Sparks flew on Sunday on track, into the gravel, and on track, as two of the biggest names in the FIM Supersport World Championship came together, and Championship leader Albert Arenas (AS BLU CRU Racing Team) was sent tumbling into the gravel as Jaume Masia (Orelac Racing VerdNatura) was penalised for the incident, and later had a crash of his own. The lack of points and Valentin Debise (EASTROC ZXMOTO Factory Evan Bros Racing) completing his second win of the round dropped the #5 down one place to third in the Riders’ Championship, while Arenas saw his Championship lead diminish to 19 points.

SPOILED OPPORTUNITY: “I wish we could have fought for the victory, but in Race 2 it wasn’t possible because of this rider”

On the heels of a very strong performance at Balaton Park, where Arenas took P2 and P1, Arenas kept the ball rolling in Race 1 at Most, landing P3 to raise his podium streak to six in a row and seven out of nine total races at that point. Race 2, however, saw the #75 Turn 20 crash out of the race as Masia cut up the inside of the title leader, the #5’s foot making contact with the front of the rider from Girona’s bike as the rider and blue tumbled into the gravel. Arenas was none too pleased with the incident and threw several barbs towards the sophomore rider, stating he will take a few days to clear his head, then back to work for Aragon

On the incident, Arenas said: “I was taken out by this rider; it was for sure not a clever move by him. It was a very fast corner, and I don’t think it was the way to do it. I haven’t seen the images yet but I’m very unhappy about it. I wanted to race and fight on track. In the race we had made a step forward on Saturday, and I wish we could have fought for the victory, but in Race 2 it wasn’t possible because of this rider. This is racing, and I have to move on, but I don’t think his penalty was fair; I lose 25 points, and he loses three seconds and he can be back. I don’t want to judge; these are the rules, and I agreed to them. I will move on, relax for a few days and come back stronger in Aragon.”

IT TAKES TWO TO TANGO: “I said I was sorry. I passed quite tight, and I feel that on the lap before, he passed me quite tight, which caused me to have to pick up the bike”

Having started the race from P2, Masia looked to get back on the podium for the first time since his Win at Assen, however the strong jump off the line from riders like Can Oncu (Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing), Lucas Mahias (GMT94 Yamaha) and Arenas saw him back to P5 in the early running. After he made his move on Turn 20 where the contact was made, he was handed a Long Lap Penalty for Irresponsible riding by FIM WorldSBK Stewards, and he fell to P9. As he pushed on the limit to catch up to the lead group and maximise his points haul from the race, he made a mistake on Turn 15 of Lap 11 and saw his race end early. The crash prevented him from taking points away from the day, a big opportunity to squander as the #75’s podium consistency makes him a hard man to pry back points on. Furthermore, French rider Valentin Debise has been on a tear atop his brand-new ZXMOTO 820RR in its maiden season, having now won three of the last four races to move 17 points ahead of Masia into second position in the Championship standings.

On the incident, and his Race 2 from there, Masia said: “I went to speak to him, and I said I was sorry. I passed quite tight, and I feel that on the lap before, he passed me quite tight, which caused me to have to pick up the bike. In the end we both said that this is racing, and when I saw the video later, I saw I touched him with my foot and unluckily he crashed, I felt bad. After his crash, I pushed a lot to catch the group, the pace was quite high, and I made a small mistake and I crashed. We don’t know if my pace would have held, but I still had 6-7 laps to go. Yamaha and ZXMOTO are doing a really good job, I’m the only Ducati racing with them, we fight every time but we will see next round.”

Catch their battle next time out at Aragon May 29^th!  WorldSBK VideoPass! Now 30% off!