Bautista was not usually betrayed once by his Ducati but the most serious thing for him was that it was an unleashed Toprak Razgatlioglu who won race 1. The World Championship is alive and well.
About Paolo Gozzi de Motoracing
A sudden slowdown of the DucatiÁlvaro Bautista relaunches the Superbike World Championship which once again seemed firmly in the hands of the reigning Spaniard. On the second lap of the race he stopped at the side of the track, the Panigale silently exiting the Adelaide hairpin. At this moment, Baptist was in full struggle with Toprak Razgatlioglu, the challenge was wide open. Then the Ducati took off again, and Alvarito, at the end of the peloton, moved up to tenth place. Toprak won Race 1 and is once again hoping for a sensational comeback: he now counts 55 points behind. The tire puncture during race 2 at Most which cost Toprak the victory is almost made up for.
The first of the twelve targets announced before arrival in France was hit directly. Once Baptist left the stage, his rival worked like crazy to gain the upper hand on a Michael Rinaldi superlative. The official Ducati was particularly incisive, not giving up even an inch of ground to Toprak. In the “Esse” Le Mans, there was also a double exchange of “courtesies”, with the ideal trajectory occupied in a very (too?) decisive manner. The first time Razgatlioglu found himself off track, the second time he responded straight away. There were six laps left to go, it was the decisive episode. After a few crazy laps, Toprak took off and sealed victory number 38, the sixth of the season.
Toprak Razgatlioglu wipes Most's slate against Bautista
Jonathan Rea put his race in jeopardy on his first pass from Adelaide by braking too much and risking a crash. He avoided the dive, but lost three positions to Toprak and Rinaldi, a few seconds which took him out of the challenge. The pilot Kawasaki took the last useful position on the podium, overcoming the ambitions of Garrett gerloff who started on pole with the BMW.
The not brilliant position on the grid and a somewhat mixed first third of the race forced Danilo Petrucci to make a final vehement ascent. From ninth position, the former driver of MotoGP moved up to fifth place, giving the impression of having the potential to significantly raise the bar during the next two French events. Petrucci also took over Andrea Locatelli, the Yamaha rider. Race 1 to forget for Axel Bassani, who finished out of the points. Friday morning's crash and technical problems during today's practice have affected the outlook. But there are two make-up exams left.
