A number of riders were saying goodbye throughout the season-ending Pirelli Indonesian Round, whether to teams, manufacturers or the Championship, with Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) one of these as he switches to BMW for 2022. Redding has been with Ducati since his MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship debut in 2020 and ended his two-year stint with two podiums at the Pertamina Mandalika International Street Circuit.

Redding secured a front-row start for both races in Indonesia as he qualified in third place, half-a-second down on polesitter and 2021 Champion Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK). Race 1 was a thrilling encounter between Redding, Razgatlioglu and Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) with the trio battling it out throughout the 20-lap encounter in difficult conditions.

Race 2 was held in wet conditions and ended up being a race-long duel between Rea and Redding as the two pulled away from the chasing pack, battling it out for victory in a fight that went to the wire. Rea was able to claim the double at Mandalika while Redding signed off from Ducati with two podiums: third in Race 1 and second in Race 2.

Discussing his battle with Rea, and how he hoped to win on his last round with Ducati, Redding said: “The win wasn’t possible, but we tried very hard. Every lap we just pushed. It was good. I actually had fun in Race 2 because there was nothing to win and nothing to lose, so everybody was just 110% and see what happens. Jonathan made quite a hard move on me. One more corner to go for an overtake, so I tried. He was protecting the line a lot. I tried to go inside, it was dirty and wet. It wasn’t possible. I just need to work a little bit on this, and I think I can just finesse this kind of overtake. At the moment I try to achieve too much. I’ve had a great year here with the Aruba.it Racing team. To come here and finish with two podiums, I really wanted to get a win for them. It was really what I wanted. You can’t win all the time. You have to be there pushing and trying and that was the main thing again, showing my spirit that I never give up until the end.”

Redding’s Ducati career in WorldSBK comes to an end after two seasons and 61 races, where he racked up 12 wins and 37 podiums for the Bologna-based manufacturer. He finished second in the Championship in 2020 and third in 2021, able to put himself in title contention right until the end of the season. For next year, he will partner Michael van der Mark and the BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team, with the Dutchman standing alongside Redding on the Race 2 rostrum.

You can re-watch the epic duel from Race 2 at Mandalika and more using the WorldSBK VideoPass!