The last vestige of Scott Redding’s micro-hopes of being World Champion at the first time of asking ended in a broken-down motorcycle and no points at all.

The Ducati man needed maximum points in all three races - and Jonathan Rea to score basically zero - to be champion himself.

It may have all been down to his Superpole crash in the end, and a necessarily hasty rebuild of his bike.

No two-bikes per rider in this class for some years, remember.
The man himself said, “It was just an engine problem, maybe from the crash in the morning. Damaged the engine a little bit, possibly.”

Post-race checks would determine all but Redding was relatively philosophical about it all right after it had stopped and he no-scored.

“It happens, that is part of racing sometimes and luckily it was a kind of safe place for it to happen, so nobody got injured. Not really happy but it is what it is.”

Redding conformed that even though he lost out in his rookie year he had learned a lot to take into his confirmed second year in WorldSBK. And he was proud of his approach to his final 2020 weekend – which is still not quite over with two races on Sunday to come.

“Definitely,” he stated, “Of course I am a bit disappointed but it was a big ask coming to this weekend and I did the best I could. I said I would go all in and I was fastest in every session except the (Superpole) qualifying.

"I had a big crash and unfortunately the bike did not come back to us in time to make a lap towards the end. I had to start at the back of the grid and with the small engine problem, it was difficult.

"The season in general I leaned a lot and I started to felt relaxed and comfortable in this situation, racing with these guys. I feel strong, I feel competitive.

"We were not so far off winning the championship this year so I think next year when we can start already in a good way and relaxed, I did not need to learn so many things. I think we can be very competitive and definitely fight for the top.”

When asked if it was a bit cruel to not even be able to fight in that – basically - last chance race against Rea, he said, “Yeah, my plan was all or nothing. I had a bit of a strange crash in Superpole. I dunno why.

"It did the same thing as normal, shifted a gear but it just spins. It was the first time I used the SCX tyre (the one designed for ten laps, not a full 21 usually) and I am not sure if the temperature was really in that range of the tyre but it had felt good previously.

'I was already on good pace, and it just happened. Lucky not to be too injured. It could have been a lot worse because it was quite a hard impact. We were just delayed to get the bike back, because one minute more I would have been able to put one lap in and I think I should have been able to be top ten with just one lap.

"We didn’t manage to make a lap and I just (went out and) checked the levers, checked the feeling, but in the beginning of the race the bike felt a little bit slow; a little bit different from what I was used to feel.

'I was struggling to pass guys, guys that I should have been able to pass quite comfortably I was really struggling to get past them. When their tyres dropped a bit I managed to get through the pack a bit faster a bit easier, but then the bike gave up on me, basically.”

Redding now has two more chances to win races in 2020, before he looks forward to what will surely be a leading role in Ducati’s plans for securing the title win in 2020.