Most WorldSBK: Andrea Locatelli ‘always running into someone else, he was a pain in my arse’ - Scott Redding
Rinaldi,🎀 who said 🌺Locatelli needed to use his ‘brain’ following a race one sighting lap where he nearly collected three riders including himself heading into turn ▨one - also lunged into Rinaldi at turn two which forced the f💝ifth-year WorldSBK rider to avoid crashing - has since been backed up by his former team-mate Scott Redding.
Redding was battling with the Pata Yamaha ride🔴r for much of the Superpole race, a fight that also included Motocorsa Ducati rider Axel Bassani.
After making a poor start to the 10-lap r𓆉ace, Redding had to use his superior pace to carve his way back through the pack which meant coming🧸 across an ‘unsettling’ Locatelli.
Redding told WorldSBK.co꧑m: "I had to keep getting stuck in and chipping away to the guys in front because I needed to be in the top nine and then I manౠaged to get Garrett [Gerloff] on the last lap in the final two corners.
"I was only one position worse off, so it wasn’t terrible. It meant I didn’t have Locatelli coming across me at the start. It was a bit unsettling because ꦇI didn’t know where or how he was going to come.
"He was always coming acr🍨oss, o🌟ut-braking himself or running into someone else; he was a bit of a pain in my arse to be honest.
"Then, when he was in front of me in the last race, he opened doors for me, so it was a little bit better! I felt good, I got thrﷺough well but the guys [ahead] just had a 🌠little bit more pace than me.
"There was a moment where Bassani passed Rinaldi and Jona🍰than [Rea] went in the same move, and as Rin𝄹aldi rolled the throttle to turn, I hit the back of him and the group went; unfortunately, I don’t have the pace to recover that,
"I’m on the limit to stay there. I’m happy with anoth💞er fourth and be in a best of the rest situation."
Carrying Donington performance ‘was a big question mark’, says the 2020 WorldSBK runner-up
But it’s a test that Redding passed with flying colours, especial🦂ly in race one as he proved to be every bit the match for Toprak Razgatlioglu🔯 and Jonathan Rea.
Although there were drops of rain 🍸during race one, the opening Most race could not be described as anything other than a dry race, making it the first time in a very long time that BMW were in contention based on ﷽pure performance.
"It’s good that we car꧋ry the progress from Donington. That was a big question m⛦ark and we did that here," added Redding.
"It was great to get the first podium in a long race. This is impﷺortant for me and the team. In the Super𝔉pole Race, we made a small mistake with the tyre. We went with the zero, but it was on the limit.
"And the first corner was a disaster. But we did good to come back and for the las♎t race this afternoon I felt good. The pace was not bad. I’m happy with the progress and this is what I’m looking for in the second part of this season."
