WSBK Superbike Misano Race 2: Razgatlioglu overcomes Rinaldi and signs his first victory of the season!

The Turkish driver scored his first success of the year after gaining the upper hand from Michael Ruben Rinaldi, who lacked pace during the second part of the race.

There was no solid success for Michael Ruben Rinaldi on his land in Misano. Paradoxically, it was during the only race of the weekend where he started from pole position – which was supposed to make his task easier – that the native of Rimini failed to win.

However, everything started well for the Ducati rider, who made the holeshot to stay in the lead at the first corner. But Toprak Razgatlioglu tried everything a few turns later with heavy braking which he kept secret.

 

 

Starting grid for Race 2:

 

Rinaldi too short on the tires

The two men got in the way, leaving the door wide open for a Jonathan Rea who rushed in without asking for his rest. Not for long, because the Kawasaki rider was quickly taken over by Rinaldi, who had previously taken care to settle, at least temporarily, Razgatlioglu.

The latter overtook Rea a few loops later to pursue Rinaldi and succeed in paying him back and surpassing him. From then on, the Transalpine seemed to be in difficulty with his tires and found himself threatened by Rea who was coming back at him with long strides. Rinaldi finally held his own against the Northern Irishman, allowing Razgatlioglu to escape in the lead and head towards his first triumph of the year.

 

 

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	1'33.774 Michael Ruben Rinaldi
Superpole race	Bautista, Lowes, Haslam	Rinaldi, Razgatlioglu, Rea
Race 2	Rea, Razgatlioglu, Haslam	Razgatlioglu, Rinaldi, Rea
All time lap record	1'34.596 Jonathan Rea	1'33.416 Jonathan Rea

 

Gerloff defeats Lowes

Behind the leading trio, Scott Redding finished just off the podium again. But it was the battle for fifth place that gave all the interest at the end of the race, Garrett Gerloff taking the advantage two laps from the goal over Alex Lowes after a tough fight.

The two men are ahead of Axel Bassani, author of a full weekend at home, and Álvaro Bautista at the finish. The top 10 is completed by Andrea Locatelli and Michael van der Mark. We then find Lucas Mahias, who has recovered rather well from his fall during this morning's Superpole Race.

 

 

Tom Sykes, for his part, lacked rhythm and could not do better than 12th at the finish, ahead of Kohta Nozane, the Japanese this time deprived of a duel with Leon Haslam following the latter's fall at the start race. Tito Rabat and Eugene Laverty grabbed the last points at stake, finishing in 14th and 15th positions respectively. Christophe Ponsson, for his part, finished in 18th place.

Finally, we will note the third retirement this weekend of Chaz Davies, this time due to mechanical failure. The end of a weekend to forget for the Welshman, who will not have scored a single point during this third round.

 

Superbike – Misano – Race 2 Results:

Classification credit: WorldSBK.com