Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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VOLUME 57 ISSUE 35 SEPTEMBER 1, 2020 P37 more than once. But on Sunday Bautista (who crashed out on Friday) scored a fourth place in the sprint and then a third in the bigger race. The amazing thing—other than the remarkable turnaround in fortunes in real races—is that he used the rear SC X tire to make both his strong race finishes. A podium on an "X" tire designed for only 10 laps, in a race that ran to 18 laps. The magnitude of this Honda podium is extended by the fact that the field is stuffed full of podium talent, and lots of other riders had already tested here this year, not just Bautista and Honda. With van der Mark with one podium in the Superpole race, and factory man Davies show- ing his true V4 R Panigale colors with two second places, it was up to Michael Ruben Rinaldi to be the best independent again. American Garrett Gerloff had a good weekend at Aragon. He didn't finish race one but came home for two 10th place finishes in the Superpole race and race two. "I am happy to have been able to fight with them, even though in the end I finished 10th, a good result but not the one I want," Gerloff said after race two. "Be- ing only a few 10ths away from seventh gives me great motiva- tion for next weekend. Our goal is to take a small step forward to stay a little bit closer to the lead- ers, but it was nice to finish this weekend strongly, and we will take this momentum with us for the next one." In the championship points, Rea has 189, Redding 179, Razgatlioglu 124 and Davies 120. WorldSSP The records just keep tum- bling for Andrea Locatelli on his Bardahl Evan Bros Yamaha. With two races up for grabs in Aragon, due to the short nature of the Covid-19 affected season, Locatelli won them both. On the bike that won the championship last year, with all that GP experience behind him, he has been immaculate, and of course he took the Superpole win too. And a new lap record in race two, 1:54.034. "After winning yesterday, it was great to be back on the top step again today," said Locatelli. "The conditions this weekend weren't too easy, but today I pushed in the beginning to break the gap behind so in the end I could be a little more conser- vative. I'm not thinking about the championship yet, it's a bit too early for that and a lot can change." Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha) was as frustrated as ever in not being able to beat what he sees as a plainly faster bike than his own identical model of R6, but he gave it two good goes again, having to overhaul his country- man and great rival Lucas Ma- hias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) in one race. It got a bit thick at times for a rider only focused on reeling in Locatelli. The first race saw yet another ex-Moto2 rider, Philipp Ottl (Ka- wasaki Puccetti Racing), capi- talize on an open opportunity and slot his way into third place, ahead of the warring factions of Raffaele De Rosa and Mahias. In race two he simply did not have the pace to stay in slightly cooler conditions but fifth was okay by him. And that earlier podium finish saw him move up closer in the title chase. De Rosa was the man on the move late in each race, going fourth and then third, as he is clearly the top MV rider now Randy Krummenacher is no longer competing. In the championship points, Locatelli has 175, Cluzel 130, Mahias 86 and now Ottl has 76. Gordon Ritchie WorldSBK SATURDAY 1. Scott Redding (Duc) 2. Chaz Davies (Duc) 3. Jonathan Rea (Kaw) 4. Michael Rinaldi (Duc) 5. Michael van der Mark (Yam) Superpole 1. Jonathan Rea (Kaw) 2. Scott Redding (Duc) 3. Michael van der Mark (Yam) 4. Alvaro Bautista (Hon) 5. Chaz Davies (Duc) SUNDAY 1. Jonathan Rea (Kaw) 2. Chaz Davies (Duc) 3. Alvaro Bautista (Hon) 4. Scott Redding (Duc) 5. Michael Rinaldi (Duc)