Newsletter

The official race report service of Kawasaki Racing Team.

31 Július 2022

Öncü So Close To A Podium Finish

FIM Supersport World Championship rider Can Öncü finished fourth in the second race of the Most weekend - just 0.432 seconds from a podium finish. Yari Montella was to fall and no-score just before half race distance had been completed.

A red flag after prevented the scheduled 19-lap Most WorldSSP Sunday race reaching its full conclusion, after two riders collided on the main straight and one bike was left immobile on the racing surface. The shortened race still awarded full championship points and was classified as finished with the leaders on lap 15.

Öncü was in fighting mood after no-scoring in Race One on Saturday, and he pushed his Ninja ZX-6R into the podium places after seeing outlap one in seventh position.

He only lost third place on lap 15, and very shortly after the race was stopped, leaving him only 4.354 seconds from the win. 

Montella fell on the final corner of the eighth lap, and was unable to re-start, after suffering rear traction issues in the warm conditions.

Can remains fourth overall in the championship rankings, with 112 points in total. Yari has slid to seventh after his two Most no-scores. He has an unchanged 75 points.

After the completion of the sixth round the WorldSSP championship has reached its halfway stage, and there will now be a long summer break. Competitive action resumes in France, at Magny Cours, between 9-11 September.

Can Öncü, stated: “I tried my best in what was a very difficult race. I think we did a not bad job. I will try to improve on this position in the next race but this is the maximum I could do at the moment. So let’s see what we can do in the next round after the summer break.”

Yari Montella, stated: “A tough race, in which we suffered right from the start. It was hard to manage the tyre wear in the heat and if I upped my pace, I risked a crash - which is what happened today. We need to understand how we can fix this problem. As for the crash, I lost grip at the front but luckily didn’t hurt myself. Thanks to my team for all their help this weekend.”

Adrian Huertas (MTM Kawasaki) had a strong race in the leading five positions for several laps but he ended up in seventh place. Huertas is ninth overall at the mid-point of his rookie season.

Tom Booth-Amos (Prodina Racing Kawasaki) was 17th on Sunday at Most and is now 31st overall.

Team-mates Ben Currie and Jeffrey Buis (Motozoo Racing by Puccetti Kawasaki) finished the shortened Sunday race at Most in 19th and 21st positions respectively.

    #NinjaSpirit