Turkish rider Toprak Razgatlioglu dreams of dethroning Jonathan Rea in Superbike

MotoSuperbikeJonathan Rea (#1 Kawasaki) and Toprak Razgatlioglu (#54 Yamaha) battle it out during Superbike Race 1 at Portimao on Saturday. (Italyphotopress/Ipp)

In the 2021 Superbike World Championship, the young Turkish biker Toprak Razgatlioglu is twenty-four points ahead of the six-time world champion, the Briton Jonathan Rea. In Portimao (Portugal), their fight this weekend was beautiful.

S.B. updated October 3, 2021 at 5:17 p.m.comment

A possibly decisive - and historic - turning point could have taken place, Saturday and Sunday at the Portimao circuit, for the penultimate round of the 2021 Superbike World Championship ( WSBK). Saturday in the first race of the Portuguese meeting then Sunday, during the Superpole race, the Briton Jonathan Rea (34 years old) fell twice and conceded many points to his young Turkish opponent Toprak Razgatlioglu (24 years old), arrived in WSBK in 2018, only.

Rea is a six-time world champion (undefeated since 2015) and the record holder for the number of victories in the category: 110 against 59 for his next, the legendary Carl Fogarty. hoisted to the front of the race after an intense duel against his Turkish rival and under the pressure of Scott Redding (28 years old, 3rd in the general classification), Rea fell heavily from the 5th lap. The Kawasaki rider got up with several bruises but still took part in the Superpole race... where, once again in the lead, he fell a second time.

On Saturday, Razgatlioglu took the opportunity to resist the attacks of Redding (Ducati) and he pocketed his eleventh victory of the season with Yamaha. But on Sunday in the ten-lap Superpole race, the young Turkish biker only managed to place sixth. Arriving twenty points behind Razgatlioglu in Portugal, Rea still had forty-nine before the start of the last race of the weekend (from 10th place on the starting grid)!

Rea tenth at the start, first on the 2nd lap!

It was then that Jonathan Rea reversed the trend on the last race of the weekend (19 laps). The Briton, this time, added a 110th victory to his prestigious record to be ahead of Redding by five seconds while Razgatlioglu was, in turn, forced to retire after a fall, on the 10th lap.

As in race 1, the match between Rea, Razgatlioglu and Redding was beautiful at the start of the race. Rea, from his tenth place on the grid, was... second at the end of the first lap! Then won Redding in the next loop before giving up his first place to Razgatlioglu. The two men were to exchange command again until the fall of the Turkish biker on lap 10... in the same corner as Rea in race 1, caused by the breakage of his mudguard which passed under the front wheel of his Yamaha.

In the championship standings, Rea finally conceded only four points to Razgatlioglu during this nightmarish start to the weekend. With 454 against 478, the driver from Northern Ireland remains under threat of losing his world title for the first time since 2015 before the last two rounds in Argentina (San Juan, October 15-17) and Indonesia (Mandalika , November 19-21).

3 podiums in 3 races for Loris Baz

In Portimao, on the French side, Loris Baz, who since the previous round in Jerez has replaced Chaz Davies (injured) in the Ducati Go-Eleven team, has finished three times on the podium in Portimao (in 3rd place). Without handlebars for this WSBK 2021 championship, the Savoyard (28) had gone into exile in the United States where he finished 4th in the Moto America championship. “It was a fantastic weekend, he explained. I knew I had good pace, so I just tried to unroll it and save my tyres, like I did in Jerez, but where it didn't pay off. I can't believe that two weeks ago it was the end of my season. Then I received a call, took a flight and today I am three times on the podium!”

published on October 3, 2021 at 5:06 p.m. updated on October 3, 2021 at 5:17 p.m.