Relph battles for Balaton top five before tyre troubles bite

Herrera and Ramos split Hungary WorldWCR wins as Relph banks progress

The third round of the WorldWCR championship produced the usual fierce battle at the front, with Maria Herrera (Terra & Vita GRT Yamaha WorldWCR) winning the opening race and Paola Ramos (Klint Racing Team) taking victory in the second.

Race One was stopped after a warm-up lap collision and restarted over nine laps instead of the scheduled 11. Herrera eventually beat Beatriz Neila (Ampito Crescent Yamaha) by 0.263 seconds, with Ramos another close third at 0.414 seconds. Roberta Ponziani (Klint Racing Team) was the only other rider to remain within near range of the leading trio.

Race Two went the full 11 laps and developed into a three-rider contest, with Ramos winning by 0.227 seconds. Neila was second, while Herrera was just 0.014 seconds further back in third. Australian rider Tayla Relph (Full Throttle Racing) finished 11th, repeating her Race One result.

In the championship, Herrera now leads on 131 points from Neila on 117, Ramos on 86 and Ponziani on 76. The next round for WorldWCR will be held at Misano in mid-June.

For Relph, the weekend began with a solid sixth place in Superpole before she went on to score 11th in both races. She now sits 12th in the championship with 32 points.

“One of my weakest points this season has been my race starts and my opening lap pace. For sure that was something that was a really big step for me. We finally had a really good race start in Race One, made my way up to fifth and was battling with Ponziani and Ramos for two laps. Unfortunately with everything that happened on the starting grid, we did about five warm-up laps and starting laps, the tyre went off on the left hand side, and was torn to shreds on the actual grid. From the first lap of the restart I was just a kind of passenger on the bike.

“Sunday was a much more positive day for me than Saturday, even if on paper the result was the exact same. But, in Race One I started P6 and fell back to P11. We sat out warm-up so our rear tyre would not tear. P11 is not what we want in WorldWCR but we know that this track was going to be the worst on the calendar for me, it does not suit my riding style whatsoever. But two P11s are still better than what I did last year, and we were lapping faster. Unfortunately I just couldn’t put it together in the race and when it mattered most.”

WorldWCR Hungary Race 1

Hungary WorldWCR Race 2