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/1383227
VOLUME 58 ISSUE 24 JUNE 15, 2021 P53 "It's a completely different win because when you have this suit, you must win," said Rinaldi, pointing at his official Ducati Al- pinestars leathers. "So for sure, it's good. For sure, it's great, but it's a normal thing. So, we need to make everything special to make normal things." It was hot enough on the opening day, but Saturday brought Superpole and trouble for some, as Garrett Gerloff crashed and had to start from pitlane anyway, in race one and the 10-lap Sunday Sprint. The heat caused real issues for some but the new rear X tire that Pirelli brought was used by almost every top rider and the lap record went to Rea in race one, before it was improved in the Superpole race, to remain the new lap record of 1:34.356, set by race-winner Rinaldi. After the top podium riders remained the same from race one to the Superpole, the copy- catting carried on through to fifth place. Scott Redding, Rinaldi's team- mate, could not get near his more diminutive rival in any race and went on to finish with three fourth places. Alex Lowes was fifth in race one and in race two would have been again but for the interven- tion of the onrushing Garrett Gerloff, liberated from the start after everybody else had gone by finishing eighth in the Super- pole race. This put him on the third row for the final race two, in which he blasted past Lowes in the final two laps and recovered what was looking like a tough weekend for any rider with eyes on his first WorldSBK race win. "I felt really good in race two," Gerloff said. "That's the best the bike has felt all weekend, which is a really big positive for us. It's for sure the best I've felt in the hot conditions, and that normally seems like where I struggle a bit. So, it was really nice to have the bike working really well. I felt like I was able to be a lot more consistent than the rest of the weekend. So, it's nice to end on a positive note. Maybe disap- pointed a little bit, but maybe one percent." Lowes, in his first race at Misano for Kawasaki, was truly stuck, unable to push any more without risking a front-end crash. Another name, and another Ducati rider, showed the local prowess at play, as Axel Bas- sani and his privateer Motocorsa Ducati V4 R went seventh, sixth and seventh, ahead of the fac- tory Hondas and BMWs. In the points, Rea now has 149, but Razgatlioglu is now a much closer 20 points behind the six-time champion, with 129. Redding is third with 104, Lowes fourth with 88 and Rinaldi is closing with 82, despite his tough start in Aragon and losing a race finish in Estoril. WorldSSP It was a highly successful weekend all round for the Ten Kate Racing squad and their Swiss rider Dominique Aegerter, as they now own the champion- ship lead. Aegerter finally eased away from his rivals in the first 18-lap WorldSSP race to win by 1.064 Toprak Razgatlioglu was getting sick of second place and finally broke through for the race-two win.