Start of the race on the most winding track on the calendar. On the far right, pole setter Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki ZX-10RR), who suffered the second mishap of the season in a right turn on Saturday afternoon after Donington, but this time with two crashes in a row.

Toprak wins ahead of Scotty – Rea’s 200th podium with 3rd place

Once again Toprak was ahead in turn 1 and was the first to turn into turn 1. Behind them Rea, Locatelli and Redding, who overtook the Yamaha rider in front of him at the end of the first lap at start-finish. A duel followed in the front, like in the first race on Saturday, but this time Rea did not crash. Nevertheless, he made another small mistake, which cost him the connection to the Turk. The reigning world champion missed turn 1 a little later and had to go straight through the “emergency exit”. The Turk was alone in the lead because Redding was more than a second behind at this point and Rea returned to the track directly in front of him. The Ducati driver made it past the world championship leader on the last lap on the start-finish straight and finished second. Celebrating his 200th podium with a third place wasn’t entirely to the taste of the Northern Irishman, but he had defended his World Championship lead, if only by just under 7 points on Toprak.

Parc Fermé after the Superpole Race with Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki) on the right in third place, who takes a critical look at the Toprak Razgatlioglus Yamaha rear tire. Left behind Redding, who had finished second again after race 1 on Saturday.

The background to the drama on Saturday

After the first race on Saturday afternoon, Toprak was heavily criticized by Scott Redding for an excessive attack on the last lap. Due to the manoeuvre by the Turks, the Englishman lost the victory, and he not only spoke his criticism of Razgatlioglu into the microphone after the race during the interview, but also said it directly to his face. Jonathan Rea, on the other hand, hadn’t even seen the chequered flag because, after two crashes in a row, he went without points for the second time this season. His lead before the Superpole Race was still 12 points, but after originally 37, the lead had noticeably melted. With that, the situation in the World Cup was completely open again in one fell swoop. Below are the words of the limitlessly disappointed World Championship leader from Northern Ireland and his team-mate, who also fell after the first race in Most.

Jonathan Rea: „I’m perfectly fine after Saturday’s falls. The first time I fell before the chicane, I was barely on the line, but it was very strange because I crashed on the bumps early on. It seems to have been a crash similar to the one I had in Donington. The bike was quite bent, but after I picked it up I could see that I was in 11th place – so in a points position, I just spun around. To be honest, I don’t know what exactly happened in the penultimate corner. Actually, I focused on what I always do, didn’t push too hard and just fell in the process. I did everything right and still ended up in the gravel trap. So of course I’m particularly frustrated with the result.“

Alex Lowes: „Saturday was a tough day on a tough track for me. Physically, I’m not good enough to ride 100% and this track is really tough in that regard. I got off to a bad start and made a small mistake, and this first corner is pretty tough in general. The pace was then the same as before the fall, but we scored a few points on the board. A tough day, but we’ll try to do better on Sunday.“

The result of the superpole race in Most

The interviews after the race
Toprak was of course very happy and emphasized that again it was important for him not to make a mistake. When Jonathan had to go into the emergency exit, he was of course without pressure and tried to bring it to the goal, which he succeeded. Now, after his two victories, he will of course do everything he can to top it off again in the afternoon. Rea insisted that he was consistently at the limit and was a little too close to Toprak when he missed turn 1. He congratulated his opponents and said he wanted to try the best again in the second run. Redding noted that he was struggling with grip and was happy to have made it through the race. Jonathan’s mistake would have given him the chance for P2 and grabbed it. Now he is looking forward to the last race of the weekend.

Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki ZX-10RR) set a new record this time after his 100th career victory in Aragon – with 200 podiums now, he has achieved a brand that seems almost unbelievable. The best driver of all time has anything but an easy life to defend his title this season (© Kawasaki Racing Team). (© KRT).

Locatelli strong again – little light for BMW

After third place the day before and his first WSBK podium, Andrea Locatelli had to settle for fourth place this time. But to see the chequered flag almost three seconds ahead of Tom Sykes after ten laps was a result of which the Italian could be proud again. In fifth place, Sykes saved the honour for the blue-whites after P9 on Saturday, while Folger was third from last and van der Mark with P11 again missed the points after his crash the day before. Rinaldi, Haslam and Davies also failed to shine and, like the Dutchman, missed outside the positions for which there are World Cup points. Likewise, Tito Rabat, who gave up the race after a mistake in Turn 1. Only Gerloff, Lowes, Bassani and Bautista held themselves harmless and finished in the top nine. In the afternoon there is another chance for everyone, if it will go the full distance. Due to the temporal collision with MotoGP, the start was postponed to 3:15 p.m. local time, which was only communicated 5 days before the first race.

Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX) with a critical look in front of his pit – the Turk came under criticism on Saturday like his compatriot Can Öncü in the WSSP for his reckless driving style. The WSBK pilot was very surprised after his crash in Assen, after which he had accused Gerloff of the same.

Stand in the WorldSBK world championships after race 17 of the season

1. JONATHAN REA 250 KAWASAKI
2. TOPRAK RAZGATLIOGLU 243 YAMAHA
3. SCOTT REDDING 191 DUCATI
4. ALEX LOWES 133 KAWASAKI
5. MICHAEL RUBEN RINALDI 124 DUCATI
6. GARRETT GERLOFF 119 YAMAHA
7. TOM SYKES 114 BMW
8. ANDREA LOCATELLI 106 YAMAHA
9. MICHAEL VAN DER MARK 104 BMW
10. CHAZ DAVIES 85 DUCATI
11. ALVARO BAUTISTA 78 HONDA
12. AXEL BASSANI 73 DUCATI
13. LEON HASLAM 63 HONDA
14. LUCAS MAHIAS 36 KAWASAKI
15. TITO RABAT 23 DUCATI
16. KOHTA NOZANE 23 YAMAHA
17. ISAAC VINALES 19 KAWASAKI
18. EUGENE LAVERTY 14 BMW
19. JONAS FOLGER 8 BMW
20. LEANDRO MERCADO 7 HONDA
21. MARVIN FRITZ 6 YAMAHA
22. CHRISTOPHE PONSSON 6 YAMAHA
23. LORIS CRESSON 3 KAWASAKI
24. ANDREA MANTOVANI 2 KAWASAKI
25. LUKE MOSSEY 2 KAWASAKI

Unless otherwise mentioned, applies to all images (© WorldSBK).