Locatelli eases to second straight WorldSSP win in Jerez

WorldSSP Jerez - Race Results (1)

Andrea Locatelli cemented his status as the rider to beat in the 2020 WorldSSP Championship as he powered to another dominant victory in Jerez.

The Italian, a former Moto2 rider, made his series debut back in February before lockdown and promptly announced his arrival with a runaway victory at Phillip Island on his debut with defending champions BARDAHL Evan Bros.

It’s a superiority he showed again in the more familiar surroundings of Jerez as he converted his pole position into another victory by three seconds from fellow Yamaha rider Jules Cluzel.

Frenchman Cluzel started brightly to take the fight to his rival, initially getting ahead with a pass into Turn 6 on lap one. However, as soon as Locatelli was back ahead just a couple of laps later he simply eased out his advantage to the chequered flag.

Though he had little company at any stage in the race, Philipp Oettl notched up his first WorldSSP podium on the Puccetti Kawasaki ZX-6R, well clear of former champion and team-mate Lucas Mahias, who paid the price for a poor start to finish back in fourth.

Even so, he did show some fighting spirit by reclaiming fourth back from Raffaele De Rosa – who had only just passed him after a quick fight-back to his tail – on the final lap.

Steven Odendaal recovered from a lowly grid slot to make it five of six Moto2-to-WorldSSP converts inside the top six, ahead of Corentin Perolari and reigning WorldSSP 300 champion Manuel Gonzalez.

Can Oncu made quick gains from a grid penalty to secure ninth, ahead of Hannes Soomer, wild-card Alejandro Ruiz and British racer Danny Webb.

For the first time ever, WorldSSP will get another race on Sunday with the double-headers introduced to make up rounds lost to the lockdown.