TOPRAK TOP DOG!
Yamaha-bound Turk takes breakthrough wins for Kawasaki at Magny-Cours
Toprak Razgatlioglu finally broke his duck with an overdue maiden World Superbike victory at Magny-Cours on Saturday. The 22-year-old Turk then added to it at the earliest possible opportunity, beating Jonathan Rea to another glorious win in Sunday’s sprint race. As a five-time World Champion was crowned in France, a likely successor came to the fore. Mooted by paddock insiders as a future WSB champion as long ago as 2015, when he dominated the European Superstock 600 series, Razgatlioglu went on to Superstock 1000 before debuting in the superbike class last year. Timid in public but far less so behind closed doors, his maturity across 2019 has been clear to see. Not only did Toprak, as he is widely known, clinch two of the weekend’s three wins but both came from 16th on the grid following another qualifying nightmare. This marked the lowest grid position from which a maiden victory has come as Manuel Puccetti’s team took the first privately-run Kawasaki win since Chris Walker triumphed at Assen in 2006. The wins also marked a return to victory for Northern Irish crew chief Phil Marron, who last won in WSB with Eugene Laverty in 2014. “I’m going to cry,” Toprak commented, close to breaking down during TV interviews. “It was not easy. Qualifying was bad. I made progress to be seventh at the end of Lap 1. I pushed hard and the last lap was stressful. I knew I only had one chance. The front end was sliding but I pushed to keep it upright. I really needed my first win this year.”
There was a bittersweet feeling as the Turk paid a big price for a small error in the final race, losing control and being clouted by the luckless Alvaro Bautista. Razgatlioglu suffered a sore ankle but confirmed on Sunday night that no bones have been broken. A superb weekend for the Puccetti team also brought victory in World Supersport as Lucas Mahias took his first Kawasaki win. “An amazing weekend for us,” said team owner Manuel Puccetti. “We have won in Superstock 600, Superstock 1000 and World Supersport. To win in World Superbike is a completely different feeling, especially as we are a private team. I’m really happy. We will try hard to win another race with Toprak in Argentina.” Razgatlioglu is placed fifth in the championship, ahead of factory Kawasaki rider Leon Haslam who endured a ‘horrible’ weekend including a heavy crash in Race 1, resulting in a sore shoulder. The Englishman struggled badly under braking. To be confirmed in due course, Razgatlioglu will become Michael van der Mark’s 2020 team-mate at Pata Yamaha and will take crew chief Marron with him.