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16 Lipiec 2022

Top Five For Yari And Can

FIM Supersport World Championship contenders Yari Montella and Can Öncü finished a shortened 12-lap WorldSSP Race One at Donington Park in fourth and fifth place respectively. 

After Friday practice and Superpole qualifying on Saturday Can was fourth on the grid and Yari eighth. This was their first experience of Donington Park, which made their positive early showings more than respectable.

The first WorldSPP race of the British weekend was delayed before the start and then lasted only one lap before the red flags were shown to stop proceedings after a crashed bike lay directly on the track surface.

Restarted over 12 laps, the Saturday WorldSSP race awarded full points but was seven laps shorter than was originally scheduled.

Yari was in combative mood once the much delayed race was underway, getting up to fourth place in the first lap and then third for a time, before he finished a close fourth. He was only 0.160 seconds from what would have been his first WorldSSP podium in his rookie season.

Can made a great start and led for the first lap. He was expecting a podium finish of some kind but a physical issue with his forearm reduced his pace and he came home fifth, scoring strong championship points. Montella moved up to fifth place overall today, with Can remaining fourth in the points.

On Sunday 17 July Race Two will conclude the weekend race action for the WorldSSP riders at Donington. They will reconvene at Most, in the Czech Republic, for round six at the end of July.

Yari Montella, stated: “We’ve had a good day. Before qualifying we changed a few things on the bike, and also in terms of my riding style, and we saw the results right away. I immediately felt competitive in the race and was able to fight for the podium right to the end. Tomorrow we’ll try to do more and obtain a really strong result, because we’ve shown we have the potential to do so. Thanks to my team, they’ve done an amazing job.”

Can Öncü, stated: “In the race the first laps were so easy, the pace was so fast that I thought a podium would be easy. But because of my arm pump problem I could not make a podium. Tomorrow I will try again, a new day, so we need to keep positive for the second race.”

Tom Booth-Amos (Prodina Racing Kawasaki) finished 16th at his first home race in WorldSSP, just missing out on a point by one position.

Rookie WorldSSP rider Adrian Huertas (MTM Kawasaki) was 18th today, and Jeffrey Buis (Motozoo Racing by Puccetti Kawasaki) 21st.

Ben Currie (Motozoo Racing by Puccetti Kawasaki) retired from Race One after pulling in to pitlane.

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