Sportbike Misano Race 2: David Salvador wins and soars to the top

David Salvador (ProDina Kawasaki XCI) wins World Sportbike Race 2 at Misano and strengthens his championship lead.

Victory and championship lead consolidated. With authority, David Salvador claimed his second win of the World Sportbike season, increasingly presenting himself as a legitimate title contender. The standard-bearer of Team ProDina Kawasaki XCI, off the podium in Race 1, made up for it with interest in the second heat held at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, sketching out an early attempt to break away in the standings.

For David Salvador, it was anything but an easy win. Having taken the lead at the end of the first lap, he had to sweat buckets throughout the contest to fend off the competition of seven riders in the lead group. The Madrid native found his toughest rivals in Fenton Seabright and a rampant Carter Thompson, managing to identify the right countermeasures up to the decisive attack executed on the final lap. Even with a slim margin of 39 thousandths at the checkered flag, David Salvador secured a victory that lifts him to 164 points overall, 34 ahead of teammate Antonio Torres (10th today after a 3-second penalty for irresponsible riding), and 35 ahead of Xavi Artigas (5th).

In yet another multi-brand top three with Kawasaki, Yamaha, and Triumph represented, Fenton Seabright (PHR Performance) celebrates his 24th birthday with third place behind Carter Thompson, who is back on the podium with the new Yamaha R7 fielded by Team Br Corse. Race 2 also saw a fully deserved standout performance from Filippo Bianchi, fresh off a sensational second place in Race 1 with the Aprilia RS 660 of Team MMP Velocità. The CIV Sportbike dominator, who started from 10th on the grid, fought like a lion in the midst of the WorldSPB top riders, putting himself in position to aim for a back-to-back podium. Third place would have been the cherry on top of a dream weekend in his wild card appearance, but a few hiccups in the skirmishes relegated him to a still excellent fourth place.

With Jeffrey Buis in sixth, Matteo Vannucci charged late to finish seventh ahead of Marco Gaggi. In the points was Mirko Gennai (11th), while Race 2 was one to forget for Saturday’s winner Bruno Ieraci, who went down in the very early stages of the race. The same fate befell his teammate Elia Bartolini. The World Sportbike Championship will be back in action on September 4–6 at Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours in France.