Race 2 at the Autodrom Most for the FIM Supersport World Championship was another thrilling fight at the front for a 19-lap encounter. After taking a victory in Race 1, Steven Odendaal (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team) was aiming for a double win, but it wouldn’t be easy. Odendaal and pole-sitter Manuel Gonzalez (Yamaha ParkinGO Team) had opted for the harder SC0 compound, whilst second on the grid and Championship leader Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) went for the SCX rear tyre, and it would be these three who went until the final laps in contention for victory. In the end, Aegerter came out on top, with Odendaal and Gonzalez close behind.

LIGHTS OUT: frantic start

It was a messy run into the first chicane, as Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha) went sideways into the opening turn and went right off track, narrowly avoiding the gravel and re-joining way down field in tenth. He wasn’t the only one to make a mistake though as pole-sitter and Race 1 podium finisher Manuel Gonzalez (Yamaha ParkinGO Team) went through the run-off and re-joined at Turn 3. Philipp Oettl (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) found himself at the front ahead of Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha), with Can Öncü (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) once again in third, ahead of Federico Caricasulo (Biblion Iberica Yamaha Motoxracing) who was fourth from 11^th.

TRICKY TURN 1: big names in trouble

Soon, it would be a disaster for Jules Cluzel as he was wiped out at Turn 1 by Kevin Manfredi on Lap 2. A lap later and it would be Steven Odendaal’s turn to take to the Turn 1 run-off, whilst Dominique Aegerter was now the race leader after getting ahead into the first turn, but it was behind where the moves were also being made, as Manuel Gonzalez picked his way through on Luca Bernardi (CM Racing) and Philipp Oettl. Federico Caricasulo was fifth, but not in the lead group of four.

Gonzalez momentarily got into the lead on Lap 6 at the fast, sweeping Turn 4, but Aegerter held on through Turns 5 and 6, with just millimetres between the leading group. All of the battling allowed the leading six riders to concertina together, with Steven Odendaal now beginning to recover from his Turn 1 misdemeanour. He was up to fifth ahead of Caricasulo. Aegerter continued to lead ahead of Gonzalez and now Bernardi, who made a bold move at Turn 2 on Oettl for third.

BUNCHING UP AT THE FRONT: not over yet…

On Lap 10 and going into Turn 1, Steven Odendaal got into fourth ahead of Oettl whilst Bernardi went wide at Turn 1 and took to the run-off, dropping to fifth place. This then meant that Odendaal was now third, whilst Aegerter and Gonzalez were up ahead of him and slightly spaced out. Odendaal set the fastest lap whilst Caricasulo was now back into the top five a lap later, passing Bernardi at Turn 1 on Lap 11, whilst a technical problem took Randy Krummenacher (EAB Racing Team) out of the race further behind.

As the race entered its final third, Aegerter’s pace at the front began to fluctuate between mid-to-high 1’35s and low 1’36s, bringing Manuel Gonzalez right back into play, whilst closing in like a shark behind them both was Steven Odendaal, with just half a second covering the battle for victory and the leading three riders. Philipp Oettl was now a distant fourth, whilst Luca Bernardi was back in fifth ahead of Valentin Debise (GMT94 Yamaha). With four to go, Odendaal went into second place at Turn 21, keeping the power on and the bike turned between the final two corners – now, it was down to Odendaal to see if he could get ahead of Aegerter.

AT THE LINE: rolling the dice and landing on six

It was time to drop the pace at the front in the closing stages, as Dominique Aegerter had enough of a gap, with the Swiss taking a sixth win of the 2021 season and proving that his tyre gamble was the way to go, ahead of Steven Odendaal and Manuel Gonzalez. The Spaniard backing up his first podium of 2021 from Saturday, despite being desperately close to second again in Race 2. With Aegerter back on top and Odendaal in second, the gap in the Championship is now 37.

Fourth place went to Oettl whilst Bernardi completed the top five ahead of fellow countryman Federico Caricasulo, who returned to the top six. Valentin Debise was a solid seventh ahead of Niki Tuuli (MV Agusta Corse Clienti), whilst it was Can Öncü who once again faded as the race wore on to finish in ninth ahead of fellow Kawasaki rider Raffaele De Rosa. 11^th went to Max Enderlein (Kallio Racing) ahead of Marcel Brenner (VFT Racing), Luca Grunwald (HRP Suzuki), Ondrej Vostatek and Sheridan Morais (Wojcik Racing Team) who completed the points. There was a big crash in the closing stages for Croatian Martin Vugrinec (Ferquest – Unior Racing Team) at Turn 17, but he was up on his feet.

Top six after Race 2 in WorldSSP, full results here:

1. Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha)

2. Steven Odendaal (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team) +1.064s

3. Manuel Gonzalez (Yamaha ParkinGo Team) +1.166s

4. Philipp Oettl (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) +7.303s

5. Luca Bernardi (CM Racing) +8.528s

6. Federico Caricasulo (Biblion Iberica Yamaha Motoxracing) +8.536s

Fastest lap Steven Odendaal (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team) 1’35.509s New Lap Record

Championship standings, full standings here:

1. Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) 207 points

2. Steven Odendaal (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team) 170 points

3. Philipp Oettl (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) 137 points

4. Manuel Gonzalez (Yamaha ParkinGo Team) 120 points

5. Luca Bernardi (CM Racing) 118 points

6. Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha) 108 points

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