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Two More Wins For Ninja 400 Riders
Victor Rodriguez Nunez (2R Racing Kawasaki) was an outstanding surprise winner of race one on Saturday at the Teruel Round of the WorldSSP300 championship, with this year's most improved rider Jeffrey Buis (MTM Kawasaki Motoport) running out a clear winner in race two today.
The combined result of Victor and Jeffrey's incredible winning performances made it six victories for the Ninja 400 this year, with three rounds left to run.
There were other podium successes for Kawasaki's younger riders in this exciting class of racing, designed as a way to fight for a full FIM world championship and showcase riding talents to a global audience.
Buis had been third in race one, one day before his Teruel race two win, and his team-mate Scott Deroue (MTM Kawasaki Motoport) was just one place from the race one podium, in fourth. Scott then went on to finish second today, heading up a giant-sized chasing pack that was finally 5.114 seconds behind Buis.
Championship leader Jeffrey took his third career race win in four races at Motorland Aragon, a remarkable feat in this peerless competitive form of racing.
World champion in 2018, Ana Carrasco (Kawasaki Provec) was a close fifth in race one but then a disappointed 22nd in the second race on Sunday, after getting tangled up with other riders and losing places.
Four of the six possible podium places were taken by Ninja 400 riders in Teruel, plus the majority of the top 20 finishers in each 10-lap/50.770km race were Kawasaki riders.
The top ten all fished within 1.334 seconds of each other in the epic first race.
Thomas Brianti (Prodina Ircos Team Kawasaki) was fourth in race two, having been ninth in race one. He is now sixth in the championship standings. His team-mate Mika Perez (Prodina Ircos Team Kawasaki) placed seventh on Saturday and sixth today. Bruno Ieraci (Kawasaki GP project) was eight in race one, ninth in race two.
Koen Meuffels (MTM Kawasaki Motoport) was fifth in race two, after no scoring on day one.
Tom Booth-Amos (RT Motorsports by SKM–Kawasaki) ended his weekend in Teruel by scoring points for 11th in race two, after a race one no-score. He is seventh in the championship, having already secured three podium finishes in 2020.
In the championship standings Buis extended his lead to 11 points over Deroue - 127 points to 116. Carrasco sits fourth with 95 points.
After two back-to-back rounds at Motorland the championship now relocates to the Montmelo circuit in Barcelona, between September 18-20.
Jeffrey Buis (MTM Kawasaki Motoport), stated: "In Superpole my plan was to ride in the group but it didn't work out so I need to go on my own. That was good enough for the front row. In the Saturday race, at the beginning I made two big mistakes and then I fell back into the group. On the other hand, I could fight back from there and finished in third position, so I am very happy with that. In the second race I managed to get away from the group and score my third victory of the season!"
Victor Rodriguez Nunez (2R Racing Kawasaki), stated: "I didn't even do Superpole, as I only started after winning the last chance race! I started from 30th on the grid. I do not know how we did it but I just pushed, pushed and pushed. I cannot believe it too! All the weekend it has been difficult but in FP3 I felt good so I had to do the last chance race because the tire pressure was wrong I qualifying, and I won that. We won the main race too and I am really happy! We know this is not normal but in this category…? Last week I started 19th and finished eighth. Today I started from 30th and finished first. It is only my third race and my second WorldSSP race meeting of the year."
Ana Carrasco (Kawasaki Provec), stated: "The truth is I'm very disappointed with today's result because with the pace I've had throughout the weekend I had options of being on the podium. I had a good start and climbed three positions and I stayed in the leading positions until there was an incident that forced me off the track and I dropped many places. I managed to recover but at the end of the race I made a mistake and then there were no options at all. Now the Montmeló round is coming up, which is a track that I like, so I hope to recover the points that we lost here."
Scott Deroue (MTM Kawasaki Motoport), stated: "We started very well on Friday, which is why I was even more disappointed that I qualified on the fifth row of the grid. In the first race I had a very good first lap and I was able to compete for the front places right away. That fourth position was a good result. In the second race I didn't have a good start and it was difficult to pass the riders in the group. In the end I'm very happy with second place and we scored a lot of important points for the championship."
Koen Meuffels (MTM Kawasaki Motoport): "We were not lucky again. In the Superpole I was knocked down in the last lap and in the first race we had a technical problem. However, I'm glad that I showed in the second race that I'm one of the fastest riders in the field. I fought for second place at the front of the group and finished in fifth."
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