Razgatlıoğlu Defeats Bautista For Most WorldSBK Win

Calum Gill 14:21 31/07/2022

Toprak Razgatlıoğlu claimed victory in Sunday's final World Superbike race of the weekend at Most after passing championship leader Álvaro Bautista.

Yamaha man Razgatlıoğlu followed up his win in the morning's Superpole race to round out the first half of the season with his sixth victory in the last eight races in a further boost to his title defence hopes, closing to within 38 points of Bautista. However, beating Jonathan Rea to second meant Bautista still extended his championship lead to 31 points heading into the summer break. Razgatlıoğlu controlled the early stages of the 22-lap race after making the best getaway from pole, with Bautista settling into second and Rea initially slipping to fifth behind the Ducatis of Michael Ruben Rinaldi and Axel Bassani. Rea had already made his way back up to third when Rinaldi crashed at Turn 1 trying to repass the six-time champion at Turn 1 early on. As early as lap five, Bautista was challenging Razgatlıoğlu for the lead, and the following lap he briefly made it ahead at the end of the start/finish straight only to miss his braking point and run straight on at the chicane.

That left Razgatlıoğlu leading from Rea, and at the start of lap 7 the Kawasaki rider was able to pass at Turn 1 to enjoy a brief spell in the lead until he was repassed by his 2021 title rival at the same corner. Rea wasn't done however and regrouped to grab the lead again at Turn 1 on lap 11, with a recovering Bautista taking advantage of his Ducati's straight line speed to pass Razgatlıoğlu for second. Two laps later and Bautista was able to use his power advantage to deprive Rea of the lead, at which point the Spaniard was looking good to make it two full-distance race wins out of two at Most. However, Razgatlıoğlu was soon challenging Rea again for second, moving ahead at Turn 1 on lap 15, and the following lap he made what turned out to be the decisive move on Bautista at the Turn 20 right-hander. From there it was clear Razgatlıoğlu had a pace advantage as he sprinted away to the tune of over one second, before finally crossing the line with seven tenths in hand over Bautista.

Behind third-placed Rea, Scott Redding was best of the rest on the BMW, coming out on top in a race-long duel for fourth against the ever-impressive Bassani aboard the Motocorsa Racing Ducati. Garrett Gerloff appeared on course for a first top-six finish of the year, but the GRT Yamaha rider suffered a flat rear tyre in the dying stages of the race, promoting Andrea Locatelli on the works Yamaha to sixth. Next up was Xavi Vierge, who benefitted not only from Gerloff's misfortune but also his Honda teammate Iker Lecuona suffering mechanical dramas on the penultimate lap to grab seventh. Philipp Öttl was eighth for the Go Eleven Ducati squad, followed by Luca Mahias on the Puccetti Kawasaki and Luca Bernardi's BARNI Spark Ducati.

Roberto Tamburini scored an 11th place finish on his Motoxracing Yamaha whilst an attritional race allowed ex-MotoGP racer Hafizh Syahrin to score his first career WorldSBK points in 12th on the MIE Honda. Kohta Nozane also benefitted from retirements for 13th place while Peter Hickman was also inside the points in 14th place as Michael van der Mark's stand-in on the second works BMW. Leandro Mercado took home the final point on the MIE Honda. Kawasaki's Alex Lowes was a non-starter after struggling with a stomach illness that almost caused him to miss the morning's Superpole race. Eugene Laverty - who announced on Saturday he will retire at the end of the season, moving into a managerial role with the Bonovo MGM squad - likewise was ruled out with a right forearm injury.

Race 2 (22 Laps)