WSBK Catalunya Round: One point in title fight after dramatic meeting

A dramatic Catalunya Round almost reset the championship fight with only one point separating Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK) and Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK). Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) in third has a sixty-points disadvantage to overcome.

Redding took victory in a wet Race 1 after Razgatlioglu was halted by a technical issue. Rea narrowly beat his championship rival to triumph in the Superpole Race before struggling to sixth in Race 2. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) stormed to a commanding win in the final outing.

The meeting brought first podiums of the season for Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) and Alvaro Bautista (Team HRC). Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) was finally back on top in qualifying on Saturday morning.

RACE 1

Razgatlioglu had a perfect launch but Rea in second closed down the Yamaha and claimed the position on the opening lap. The duo exchanged punches in the damp conditions and the lead kept changing hands. Rinaldi was running third but faced pressure from Bassani who swiftly overtook.

Rea established himself in P1 and pulled away. Razgatlioglu meanwhile was reeled in by an aggressive Bassani. The Italian got past a few times, but Razgatlioglu always managed to retaliate. Behind, a feisty trio had formed with Rinaldi, Michael van der Mark (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) and Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK).

Out front, Rea had increased his advantage to almost three seconds. Bassani was now his first chaser, having made a move stick on Lap 6. Van der Mark had clinched P4 and stretched out a gap over Lowes and Rinaldi.

Bassani chipped away on the gap to Rea and the margin was down to 1.5 seconds when Razgatlioglu reclaimed P2 into T1 on Lap 10. Redding had finally found his rhythm in the difficult conditions and was up to seventh.

With half the race to go, Razgatlioglu was less than a second behind Rea. Soon, the rivals were locked together. Razgatlioglu executed a move for the lead on Lap 12 and Bassani too swept past Rea down start/finish going into Lap 13.

Lap 15 brought heartbreak for Razgatlioglu who rolled out with a technical issue.

Rinaldi too closed in on and passed a struggling Rea down start/finish with five laps remaining before Redding did the same in the final sector.

Redding successively claimed Rinaldi and had four laps to catch Bassani. He took the lead at T5 and faultlessly secured victory. Bassani bagged an incredible podium ahead of Rinaldi while Rea salvaged points in P4.

SUPERPOLE RACE

Redding unleashed the Ducati’s power at the lights and stormed ahead, but Razgatlioglu outbraked him into T1. Rea too beat Redding to slot into second while Locatelli and Rinaldi lined up fourth and fifth. Lap 1 brought disaster for BMW when van der Mark lost the front and took Sykes with him.

Razgatlioglu and Rea were locked together and already edged out a marginal gap. But as they kept exchanging the lead between them, Redding was invited back in.

The red flag came out on Lap 3 due to a crash involving Chaz Davies (Team GoEleven) and Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) at the fast T11.

Racing restarted for a five-lap shootout. Despite slight contact with Rea, Razgatlioglu retained P1 at the lights and the rivals immediately went into fighting mode.

Bautista capitalised when they ran wide and slotted into second behind the Kawasaki. A coming together between Locatelli and Kota Nozane (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) brought them both down and sent Redding wide out of contention.

Rea had almost a second of an advantage and Razgatlioglu punched his way past Bautista to catch him. Lowes too overtook the Honda but could not shake his opponent off.

The gap was at four tenths going into the final lap. Razgatlioglu reduced his disadvantage through the sectors but was not quite close enough at the end. Bautista narrowly beat Lowes to bag Honda’s first podium of the season.

RACE 2

Razgatlioglu stole the holeshot while Rea dropped into fourth behind Rinaldi and Bautista. He made short work of the Honda but had trouble with a determined Rinaldi. The race was red flagged on Lap 2 following an incident involving Mahias and Sykes at T1. A restart was scheduled for 19 laps from the original grid positions.

Razgatlioglu again led into T1 while Rea and Rinaldi battled for second. The trio quickly put a few bike lengths between themselves and the field where Locatelli was now the first chaser.

Rinaldi frequently challenged down start/finish but Razgatlioglu easily reclaimed the Ducati on the brakes until a move finally stuck on Lap 5. Rea was sitting right behind in third while Locatelli edged closer to the top group. Redding was running sixth behind Bautista. He made several attempts but struggled to overtake the tenacious Honda rider.

Halfway through the race Rinaldi and Razgatlioglu had stretched out a commanding two-seconds advantage. Rea was under fire from Locatelli and the pair was soon joined by Bautista and Redding. The defending champion was visibly struggling and successively dropped into sixth.

Out front, Razgatlioglu took the lead with eight laps remaining. Rinaldi did not let go of the Yamaha and although a piece of barrier tape that had been blown onto the track got caught on his front wheel, he reclaimed P1 down start/finish a few laps later.

The Italian had superior grip and pulled out a gap that was up to a second with three and a half laps to go. Razgatlioglu was in trouble on fading tyres and Redding in third took chunks out of his rival.

Rinaldi stormed to victory while Razgatlioglu grabbed second by just a tenth over Redding. Bautista was fourth from Locatelli while Rea had to settle for sixth.