MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks

World Supersport lined up in order of their best laps in yesterday's race for nineteen laps of racing. A red flag would cut it down to twelve laps to close off the day's racing.

Adrian Huertas, Yari Montella and Jorge Navarro made up the front row with Tom Booth-Amos ahead of Stefano Manzi and Bahattin Sofuoglu. Valentin Debise, Lucas Mahias and Niki Tuuli rounded out row three.

Yari Montella got the drop on Adrian Huertas in to turn one and the pair swapped places back and forth through the fast sweeping first half of the lap with Jorge Navarro taking third place from Tom Booth-Amos behind them. Stefano Manzi took fourth place from Booth-Amos in the slow corners as Marcel Schroetter continued his bad luck with a crash with Tom Edwards at the Melbourne Loop.

Then, the red flags came out for an incident involving Krittapat Keankum at turn nine. A twelve lap restart was announced very quickly after. John McPhee would not make the restart as he was spotted walking across the track as the cleaners tidied up the Esses.

Lining up as they qualified, with Marcel Schroetter and Tom Edwards returning, the quick-start grid gave way to a twelve lap complete restart.

Once again, Yari Montella took the lead from Adrian Huertas with Jorge Navarro and Tom Booth-Amos behind them. Stefano wasted no time taking fourth place from Booth-Amos and Bahattin Sofuoglu followed him through to push Booth-Amos to sixth place, then seventh as Valentin Debise worked his way past.

Lap three of twelve, with Montella setting a 1'28.880 fastest lap, Montella and Huertas were inseparable in the lead. Bahattin Sofuoglu crashed out at turn twelve, the tight off-camber last corner, crashing out of the leading group of five riders.

Five laps down and four riders were covered by a second, Montella, Huertas, Navarro and Manzi. Valentin Debise, Tom Booth-Amos and Niki Tuuli week almost two seconds off the leading four in the fight for third place.

Kaito Toba and Gabriele Giannini, at the tail end of the race, crashed in turn twelve, with Toba losing the front inside Giannini and taking the Kawasaki rider out.

After swapping back and forth, Montella remained in front of Huertas with Navarro in close contention behind but Manzi started losing touch with the leading trio, starting lap nine a second behind.

Two thirds race distance was completed after just eight laps with Montella, Huertas and Navarro stretching their gaps as the laps ticked off. Yari Montella set a fastest lap of 1'28.674, a new lap record, on lap nine of twelve. A lap later, he set a 1'28.637 with Huertas lapping just five hundredths slower behind him.

The fight for fifth place swapped the lead between Debise and Booth-Amos as the leaders matched their times under a tenth of a second. Navarro and Manzi were in safe third and fourth places as battles raged above and below them.

After passing Tom Edwards, a back marker, in the slow section of the track, Yari Montella and Adrian Huertas crossed the line separated by half a second. Three seconds later, Jorge Navarro took third place, sealing off the podium places. Stefano Manzi came in fourth shortly after and Tom Booth-Amos took fifth place as Valentin Debise shared tarmac with him and ended up in the grass at turn twelve on the last lap, dropping to eighth place.

In an upset, the win was awarded to Adrian Huertas as Yari Montella was penalised one place for touching green paint on the entry to the Esses, turn nine.

Huertas's lead was extended to twenty five points over Montella as Manzi fourteen points off third place, extended his third place to thirty eight points over fourth-placed Schroetter. 

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