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The official race report service of Kawasaki Racing Team.

7 Juli 2019

Podium Once Again For Mahias And Kawasaki

After Kawasaki Puccetti Racing WorldSSP rider Lucas Mahias took a third place finish at the previous Misano round he repeated the feat again at Donington Park this weekend, and moved up to fourth place in the overall ranking as a result. His team-mate Hikari Okubo finished 13th today, breaking a run of consistent top ten finishes or better all through the season.

From the front row of the grid Mahias attacked the 4.023km long Donington Park circuit from the first to the last lap. He led from lap three to lap 14, and finished third in a leading group of four that was covered by 0.804 seconds at the flag.
 
In warm and dry conditions Mahias showed mastery of the tricky Donington circuit by setting a pace in some sections of the layout that no others could match, riding right to the edge of his confidence in his machine and race set-up.
 
In finishing third today Lucas jumped one place ahead of his own team-mate Okubo in the overall championship, putting Mahias fourth overall.
 
Until lap three Okubo was feeling strong but after that point he started to experience slides and a chatter from the front end. This was a particularly difficult issue to deal with at a circuit that demands a strong front end set-up in both the fast flowing sections and the heavy braking areas.
 
After the eighth round and the beginning of the summer break Lucas is fourth and has 82 championship points, Hikari is fifth with 73 points.
 
The WorldSSP championship riders will reconvene at Portimao in Portugal, with raceday on Sunday 8 September.
 
Lucas Mahias stated: “It was an incredible race and I was pushing a lot from the first to the last lap. I am very happy for my team and Kawasaki because in the last two races we have had two podiums. I think for the moment the bike is very fast in the fast corners but not the same in acceleration, so it is not so easy to overtake sometimes. But I have a lot of confidence in my team to improve the bike for the next race and I hope we can come back in first position.”
 
Hikari Okubo, stated: “In the first three laps the feeling was not so bad but after three laps the bike had a very different feeling. I was really thinking I would have to come into the pits at one stage because the front of the bike was moving a lot and also chattering in all the corners. But I checked the riders behind and I realised I could take some points, which was important. If I had come into the box maybe I would have dropped to sixth in the championship. We have four races left in the season after the summer break so I will be training more and more.”
 
Ayrton Badovini (Team Pedercini Racing Kawasaki) was tenth today, after qualifying sixth. His team-mate Kyle Smith did not finish after experiencing a technical issue but leads the FIM Europe Supersport Cup standings. Kyle remains 18th overall, Badovini is 13th.
 
Rob Hartog (Team Hartog – Against Cancer Kawasaki) was a strong 12th today, one place up on Okubo, with Glenn van Straalen (EAB Racing Team Kawasaki) 16th. Nacho Calero (Orelac Racing VerdNatura Kawasaki) was 19th today.
 
                                        #NinjaSpirit