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The official race report service of Kawasaki Racing Team.

23 Oktober 2022

Öncü Fights To Seventh Place

Kawasaki Puccetti Racing rider Can Öncü made it up to seventh place in the second FIM Supersport World Championship race at Villicum in Argentina. Yari Montella (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) fell and no-scored in the second race of the weekend.

Starting from 14th place on the grid Öncü was to fight his way up to seventh despite feeling a lack of outright grip compared to Race One’s relatively cooler conditions on Saturday.

He pushed as hard as he could but the front groups were too far ahead to catch. After a finally lonely race he finished four seconds behind sixth place and five seconds ahead of eighth.

Montella had a dramatic but short race, finishing lap one in 13th place then crashing out on a dusty part of the track surface after he ran wide. He rejoined but had to retire in the pits with his bike too badly damaged to continue.

The second 19-lap WorldSSP race featured several accidents and incidents, with Montella just one of six non-finishers.

In the championship rankings, with two rounds to go, Dominique Aegerter has 424 points, Lorenzo Baldassarri 352, Öncü 216 and Nicolo Bulega 190. In eighth place, Montella has 114 points.

The next round of the championship will be the penultimate one, to be held at Mandalika in Indonesia between 11-13 November.

Can Öncü, stated: “Compared to yesterday the temperatures were higher today, and I didn’t have the same rear grip. I started strongly and was able to stick with the front group, but in the end I couldn’t do more than seventh. I’ll settle for the points scored, which allow me to retain third in the standings, and I thank my team for their amazing support.”

Yari Montella, stated: “When you start further back and have to play catch-up, there’s always a level of risk, and this time I was unlucky and it went badly. I ran long through a corner and as I tried to correct that I crashed. Unfortunately, the bike was damaged and so I couldn’t continue. I’m really sorry because I could have scored points for the championship, but above all I’m sorry for the team after all their hard work. I’ll try to make up for it at the next Mandalika round.”

Adrian Huertas (MTM Kawasaki) finished tenth, even after taking a long lap penalty, and is now 12th in the championship. Tom Booth-Amos (Motozoo Racing by Puccetti Kawasaki) scored points for 13th in Race Two.

    #NinjaSpirit