Maria Herrera, who was 19th on Saturday, was on the hunt for another positive result in the second day of WorldSSP at Navarra - before she had her race compromised by mechanical problems.
Another day of WorldSSP rivalry in Navarra has ended. Maria Herrera, who was 19th on Saturday, was on the hunt for another positive result - before dropping to P24 and coming back to the pits with a mechanical problem.
The WorldSSP day began with the warm-up and most bikes went out on track at exactly 9:25 AM. Aegerter, the dominator of the weekend in Navarra, made it on top of the timing sheets with a 1:41.469. Frossard crashed at turn 1, which brought a red flag a few minutes later when stewards decided that track conditions were not safe enough to continue.
Before the crash, Caricasulo had clinched the fastest lap, but Aegerter was once again in P1a few seconds later. Maria Herrera then set a new personal best of 1:42.297 and advanced to P12.
The pit lane was once again opened with one minute left on the clock. Herrera posted a 1:42.188, which was enough for 18th place. Caricasulo jumped on the top again - this time permanently, as Dominique Aegerter set his new personal best, but it wouldn't be enough to give him first place in the warm-up.
Manuel Gonzalez was declared unfit for race two after his crash on Saturday, which resulted in a dislocated arm.
Okubo - known from the MotoE World Cup - and Takala wrongly placed themselves on the grid, which delayed the start. Dominique Aegerter once again couldn't hold on to his pole position and dropped to P3 when Jespersen moved into the lead after making a bold start.
Brenner, another Swiss on the grid, had the best first lap of everyone and moved to fourth and gained ten positions. Meanwhile, Odendaal had taken the lead, and Maria Herrera was unfortunately down to 26th place.
Later on, Oncu and Okubo crashed but got up and rejoined the race; this promoted Herrera to 21st position. Krummenacher also fell and managed to stand on his feet and rejoin.
Not too long after, Dominique Aegerter made it back onto the podium positions, having dropped to P5. Behind him, Bernardi and Brenner started a very tight battle in which they would swap positions at every corner.
Aegerter advanced to P2, and Odendaal started their final confrontation by creating a gap over the other riders.
Meanwhile, Maria Herrera had moved up to 18th place, just before having to come back to the pits for a technical issue. She later continued, but her race was compromised.
Steven Odendaal had a best exit out on the main straight and when Aegerter overtook him in the last corners, he could respond back before turn one.
Further behind, Caricasulo and Bernardi were battling for third. The latter would ultimately come out on top.
Can Oncu retired due to a mechanical problem; a few moments after his slowdown, a cover of the green bike had exploded and flown off onto the gravel.
After unsuccessful attempts, Aegerter took Odendaal by surprise and made a move earlier in the lap - this time it worked: the number #77 rider became the leader of the race, quickly pulling away from his South African rival.
The race was then red-flagged because of Borja Gomez's high-speed crash at turn 1.
The Spanish rider's bike was lying in the gravel, severely damaged. Gomez was taken to the medical centre due to the high speed impact - which can reach 200kph in the Superbike category at the point of the track.
With 2/3 of the race distance completed, the race was declared finished. Dominique Aegerter took a double victory at Circuito de Navarra, with Steven Odendaal scoring a double P2 and Luca Bernardi becoming a two-time P3 finisher.
Maria Herrera was classified in P22.
"I started quite well and was aiming for our goal. I pushed from the beginning and felt the bike better as the laps went by, but a mechanical problem stopped me when I was recovering several positions. An unfortunate race". - said the Spanish rider.
Lights will go out again in Magny Cours, on September 03/04/05, for the next round of the WorldSSP
