Caricasulo keeps De Rosa in check for win

Full WSS race results from Misano

Federico Caricasulo has taken victory for the first time in 2018 with a near-flawless performance at Misano while Sandro Cortese charged back from a poor start to take third place to extend his World Supersport championship lead.

Despite losing the lead to Jules Cluzel into the first corner in the charge off the start, Caricasulo fought his way back to the front on lap four with an aggressive move at Turn 3. The Italian rider then smashed out a strong race pace to edge away from his rivals, while Raffaele De Rosa had also nipped past Cluzel to give chase to his fellow countryman.

After a poor start which saw him drop down to eighth place, Sandro Cortese climbed his way up the order over the opening laps and moved up to third place on lap six ahead of title rival Jules Cluzel.

The front three pushed ahead with Caricasulo managing the pace to keep clear of De Rosa on the MV Agusta for his maiden win of 2018 and first since Jerez last year for GRT Yamaha.

De Rosa still maintains his run of podiums, having entered the Misano round with four consecutive third place finishes, and went one better with second place to keep himself in the title fight.

Cortese settled for third place for Kallio Racing Yamaha and was able to extend his World Supersport championship lead over Cluzel on the NRT Yamaha who couldn’t battle back from fourth place.

It was a disaster race for defending champion Lucas Mahias who high-sided off his GRT Yamaha on lap two while looking to overtake De Rosa for second place.

Randy Krummenacher had to settle for fifth place for Bardahl Evan Bros Yamaha, 13 seconds behind race-winner Caricasulo, with Anthony West taking sixth place for EAB Racing Kawasaki.

Kyle Smith produced his best result of the season in seventh for CIA Landlords Insurance Honda in front of wildcard rider Lorenzo Gabellini (G.A.S. Racing Yamaha) as Hikari Okubo (Puccetti Kawasaki) and Ayrton Badovini (MV Agusta) rounded out the top 10.

Wildcard rider Stefan Valtulini impressed early on battling in fifth place before crashing out on lap eight.

In a strange incident on the sighting lap, Eemeli Lahti (Sterkman Motorsport Suzuki) and Alex Baldolini (Gemar Team Lorini Honda) collided which meant both riders missed the start of the Misano race.