Donington, Race 2: Victory for Tom Booth-Amos – Penalty for impetuous Can Öncü

Local hero Tom Booth-Amos staged an impressive comeback from ninth on the grid in Race 1 of the Supersport World Championship at Donington. The Briton won on Saturday, finishing more than two seconds ahead of championship leader Albert Arenas (Yamaha) and Jeremy Alcoba (Kawasaki). Germany’s Philipp Öttl (Kawasaki) finished sixth. His team-mate Doninique Aegerter finished Race 1 in 12th place.

As Booth-Amos had also set the fastest lap of the race on Saturday, the Triumph rider was able to start from pole position on Sunday. As a reminder: the starting grid for the second race is based on the fastest lap time from Race 1 for the top nine riders. From 10th place onwards, the order is determined by the Superpole results.

So, alongside Booth-Amos, Lucas Mahias and Albert Arenas were on the front row. The second row was made up of Roberto Garcia, Jaume Masia and Can Öncü – the Turkish rider had started from pole position on Saturday. Jeremy Alcoba, Valentin Debise and Aldi Mahendra started from the third row. Philipp Öttl started from 11th position.

The 19-lap race got underway at 2 pm local time. Can Öncü got off to a flying start. Booth-Amos dropped back to fourth place.

After a few corners, the field settled into position. The order was: Öncü, Mahendra, Booth-Amos, Arenas and Mahias. At the end of the first lap, Mahendra took the lead. Öttl dropped back to 14th place. Agerter was only 17th.

On lap 2, Josh Watley was forced to retire due to a technical problem. At the front, the order remained unchanged: Mahendra led ahead of Öncü and Booth-Amos.

At the start of lap 3, Öncü retook the lead, with Booth-Amos now in second place. Arenas was third, Mahendra fourth. Garcia then overtook me as well. Hector Garzo crashed in turn 11.

In lap 4, Booth-Amos set his sights on Öncü. The Briton set the fastest lap of the race.

By Lap 5, Öncü, Booth-Amos, Arenas and Garcia had opened up a small gap over the rest of the field. Raffaele de Rosa was forced to retire due to a technical fault.

On lap 6, the order remained unchanged. Öttl was already twelfth.

Lap 7: Öncü fought tooth and nail against Booth-Amos. The Triumph rider and winner of Race 1 was applying serious pressure from behind.

At the start of lap 8, nine riders were within 2.5 seconds of one another. Garcia and Arenas were locked in a close battle for third place. Valentin Debise (ZX Moto) set the fastest lap of the race. The Frenchman was in seventh place at that point.

On the ninth lap, Booth-Amos squeezed past Öncü – the local hero was aiming for his second win at Donington. Masia fought his way up to fifth place.

On the tenth lap, Öncü attempted to squeeze past Booth-Amos in the tight Melbourne hairpin. The manoeuvre went wrong; Booth-Amos was forced wide and rejoined the race in fourth place. World Championship leader Arenas took the lead. Öncü was second ahead of Garcia.

With eight laps to go, Taccini crashed. Booth-Amos was back in third place. Then Öncü was handed a penalty – for the incident involving Booth-Amos and for reckless riding, he was forced to drop back one position.

With seven laps to go, Booth-Amos retook the lead. Behind him, Arenas and Öncü were in second and third respectively. After that, Booth-Amos and Arenas managed to open up a small gap. Kawasaki rider Alcoba and Mahendra were battling it out for eighth place. Debise was already in sixth.

With five laps to go, Öncü once again overtook an opponent with a hard manoeuvre at the Melbourne hairpin – this time it was Albert Arenas, who was pushed out slightly. But Arenas fought back and reclaimed second place. Öttl was in tenth place.

With four laps to go, Booth-Amos had built up a lead of over a second. Arenas tried to keep up.

With three laps to go, Cretaro crashed in Turn 4. The marshals then had their work cut out to recover his bike. Booth-Amos led by 1.3 seconds. Garcia was now third.

With two laps to go, Booth-Amos had a lead of 1.6 seconds. The Brit was well on his way to a perfect weekend. Casadei crashed in Turn 11.

On the final lap, Booth-Amos was able to extend his lead further on his Triumph. Masia and Garcia were locked in a close battle for third place.

In the end, Booth-Amos won with a 1.537-second lead over World Championship leader Albert Arenas. Jaume Masia finished third. Can Öncü was demoted to eighth place. Philipp Öttl finished Race 2 in ninth place. Dominique Agerter came 14th.