Toprak's Terrific Triple
T
oprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Ya-
maha) set his heart on winning
all three Donington Park World-
SBK races, July 16-17, and not just
for all the obvious reasons. He
had never taken three wins at one
track in one weekend before.
Six-time WorldSBK Champion
Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing
Team) smashed the Superpole
record, setting a new all-time
record of 1:26.080 on Saturday
morning.
Rea was actually a bit miffed
at coming so close to a 1:25 lap,
and just missing out—it was an
itch left unscratched.
He was still happy to take his
second pole of 2022, and have
his KRT teammate, Alex Lowes,
alongside him.
Over a busy weekend on track,
there was a good crowd for the
races, too, as some 51,831 spec-
tators showed up.
Come the first race, it was over
to Razgatlioglu, the third-placed
qualifier, who got himself into the
first corner at Redgate in the lead.
Rea tried to pass him on the
outside entry at the first chicane,
and Lowes on the inside, but all
Rea did was run wide and lose
places, eventually having to fight
back hard to get onto the podium.
As Razgatlioglu stuck in a calm
series of 1:27s, easing away at a
highly unexpected pace after two
lots of set-up changes pre-race,
Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.It Ducati)
and Rea settled in for an unset-
tling battle that saw Rea come
close to crashing twice, and then
for Bautista to fall for real with
nine laps to go, as he trail-braked
into the tricky Goddards Hairpin.
Razgatlioglu was gone to
collect his 25 points anyway for
his first full-distance race win of
2022. The exit of clear points
leader Bautista, just as he looked
IN
THE
WIND
P38
Toprak Razgatlioglu
demolished them in race
one to the point where
he could pull a victory
stoppie over the finish
line, like a boss.
PHOTOS: GOLD & GOOSE
