ROUND 13 / NOVEMBER 19-22, 2021
PERTAMINA MANDALIKA INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT / WEST NUSA TENGGARA, INDONESIA
P68
RODE RACE I FIM SUPERBIKE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
BY GORDON RITCHIE
PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
A
s season finales go, what
didn't we get, as Toprak
Razgatlioglu (Pata Ya-
maha with Brixx) won the world
championship for the first time?
He edged out Jonathan Rea
(KRT) by just 13 points in the
end, but it was Razgatlioglu's
season, for sure, as he person-
ally made almost no mistakes.
Only his bike or other riders let
him down at times.
Torrential rains forced all the
races for Superbike to be held
on Sunday. The all-new Mandal-
ika circuit was flooded out in the
final section of its layout, to the
point where people could not
see the trackside paint under
the water. It was better in other
areas, but few racetracks, if any,
would have put up with this level
of deluge without the drainage
works crying enough.
With everybody revved up for
what could have been the champi-
onship decider one race early on
Saturday, the lot of Razgatlioglu
improved after the new schedule
was outlined. Rea's luck got much
harder, as he had fewer races to
claw back points with.
Even on Sunday, with the first
race scheduled over the full 21
laps at 11:00 am, a slight fall of rain
caused a red flag and a wet restart
protocol to come in. A sighting lap,
then back to the grid for final tire
choices, and it was almost time to
go, but for 20 laps, not 21.
Jonathan Rea was
impenetrable in
Indonesia, refusing
to give in to multiple
attacks from Scott
Redding and Toprak
Razgatlioglu over
the two races for
the double win.
TOPRAK
HISTORY
