Australia WorldSBK: Toprak Razgatlioglu beats Rea to second in championship after ‘very strange race’

Despite lacking pace compared to Jonathan Rea throughout the Phillip Island WorldSBK round, Toprak Razgatlioglu managed to hold on for second in the championship after an impressive performance particularly in the 10-lap sprint.
Toprak Razgatlioglu, Yamaha World Superbike Phillip Island
Toprak Razgatlioglu, Yamaha World Superbike Phillip Island

Razgatlioglu officially secured second thanks to finiꦑshing Race 2 in fourth place, but the 2021 WorldSBK champion managed to get the better of Rea in the S🦹uperpole Race which was not expected. 

Razgatlioglu was on the backfoot compared to both factory Kawasaki riders and world champion 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Alvaro Bautista after𝄹 Friday practice, however, a well timed pit stop in Saturday’s flag-to-flag Race 1 and another strong showing during the Superpole Race left Rea needing a miracle in order to claᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚim second in the standings.

While second is not the type of result Razgatlioglu is usually content with, the Superpole Race was a great r🌳ecovery from the Turkish star after struggling on Friday.

In the final race Razgatlioglu looked set to challenge 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Alex Lowes for the podium dur🃏ing the final few laps befওore a red flag ended proceedings.

Speaking about his race, Razgatlioglu said: "We tried in every session to find good grip. We tried our best. In Race 2 it was ver🔴y strange, after 10 laps, I fel🍎t a big drop with the rear tyre. 

"I saw Alex pushing a lot, and after two laps I saw him starting to spin a lot. I thought 'ok in the last two laps, I'll pass h𒈔im' and I saw the red flag. 

"But I'm really happy for him. He needed a 🐷bonus because he has two babies! [laugh꧂ed Razgatlioglu]. 

"He's a very good guy and he was very str🦹ong this weeke♍nd. We finished the last race of the season in fourth position. Anyway, we're second in the Championship standings."

Razgatlioglu comes within a lap of surprise victory

Toprak Razgatlioglu , Race 1, Australian WorldSBK, 19 November
Toprak Razgatlioglu , Race 1, Australian WorldSBK, 19 November

At the start of the Superpole Race, Bautista was one of two riders to s𓃲witch from full wets to dry tyres, while Razgatlioglu and Rea were on intermediates.

But even after the Ducati rider dropped out of the points on the first lap, a rapidly drying track allowed Bautista to m▨ove back up the order and eventually pass Razgatlioglu, who was the race le⛦ader, with just over a lap remaining. 

With nothing to lose given the championship has already been won by Bautista, Razgatlioglu admitted it was 🅰a good gamble from the Spaniard.

𝓀"For Alvaro it was a good gamble. He is world champion and f♔or him the season is finished," added the Yamaha rider. 

"He tried to gamble and also we had a little bit of st💯ress because we were fighting for second in the championship. I saw that Jonny [had the] same tyre. 

"I saw him really slow in some corners because of the fro💟nt tyre. Wet tyr🅠es [on a dry track] there is no grip."

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