2018 Brno World Supersport Race Results: Still A Tight Championship

Sixteen laps of Brno from 600cc bikes on road-legal tyres, with the tight World Supersport championship fight the way it is, it was always going to be fun.

Jules Cluzel got away from third place to lead into the first corner, ahead of Randy Krummenacher, Sandro Cortese, Raffaele De Rosa, Federico Caricasulo and Lucas Mahias, otherwise known as the top six of the championship. Cortese and Krummenacher swapped places on the first lap, and on the second, he went wide at one corner and lost a couple of places. Caricasulo crashed out at turn eight while his teammate Lucas Mahias set the fastest lap with a 2'03.886. 

Three laps in, the front four of Jules Cluzel, Sandro Cortese, Raffaele De Rosa and Lucas Mahias had a gap from Randy Krummenacher who was maintaining the pace of the leaders and slowly breaking free from Thomas Gradinger and Sheridan Morais. Another lap down and the gap was evident and was the same size as his gap from Mahias. At the front, Cortese took the lead at turn ten, but Cluzel snapped back and the pair swapped places a few times until Cluzel took the lead back definitively at the start of lap five. 

Sheridan Morais's run forward ended when he lost nineteen places in an off-track excursion at the punishing turn five. A lap later, the leading trio finally shook off Lucas Mahias as they charged past the yellow flags. Krummenacher's gap to Mahias was now the same as Gradinger's to him as everyone not in the top three dropped off the pace, but a few laps later, Krummenacher started matching the low 2'04 laps of the leaders, gaining ground on Mahias but without a chance of catching the podium fight. 

Four laps from the end, Krummenacher was closing on Mahias as the leading pair were strapped to each other for a fight and Raffaele De Rosa finally hit his limit and reluctantly let the leaders escape. Sandro Cortese in second place was visibly quicker than Jules Cluzel in the lead, but Cluzel had every angle covered defensively. 

As Cluzel's Yamaha twitched and slid around tight defensive lines, Sandro Cortese's Yamaha was a completely different bike, smooth on sweeping lines carrying plenty of speed right up to the point there was a Frenchman's bike in the way. Cortese gently slid both tyres while Cluzel just hammered the rear into submission, with nowhere near the pace of the German behind him, but a wide profile. 

On the last lap, Cortese had to have a go, taking the lead briefly on a sweeping line that allowed Cluzel back under him, and at turn four, Cortese nipped to the inside but Cluzel closed the door, forcing Cortese to sit up on the apex, the pair nearly coming a cropper as they all but touched. Cortese was on the utter limit and all Cluzel had to do to concede victory was leave a small gap or make a tiny mistake, but he did neither and the pair bolted down the finish straight with Jules Cluzel taking the flag ahead of Sandro Cortese. 

Rafaelle De Rosa came in a lonely third ahead of Lucas Mahias. Mahias managed to hold off Randy Krummenacher for fourth place and Thomas Gradinger came in a lonely sixth, with seconds of tarmac ahead and behind. 

Jules Cluzel's win ahead of Sandro Cortese closed the gap between the two in the championship fight, with Cortese's lead sliced to just two points. Randy Krummenacher dropped back to fifteen points behind CLuzel and only two points clear of Lucas Mahias in fourth place. Federico Caricasulo's DNF with Raffaele De Rosa taking the last podium spot means he relinquished fifth place to the MV Agusta rider. 

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