Former MotoAmerica Supersport regular Valentin Debise won FIM Supersport World Championship Race Two Sunday at Portimao, in Portugal. Riding his Evan Bros Racing ZXMOTO 820RR, the Frenchman won the 17-lap race by 0.720 second.
Jaume Masia was the runner-up on his Orelac Racing Verdnatura Ducati Panigale V2, just 0.767 second ahead of third-place finisher Albert Arenas, who rode his AS BluCru Racing Yamaha YZF-R9.
Lucas Mahias crossed the finish line fourth on his GMT94 Yamaha YZF-R9 and his teammate, Roberto Garcia, got fifth.
Jaume Masia leads the championship with 71 points, 6 ahead of Albert Arenas who has 65 points. Valentin Debise is third with 50 points.
wssp race 2
More from a press release issued by WorldSBK:
DEBISE’S DOUBLE: Two races in Portimao, two wins for ZXMOTO while Masia makes a miraculous podium comeback. Masia takes the Championship lead with his third podium of the year, ahead of Arenas and Debise.
The FIM Supersport World Championship sent the rollercoaster round out with a bang at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve, where they ran their final Race 2 of the Pirelli Portuguese Round. Valentin Debise (ZXMOTO Factory Evan Bros Racing) took his fourth win of the season, and the second win for his ZXMOTO manufacturer, whose bike has only ever participated in two WorldSSP rounds. Behind him in P2, Jaume Masia (Orelac Racing VerdNatura) completed a surgical late run to land his eighth podium, the 120th WorldSSP podium for Ducati. On the bottom step of the rostrum, Albert Arenas (AS BLU CRU Racing Team) takes his second podium after his Phillip Island Race 2 win.
DEBISE UNDETERRED: Nothing could keep the #53 and his ZXMOTO 820RR off the top step of the podium
Lucas Mahias (GMT94 Yamaha) sniped Debise off the line, stealing the holeshot from his countryman. Leading the contest’s opening laps, the #53 was able to find a way through. Mahias clung to Debise like a shadow until the race’s midpoint, where the #94 began to lose time marginally, lap after lap. He looked to be cruising to his second race win of the weekend until he ran wide near the end of Lap 3 when he ran wide and the riders behind him could close up the gap. Masia chained together a clutch series of late laps, capped off by back-to-back overtakes on Turns 6 and 7 to shoot from P4 to P2. Debise was able to recover from his mistake, sending ZXMOTO again to the top of the podium for the second time on the weekend. Jaume Masia went for his second podium of the season. Albert Arenas flexed his racecraft to prevail over Mahias and Roberto Garcia (GMT94 Yamaha) for his second podium in two rounds.
ODD MAN OUT: Mahias is unfortunate not to take his second podium from Portimao
Mahias will be shaking his head at not having ended the contest on the podium after leading the first lap; he takes solid points in P4 away from the round and will look ahead to Assen. Mahias’s teammate, Roberto Garcia, had a steadfast performance as he would not be deterred from a P5 finish despite being bundled aside twice by Arenas. Philipp Oettl (Feel Racing WorldSSP Team) had started the race well, jumping up to fourth from his sixth-place grid start. His progress was short-lived, however, as he finished the race back in his original P6 place.
SPUTTERING START FROM ONCU: The Turk’s best finish in four races is P5
After his daunting Race 1 recovery run, Jeremy Alcoba (Kawasaki WorldSSP Team) had his hands full to keep his position within the top ten after the riders ahead of him had put two seconds between them and him by Lap 4. As the race went on, the Spaniard caught back up with the group fighting for the top eight and overcame Alessandro Zaccone (Ecosantagata Althea Racing Team) and Corentin Perolari (Honda Racing World Supersport) for P7. Can Oncu (Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing) will go back to the drawing board after he was hailed by many as the title leader in the pre-season, yet two rounds in, he is without a podium. Corentin Perolari (Honda Racing World Supersport) was assessed an Irresponsible riding penalty, which, while he did serve, he let through Oettl, not Oncu through, as was intended by the FIM WorldSBK Stewards, and before corrective action could be taken, Oncu had lost a further two positions. Perolari saw his pace drop in the final laps, falling to P9. Four races into his new WorldSSP career, Zaccone again lands a top ten finish in P10 to close Portimao.
The top six from the WorldSSP Race 2: Full results here!
1. Valentin Debise (ZXMOTO Factory Evan Bros Racing)
2. Jaume Masia (Orelac Racing Verdnatura) +0.720s
3. Albert Arenas (AS BLU CRU Racing Team) +1.487s
4. Lucas Mahias (GMT94 Yamaha) +1.508s
5. Roberto García (GMT94 Yamaha) +1.547s
6. Philipp Oettl (Feel Racing WorldSSP Team) +6.486s
Fastest lap: Valentin Debise, ZXMOTO – 1’43.623s
Championship standings:
1. Jaume Masia (Orelac Racing Verdnatura) 71 points
2. Albert Arenas (AS BLU CRU Racing Team) 65
3. Valentin Debise (ZXMOTO Factory Evan Bros Racing) 50
4. Philipp Oettl (Feel Racing WorldSSP Team) 45
5. Roberto García (GMT94 Yamaha) 41
6. Lucas Mahias (GMT94 Yamaha) 37
That’s all she wrote from Portimao! Relive all the action from the last two rounds with full OnDemand uploads, and watch the action in Assen on April 17th live with the WorldSBK VideoPass!
