Yamaha ParkinGo’s Manuel Gonzalez won an incredibly close Race Two in the WorldSSP division but had to work hard on every lap to stay in contention at times, in what was another cast iron classic middleweight contest.
A determined early push from Can Öncü (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) saw him take the lead on lap four, coming through from an early fifth place.
A Yamaha v Kawasaki battle saw both early leaders, Gonzales and Randy Krummenacher (CM Racing Yamaha) take on Oncu and eventually Raffaele De Rosa (Orelac Racing VerdNatura Kawasaki). The privateer Kawasaki rider moved into second with still less than half race distance completed.
Öncü was to fall at T5 on lap eight, with the new lap record pace of 1’45.486 his only reward.
Gonzalez ran wide with five laps to go, and lost even a podium place for a time.
Niki Tuuli (MV Agusta Corse Clienti) passed Krummenacher and took the podium fight to the eventual top two Gonzalez - a winner again after his Magny Cours success - and De Rosa in a heartbreaking second place.
The top three were covered by just 0.095 seconds after a dramatic last few corners.
Krummenacher was fourth, 0.568 seconds down, with Marcel Brenner (VFT Racing Yamaha) fifth and Federico Caricasulo (Biblion Iberica Yamaha MotoxRacing) sixth.
Steven Odendaal (BARDAHL Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha) was seventh and early podium contender Philipp Öttl (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) only eighth.
Glenn van Straalen (EAB Racing Yamaha) was ninth and Patrick Hobelsberger (Bonovo MGM Racing Yamaha) tenth.
Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) had to miss the WorldSSP round in Catalunya but still leads the championship with an unchanged 302 points, with Odendaal still second on 257 points.
