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Alcoba Wins Short Final Estoril Race
After a red-flagged and restarted WorldSSP Race 2, Jeremy Alcoba (Kawasaki WorldSSP Team) played a winning hand to secure his third race victory in the past four races.
After light rain caused a period of concern for all the riders in the final WorldSSP race of the season, a crash halfway through the planned 18-lap contest brought about a red flag situation, due to dirt and debris lying on the active track surface.
After a period of track cleaning, the second race was restarted, but over only six laps this time around, not the planned 18.
Alcoba rode with intelligent commitment to record his latest victory, while his teammate Dominique Aegerter finished inside a large leading group, in eighth position. He was just 3.707 seconds behind his teammate after an intense six laps of action.
Determined to hold onto his leading advantage right to the very end, Alcoba set his fastest time in the six-lap race - a 1:39.263 - on his last circuit of the 2.6-mile layout. It was not quite a new lap record.
In the championship points, Alcoba leaves Portugal officially ranked fifth in the table, but on the same points total as the rider in fourth place - 229. Aegerter is 18th, with 52 points.
Jerez in Spain is the location for the final WorldSSP action of the current season, with the race weekend to be held from October 16-18.
“I am feeling really good with the bike right now. I did not have the confidence here that I had in the previous round in Cremona - because we did a test there - but Estoril is a track that I like, and last year I made a good comeback. Yesterday I was 16th at one point, and I did not expect to have a good race. But even when not riding well with the bike, I was close to fighting for the victory. This morning in warm-up, I felt really good with the bike, but I was super slow, and I didn’t know why. I was a little mad at myself, and frustrated a bit. I was fourth in the first part of Race 2, and I was careful with the wind and the little bit of rain. I did not expect to race like I did after the red flag, but it felt really good. I was third, then second, and then I tried to be first. I said to myself, ‘OK, if they do not pass me on the straight, I am going to win.' I thought this because I braked really late and really well, and I knew the corners where they could take some gap. In the last two laps, they could not pass me, and when I saw the lap time of the last lap, it was amazing. I am really happy.”
- Jeremy Alcoba
“I got a P8 in Race Two, and it was a crazy race. It was red-flagged in the first start, and I was in P14. I struggled a lot in the first laps to attack. In the second start, I started P14, then went back to P16, and then there were only six laps to go. I pushed my maximum, and I finished P8. A decent result. We made another step forward this weekend, thanks to the team. They helped me, but it is coming a little bit late as it is the second-to-last race of the season, but it shows that I can be competitive, and I had the third-fastest race lap. Congrats to Jeremy, who did a great job and finished in first place. Next week is Jerez, and I would like to give it my all again.”
- Dominique Aegerter
