corner on lap 13, parking it up with
an electrical failure. No steam,
no smoke, no oil. But no power
either. And no win yet again—10
races and counting in 2022.
Bautista passed Rea for the
lead, inside at the Curvone, just
before Toprak's issue.
Bautista was on a small planet
of his own in the second half of
the race, setting a crazy consistent
pace well inside the 1:34 range.
Bautista's pace was even still
on fire at the end, with all the hard
work done, slotting in a remark-
able new lap record of 1:34.221
on the 18th lap out of 21—mind-
blowing on asphalt that was be-
tween 113 and 127°F, depending
on who was doing the measuring.
With Razgatlioglu out, Rinaldi
beat his fellow Italian Axel Bas-
sani (Motocorsa Ducati) to the
suddenly available third place,
with the top independent rider
having to settle for getting his
ever-smiling face depicted, in
cartoon form, on the front of the
official weekend race program.
The 10-lap Superpole race
on Sunday delivered yet more
drama for Razgatlioglu, but this
time it was a determined front-
running race win, the first for
the tall Turkish rider in the 2022
season. He even set a new lap
record of 1:33.742.
Grabbing the race by the
scruff of the neck early he at-
tacked at his own pace and
ended up over two seconds
clear of Bautista. The Ducati
rider had been involved in a
tough fight with Rea for much of
the race, then made a break to
finish a comfortable second.
Rea was far from comfortable,
losing his fight with Bautista on
lap four despite showing visible
determination.
Rea eventually had to battle
hard to keep the leading HRC
Honda of Xavi Vierge behind him.
With Iker Lecuona fifth the focus
fell on their combined choice of
the new-for-2022 SCQ tires. The
new Qs are really designed to
allow the riders more than one
lap on a super-soft compound
in Superpole, but also—maybe—
VOLUME 59 ISSUE 24 JUNE 14, 2022 P45
Toprak Razgatlioglu
finally got on the
board with a solid win
in Superpole.
