Manzi recovers to score points in rain hit race one in Australia

It was a disastrous start for Dynavolt Triumph as both Stefano Manzi and Hannes Soomer went down on the opening lap of today’s rain affected FIM Supersport World Championship race one at Philip Island in Australia.

Manzi was the first to go down at the exit of turn 4 Miller corner hairpin as heavy rain prior to the race produced treacherous conditions.  The Italian re-mounted, battling back from dead last to rescue two points with fourteenth place.

Teammate Hannes Soomer crashed on the same lap at turn 10.  The Estonian also re-joined but his machine had sustained too much damage and he retired to the pits soon after.

Dynavolt Triumph Team Manager Simon Buckmaster: “That’s not the result we wanted It’s a shame because things looked quite promising.  Stefano stuck to the task and managed to grab two points which could count with Caricasulo crashing on the last lap. We still remain fifth in the championship but now it looks difficult for us to get fourth, in fact it could be impossible. It’s disappointing for everyone, there’s a lot of effort put in.  In the case of Stefano, he’s never really ridden the bike in the rain as he wasn’t fit for testing so did no wet testing.  This is his first real wet time on the bike so that’s good information for tomorrow if it’s wet again.  We really want a good result for Hannes for the last race of the season and we will do everything we can.”

Soomer signs off season in points as Manzi is taken out of third

The curtain came down on the 2022 season in the most disappointing way for Dynavolt Triumph’s Stefano Manzi today in Australia as he was taken out by Caricasulo on lap seven of the race.

The track was dry and Manzi had the pace to challenge for the win.  The Italian was mixing it with the leading group of four and had just taken third and posted the fastest lap when Caricasulo made an ill-judged move on the inside of him at turn four, knocking him off.  Manzi re-joined but was unable to continue and was forced to retire from the last race of the year.

Stefano Manzi: “Yesterday in the wet I had a crash and I recovered to P14 but I didn’t feel good with the bike in the wet so it wasn’t the best.  Today in the dry I was very fast, I was already in a podium place then a move by Caricasulo – he has made this move many times in his career – took me out of the race then I had to pit in because I had a broken handlebar and footpeg.  So this is a shame because we also lost a position in the championship which was not our fault so I hope the stewards make something because I don’t think it’s correct to race like this.   In the end I want to thank everybody that is behind me because we have made a big step this year with this brand new bike.  I want to say thank you to Simon and to all the team.”

Battered and bruised from that first lap crash yesterday, Hannes Soomer signed off the 2022 FIM Supersport World Championship with a points finish in the final race of the season at the Philip Island Grand Prix Circuit in Australia.

Hannes Soomer: “It was good to finish today so in that sense it was a better race than yesterday but quite a disappointing last part of the season.  Nobody from the team expected or deserved it.”

Dynavolt Triumph Team Manager Simon Buckmaster: “We were looking to bounce back from yesterday and we knew we had the dry pace.  Stefano came through and caught the leading group.  He passed Caricasulo and maybe went very fractionally wide and the simple fact is, Caricasulo knocked him off and for me it’s hard to understand why no penalty for that but even if he had got a long lap penalty, so what?  Caricasulo gained fifth in the championship and we finished sixth.  We showed once again we have the pace to challenge for the win, Stefano is always strong later in the race so it’s just a shame but a fantastic job by everyone in the team all year.  Hannes had a disappointing race today to finish fifteenth. It’s not the end to the season he wanted or we wanted. At the end of the day we’ve had a fantastic season with five podiums, the first next generation bike to win a race and the first Triumph to win a race. We know we are strong; we’ll improve for next year. We want to come back and challenge for the championship in 2023.”