Ten Kate Yamaha’s Dominique Aegerter continued his WorldSSP reign with his seventh victory in succession at Misano on Sunday.
Another hard fought challenge from Lorenzo Baldassarri was denied in the closing stages by the commanding Swiss with Aruba.it Ducati’s Nicolo Bulega completing the Italian podium celebrations with a duo of home talent.
The Supersport grid was commanded once again by Saturday’s winner and series leader Aegerter with his race one challengers Bulega and Baldassarri alongside. The Evan Bros. Yamaha rider aiming to banish the demons of yesterday’s near-miss after losing the victory to track limits on the final lap with the Ducati rider on the hunt for a home win.
Track temperatures hit 44℃ as the lights prepared for the 18 lap race with Bulega immediately taking charge through turn one before a mistake saw the Aruba rider dropped back to seventh. Baldassarri released out front, Puccetti’s Yari Montella headed Aegerter in the top three battle with Althea’s Federica Caricasulo narrowly adrift in fourth with Can Öncü fending off another Italian duo of Stefano Manzi and Bulega in the battle for fifth.
Bulega took the Triumph for position next time around with Caricasulo suffering a moment at turn 14 as Öncü looked to capitalise, running within a tenth of the 2019 runner up as he set the fastest lap of the race so far. Baldassarri was the next to up the pace as he pushed to extend his lead. Öncü making the move stick on the Althea for fourth with Aegerter honing in on his teammate ahead.
Bulega was the next to better Caricasulo as Unai Orradre and Oli Bayliss crashed out. Aegerter up to second with the Ducati on a charge as he set his sights on the podium fight. GMT 94’s Jules Cluzel leading Mattia Casadei and Marcel Brenner for the final top ten positions.
Bulega was on the podium with seven laps dispatched, Montella thrown into the path of his Elf-liveried teammate with Manzi heading Caricasulo on the back of the Puccetti battle.
Multiple moves were initiated before Öncü finally made the move stick on his teammate at the end of lap nine, Manzi bettering them both next time around as the Triumph started its charge. Caricasulo tightly on the back of the fight before running wide and dropping half a second adrift with the work to do again.
Late race pace was on show once again as Aegerter arrived on the wheels of Baldassarri before bettering with seven laps to go. The two Yamaha’s continuing to swap positions on the evenly matched R6’s as Baldassarri struck back and the reigning champion bided his time before another attack. Opposing fortunes for the second Ten Kate machine as Leonardo Taccini retired from the race on the next lap.
Cluzel was looking for a way through on Casadei for eighth as the race counted down, the experienced Frenchman making the move stick in the closing sector with less than five laps to go.
Three to go and the gap at the front was just 0.15s as the two rivals continued to fight, Bulega five seconds back but over a second clear of his nearest challenger for podium contention. The penultimate lap found the duo inseparable and on the attack as they continued to swap positions before Aegerter finally took command and looked to build a gap. The final lap failing to provide the opportunity for Baldassarri to strike back with the Swiss rider claiming his seventh win in a row to continue his domination.
Bulega claimed his home podium with a new lap record from Manzi, Öncü and Caricasulo with Montella, Casadei, Cluzel and Raffaele de Rosa making it eight Italians in the top ten on home soil. Andy Verdoia, Hannes Soomer, Brenner, Peter Sebestyen and Adrian Huertas collected the final points on offer with Kyle Smith narrowly adrift in 16th.
