WSBK Superbike San Juan Race 1: Victory as a birthday present for Razgatlıoğlu!

On his 25th birthday, the Turkish driver took advantage of a fall from pole sitter Scott Redding in the first corner to score a 12th victory this season, and make the break in the championship from Jonathan Rea.

Like the Supersport category a few moments earlier, the Superbike offered a solo rider from its winner, in the person of Toprak Razgatlıoğlu. The Turkish driver, who had dominated the entire free practice sessions earlier in the weekend, had to bow out in qualifying to a surprising Scott Redding, author of his first Superpole of the season.

But the Ducati rider did not take advantage of his advantageous position on the grid for long in the race, falling when reaccelerating at the first corner after leaving it to Razgatlıoğlu to take the holeshot. The former MotoGP rider still had the opportunity to return to the track and subsequently begin a strong comeback, which ultimately took him up to ninth position.

 

 

For the rest, it was a real recital that Razgatlıoğlu indulged in once in the lead. The Turk did not leave his share to the dog, never being worried by Jonathan Rea, yet author of a sublime takeoff from fifth place on the grid and who seized second position from the very first cables.

Summary of the results of the 2019 edition:

WSBK Superbike San Juan	October 2019	October 2021
FP1	1'45.191 Álvaro Bautista	1'38.524 Toprak Razgatlıoğlu
FP2	1'43.614 Álvaro Bautista	1'37.872 Toprak Razgatlıoğlu
FP3	1'39.651 Toprak Razgatlıoğlu	1'37.239 Toprak Razgatlıoğlu
Super poles	1'40.771 Álvaro Bautista	1'37.617 Scott Redding
Race 1	Bautista, Rea, Razgatlıoğlu	Razgatlıoğlu, Rea, Rinaldi
Warm up	1'37.784 Jonathan Rea
Superpole race	Rea, Bautista, Razgatlıoğlu
Race 2	Rea, Davies, Razgatlıoğlu
All time lap record	1'37.784 Jonathan Rea

Rea helpless in the face of Razgatlıoğlu's mastery

But the Kawasaki rider could only lose to a stronger opponent, giving his opponent more than five seconds at the checkered flag, as well as five new points in the championship. There are now 29 units separating the two men at the top of the hierarchy, a delta which protects the Yamaha rider in the event of a gap in a given race.

Behind the two men, Michael Ruben Rinaldi secured the Ducati side to climb onto the third step of the podium. A result that was not a foregone conclusion for the Italian, who was able to lead an attacking race to defeat his opponents one by one, and in particular Alex Lowes and Axel Bassani, who had long been in dispute over the gain third place.

 

Great comeback from Redding

The latter complete the top 5 at the finish, ahead of Michael van der Mark in sixth place, as well as Garrett Gerloff and Andrea Locatelli. We then find Redding in ninth place, after a tremendous comeback which will undoubtedly be a source of regret for the Englishman given his incredible racing pace.

Leon Haslam completes the top 10, ahead of Tito Rabat, Chaz Davies and Eugene Laverty. Leandro Mercado is the highest ranked local driver but failed to score a point, with a 16th position at the checkered flag, just ahead of Frenchman Christophe Ponsson. Finally, we will note the retirement following a fall by Álvaro Bautista in the third lap.

 

Superbike San Juan – Race 1:

Classification credit: WorldSBK.com