Rea, Bautista Share Estoril
WorldSBK Glory
T
hree different riders are shar-
ing the WorldSBK spoils—un-
fairly, greedily—between them
this year.
It's called racing, and right
now nobody, almost nobody else
except Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.
it Ducati), Jonathan Rea (KRT)
and Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata
Yamaha with Brixx) can get a look
in at the level the top three are
producing every week.
The racing all through was
tough and entertaining but the
reality is that nobody else got a
podium finish at Estoril, May 20-
22, except those big three, even
though some others were in the
silverware fights for a while.
The starting grid got finalized
by the Superpole Qualifying ses-
sion, it was Rea who recorded
his first Superpole of 2022 with a
1:35.346 lap, good enough for a
new track-best status. Razgatlio-
glu was only 0.091 seconds
behind, having won both opening
Superpoles, in Aragon and Assen.
Bautista was third on the grid
and in a morale boosting ride for
all the "M" members, Scott Red-
ding (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK
Team) was fourth on the grid. In
the first race of the weekend,
over 21 laps on Saturday, Bautista
had a moment early on and that
allowed Rea and Razgatlioglu to
break free and gap everyone.
Stuck behind Andrea Locatel-
li's well-ridden Yamaha, Bautista
had to work hard to get back into
contention as the two leaders
flew around so close to each
other that Rea snagged his front
tire on Razgatlioglu's rear at one
IN
THE
WIND
P40
Jonathan Rea (65) leads
Toprak Razgatlioglu (1)
and Alex Lowes en route
to a pair of wins at Estorial.
PHOTOS: GOLD & GOOSE
