WSBK Superbike Misano Race 1: Rinaldi thwarts Rea for a fantastic home success!

The Italian driver went all out on the first lap, leaping from the second row of the grid to take the lead and never leave it again. Behind him, Jonathan Rea did too much while trying to regain the upper hand, and made a mistake leaving Toprak Razgatlioglu to slip into second position.

The start gave rise to a real free-for-all at the first corner with Michael Ruben Rinaldi, undoubtedly a little disappointed with his fourth place on the grid, who managed to get level with pole sitter Jonathan Rea. The two men got in each other's way, leaving the door open for Toprak Razgatlioglu who was just asking for it to rush in and take the lead.

 

 

Not for long, because the Ducati rider came back to take the lead over Rea and the Turk, to take the lead. Razgatlioglu lost a lot of feathers in the adventure as he tumbled to fourth place at the end of the first lap, Scott Redding also having taken the advantage in the affair.

From then on, two very distinct duels took place, the first pitting Rinaldi and Rea against each other, the two men who quickly opened up a gap of more than a second on Redding and Razgatlioglu. The latter took the advantage over his rival from Ducati on the fifth lap after the latter missed a turn and went wide.

 

Summary of the results of the 2021 edition:

WSBK Superbike Misano	June 2019	June 2021
FP1	1'36.029 Jonathan Rea	1'34.848 Toprak Razgatlioglu
FP2	1'36.021 Michael van der Mark	1'34.334 Michael Ruben Rinaldi
FP3	1'46.484 Loris Baz	1'34.018 Michael Ruben Rinaldi
Super poles	1'34.596 Jonathan Rea	1'33.416 Jonathan Rea
Race 1	Rea, Sykes, Bautista	Rinaldi, Razgatlioglu, Rea
Warm Up	1'35.814 Jonathan Rea
Superpole race	Bautista, Lowes, Haslam
Race 2	Rea, Razgatlioglu, Haslam
All time lap record	1'34.596 Jonathan Rea	1'33.416 Jonathan Rea

 

Rea makes a mistake!

In front, Rinaldi managed to sustain Rea's pressure without giving up the slightest inch of ground, until he made the defending champion break down during the tenth loop, a fact exceptional enough to be mentioned, the latter however avoiding a fall thanks to to a remarkable rescue and off-piste passage.

 

 

Razgatlioglu took the opportunity to return to second position, but relegated more than four seconds behind Rinaldi, the Yamaha rider could not hope for the slightest return for a potential first victory this season in Superbike. On the contrary, he had to face Rea again, who had returned from the devil Vauvert, but who nevertheless failed to get close enough to carry out a decisive attack.

Behind, the gaps quickly widened between Rea and Redding, as well as between Redding and Alex Lowes. The latter got the better of Tom Sykes at the start, maintaining his position until the checkered flag. The BMW driver, who had been sixth for a long time, ultimately failed to keep up the pace until the end, passing under the checkered flag in eighth position.

Álvaro Bautista, for his part, had a solid race to finish in sixth position, ahead of the excellent Axel Bassani, who in his first season in the category continues to impress. On his land, the Italian will have shone just as well in Superpole than in Race 1, with in both cases obtaining eighth place.

 

 

Mahias at the gates of the top 10

The top 10 is completed by Andrea Locatelli and Michael van der Mark, while Lucas Mahias, starting from a good seventh position on the grid, broke his nose at the gates of the top 10. The Frenchman finished ahead of Garrett Gerloff, author of a good comeback after not being able to record a single time during the Superpole.

The American took advantage of the magnificent duel between Kohta Nozane and Leon Haslam, the latter who ultimately took 13th and 14th positions respectively. Tito Rabat snatches the last point at stake, after finishing in 15th position. Christophe Ponsson finished a little further away, in 18th place. Note that Chaz Davies, long in the running for a place in the top 10, was forced to retire after making a mistake.

 

 

Superbike – Misano – Race 1 Results:

Classification credit: WorldSBK.com