Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1275440
here, the first time I had been in this position. Now I am leading a race in these conditions. If I have to go and do that (final) race again I feel I am the rider in the paddock with the most confi- dence that I can do it again." After the sweatbox of an empty Jerez, another beckons just a few hours' drive across the south- ern coast of Iberia, in Portimao, Portugal. After two rounds, Red- ding leads the championship with 98 points, followed by Rea (74), Lowes (72), Razgatlioglu (66) and Davies (57). WorldSSP A perfect start is an un- derstatement to how Andrea Locatelli (Bardahl Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha) has begun his WorldSSP career, with pole at both rounds and now three wins—Phillip Island's single and this Jerez doubleheader. The weirdness of the returning weekend continued in having two races for WorldSSP at Jerez. With front running pace and only the experienced Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha) for company Locatelli hardly put a foot wrong, scrapping with Cluzel in the opener but eventually winning with a comfort zone each time. He said of his latest rookie season domination, in a class with at least three competitive makes of bike, "We did an incredible job today, also yesterday. A really good weekend for us. Now we need to work because we go in another track, in Portimao, and I rode that only in January. For me it is a little bit different. I know the track and I think we can push immediately be- cause we have a good setup now." During a podium convention of old Moto2 riders in race one, it was Locatelli from Cluzel from new boy Philipp Oettl (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing), who took his top three in his new class of rac- ing for 2020. Fourth was hard charging Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing). Raffaele De Rosa (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) was to fin- ish fifth in each race, the second time being a small miracle as Axel Bassani collided with the MV's rear end at turn one at the start of Sunday's race. De Rosa had to ride back to the pits with a flat rear tire, get going again and took another fifth place in a race that was shortened to just 11 laps due to the time lost to track clean up measures. In race two it, was Mahias mak- ing the hard passes, as he went inside Oettl with some determina- tion and then held on to finish third. It was his first podium of 2020. In the championship, Locatelli is dead solid perfect at 75 points, Cluzel near so at 60 and Mahias third with 42. Gordon Ritchie SATURDAY WORLDSBK 1. Scott Reading (Duc) 2. Jonathan Rea (Kaw) 3. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Yam) 4. Chaz Davies (Duc) 5. Loris Baz (Yam) 6. Michael Rinaldi (Duc) 7. Alvaro Bautista (Hon) 8. Marco Melandri (Duc) 9. Alex Lowes (Kaw) 10. Leon Haslam (Hon) SUNDAY 1. Scott Reading (Duc) 2. Chaz Davies (Duc) 3. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Yam) 4. Michael Rinaldi (Duc) 5. Alex Lowes (Kaw) 6. Jonathan Rea (Kaw) 7. Michael van der Mark (Yam) 8. Alvaro Bautista (Hon) 9. Marco Melandri (Duc) 10. Garrett Gerloff (Yam) IN THE WIND P36 American Garrett Gerloff cracked the top 10 in WorldSBK on Sunday.