WorldSBK: Rea Cuts Razgatlıoğlu's Lead In Argentina As Redding Wins Thriller

Grid Talk Reporter 21:04 17/10/2021

Jonathan Rea cut Toprak Razgatlıoğlu's lead in the World Superbike standings to 30 points after a thrilling second feature race in Argentina. 

Six-time champion Rea edged the Turkish rider to finish second behind Ducati's Scott Redding. Needing to beat Razgatlıoğlu, Rea started superbly to lead the race before Redding took control. While Rea was unable to stop Redding, he kept his nerve to finish more than a second ahead of Razgatlıoğlu. With 62 points available in the season-closing round in Indonesia on 20 and 21 November, Rea knew he needed to finish ahead of the Yamaha-mounted Razgatlıoğlu, who was aiming to secure a treble at the San Juan Villicum circuit after winning Saturday's feature race and Sunday's Superpole contest.

The Northern Irishman, 34, started third on the grid but made an excellent start to vault himself into contention before the race lead changed hands on several occasions in a nail-biting spectacle. Redding managed to overtake Razgatlıoğlu on lap 10 and the Englishman cemented his place at the front with a stellar lap 13 to establish a two-second lead and navigated the climactic stages of the race to secure an impressive win. With Redding out in front, Kawasaki rider Rea and Razgatlıoğlu battled for second place with the defending champion claiming a crucial overtake on lap 16 before breaking away to reduce the deficit to 30 points ahead of next month's climactic stage in Indonesia.

"The position doesn't really matter so much today, for me it was about the feeling on the bike," Rea told Eurosport. "I want to thank my team, especially Perry, because he never gave up investigating my problems. At this race we've found something good. I could feel from the out lap that I had a bike to fight with today and thanks to the team, we won't give up, we'll keep working really hard."