Brad Binder and Arthur Sissis took a win a piece this weekend during the second round of the Red Bull Rookies Cup in Estoril.
In race 1, Brad Binder dominated from the start, and ended up taking victory by more than 15 seconds ahead of Sissis.
“I just put my head down and went as hard as I could from the start,” said Binder. “When I saw the gap was 4 seconds I realised that it was going OK but I wanted to keep pushing and I only eased up right at the end. In fact I almost crashed at the chicane on the last lap when the front tucked but I got away with it.”
It looked like Binder was on his way to a repeat performance during race two, but the young Rookie couldn’t handle his speed and went down on the second lap. Binder would later rejoin the race, but would finish out of the points.
With Binder out, the door was open for Sissis. Sissis claimed his second win of the season during race two, and extended his lead on the overall standings to 27 points over Lorenzo Baldassarri.
“I really enjoyed that, we'd made some changes to the bike after yesterday and it was a lot better but I knew that racing with Brad was not going to be easy,” said Sissis. “He got another great start and I just tried to go with him. Then he highsided in front of me and that made things a lot easier.
“I still had Lorenzo on my tail and I knew from my pit board he was right with me. I didn't want to make any mistakes so I waited till the last few laps to really push and try and get away. I was still expecting him to try and outbrake me so I was covering the inside line on the last few laps. I looked behind after crossing the line and he wasn't that close.”
Baldassarri chased Sissis throughout the race, and was almost able to overtake him at the end. Baldassarri finished .8 seconds behind Sissis during race two, giving the 14-year-old Italian a 3-2 finish for the weekend.
Race 1 Results
- Brad Binder (RSA) 29 minutes 52.963 seconds
- Arthur Sissis (AUS) +15.929
- Lorenzo Baldassarri (ITA) +24.667
- Alan Techer (FRA) +38.011
- Joakim Niemi (FIN) +38.049
- Ivo Lopes (POR) +38.141
- Xavier Pinsach (ESP) +38.211
- Aaron España (ESP) +38.269
- Andrea Migno (ITA) +47.632
- Lukas Trautmann (AUT) +47.691
Race 2 Results
- Arthur Sissis (AUS) 29 minutes 57.014 seconds
- Lorenzo Baldassarri (ITA) +0.867
- Xavier Pinsach (ESP) +13.670
- Alan Techer (FRA) +14.396
- Joe Roberts (USA) +25.215
- Lukas Trautmann (AUT) +25.219
- Joakim Niemi (FIN) +27.143
- Aaron Espana (ESP) +28.016
- James Flitcroft (GBR) +28.787
- Kevin Argino (ITA) +28.878
