in fourth place as he lost ground to the riders in front of him but had a large margin over fifth-placed Leon Haslam (Team HRC), who battled hard with Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) and Alvaro Bautista (Team HRC); the Spanish rider had been fifth until Lap 20 before he crashed out of the race. Lowes finished in sixth place after being unable to catch Haslam on the last lap.

2021 Ducati rider Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Team GOELEVEN) finished in seventh place, just behind the Lowes-Haslam-Bautista battle but unable to take advantage of the trio battling each other, finishing ahead of Xavi Fores (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) in eighth and Frenchman Loris Baz (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) in ninth.

Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) completed the top ten with the British rider finishing just behind Baz, but 2.5 seconds clear of Jonas Folger (Bonovo Action by MGM Racing) in 11th as the wildcard secured points in his second race of the season, finishing 10 seconds clear of Eugene Laverty (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team).

Argentinean rider Leandro Mercado (Motocorsa Racing) finished in the points as he secured a 13th place finish ahead of Takumi Takahashi (MIE Racing HONDA Team) and teammate Eric Granado; the Brazilian finishing in the points in his first WorldSBK appearance of the season. Sheridan Morais (ORELAC Racing VerdNatura) finished just outside the points with 16th, with Bautista being classified in 17th place ahead of Loris Cresson (OUTDO Kawasaki TPR).

Federico Caricasulo (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team) did not finish the race after he crashed out in the second half of the race, with van der Mark not finishing the race after he came off his bike while battling for the podium. Redding retired from the race with a technical issue on Lap 6, effectively confirming Rea as a six-time World Champion as Redding had to win the race, while Matteo Ferrari (Barni Racing Team) did not finish the race.

World Supersport

There was plenty of action across Race 1 at the Pirelli Estoril Round for the FIM Supersport World Championship as Andrea Locatelli (BARADHAL Evan Bros. WorldSSP Team) claimed victory at the Circuito Estoril in a Red Flagged and restarted race in Portugal, with the second part of the race reduced to 12 laps.

The race was Red Flagged on Lap 3 when Peter Sebestyen (OXXO Yamaha Team Toth) crashed at Turn 13, the final corner at the Circuito Estoril, spraying gravel onto the track. The Red Flag was shown in order to give marshals a chance to clear the stones from the tarmac, with the new grid set by positions at the last timing point before the Red Flag was deployed.

The restarted race started dramatically when Raffaele De Rosa (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) and Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) collided at Turn 2 on Lap 1; with de Rosa retiring from the race on the spot while Mahias was able to return to the pitlane with his Kawasaki machine. It meant Locatelli was able to move clear at the front of the field to take victory; his 12th of the season after 14 races in 2020.

Italian rider Locatelli was joined on the podium by Philipp Oettl (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) as the German continued his impressive rookie season with his fourth podium of the season and his best result of 2020, having finished third on three occasions, while Estonian Hannes Soomer (Kallio Racing) took his third podium of the season and his third in a row.

There was a titanic four-way battle for fourth place that was won by Isaac Viñales (Kallio Racing), finishing 1.5s clear of South African rider Steven Odendaal (EAB Ten Kate Racing). Odendaal fended off the challenge of Turkish star Can Öncü (Turkish Racing Team) and Manuel Gonzalez (Kawasaki ParkinGO Team); 2019 WorldSSP300 Champion Gonzalez finishing just 0.007s behind Öncü as they crossed the line.

Axel Bassani (Soradis Yamaha Motoxracing) finished in eighth place as the highest-placed WorldSSP Challenge rider as he looks to snatch the title away from Kevin Manfredi (Altogoo Racing Team); the Italian down in 14th place. Jules Cluzel’s (GMT94 Yamaha) return from injury culminated in points with ninth place, finishing ahead of teammate Corentin Perolari who completed the top ten.

Danny Webb (WRP Wepol Racing) battled from the back of the grid in the restarted race after crashing at Turn 3 in the first part to finish in 11th place, holding off Hikari Okubo (Dynavolt Honda) who came home in 12th. Federico Fuligni (MV Agusta Reparto Corse), Manfredi and Andy Verdoïa (bLU cRU WorldSSP by MS Racing) completed the points in Race 1; with Indonesian rider Galang Hendra Pratama (bLU cRU WorldSSP by MS Racing) just missing out on points with 16th place.

