VOLUME 58 ISSUE 40 OCTOBER 5, 2021 P41
to his old ways at Portimao.
After two bright and sunny
days, clouds and eventually
decently heavy rain, of course,
made the Superpole race be run
on full wets.
Warm-up gave some hints, as
Michael van der Mark (BMW Mo-
torrad) and Baz were fast. Soon
after the start of the Superpole
race, Rea was off his tires, as he
fell entering turn 13 on lap one.
He had been asking too much of
his wet front as he had in the dry
on Saturday in race one.
As he slithered off track and
got up, clearly frustrated, it
looked like Razgatlioglu may
benefit most, but he was only to
finish sixth.
Michael van der Mark (BMW
Motorrad) finally delivered a big
racing gift to his employers. He
would catch and pass Scott Red-
ding then ease away to record
the first win for BMW since Chaz
Davies took a victory at the Nur-
burgring in 2013.
Behind, Baz scored another
podium on Chaz Davies' Ducati.
With the morning rains gone and
just a few damp patches around,
the start of race two should have
been at 2:00 p.m., but it was de-
layed for a technical problem in the
start equipment or protocol.
Rea had moved up from his
fourth-row start, which took just a
few corners. He went second at
the end of lap two, Razgatlioglu
was third, Redding the leader.
Then Rea and Razgatlioglu got
through as Redding ran wide,
and the build-up to another tough
race really began.
It only got to halfway or so, as
Razgatlioglu crashed on the entry
to turn 15, where Rea had fallen on
Saturday. He slid about as far but
there was something strange about
the crash. Watching the replays it
was obvious his front mudguard/
fender had broken or come loose
and disintegrated, which lost
Razgatlioglu's already stressed
front tire grip at high pace.
Suddenly, if Rea could win,
the damage from the first two
Portimao races would be almost
wiped out.
Duly Rea responded to win.
Disaster for Kawasaki on
Saturday and Sunday morning
(double disaster even before as
KRT second rider Alex Lowes
practiced well on Friday but was
advised not to race to save his
injured hand).
It was disaster time for Yamaha
on Sunday afternoon, however, as
they now try to work out why their
lead rider has lost strong points
scores due to tech problems for
the second weekend in three.
The swing between good
results and good fortune for Ya-
maha or Kawasaki continues.
Redding took his third second-
place of the weekend, and in so do-
ing drew himself closer to Razgatlio-
glu, and much closer to Rea.
The final podium vacancy was
a straight fight between Baz and
Bautista, until the turn-five hair-
Rea's race-one crash was
a massive one. Luckily, he
was not seriously injured.
