Table of contents:
It seemed that the World Superbikes had been sentenced after the falls of Jonathan Rea in Saturday's races and in the Superpole Race, but on Sunday's second race there was a miracle for the Northern Irishman. Toprak Razgatlioglu has once again suffered an inexplicable misfortune and has ended up on the floor.
Something jumped off the front wheel of the Yamaha when Razgatlioglu was in the last corner, causing him to fall at high speed. Rea has won the race controlling very well a Redding that, without any victory, is the great winner from Portimao. In the battle for the podium, Loris Baz threw Álvaro Bautista on the penultimate lap.
Bautista lost the podium again in the last laps battling with Baz
In the Superpole Race the rain was a surprise and the race was held on wet ground. Michael van der Mark took the victory ahead of Scott Redding and Loris Baz, which achieved its second podium of the weekend. Jonathan Rea fell again and Toprak Razgatlioglu could only rescue a sixth position. BMW's first win since 2013.
Before the start of the second race there was a strange situation, since the start had to be aborted. When at last the exit could be given it was Redding who took the first positionas van der Mark made a lousy start. Razgatlioglu was already third, glued to his teammate, Andrea Locatelli, but with Rea behind.
Rea was totally unleashed, passing the two Yamaha not without risk and being on the verge of falling. It did not take many more curves to account for Redding to get first, although due to top speed the Ducati struck him down on the straight and Razgatlioglu took advantage of the situation to pass him again.
Rea took advantage of a Redding error to return to the first position, although Razgatlioglu did not get off the hook. Even Locatelli held out in what was a head quartet. Failure for Tito Rabat, who had to withdraw from the race. Razgatlioglu recovered the first position on the finish line.
Redding was relentlessly attacking Razgatlioglu, and that allowed Rea to open a bit of a gap in front. But then came the big hit of the race: Toprak Razgatlioglu crashed in the same corner as Rea did in Saturday's race, and it was not at all clear that it had been his mistake. It looked like a mechanical failure on the Yamaha.
With the loss of Razgatlioglu there was a fight for the podium between Baz, Álvaro Bautista and LocatelliAlthough the Italian slipped into the first corner and it seemed that the thing was between the Ducati and the Honda. Rea was left as the solo leader, as Redding was three seconds behind.
The emotion remained in the battle that Baz and Bautista were having for the podium. The Frenchman wanted the triplet, but the one on the Honda CBR1000RR-R wanted to extend the streak and, at the same time, redeem himself from Saturday's crash. However, he met the same fate, because Baz threw him in one of those exchanges.
Victory for Jonathan Rea, a vital triumph that fully re-engages him in battle for the title. Where Scott Redding also enters with his second position. Ducati's is 54 points behind Razgatlioglu. In the fight for the podium, Loris Baz finally emerged victorious, completing the podium triplet in Portimao.
