Dominique Aegerter stormed to his seventh success of the 2021 WorldSSP season at Navarra after recovering from a disappointing start from pole in Saturday’s race.
Evan Brother’s Steven Odendaal and CM Racing’s Luca Bernardi completed the podium celebrations for the Los Arcos track’s opening day of competition.
The second race of the afternoon was dominated by the top-four riders battling for position throughout the race as Odendaal and Manuel Gonzales duelled for overall dominance while Simon Jespersen and Aegerter bickered for final podium contention.
Gonzales broke the South African’s grip on lap five with Aegerter making the move to third - and hot on the wheels of the duo ahead - as Jespersen faded to the front of the second group, in seventh.
Odendaal was back in the lead two laps later, taking the pole-man with him, as the second trio of Luca Bernardi, Jules Cluzel and Federico Caricasulo looked to join the fun. Bernardi was up to third by the halfway stage, and challenging hard on Aegerter but the experienced Swiss rider’s defence remained on point as the laps unfold.
A crash for Gonzales saw the Spaniard out with eighth laps remaining and holding his right wrist as he headed for the medical centre, while the championship leader took charge overall. Aegerter setting a fastest lap of the race as he broke free of the pack.
The penultimate lap saw a three-tenth gap between second and third with Odendaal continuing to hold off Bernardi as Aegerter disappeared four-seconds down the road, the Ten Kate rider coming home for his seven victory of the season.
Highly experienced Frenchman Cluzel was a second from the podium on his GMT94 Yamaha in fourth place with his recently-departed team-mate Federico Caricasulo - now back with Biblion Iberica Yamaha Motoxracing - fifth and former world champion Randy Krummenacher (EAB Racing Team) sixth.
The top Kawasaki rider at a track that was a tough one for all in green was Philipp Öttl (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing), still third in the overall championship.
His charging teenage team-mate Can Öncü (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) came from 24th on the grid to eighth, with Friday’ fast Dane Simon Jespersen (Kallio Racing) ninth as a wildcard runner.
Niki Tuuli (MV Agusta Corse Clienti) was tenth. One more race to go on Sunday for the WorldSSP riders, over 20 laps again.
