The Autodromo di Most welcomes the Superbike for the last day of racing with a leaden sky which, however, gives the riders some respite, on track for the Superpole Race held in the dry. Among the bends of the Czech track, we are back to seeing the trio that enchanted the Superbike crowd last year, with Toprak Razgatlioglu winning the short race ahead of Jonathan Rea, while Alvaro Bautista is third in a comeback.
A fierce Razgatlioglu leaves no respite to his opponents and shatters Rea’s illusions, who aimed to repeat yesterday’s success by taking the first victory of the season in the short race. A brief tussle in the final stages of the race brings the Turkish driver into the lead, who passes under the checkered flag just over a second behind the Northern Irishman.
The first two make the difference on the pursuers, first of which is Axel Bassani. After a lightning start, the Motocorsa standard-bearer remains steadily in third position, but he hasn’t reckoned with Alvaro Bautista. The Spaniard is the author of a furious comeback from the 14th spot and in the last few laps he threatens Axel’s back. Right at the end, the defending champion launches his attack on Curva 20 and takes third position, getting on the podium despite the difficulties of this weekend.
Bassani thus remains two tenths off the podium, but he is the best of the independents and precedes the other official Ducati standard bearer: Michael Ruben Rinaldi, who started eighth, climbs up to the final fifth place and takes home some precious points. Behind the rider from Romagna we find Remy Gardner, sixth with the GRT team Yamaha. The Australian seems at ease on this track and is constantly ahead of teammate Dominique Aegerter, only 11th.
Seventh position with Alex Lowes, protagonist of a great fight in the first laps with Rinaldi, but then finished in the middle of the group. The Kawasaki rider precedes Danilo Petrucci, stuck in traffic at the first corner and only eighth. Rounding out the top 10 are Garrett Gerloff, ninth and best of the BMW drivers, and Iker Lecuona, tenth and only Honda survivor at the finish line. Xavi Vierge in fact slips in the initial stages of the race.
Behind the aforementioned Aegerter we find the BMW platoon led by Loris Baz, 12th ahead of the official pair formed by Scott Redding, 13th, and the returning Michael van der Mark, 14th. A race to forget for Oliver Konig, Lorenzo Baldassarri and Philipp Oettl, who are the protagonists of a carom in the very first meters and are forced to conclude the Superpole Race after a few corners. Andrea Locatelli also ends up in the gravel, throwing the race away a few meters after the accident among the other three.
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