Glenn van Straalen (MPM Routz Racing Team) finished in 17th place with Patrick Hoblesberger (Dynavolt Honda) and Vincent Falcone (OXXO Yamaha Team Toth) the last of the classified runners. Alejandro Ruiz Carranza (EMPERADOR Racing Team), De Rosa, Mahias and Victor Alexandre Da Silva Barros (Palkalgar Yamaha – Evan Bros), the first Angolan rider in WorldSSP, did not finish the race.

World SSP300

Action all the way through the race was the story of the day in the FIM Supersport 300 World Championship as the World Championship was decided in Race 1 of the Pirelli Estoril Round at the Circuito Estoril as Jeffrey Buis (MTM Kawasaki MOTOPORT) took the Riders’ Championship as he finished in sixth place as Mika Perez (Prodina Ircos Team WorldSSP300) won the race.

There was drama from the start as Alfonso Coppola (Kawasaki GP Project), Hugo de Cancellis (Team TRASIMENO) and Thomas Brianti (Prodina Ircos Team WorldSSP300) all crashed out in the same incident while Filippo Rovelli (Kawasaki ParkinGO Team) pulled up with mechanical issues on the opening lap. De Cancellis was taken to the medical centre for a check-up following the incident and later declared unfit with a facial trauma, a deep wound to his third finger on the left hand and a right thigh contusion.

A four-way battle for the lead broke out as Perez claimed the victory by just 0.013s ahead of Koen Meuffels (MTM Kawasaki MOTOPORT) and Tom Booth-Amos (RT Motorsports by SKM-Kawasaki) in third; Booth-Amos just 0.055s away from taking another win in the 2020 season. Bruno Ieraci (Kawasaki GP Project) finished in fourth place as part of that battle, two tenths back from Booth-Amos. Perez’s winning margin of 0.013s was the second-closest victory of all time in WorldSSP300, and it was the third-closest podium finish of all-time.

Victor Rodriguez Nuñez (EAB Ten Kate Racing) finished in fourth place as he held off a five-way battle for fifth place including the two Championship contenders, with Buis finishing in sixth place and Samuel di Sora (Leader Team Flembbo) in seventh; Scott Deroue (MTM Kawasaki MOTOPORT), who had looked like taking the Championship battle to the final race, finished in eighth. Buis finishing ahead of Deroue meant the teenager claimed his first World Championship and became the first non-Spanish Champion in WorldSSP300. Buis beat Deroue on a race to the line with the smallest margin separating the two teammates.

Meikon Kawakami (Team Brasil AD 78) finished just two tenths away from Rodriguez Nuñez but was down in ninth place, half a second away from his brother, Ton Kawakami (Yamaha MS Racing), who rounded out the top ten. Kevin Sabatucci (Kawasaki GP Project) finished in 11th place, ahead of Yuta Okaya (MTM Kawasaki MOTOPORT).

Marc Garcia (2R Racing) finished in 13th place ahead of ahead of Turkish star Bahattin Sofuoglu (Biblion Motoxracing Yamaha WorldSSP300) in 14th and Jose Luis Perez Gonzalez (Machado Came SBK) completing the points-paying positions; fellow Spanish rider Adrian Huertas (ProGP Racing) missing out on points by less than half a tenth of a second.

Tom Bramich (Carl Cox-RT Motorsports by SKM-Kawasaki) and Tom Edwards (Kawasaki ParkinGO Team) did not finish the race after suffering issues throughout the 10-lap contest, while Petr Svoboda (WRP Wepol Racing) crashed on Lap 6 of the race which forced him out of the battle.

Unai Orradre (Yamaha MS Racing) and polesitter Nick Kalinin (Battley-RT Motorsports by SKM-Kawasaki) racing collided at the chicane in the latter stages of the race but both were able to get up of their own accord following the incident, although both were forced to retire. Alejandro Carrion (ACCR Smrz Racing by Blue Garage) retired from the race following his trip through the gravel at Turn 1.