two times at P.I., but his horrible
wet-weather race one 14th place
means Locatelli is making the
best overall "new guard" push so
far.
Bassani was fourth in the final
race, held in dry conditions.
Iker Lecuona was the top
HRC Honda rider in sixth place;
Aegerter top rookie in seventh,
but Rea, on a bike setup that was
simply not working, had no grip
left in the final laps, and went
from fifth to eighth.
Lowes and Razgatlioglu went
from upright to horizontal as
the English rider fell entering T4,
taking evasive action as Bassani
and Rea went a bit wide on entry.
Toprak did not blame Lowes, it
was just one of those things, de-
spite his visible initial trackside
despair.
Razgatlioglu's no-pointer had
great initial importance for the
expected championship fight,
as Bautista crammed a full 62
points into his first three-course
feast of 2023. Locatelli is second
with 34, Rea is a remarkable third
(31 points) considering it was a
disastrous weekend by his high
standards. Rinaldi is also at 31
points in fourth with Bassani fifth
with 25 and Razgatlioglu sixth
with 23—a full 39 points behind
after only one round.
As for American Garrett Gerl-
off on the Bonovo Action BMW,
he's in the learning phase of his
new ride but did make the top 10
in race one. After that we went
16-14.
"Overall, we had some good
moments for sure, but to put it
in one word, probably 'humbling'
is the word of the weekend,"
Gerloff said. "Today [Sunday]
it was dry at least, so we had
some more consistent weather.
I was struggling with the wind
a bit. In the Superpole race I
wasn't able to make as much
ground as I was hoping. The
bike has so much power and
it's awesome on the straight. I
mean, the top speed we are able
to hit is unbelievable. I just kind
of need to manage the power a
little bit better, I think and work
on turning a little bit. I feel like
the bike has so much potential,
we really need to get our heads
together and figure out what we
need to do to make it better all
around. I was happy to be with
the other BMWs in our own little
battle. That was nice, but we
have some work to do."
BMW's Garrett Gerloff
cracked the top 10 in the
first WorldSBK race.
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