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What a rush! The second Superbike round in Jerez ended with victory for Toprak Razgatlioglu, who completes the double in Jerez after a hand-to-hand duel with Scott Redding until the last corner. Razgatlioglu opens a gap in the general classification thanks to a poor race by Jonathan Rea.
Rea's career has been dramatic. He did not have any speed at the beginning of the race and lost many positions, although in the end he was able to recover some to at least finish fifth. Huge podium for Álvaro Bautista, who overtook Andrea Locatelli in the last laps and it goes up to the drawer for the second consecutive event.
Bautista's third podium with Honda
At the exit Toprak Razgatlioglu managed to keep the first position ahead of Jonathan Rea, while Michael Ruben Rinaldi already put in third place, looking to redeem himself from the fall of the morning. There was a small exchange of positions in the lead that ended with Rinaldi ahead of Rea.
Razgatlioglu wanted to shoot from the start taking advantage of the fact that the Ducati had slipped past Rea, but the group of five still did not open, with Scott Redding and Andrea Locatelli in the background. Rea was not comfortable to the point that he slipped a lot into a curve and lost the position to Redding. Locatelli also attacked him.
The Ducati were holding the slipstream to Razgatlioglu, so Redding moved fast to overtake Rinaldi and go for a victory that could be balsamic in the World Cup. The thing about Rea was incomprehensible, since Locatelli was about to put the bike on him and Álvao Bautista and Axel Bassani were also stuck behind.
Both Locatelli and Bautista reported a Rea that he definitely had no race pace. And the worst thing was that they were escaping him, while Bassani also threatened to overtake the champion. At the head the difference between Razgatlioglu and Redding was only four tenths, so there was still a battle.
Bautista glimpsed a chance to get on the podium, as he was hunting Rinaldi and Locatelli, but he made a small mistake at Dry Sack that caused him to lose contact a bit. Seven laps from the end Locatelli managed to account for Rinaldi to put himself in third position on the podium, and Bautista approached again.
Bautista also surpassed Rinaldi to go for that podium that Locatelli had. But the other Ducati was going up, because Scott Redding was starting to stalk Razgatlioglu with only five laps left to finish. It was raining less for Rea, who managed to account for Rinaldi but still had Bassani stuck.
Redding managed to overtake Razgatlioglu to go for the victoryBut the Turk for the moment was holding on to his wheel. In fact, in a great braking rush, he regained his head of the race. Bautista also surpassed Locatelli to place himself in the third position of the drawer.
Victory for Razgatlioglu, who gives an important blow to the World Cup, ahead of Scott Redding. Fantastic third position on the podium for Álvaro Bautista, the second of the season. Jonathan Rea finally rescues a fifth position that hangs him a bit in the general, but keeps him alive.
