Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1498809
WIND IN THE P40 made up about three seconds in two laps, passing him inside on the very last corner to steal second. Rinaldi was philosophi- cal, saying that another two laps and he would have fallen into the clutches many more riders, and finish off the podium completely. Fourth was Alex Lowes riding fast and consistently enough to keep his teammate Rea behind him. In the points, after 12 races over four very different rounds, Bautista has a vast 236 to Razgatlioglu's 167. Locatelli has 133 and Rea 73. WorldSSP With Nicolo Bulega (Aruba Duca- ti) on pole and then in the lead of race one, it looked like another Ducati V-twin metronome of a race result. No matter how fast a metronome ticks along, it is still predictable and repeatedly so. However, Marcel Schroet - ter (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) chased and almost caught Bulega at the flag, finishing just 0.626 seconds down. Another MV Agusta, ridden by Bahattin Sofuoglu, would get on the podium in a photo finish that ended up with Sofuoglu and not Stefano Manzi (Ten Kate Yama - ha) being awarded third. Their close fight was stretched right out beyond the checkered flag by the Stewards, who gave Manzi a three-second penalty for not being able to complete his long-lap penalty properly. That put him down into sixth place, which was hardly where he wanted to be after such a strong, almost epic ride from an early ninth place. The top Yamaha then proved to be the EAB bike of Glenn van Straalen, in fourth place. In race two there were several weird happenings, not least a droop in Ducati's potency, with Bulega slow and then having to retire with a tech issue, and Cari - casulo finishing only sixth. The next V2 was Raffaele De Rosa's, in 10th. The "Next Generation" experi- ment came to new life at Catalu- nya, with MV Agusta jumping up to join the Ducati and occasional Yamaha potency, so next time out it will be Kawasakis and Triumphs on top. The lack of Bulega out front opened the final race and after a brilliant ride Sofuoglu took his first WorldSSP race win, and after Manzi was penalized again, he dropped from an on-track sec - ond to a Stewards' Room third, allowing Schrotter to finish-off the MV 800cc triple's 1-2. Valen- tin Debise (GMT94) was a potent early podium force, finishing two seconds from a top-three finish. In the points, Bulega is still a strong leader, but now with a trimmed down 33 points lead over Schrotter, 152 to 119. Manzi is top Yamaha rider with 116, and Caricasulo has 98 points, in fourth place. Gordon Ritchie WorldSBK Race One 1. Alvaro Bautista (Duc) 2. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Yam) 3. Jonathan Rea (Kaw) 4. Andrea Locatelli (Yam) 5. Dominique Aegerter (Yam) WorldSBK Superpole Race 1. Alvaro Bautista (Duc) 2. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Yam) 3. Andrea Locatelli (Yam) 4. Iker Lecuona (Hon) 5. Alex Lowes (Kaw) WorldSBK Race Two 1. Alvaro Bautista (Duc) 2. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Yam) 3. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Duc) 4. Alex Lowes (Kaw) 5. Jonathan Rea (Kaw) Bahattin Sofuoglu (54) joined his uncle, the great Kenan Sofuoglu, as a WorldSSP race winner.