Mihara Clear Winner in Rain Soaked Assen Rookies Rd. 4
OutdoorHub 06.30.14
Japan’s Soushi Mihara picked up his second career Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup victory on Friday after an impressive ride on the rain soaked Dutch circuit of Assen to seal Race 1 of a double header at the Dutch TT. It was the fourth round of the 2014 series.
Victory was handed to the 14-year old Japanese rider after Manuel Pagliani of Italy, his closest rival for the win, exited in the penultimate lap. Mihara was then left with clear track behind to take the win with an almost 10-second advantage. Cup points leader Jorge Martín of Spain was second and British rider Brad Ray completed the podium.
No less that eight riders failed to finish in what was an incident filled race that was reduced from 16 to 14 laps before the start.
Mihara started in the third row but got away well and advanced from seventh place to second in the opening lap to tuck in race leader Stefano Manzi of Italy. Manzi crashed in the following lap leaving the lead to the young Japanese. Meanwhile Pagliani was already in the mix along with 16-year-old Australian Olly Simpson but it was clear that conditions were going to be challenging for the young riders.
Pagliani managed to close down on Mihara and in lap nine was less than a second behind and at that stage Simpson also crashed out while going hard into a corner. With the Australian out of the mix, the closing laps were all about the battle between Mihara and Pagliani, who traded the lead back and forth. Then Pagliani’s hopes of victory ended in the gravel as he went after Mihara in a last ditch bid for the race win.
“I was really determined to push at the end, I knew I was going to have to ride very hard to get away,” Mihara said. “Then on the last lap I looked behind and couldn’t believe it, there was no-one there. I went into the race with the goal of winning it and now that has moved me from third to second in the points table.”
After just four of 14 races now complete, it is Jorge Martin who takes the points lead with Mihara in second place and Pagliani is third. Riders have another change to add to their points total again on the circuit in Assen in Rd. 5 on Saturday.
