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The official race report service of Kawasaki Racing Team.

19 Noviembre 2022

Yari Wins After Playing Leading Role

Kawasaki Puccetti Racing enjoyed a double podium success in Race One at Phillip Island, with Yari Montella taking his first race win in WorldSSP and his team-mate Can Öncu securing third place in difficult and slippery wet conditions.

Montella was in the fight for the race win from the start, having qualified third fastest after Superpole. The 4.445km Phillip Island circuit offered up a soaking wet track surface, which put all the riders out on rain tyres.

Battling with Federico Caricasulo all through the race Montella passed and re-passed him as the track conditions changed but on the final part of the last lap Yari had the track to himself after Caricasulo fell trying to match his late pace.

Montella kept his cool - and a watching brief on the rider behind - eventually winning with a margin of victory of 2.706 seconds over Nicolo Bulega.

Öncü had a fight with Bulega in the early laps but rode with smoothness and maturity to take yet another podium and make sure he would finish the championship in third place overall.

Now the WorldSSP riders will face the 24th and final WorldSSP race of  2022, which is scheduled to start at 14.30 local time in Australia, on Sunday 20 November.

Yari Montella, stated: “I ran a great race. I started not knowing what to expect in the wet conditions, but I quickly found feeling with the bike and the track. Once I got into the lead I battled to stay there, also because your visor would get dirty if you followed behind someone else. I put my rival under pressure and he crashed. We needed this win, which confirms our progress. We were already strong in some previous races, but now I feel in total control of the bike. I dedicate this win to my family and my team. We’ve worked and suffered together, and we deserve it!”

Can Öncü, stated: “I would maybe have been fourth today but Caricasulo crashed on the last lap so I got third place. This is racing. I am very happy of course to be on the podium even though the wet race set-up I had today was not so good. We have to be really proud because this year we took so many podiums compared to last year, so I think I have improved myself so much.”

Tom Booth-Amos (Prodina Racing Kawasaki) had his best WorldSSP race result so far, finishing eighth as he mastered the wet conditions. Adrian Huertas (MTM Kawasaki) was tenth in Race One, placing four Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6Rs inside the top ten positions.

                                                 #NinjaSpirit