WorldSBK Aragon Race 2: Scott Redding wins an electric, insane race
Scott Redding finally gets that taste of champagne after a tough weekend.
Earlier today Redding was left angry, frustrated and disappointed after choosing wet tyres for a tricky race in tough conditions, it turned out to be the wrong choice as he dropped down the order, this afternoon Redding changed it up going for the complete opposite of wets and used full slick tyres, he was able to win the race by a country mile ahead of the two Kawasaki’s who had a stunning race with Rea recovering from a near-crash to take second place after finally getting past the strong Michael van der Mark on the new BMW M 1000 RR, Alex Lowes rounded off the podium taking 3/3 podiums in Aragon.
Scott Redding is a happy man after a great race taking the full 25 points and limiting his championship loss after not taking podiums in the first two races, as we all know it is vital to take podiums in every race if you want to beat Jonathan Rea, taking the win today will be a huge boost of confidence for the British rider, a great start to the season so far with many more races to come to be able to take the title charge to Rea.
Rea had a spectacular race, he was taken off the track by Garrett Gerloff who went for a move for the race lead before crashing with Rea being a passenger into the gravel. Thankfully the motocross expert kept the gas full open as he went through the gravel to rejoin the track without a crash, he let some riders through before an incredible recovery to take home second place getting past some strong riders with Michael van der Mark proving to be most difficult, the ‘Flying Dutchman’ looked to be a demon on the brakes, every single time Rea braked later or set up a move to be able to overtake the BMW of VDM the Dutchman was able to out-brake Rea massively and retain his position.
Eventually, with a crazy line coming out of Turn 10 around the sweeping turn 11 and into turn 12 Rea was able to pick off Van der Mark and hold his advances off through turns 13, 14 and 15 before opening up a sizable gap to the BMW man to take the second-place trophy ahead of his teammate Alex Lowes, the Lincolnshire man was also able to dispose of his ex-Yamaha teammate to be able to take the final podium spot coming away with three podiums to his name.
The BMW boys took an incredibly solid P4 and P5 finish with Tom Sykes leading Van der Mark over the line, a really solid debut for the bike which struggled slightly in Friday’s practice, they nearly had a 4-5-6 with Folger running in P6 going into the final corner before running wide allowing Toprak Razgatlioglu and Garrett Gerloff through, Folger finished in an impressive P8.
Garrett Gerloff had an impressive race, he has much to think about after being involved in two major events now after taking both BMW’s out at Magny Cours last year and nearly binning off Rea today but his recovery was incredibly impressive after his crash, he picked himself up and returned to the race inside the points before picking off his rivals, completing a long lap penalty and finishing as the highest independent rider in P7, he could’ve won the race today but he’s learned a lesson and still got to stand in parc ferme at the end of the race apologising to Rea like the gentleman he is.
Rounding off the top 10 are rookies Andrea Locatelli in a strong P9 and Lucas Mahias in P10 as Alvaro Bautista dropped down the order to P11.
Axel Bassani had another strong race, the 21-year-old taking a solid two points in P14 on the Ducati Panigale V4 R ahead of Aruba.it rider Michael Ruben Rinaldi who changed his tyres before the race started and started with a massive disadvantage, working his way back up the order and nearly taking a point.
Full results –
Featured image – Ducati
