Razgatlioglu ‘surprised’ at ‘stupid mistake’ from Gerloff

Toprak Razgatlioglu was looking in great shape to challenge Jonathan Rea in WorldSBK Assen race two, before another unforced error from Garrett Gerloff cost the Yamaha rider valuable championship points. 

For the third race in a row, Razgatlioglu took the lead as riders headed into turn one, however, Gerloff got an even better start from eighth. 

But just as he did with Rea in Aragon and Rinaldi in Estoril, Gerloff was too late on the brakes and had nowhere to run, except into the side of Razgatlioglu. 

Compounded by the fact it’s a fellow Yamaha rider who made the error, Razgatlioglu was left very frustrated by the rash move and called it a ‘stupid mistake’. 

"I am surprised because it was a big mistake, a stupid mistake. Because it’s just the start, not even the second lap, so why would you try such a hard-braking move?" said Razgatlioglu. 

"Also, I am fighting for the Championship and I am a Yamaha rider. This race, we were in really good shape, we used the same tyre as the Superpole Race, and we were very strong in the last race. 

"Anyway, the weekend is finished, and the championship now won’t be easy for me. 

"Now every race I’ll be fighting for the win, and I’m not looking at the championship because the gap is 37 points. We will see what happens in the next races."

The gap heading into race three was just 12 points, but with Rea taking his third win of the weekend, it means Razgatlioglu will need to overhaul another big deficit - even bigger than the one going into Donington.