Redding beats Toprak in the Czech Republic and Rea comes third
Again Toprak Razgatlioglu had the best start, but this time together with his Yamaha works team colleague Andrea Locatelli. Behind them, Ducati Hope Scott Redding in front of the Kawasaki duo Alex Lowes and Jonathan Rea, who immediately overtook the Lincoln man in Turn 2. But the man from Quedgeley, who was in third position, still had an account of the day before, with the Turk at the top. Redding had complained bitterly to the microphone after the first run and also directly to Razgatlioglu about his tough manoeuvre in the last lap, which had cost him the victory. He kept charging forward, chasing Toprek until he caught him. At the halfway point of the race, the world championship leader passed the Locatelli, who was in front of him in P3, but was almost 4 seconds short of the Toprak in front of him. This in turn was a respectable distance behind the leading Ducati ace. Nine laps before the end, Yart Yamaha rider Marvin Fritz, one of the wildcard riders who had shown themselves to be very positive this weekend, fell.
The fights for victory and sixth place
While at the top the decision about the victory between the leader and his opponent was not yet clear, it was about sixth place behind Alex Lowes. Rinaldi, Sykes, van der Mark, Gerloff and Haslam fought very closely, at least until the man from Huddersfield and the HRC Honda driver fell back a little. Leon Haslam was overtaken a little later by his team-mate Alvaro Bautista, who then went hunting for the BMW driver. Further ahead, Rinaldi even grabbed Lowes on the last lap, with which the Italian was even able to finish the race in P5. At the front, Redding was not naked in the last laps and still clearly distanced Razgatlioglu until the finish line. Behind them, Rea saw the chequered flag in third place in front of Locatelli and thus the Northern Irishman retained the World Championship lead just ahead of Yamaha Hope from Alanya in Turkey. He won the overall victory after his defeat in Assen and made up important points on the world championship leader, whom he is now hot on the heels.
Poetry and Truth – BMW’s relapse into the third class
After the Assen event, Tom Sykes said in an interview: “we seem to have made some improvements”. As far as the performance of BMW is concerned, there was almost nothing to be seen in Most. Rather, the Englishman and Michael van der Mark were at most “best of the rest” in terms of their results in the Czech Republic. Only the HRC Honda drivers and the two Ducati private pilots Chaz Davies and Tito Rabat performed even worse than the more ambitious competitors in the Superbike World Championship this weekend. This debacle for BMW underscored the poor results of Jonas Folger and the absence of Eugene Laverty, whose team, like in the Netherlands, did not even appear in Most for the second time in a row. Instead of confirming the good results from Donington, BMW has relapsed into the third division since Assen. Of course, HRC Honda also has to get over the books and as for the blue-whites, the team based near Barcelona urgently needs better results at the next home race in Navarra.
The result of the second race on Sunday in Most
The interview after the last race in Most
Redding was overjoyed after being angry on Saturday. His bike would have worked wonderfully, and he was relieved that it had finally worked out in the third race to finish right at the front. As usual, Toprak was short. He would have fought for victory and, with a decreasing rear tire, decided in the end to be satisfied with second place. Now he is looking forward to the next race weekend in Spain, and he was gone again. Jonathan Rea did not look unhappy despite third place, and he also confirmed that it was still the best for him and his Kawasaki. He didn’t have the pace to be able to fight at the front this time. But now he is really looking forward to the next round, which will take place with Navarra near the home of his team.
The tight situation in the WorldSBK World Championships in Most
P, Rider, Points, Bike
1. JONATHAN REA 266 KAWASAKI
2. TOPRAK RAZGATLIOGLU 263 YAMAHA
3. SCOTT REDDING 216 DUCATI
4. ALEX LOWES 143 KAWASAKI
5. MICHAEL RUBEN RINALDI 135 DUCATI
6. GARRETT GERLOFF 127 YAMAHA
7. TOM SYKES 121 BMW
8. ANDREA LOCATELLI 119 YAMAHA
9. MICHAEL VAN DER MARK 113 BMW
10. CHAZ DAVIES 89 DUCATI
11. ALVARO BAUTISTA 84 HONDA
12. AXEL BASSANI 73 DUCATI
13. LEON HASLAM 68 HONDA
14. LUCAS MAHIAS 36 KAWASAKI
15. TITO RABAT 26 DUCATI
16. KOHTA NOZANE 25 YAMAHA
17. ISAAC VINALES 19 KAWASAKI
18. EUGENE LAVERTY 14 BMW
19. JONAS FOLGER 8 BMW
20. CHRISTOPHE PONSSON 7 YAMAHA
21. LEANDRO MERCADO 7 HONDA
22. MARVIN FRITZ 6 YAMAHA
23. LORIS CRESSON 3 KAWASAKI
24. ANDREA MANTOVANI 2 KAWASAKI
25. LUKE MOSSEY 2 KAWASAKI
The still provisional calendar and what happens next
The two rounds with a dark grey background have been considered very questionable due to the pandemic since the FIM and Dorna plan was published for this year. For this reason, those responsible around the WSBK responsible Gregorio Lavilla are looking for additional possibilities to replace at least one or two of these events with races in Europe. At the moment, it is at least not clear or certain how many World Cup rounds there will be this season. In addition to the travel problem, the Mandalika Circuit is highly questionable, especially due to the unclear situation regarding the completion of the pit facilities and infrastructure. The next track is completely new, and there the WorldSBK riders expect a special layout. According to some critics, Navarra is more like a go-kart track than a World Cup-worthy circuit.
Unless otherwise mentioned, applies to all images (© WorldSBK).
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