The first race making up round eight of the Supersport World Championship took place today at the Autodrom Most in the Czech Republic. Riding for Kawasaki Puccetti Racing in place of the injured Can Oncu, Lucas Mahias suffered a crash during yesterday’s FP2 but was back on track this morning for the Superpole, despite a painful left leg. With a time of 1’35”603, the Frenchman placed fifteenth, which meant a spot on row five of the grid for the afternoon’s race. In the first few moments though, through the very first chicane, Mahias was pushed off track together with other riders. Lucas crashed and damaged his bike. Race direction stopped the race with a red flag, with Mahias able to return to the pits with his bike, which his team repaired in record time ready for the restart. Despite these setbacks and having to grit his teeth and ignore the pain in his leg, Mahias was able to cross the line in fourteenth place and score two championship points.
Tomorrow the Frenchman will compete in the weekend’s second and final WorldSSP race.
Autodrom Most – Czech Republic
Supersport World Championship
Superpole: 1) Bulega (Ducati) – 2) Manzi (Yamaha) – 3) De Rosa (Ducati) – 4) Montella (Ducati) – 5) Sofuoglu (MV Agusta) …….. 15) Mahias (Kawasaki)
Race 1 – 1) Bulega (Ducati) – 2) Manzi (Yamaha) – 3) Sofuoglu (MV Agusta) – 4) De Rosa (Ducati) – 5) Huertas (Kawasaki) – 6) Schroetter (MV Agusta).…….. 14) Mahias (Kawasaki)
Lucas Mahias
“Today was in part conditioned by the leg injury I sustained yesterday, as this limited me in the changes of direction. Qualifying didn’t go well and I had to start a way back on the grid. At turn one I was pushed off track and crashed. After the red flag, my technicians did really well to fix the bike and allow me to restart and, although it was tough, I was able to reach the points zone. It’s not the kind of result we’re looking for, but it was difficult to do more today. We’ll try again tomorrow in race 2.”
