Albert Arenas returned to the top step of the podium in dominant fashion with victory in the second FIM Supersport World Championship race of the weekend at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simocnelli on Sunday, while Aldi Satya Mahendra gave the AS BLU CRU Racing team further cause for celebration by completing the podium in third.
After being beaten to the win on the final lap of the last three races, Arenas’ cool persona never allowed the frustration to get the better of him, and with less of a head-wind on Sunday the Spaniard knew he stood a strong chance if he could make a break. Leading the pack into turn one, Arenas never looked back, despite a strong challenge from his competitors in the early laps. Pulling out a lead of over three seconds at one point, the championship leader crossed the line to take his fourth win of the season by 1.9 seconds over Tom Booth-Amos.
Having celebrated his maiden podium in wet/dry conditions in Australia, Aldi Satya Mahendra has shown constant progress throughout the year, and a lightning start for the Indonesian from the front row of the grid saw him in the battle for the lead from the off. Initially sat in second, Mahendra looked comfortable and when Booth-Amos passed him, he stuck on his rival’s tail. He tried to make a move to re-take second place on the final lap but ultimately wasn’t quite close enough and was forced to settle for third.
Filippo Farioli (VFT Racing) enjoyed a strong end to his home round to take seventh, while it was a challenging 18 laps for first race polesitter Can Öncü (Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing), who initially fought for the podium but dropped back to tenth by the chequered flag.
Race 2 saw no breakthrough for the GMT94 Yamaha team despite significant effort, with Roberto Garcia finishing 12th and Lucas Mahias 17th at the end of the second race.
Yuki Okamoto (Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing) crossed the line 28th.
Arenas’ victory sees him extend his already-healthy championship lead to an impressive 56 points after seven rounds. Öncü remains fourth, albiet now 92 points behind the series leader.
The WorldSSP championship resumes at Donington Park in three weeks’ time.
Albert Arenas (AS BLU CRU Racing), Race 1: 2nd, Race 2: 1st, Championship Pos: 1st (251 points)
“I am super happy about this result after a few races where we missed out on the last lap! There was no headwind today, so I had the chance to go a bit faster in the straight and we took advantage of this. It was a super tough race in the heat, it was quite hard to stop the bike with the temperatures soaring but I was able to build a gap on the riders behind and manage the race my own way. It feels really good to win again, and it’s great to do it like this for the team, especially with my team-mate Aldi Satya Mahendra on the podium with me. The championship is looking good, but I am trying not to think too much about this. I am enjoying my riding and the level I am riding is pretty high – this was our target and I am happy we are at this level. I feel like I’m riding well and getting the maximum out of the bike, which is all we can do – now we need to continue in this way and hopefully make some improvements too!”
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