SUPERBIKE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP: SECOND CONSECUTIVE VICTORY FOR FEDERAL CARICASULO
Tenth round of the Superbike World Championship and ninth of the WSS at Portimao, Portugal.
At the end of a thrilling race Federico Caricasulo (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP) got the second consecutive victory after Misano’s success, raced before the summer break.
It was series leader Sandro Cortese and his championship rival Jules Cluzel who made the early running at the head of the race, until a collision between the two saw them both go down at turn three on the second lap, leaving Mahias clear at the front of the race. The only challenge to the French rider came from his GRT Yamaha teammate, Federico Caricasulo, who pushed hard to close the gap to the leader. However the Italian was unable to match the speed and consistency of Mahias, who responded by increasing his lead to close to three seconds before being forced to slow after suffering a rear tyre failure. Caricasulo inherited the race lead shortly before a crash at turn 11 brought out the red flags and the race was brought to close with 16 of the original 18 laps completed. With the blistered and deflated rear tyre spinning on the rim, Mahias crashed twice on his in lap, as he fought to return to pit lane within the time limit. Initially the reigning World Champion was credited with the win, but victory was eventually handed to teammate Caricasulo when Mahias was disqualified for cutting the track in the final turn as he returned to pit lane.
Fourth place for Domino rider Randy Krummenacher (BARDAHL Evan Bros. WorldSSP Team).
Next round of the Superbike World Championship is on September 30th in France.
