Three Of Some Kind in
Catalunya WorldSBK
P
redictability was, once more,
checked in at the door of the
saloon while everybody had their
passes scanned into the new-fan-
gled entry system in WorldSBK.
In Superpole qualifying, on the
revised 2.89-mile-long version
of Catalunya, Tom Sykes (BMW
Motorrad WorldSBK Team) set
the new track best, right at the
end of the warm and sunny morn-
ing session, with his 1:40.408,
0.286 seconds faster than
second-placed Toprak Razgatlio-
glu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx).
Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Rac-
ing Team) ended his previously
perfect 2021 Superpole run of
eight in succession on Saturday
and was almost half a second
slower than Sykes in third.
Then the fun really started
when rains arrived just as the
WorldSBK riders were expecting
a dry first race.
The full wet contest was tense
from the start as early leader
Razgatlioglu was soon joined
and then overtaken by Rea—cue
some full risk passes and re-
passes between the champion-
ship protagonists.
With the rain always a leveler,
Axel Bassani (MotoCorsa Racing
Ducati) joined Razgatlioglu in a fight
then a flight past Rea for the leading
two positions. Rea was losing drive
grip as time went on, and there was
nothing he could do about it.
Razgatlioglu, in Yamaha's
classy 60th Anniversary red-and-
white paint scheme, was on for
the win but his bike started to
quit on him, leaving Bassani the
leader for three laps.
The rookie Italian came within
three laps of victory, but the ad-
vancing Scott Redding (Aruba.it
Racing – Ducati) charged his way
to a stunning race win. He had
been outside the top 10 early on,
losing traction on the start line.
The final result on the road and
in the record books was a stun-
IN
THE
WIND
P48
Michael Ruben Rinaldi
made it two podiums
in three races, plus the
race-two win.
