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The official race report service of Kawasaki Racing Team.

25 Julho 2021

Öttl Second After Epic Assen Effort

Kawasaki Puccetti Racing rider Philipp Öttl secured his second podium finish of the weekend at Assen after another early front running show that delivered his equal best result of the season. Can Öncü finished seventh in the second 18-lap FIM Supersport World Championship race at Assen, but he could have been fourth had he not been run off track on the final lap.

Incredibly heavy overnight rains had flooded parts of the 4.542km long Assen circuit on Sunday morning. After the water was pumped away and the track was cleaned the WorldSSP race action got underway at 12.30, as scheduled.

After finishing on the podium in third place on day one Öttl was determined to score another top three on Sunday. He led the second race for four laps and tried to make as big a gap between himself and the majority of his rivals as he could using the soft option rear tyre.

Even after championship leader Dominique Aegerter had passed Philipp he was the only rider able to follow the leader’s pace at half race distance. Philipp’s second place finish saw him score another 20 valuable championship points, with four rounds of the championship now completed.

After the hard and rewarding work put in by Öttl and his crew he is third in the championship, with 108 points.

Once again Öncü showed he could run with some much more experienced rivals and he was part of a five rider fight for the final ‘off-podium position’ after championship challenger Steven Odendaal had crashed out of winning contention.

Can could have fought for fourth place into the final chicane until a hard pass from Luca Bernardi (who was eventually dropped one place in the results to fifth) made him lift up his bike and run wide on the final section of fast curves. Finishing seventh today, as he had on Saturday, Can is now tenth overall, with 43 points to his credit.

A new track for WorldSSP racing - Most in the Czech Republic - will welcome the teams and riders between 6-8 August.
 
Philipp Öttl, stated: “It was a really good weekend for the team. We had some problems toward the end of the race because I chose the softer tyre again. Like yesterday I wanted to stay with Dominique as long as possible and create a gap. It was an intense race. Also the tyre moved on the rim a little bit and it had a lot of vibration the last few laps. I lost a lot of time but it was a similar race to yesterday. I think at the next round in Most we can work in practice to get better grip toward the end of the race and the next step would be to stay with Aegerter the whole race.”

Can Öncü, stated: “The race was really good and I enjoyed it a lot. We made a great step again and I want to say thanks to everybody who worked a lot for it. This team is incredible and the bike is really nice. We have all worked together to get better. Everybody gives a good motivation to me and that is why I am really happy. I am looking forward to making a good result in the Czech Republic and hopefully we will take a podium.“

Raffaele De Rosa (Orelac Racing VerdNatura Kawasaki) was involved in a lap one crash with his compatriot Federico Caricasulo. He finally had to retire and is now 9th in the championship, on 46 points.

Michel Fabrizio (Motozoo Puccetti Racing Kawasaki) scored a point for 15th today, placing him 22nd in the championship. Leonardo Taccini (Orelac Racing VerdNatura) was 16th and just missed out on a point.

                                              #NinjaSpirit