VOLUME 57 ISSUE 36 SEPTEMBER 9, 2020 P37
with Rinaldi on the softer X, Rea
had no winning answer in the
Saturday opener and had to be
content with second.
He was probably relieved to
read on his pit-board that his only
real championship rival Red-
ding had fallen dramatically, but
unhurt, at turn four with just a few
laps gone, losing the front tire
he had not enough grip from this
weekend in general. Unable to
restart, he no-scored.
Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Ducati),
from his usual lowly grid position
(this time eighth) came through
at a regular and controlled pace
because he, too, had chosen an
X tire and made it last for all 18
laps. He got a podium finish in
third for his patience.
In the Sunday morning Su-
perpole race, over 10 laps, as
always, Redding made an early
and firm pass on pole man and
early leader Rea, setting up a
two-rider fight for the win, which
Rea again realized he was not
going to win.
Every single rider used the X
rear tire and the softest possible
front tire, especially in the rela-
tively warm conditions.
As gastro sufferer Alex Lowes
faded, Alvaro Bautista and then
Davies passed him in the later
stages.
Redding took a 0.970-second
margin of victory, with Rea sec-
ond and Rinaldi third.
The final race of the week-
end, over 18-laps on a slightly
cooler track than Saturday's, saw
everybody bar Rea and eventual
faller Davies go with the X rear
option. Rea managed to pass
the riders who got ahead of him,
Redding and Rinaldi, the latter in
the final two laps to make sure of
his latest race win and put Rinaldi
between him and his real threat
in the points, Redding.
American rider Garrett Gerloff
(GRT Yamaha) finished the week-
end with 11-13-10 results.
"The tires are so sensitive to
temperature, and I have never
experienced that before," he
said. "This weekend the track
feels completely different to last
weekend, because the track
temperature in general we had
cooler temperatures on Saturday,
Sunday, and it showed."
In the points, Rea has 243,
Redding 207, Toprak Razgatlioglu
147, Davies 141, Michael van der
Mark 133, Rinaldi 131 (and top in-
dependent), and Lowes 127. Only
20 points separate third through
seventh. But crucially, maybe,
36 between first and second with
three rounds/nine races left.
WorldSSP
The latest two race wins for
Andrea Locatelli (Bardahl Evan
Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha) were
as clear as ever but the two
contests at Teruel this time were
quite different.
On Saturday Jules Cluzel
(GMT94 Yamaha) was not the
usual rider to try and impose his
will on the slipstream of Locatelli,
Scott Redding (ahead)
held off Rea for the
Superpole race win.
