2021 Aragon World Supersport Race 1 Result: Thrills And Spills

World Supersport looks like it's going to be a Yamaha R6 series for one last year, but not if Nikki Tuuli and Philipp Oettl can keep the likes of Jules Cluzel, Steven Odendaal, Dominique Aegerter, Randy Krummenacher, Federico Caricasulo and many, many more in check.

Jules Cluzel took the lead from pole position as Nikki Tuuli dropped back through the pack at the start. Philipp Oettl, Dominique Aegerter and Steven Odendaal passed Tuuli at the start and held their places for the first lap.

The leading five riders remained together at the front as Federico Caricasulo, returning to the class, and Marc Alcoba duelled behind, Alcoba crashing out behind a bit of a contretemps between Odendaal and Tuuli. 

On lap three, the three front riders, Jules Cluzel, Philipp Oettl and Dominique Aegerter had a gap of over a second over Odendaal and Tuuli, but a lap later, they were all back together. 

Tuuli, setting the fastest lap on lap three, took fourth place from Odendaal and caught up Aegerter. Jules Cluzel tried to break away at the front, but Philipp Oettl on the only Kawasaki in the top ten kept up with him for a few laps.

Nikki Tuuli made good on his pace and cleanly powered past Aegerter down the long straight, taking third place and setting another fastest lap. Tuuli then passed Philipp Oettl and slotted in a second behind leader Jules Cluzel.

Jules Cluzel's lead was slowly shrinking, Nikki Tuuli half a second quicker per lap, and the leading two were a second clear of the rest of the grid. On lap eight, Tuuli caught Cluzel. Cluzel was quicker through the slower complex, but Tuuli had a faster lap-on-lap pace.

Tuuli's quicker pace didn't help at this stage, with his half second advantage not mattering as long as Cluzel could hold his line and retain the lead. 

And then it was all over. 

Into turn twelve, Nikki Tuuli miscalculated his entry and he clipped Jules Cluzel's rear wheel and the pair tumbled into the gravel, their races over. They sat down together and had a bit of a chat as the race lead was taken by Philipp Oettl and Dominique Aegerter as Steven Odendaal looked on. 

Philipp Oettl's Kawasaki looked better in corner entry and exit which held off the faster Yamaha onslaught behind him. Four laps from the end, the podium places looked sorted out, with the order to be determined over the last four laps. Aegerter briefly held the lead, but Oettl snapped back immediately to regain the top spot. Aegerter took the lead at the end of the straight and Steven Odendaal took second into turn one. Yamahas held the top two spots with three laps to go. 

Dominique Aegerter and Steven Odendaal swapped the lead a couple of times as they broke free of Philipp Oettl's Kawasaki as Luca Bernardi overhauled Federico Caricasulo over three seconds further back. 

On the last lap, Aegerter took the lead into turn four and held a defensive line through the next few corners and the pair headed down the long back straight to determine the victory. In Aegerter's slipstream, Steven Odendaal forced his way into the lead, hpolding it into the last turn and to the line.

Steven Odendaal took his first podium at the top, winning his first race ahead of Dominique Aegerter's first podium. Philipp Oettl took third place two and a half seconds further back as Luca Bernardi and Manuel Gonzales held off Federico Caricasulo.

The incident between Nikki Tuuli and Jules Cluzel is under investigation, with the blame looking like it'll fall on Tuuli who was taken to the medical centre to be checked up. 

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