Toprak Razgatlioglu “needed to win” Czech WorldSBK Race 1

Reigning World Superbike Champion Toprak Razgatlioglu says he “needed” his victory in Race 1 at the Czech WorldSBK after “many races” without a win.

Razgatlioglu hadn’t won since the Assen Superpole Race before Race 1 at Most, and headed into the Czech Round with a 34-point disadvantage to Ducati’s Nicolo Bulega.

Winning by six seconds in Race 1 at Most was arguably an important mathematical and psychological win for the Turkish rider, then, but he said afterwards only that he was happy to have won again.

“I think the best Race 1 [of the season],” Razgatlioglu told WorldSBK.com.

“I’m really happy because I needed to win, after many races I needed to win again.

“I’m really happy here in P1, and also thanks to my team because every session we have improved the bike.

“But we need more because tomorrow we have two more races.”

Razgatlioglu explained that he was not able to pull away at the beginning of the race because he was trying to understand the conditions.

“The beginning of the race for me was not easy because I was trying to adapt to the weather condition because the wind is very strong and it changed a lot: one lap I feel too much wind, one lap I feel less wind but the bike was not stopping sometimes,” he said.

“But, after, I managed, I kept my pace strong because I was just focused on winning the race.

“The pace also was very strong, we did many low-1:31s, and just the last laps I closed the gas a little bit because we need to save the rear tyre.

“For me, it was a good race – the beginning, okay, I was pushing so hard but after I rode more relaxed. But we have two more races tomorrow, this is also very important for me.”