WSBK Superbike Magny-Cours Superpole Race: Razgatlioglu snatches victory from Rea in the last sequence!

Another victory for the Turkish driver, who this time had to show temerity in the last lap to achieve his goals against Jonathan Rea.

The Superpole Race has had the habit since its introduction in Superbike in 2019 of opening the sequence of two events following each other on Sunday, thus offering the public an extra spectacle at the same time as the opportunity for the riders to score a few additional points. to improve their points capital.

With a systematic length of ten laps, the Superpole Race thus awards 12 points to the winner, nine to the second, seven to the third, and decrements by one unit to ninth place. But even more than the points it awards, this sprint event is interesting in the fact that it determines the hierarchy of the grid for Race 2 which takes place in the afternoon.

Summary of the results of the 2020 edition:

WSBK Superbike Magny-Cours	October 2020	September 2021
FP1	1'49.356 Jonathan Rea	1'38.402 Jonathan Rea
FP2	1'48.830 Garrett Gerloff	1'37.138 Toprak Razgatlioglu
FP3	1'48.707 Loris Baz	1'36.393 Scott Redding
Super poles	1'48.644 Eugene Laverty	1'35.683 Jonathan Rea
Race 1	Rea, Baz, Lowes	Razgatlioglu, Rea, Locatelli
Warm up	1'47.848 Michael Ruben Rinaldi	1'36.364 Toprak Razgatlioglu
Superpole race	Rea, Lowes, Van der Mark	Razgatlioglu, Rea, Lowes
Race 2	Redding, Baz, Davies
All time lap record	1'47.848 Michael Ruben Rinaldi

Adelaide, Razgatlioglu’s favorite place

Taking into account these different factors, we understand the drivers' desire to perform well in order to present themselves for the next race in the best conditions. This interest had of course not escaped Jonathan Rea, who for once made the best start, maintaining the lead at the first corner against Toprak Razgatlioglu.

The latter of course tried to pass the Kawasaki rider braking from Adelaide a little further on, but was the victim of wobble when reaccelerating and had to let Rea get back in front of him. No matter, “Razga” did it again on the next lap, in exactly the same place, the Adelaide hairpin being a favorite place for him in terms of braking.

 

 

This time, the maneuver was crowned with success, and the Yamaha rider managed to maintain his gains. From the next lap, it became clear that Rea would not have the possibility and especially the means to pass his opponent, who was far too strong in braking to hope for anything.

One last breathtaking ride

Moreover, the Northern Irishman came close to disaster halfway through the race when he tried to delay his braking, pulling straight ahead and narrowly missing catching his rival's rear wheel. Scalded, he then waited until the last lap to show himself really aggressive again.

 

 

And it almost worked! Rea actually dove inside Razgatlioglu not in Adelaide but in the fast chicane at Imola! The Turkish driver, however, did not let himself be counted out, responding in the Lycée complex to snatch victory at the last minute.

Behind the two leaders, Alex Lowes did well by finishing on the podium after getting rid of Andrea Locatelli at the start of the race. Having come very close to a top 3 yesterday before his retirement, the Englishman finally managed to get back on the podium, a first for him since the first race at Donington at the beginning of July.

 

Better for Redding

Locatelli led a solid race to finish in fourth place, ahead of Scott Redding who experienced a slight improvement this time after a particularly difficult Race 1. Michael van der Mark finished the race in sixth position, ahead of Álvaro Bautista, Chaz Davies, Leon Haslam and Michael Ruben Rinaldi.

Further down the hierarchy, we will note the new poor performance of Tom Sykes, who despite starting from the first row of the grid continued to fall in the ranking to finish in 12th place. Lucas Mahias, who did not participate in Race 1 yesterday, completed this Superpole Race in 14th place, while his compatriot Christophe Ponsson finished in 17th position.

 

Superbike France – Superpole Race Results:

Classification credit: WorldSBK.com