WSBK: Czech Republic and Navarra
Two first-ever rounds in Most, Czechia and Navarra, Spain provided for some fine racing
Autodrom most in the Czech republic was the venue of some serious racing, starting with the superpole session. Jonathan rea (Kawasaki racing team WorldsBK) put in a lap beyond belief to deny toprak razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with BriXX WorldsBK) his first pole position this season. Joining the duo on the front row was scott redding (Aruba.it racing – ducati).
race one was, perhaps, the most exciting of the season and also the first-ever WsBK race on the circuit. As usual, rea and razgatlioglu flew into turn one and the latter got the holeshot ahead of rea while redding hung on to third. As the race progressed, the trio gave one another a tough time with a few overtakes as well as mistakes. on the 14th lap, rea low-sided while battling with razgatlioglu and redding but managed to re-join the race; however, with five laps left, he hit the deck once again, dealing a major blow to his championship lead.
By this time, all the attention was on the top duo who were racing very closely, switching the lead and pulling out all the stops. Although a mistake caused him to run wide, the young turk laid it all on the line during the last lap and pulled off a bold “stoprak” hard-braking move to win the lead and the race by a hair’s breadth. An exasperated redding finished in second place while Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with BriXX WorldsBK) finished in third.
the superpole race was razgatlioglu’s for the taking and he made the most of it right from claiming the holeshot from pole position. Although a determined rea hung on to him, the young turk did not falter and extended his lead when the defending champion made a mistake; a mistake that brought redding closer to rea’s heels. While razgatlioglu took another win, redding passed rea for second place, leaving the latter to claim his 200th podium with a thirdplace finish.
the Czech fans were in for a treat because race two was a firecracker as well. Predictably, razgatlioglu was the fastest off the line with Locatelli, redding, and rea in tow. on the fifth lap, redding shot ahead of razgatlioglu on the brakes and began pushing for the win. From there onwards, redding was untouchable and went on to win the race. razgatlioglu finished in second place while rea rounded off the podium.
With this rather dramatic weekend, the championship is now a lot closer. rea continues to lead with 266 points but is only three points ahead of razgatlioglu in second place while redding finds himself in a commendable third with 216 points.
SCott redding (AruBA.it racing - ducati) was able to snatch the lead from the pole-setter, Jonathan rea (Kawasaki racing team WorldsBK), at the beginning of the first race. he led for a few corners before rea retaliated and passed him again. the duo then managed to quicken their pace and open up a gap from the other riders. With about six laps to go, redding who a pass on rea with a slipstream on the home straight to get into the lead.
toprak razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with BriXX WorldsBK), rea’s closest contender in the title fight, started the race in the eighth place and climbed up to the fourth on the opening lap. toprak made a move to take third position from his Yamaha teammate, Andrea Locatelli, who had been stuck behind for a few laps. By this time, redding and rea were way ahead and finished in first and second respectively. toprak crossed the line to finish in third place and Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with BriXX WorldsBK) took fourth.
in the superpole race, it was razgatlioglu who made an amazing start as he gained five grid positions heading into turn one, while redding took the lead from Jonathan rea just as in the first race. the first four laps witnessed some of the closest racing seen so far as redding, rea, and razgatlioglu kept exchanging positions in their fight for the top spot. redding managed to pull away from this fight and open out a slight lead over rea and razgatlioglu on the fifth and sixth laps. Andrea Locatelli secured another fourth-place finish of the weekend after emerging victorious in the battle with Alex Lowes (Kawasaki racing team WorldsBK). rea began to break away from toprak and close in on redding, but it was too late and redding ultimately emerged the victor in the superpole race.
in the third and final race of the weekend, it was redding and Locatelli who got great launches off the line. the Yamaha rider, Locatelli, took the lead at turn Five, but he ran wide just moments later and this gave the opportunity to redding and toprak razgatlioglu to get through into first and second place respectively. Locatelli was then relegated to sixth as an incident with Alex Lowes pushed him off the track at turn nine. When this happened, toprak took over the lead, followed by rea in second and redding in third. razgatlioglu started to push hard and open a gap from the lot. rea had a scary moment with the front of his Kawasaki and this allowed redding to get close. it was just a few laps after this that redding passed him to take second place. the final results of this race were razgatlioglu in first, redding in second, and rea in third place. Locatelli took his third consecutive fourth place of the weekend. After this nail-biting round, razgatlioglu and rea are tied for the first place in the championship standings with 311 points each while redding is in third place with a total of 273 points.
in other news, redding is set to part ways with ducati and will be joining BmW for the 2022 season. reports also suggest that honda’s Alvaro Bautista is most likely to fill this vacancy at ducati.