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Scott Redding has given no one a choice in the second long Superbike race in the Czech Republic. With his Ducati Panigale V4 R he took the lead already in the first laps and set an unattainable pace not even for Toprak Razgatlioglu, who thus remains without the treble, but who has reason to be happy.
And it is that the Turk has finished second, and putting many seconds to Jonathan Rea. The champion, powerless throughout Most's weekend, at least he has been able to rescue a podium, overtaking Andrea Locatelli, to keep the leadership of the world to a minimum. But he will have to sweat in Navarra.
Razgatlioglu stays just three points behind Rea in the drivers' general standings
In the Superpole Race Turkey's Toprak Razgatlioglu achieved his second win of the weekend, overtaking Jonathan Rea at the start and enduring the entire race. The champion was lucky to be able to finish third, because he made a mistake again, he went off the track and that gave Scott Redding second place.
At the start of the second long race Razgatlioglu kept the first place, but the one who started better than anyone was Andrea Locatelli, which was placed second. Redding was third, immediately ahead of Rea, while at the rear there was a pileup that finished with Axel Bassani on the ground.
Rea was in trouble, while Redding did have a rhythm. In fact, the Ducati one overtook the two Yamaha and began to set a cruising speed that seemed to be difficult for Razgatlioglu. The Turk was tempted to settle for subtracting more points from Jonathan Rea.
The champion at least intended to rescue a third position, as he was closing in on Locatelli. There was still a lot of race left, so there was time for reaction. The lead difference between Redding and Razgatlioglu hovered the second, a critical difference to know if we would have a fight.
At the top the race was very stabilized. Rea overtook Locatelli, staying in third position on the podium, but more than five from Razgatlioglu. And to top it all, Redding had escaped a second and a half from the Turk, so the excitement in the fight for the podium was practically non-existent.
More exciting was the group that had formed for the sixth position, with Michael Ruben Rinaldi leading it but the two official BMWs, Garrett Gerloff and the two official Hondas very close, with Leon Haslam ahead of Álvaro Bautista. The weekend of the Talaverano is not being too buoyant either.
Rinaldi, Michael van der Mark and Gerloff were already on top of Alex Lowes, ready to discuss fifth position. Bautista passed Haslam, but was stuck in a bad 10th position. In the end the battle for fifth place was won by Rinaldi, but at least Lowes was sixth, ahead of van der Mark.
Victory for Scott Redding, the third of the season and the first in normal conditions, without strategic components, which will help rebuild morale and fan some slight hope in the World Cup. Razgatlioglu, second, is only three points behind Rea, third, in the general. Bautista finishes tenth and Tito Rabat scores, thirteenth.
