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8 August 2021

Öttl Takes A Fighting Fourth Place

Kawasaki Puccetti Racing rider Philipp Öttl pushed hard from the first lap to the last lap to take an eventual fourth place in the second WorldSSP race at Most and maintain his third place in the overall championship battle in the process. His team-mate Can Öncü was in early contention for a podium place but dropped back to finish ninth.

After his experiences of Race One on Saturday on his Ninja ZX-6R Philipp kept faith in his SCX rear tyre and it paid off in the early laps, as he held second place and then third position for a time.

Overtaken to move just one place behind the podium places on lap seven of the full 19-lap race, Philipp used all his experience and skill to finally hold that position by over a second from a determined pack of chasing riders.

Added to his third place finish on Saturday, fourth on Sunday keeps Philipp third in the championship after five rounds and ten individual races. He has recorded six podium finishes in the opening ten races.

Once again in the early laps of a race Öncü was in aggressive form and he was up to fourth place at the end of lap one. The teenage rider remained in sixth place until lap six when he started to slow as he lost traction due to his pre-race tyre selection, and he dropped back again to finish ninth.

After his valuable Most experience Öncü took more solid championship points from each race and is now ninth in the rankings, with 58 points in total.

At the head of the championship table Dominique Aegerter leads with 207, Steven Odendaal is second with 170 and Öttl is third with 137.

Now WorldSSP heads to another new track, Navarra in Spain, which will host round six between 20-22 August.
 
Philipp Öttl, stated: “That was not an easy race but I had a fantastic start once again and I felt good on the bike. We chose an SCX rear tyre again. The feeling was not so bad but the others were just one step ahead today. I was really working on the bike with my body position and I felt I could make some improvements with that, so I will try this again next time in Navarra. I think this was a positive weekend because I could do a little bit better with the softer SCX tyre. I am happy to be third in the championship and we should continue make steady progress. Consistent finishes are the most important thing to make because there are some strong riders in this championship. I tried my very best today but sometimes it is the maximum result to finish fourth.”

Can Öncü, stated: “The race was fast and we did not do as well as yesterday. I think we did not choose the correct tyre option today. I also agreed with my guys that the SC0 was a good choice before the race, but now I think maybe the SCX may have worked better. But for me this has been a positive weekend and I think we learned many things again. I also think we can do much better in Navarra but for now we will go home and start again in Spain. I look forward to doing a good job next time.”

Raffaele De Rosa (Orelac Racing VerdNatura Kawasaki) was tenth today but Michel Fabrizio (Motozoo Puccetti Racing Kawasaki) and Leonardo Taccini (Orelac Racing VerdNatura) each had to retire. Luca Ottaviani (GAP Motozoo Puccetti Racing Kawasaki) was 19th in Race Two.

    #NinjaSpirit