Czech World Superbike-Superpole race: Razgatlioglu wins,Bautista fights to third

Results from the Superpole race at round eight of the 2023 World Superbike championship from Most in the Czech Republic.

Toprak Razgatlioglu fought his way to the front of the Superpole race opening Sunday’s WorldSBK action in Most, Czech Republic, round eight of the championship.

Razgatlioglu continued an incredible run of form at Most, having featured on the podium at every race held at the Czech track.

All the riders lined up on slicks after a wet race one, with the softer zero tyre the one of choice.

Starting from pole, the Yamaha rider had victory in his sights but immediately had work to to with Axel Bassani getting a fantastic start, with pressure also coming from race one winner Jonathan Rea.

It wasn’t long into the sprint before the lead changed hands, with the #54 putting in a huge lunge for first at turn fifteen on lap four, with Rea quick to follow.

• Bautista: “Then I lost another 20 seconds…”
• Rea: Win a "nice present, but we need to be realistic"’
• Czech World Superbike Results - Race 1: Rea breaks victory drought

The lead three split with a fierce battle for position over the sprint distance, which allowed Bassani to keep in touch as the duo ahead traded fastest laps.

As the limited laps ticked off Razgatlioglu pulled the pin to lead over the line by 1.203s, celebrating by collecting a Turkish flag to tour around with, before losing it as he celebrated his fifth win at the Czech track in eight races.

With a victory at Autodrom Most in his 399th start, Rea didn’t set a time in warm-up as extreme changes were made to his Kawasaki overnight, continuing to right before the race start.

Those alterations paid off as the Northern Irish rider kept a second win in his sights right to last lap for a superb second in his 400th race.

Bautista battles back for podium

Alvaro Bautista arrived in the Czech Republic in the hunt for his 50th WSBK win. Launching from down in 14th the reigning champion had the odds again stacked against him, but with a preferred tyre underneath him and no need for the pit stop which affected his race one massively, the Spaniard fought back hard.

Escaping the crash filled first few corners, the Ducati rider was up a massive nine positions to fifth after just one lap - but his damage limitation mission was not over.

Next in line was his teammate at Aruba.it racing, Ruben Rinaldi, who put up limited resistance, allowing the championship leader to chase down the lead trio.

Starting with a three second gap, Bautista demolished it to quickly arrive on the back wheel of Bassani on the penultimate lap.

The last lap of the race saw the #1 bike make it’s move claiming a valuable podium finish as the title lead was once again cut.

Bautista began the weekend with a 70 point advantage, which was cut to 54 after race one. Hie efforts to stem the damage sees the gap lessen again but only by a further five points to 49, with an improved front row start beckoning for race two.

Bassani had topped warm-up earlier in the morning, hinting he had a handle on the tricky, drying conditions after another shower before that session but could not hold back a determined Bautista, so finished fourth after his stint in the lead for Motocorsa Racing on the Ducati.

Michael Rinaldi was a distant fifth for Aruba.It racing - the Italian seemed to cause the incident which took Xavi Vierge out on lap one.

Remy Gardner was also affected by the accident affected opening lap, frustrated that getting caught up left him out of contention for a better finish, taking sixth for GYTR GRT Yamaha.

The Australian was under pressure to the line from Alex Lowes, who slipped back as Gardner picked back places after falling to seventh from his front row start. The Kawasaki rider spent much of the race to that point battling with Rinaldi for position.

Danilo Petrucci was another front row starter in need of a comeback, second on the grid, his woeful start saw him drop to twelfth on the first lap.

Undeterred, the Barni Spark rider got back in gear, pushing his Ducati as he fought back for eighth at the chequered flag.

The final points place went to Garrett Gerloff, clear of Iker Lecuona who in turn had a gap of his own back toDominique Aegerter, who was busy with Loris Baz, locked in a fierce battle for eleventh.

Most World Superbike records:

Fastest Lap: Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki) 1m 30.947s

Most Victories: Toprak Razgatlioglu (4)

2022 results:

Race 1: Alvaro Bautista

Superpole Race: Toprak Razgatlioglu

Race 2: Toprak Razgatlioglu

Last Round (Imola):

Race 1: Alvaro Bautista

Superpole Race: Toprak Razgatlioglu

Race 2: Toprak Razgatlioglu

Remaining Schedule (UK Time) Race 2 - 13:00

Elsewhere, Scott Redding was handed a late long lap penalty for cutting a sector on track. It was awarded late in the race but the Rokit BMW rider had amassed enough of a gap when it was converted to a three second time penalty to remain 13th.

Tito Rabat was back in WSBK action after another round over in BSB. The Kawasaki Puccetti rider placed 15th on his return to the championship.

The first lap saw the only exits of the race - starting with a huge pile-up at turn two involving Lorenzo Baldassarri, Philipp Oettl, Andrea Locatelli and home rider Oliver Konig.

Konig and Oettl rejoined but were off the pace. There was a further accident at turn 15 where a move from Rinaldi put paid to any further involvement from Xavi Vierge.