Today’s FIM Supersport World Championship track action at Donington Park ended with Race 2 victory for Yamaha BLU CRU Evan Bros rider, Can Öncü, who narrowed the gap to championship leader and Yamaha R9 counterpart, Stefano Manzi (Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing).
Sunday at the Leicestershire venue kicked off in positive style for a Yamaha’s R9 riders, Manzi, Lucas Mahias (GMT94 Yamaha), and Öncü, who finished 1-2-3 respectively in morning warm-up.
From lights out on the second race of the weekend, the Turkish rider, Öncü, made a sensational effort to push forwards, taking the hole shot from third on the grid and leading the pack into Turn 1 ahead of Manzi in second.
After taking victory on Saturday and extending his championship lead to 61 points, Manzi looked keen to replicate his previous form. Showing determination to enter the lead, the Italian rider tangled with Öncü at the Melbourne Hairpin on Lap 1, veering away from the racing line and slipping back to fifteenth. The incident was investigated by race stewards with no further action required.
Pushing on at the front, home rider, Tom Booth-Amos soon made a pass on Öncü, demoting the R9 rider to second with Yamaha’s Lucas Mahias and Roberto Garcia (GMT94 Yamaha) running in third and fourth place respectively.
Studying the strengths and weaknesses of Booth-Amos for much of the race, Öncü made a swift and successful attack on the lead at the Melbourne Hairpin with four laps left, fending off pressure from the Brit throughout the remaining laps and claiming a well-deserved fifth victory of the season.
Showing strong pace at the front but slipping away from victory contention, Mahias crossed the line to clinch the final step of the podium in third, ahead of teammate, Garcia, who battled to a fifth place finish at the flag.
After the unfortunate early-race incident cost Manzi a handful of places, Manzi, rode through to finish in an impressive seventh place.
Further downfield, Aldi Satya Mahendra (Yamaha BLU CRU Evan Bros) finished 14th at the chequered flag, picking off several riders after starting 18th on the grid.
Manzi and Öncü sit 1-2 in the WorldSSP Championship Standings as the series heads to Round 8 in Hungary in two weeks’ time, with Mahias sixth, Mahendra 11th, and Garcia 20th.
FULL RACE TWO RESULTS
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
Can Öncü (Yamaha BLU CRU Evan Bros) Race 2: 1st, Championship: 2nd
“I’m lost for words. I feel very happy following victory in Race 2 at Donington Park. Yesterday was a challenging day for us, but today, we found a stronger set-up which enabled us to fight at the front. We worked hard and got the result we were capable of. I’d like to say a big thank you to the team for their work this weekend. We pushed a lot for today’s success, and it feels great to end the weekend in this way.”
