WSBK Spanish Round: Two wins take Razgatlioglu to 20 points advantage

Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK) extended his championship advantage with a double victory at Jerez. He beat Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) and Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) respectively to add another 50 points to his tally. Alvaro Bautista (Team HRC) bagged Honda’s first full-distance podium of the season.

Razgatlioglu now heads Rea by 20 points in the standings with three rounds to go. Redding’s title bid is slowly slipping away from him, his deficit standing at 54 points. Nothing separates Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) and Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK) in the fight for fourth.

After Saturday’s on-track activities were cancelled following the tragic incident involving Dean Berta Viñales in Supersport 300, Sunday hosted two full-distance races.

RACE 1

Razgatlioglu maintained the lead from pole but was under immediate pressure from Rea who claimed the position through Aspar corner. Behind, Rinaldi went wide, allowing Locatelli through, and fell into a battle with Redding.

Rea and Razgatlioglu were locked together at the head of the race and pulled away from Locatelli. Redding in fourth was pushing hard to catch the Italian and was with him five laps in. Rinaldi’s race meanwhile was brought to a premature end by an unusual highside at T3.

A misjudged attempt to overtake at T6 from Razgatlioglu almost took both himself and Rea out of proceedings on Lap 7. Fortunately, both managed to stay on their bikes, but the gap to Locatelli and Redding was gone.

Rea responded and upped the pace to try break his chasers. At half-race distance, only Razgatlioglu had managed to hang on to the Kawasaki and the title rivals were again left to decide the race between them. Locatelli looked comfortable in third with a considerable gap over Redding.

Razgatlioglu committed to another late lunge on Lap 14 but this time made it stick at T1. The Yamaha rider had his head down and edged away from his opponent with the gap up to around eight tenths with three laps to go.

Rea tried to reduce his disadvantage over the final laps but eventually had to settle for second. Redding beat Locatelli to the final podium spot with a last lap overtake at Pons corner.

RACE 2

Razgatlioglu stayed ahead of Rea on the brakes into T1. The Yamaha rider ran wide a few corners in, giving Rinaldi a chance to slot into second as the front trio bunched up. Redding was pushing in fourth with Locatelli closely behind.

Redding capitalised when Rea could not stop his Kawasaki into T6 on the third lap and took P3 off him. Razgatlioglu had committed to an escape strategy with only the factory Ducatis able to follow. The teammates engaged in battle until Redding eventually made a move stick through Lorenzo corner.

Rea was in real trouble and dropped into fifth when Locatelli swept past through the hairpin. The defending champion successively fell victim to Bautista at T6 and was clipped by Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing), unsettling his rhythm further.

Halfway through the race a top duo of Razgatlioglu and Redding had broken away. Rinaldi fell into the clutches of Locatelli and Bautista while Rea was defending hard to keep Bassani behind him.

The gap between Razgatlioglu and Redding was consistently at around three tenths as the Yamaha and the Ducati cancelled each other out over the sectors. Locatelli got the better of Rinaldi with a clinical manoeuvre through Pedrosa corner.

Bautista was on the move and swiftly claimed Rinaldi, whose tyres had faded significantly, to then target Locatelli.

Redding eradicated his disadvantage and took P1 when Razgatlioglu ran wide at T10 with four laps to go. A lap later, the order changed again through the final hairpin and Razgatlioglu led onto the last lap.

Redding ran wide at T2 and although he closed back in, he was too far behind for a move. Bautista beat Locatelli to the remaining podium spot while Rea’s damage limitation job ended in fifth.