Maria Herrera won FIM World Women’s Circuit Racing Race 1 Saturday afternoon at Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, in San Marino. Riding her Terra & Vita GRT Yamaha YZF-R7 on Pirelli control tires, Herrera won the 12-lap race by 0.125 second.
Beatriz Neila was the runner-up on her Ampito Crescent Yamaha YZF-R7, and Chloe Jones got third on her Monster Energy Crescent Yamaha YZF-R7, 21.753 seconds behind race winner Herrera.
American Mallory Dobbs crashed her YVS Sabadell Diva Racing Yamaha YZF-R7 in turn 8 and did not finish the race.
Maria Herrera leads the championship with 156 points, 19 ahead of Beatriz Neila who has 137 points. Paola Ramos is third with 86 points.
Results wccr race 1
More from a press release issued by WorldSBK:
Misano battle: Herrera resists Neila for victory, Jones inherits P3 after Sarapuech penalty. Despite showing tremendous pace, both Ramos and Ponziani crashed out of the race due to separate incidents.
Maria Herrera (Terra & Vita GRT Yamaha WorldWCR) rang in the FIM Women’s Circuit Racing World Championship return to action at Misano in emphatic fashion. The Spaniard lands atop the rostrum for the 16th time in Race 1 at the Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli”, chased home by Beatriz Neila (Ampito Crescent Yamaha), who finished just over a tenth behind her title rival. Rounding off the top three in the session, Chloe Jones (Monster Energy Crescent Yamaha) made her return to the rostrum and claimed the bronze medal for the first time this season in the Pirelli Emilia-Romagna Round’s opening race.
HERRERA MAINTAINS HER LEAD
Herrera and Paola Ramos (Klint Racing Team) shot off the line side by side into Turn 1, with the #6 on the inside to seal the holeshot. Neila launched herself up into the mix for P2 on Ramos on Turn 11, and as the race proceeded, Ramos found herself falling farther behind the lead pair of Neila and Herrera. With two laps down, Herrera had leapt out to a six-tenth gap; the #36 closes behind her, half a second ahead of the rest of the mix.
After clocking in a record-setting 1’47.664s time, it was once again Herrera vs Neila at the front. Neila stalked the Championship leader lap after lap, momentarily making a move for the lead on Lap 9, but Herrera returned the favour to remain at the head of the pack. Neila looked for a gap to snag the race lead, but none presented itself until the final lap, where she attempted to go around the outside of the #6 in the final sector, but came up short, settling for P2 for her seventh podium of the season. With her win, Herrera moves up to 19 points clear of the rest of the field in the Riders’ Championship.
CRASHES OUT OF THE PODIUM SPOTS
Wildcard rider Jo Bruno (Team Trasimeno) and Ramos were pushing hard in P3 and P4 to try to catch up to the lead pair until the Italian made contact with the Spaniard’s rear wheel, sending both into the gravel on the run into Turn 1 of Lap 5. Home hero Roberta Ponziani (Klint Racing Team) inherited P3, and made the most of her opportunity as she made up three tenths on the lead pair on Lap 5, closing right up to the title rivals, until with four laps to go, she came into Turn 1 a touch too hot, and lost the front on Lap 8.
P3 FREE-FOR-ALL
Riding closely together, the group of Muklada Sarapuech (EEST NJT Racing Team), Karolina Danak (Prata Motor Sport), Chloe Jones, Pakita Ruiz (PR46+1 Racing Team) and Yvonne Cerpa (MotosCerpa-Gradara Corse) suddenly became a battle for the last podium position. The Thai rider led into the final lap after making an overtake in the second half of the lap, an overtake for which she was later penalised three seconds for overtaking under a yellow flag by FIM WorldSBK Stewards, demoting her to P7. Chloe Jones snapped up the chance and capitalised for her first podium of the year. Yvonne Cerpa made it three Spaniards in the top four but couldn’t quite outrun the Brit for what would have been her first WorldWCR podium. Karolina Danak made her way past Sarapuech in the final sector. Unfortunately for the Polish rider, she ran wide in the final turn and finished in P5, ahead of Ruiz in P6 and Sarapuech was demoted to P7 after her three-second penalty was applied.
SANCHEZ BACK IN ACTION AND BACK IN THE TOP 8
Sara Sanchez (Hadden Racing Team) rode well in her return from injury and improved her P11 grid start to a P8 finish. Similar to the Spaniard, Tayla Relph (Full Throttle Racing) improved as the race ran on, and climbed from P13 to finish in ninth place, just under two tenths ahead of French rider Emily Bondi (FT Racing Academy), who took the final spot of the top ten.
The top six from the WorldWCR Race 1: Full results here!
- Maria Herrera (Terra & Vita GRT Yamaha WorldWCR)
- Beatriz Neila (Ampito Crescent Yamaha) +0.125s
- Chloe Jones (Monster Energy Crescent Yamaha) +21.753s
- Yvonne Cerpa (MotosCerpa-Gradara Corse) +21.761s
- Karolina Danak (Prata Motor Sport) +22.984s
- Pakita Ruiz (PR46+1 Racing Team) +22.096s
Fastest lap: Roberta Ponziani, 1’47.546s – new lap record
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