Razgatlioglu Tightens The Gap
T
he whole WorldSBK paddock
at Imola, July 15-16, sweated it
out in the high temperatures that
turned most of Italy into a witch's
cauldron, so it is no surprise that
the devilishly red machines proved
to be the fastest of all—in the
hands of Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it
Ducati) at least.
He did not, however, come out
on top in the overheated and very
messy Superpole qualifying com-
petition, which was taken by Toprak
Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha by Pro-
meteon), from teammate Andrea
Locatelli and top Independent Rider,
Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Ducati).
The results had to be revised
several times, with the final
one seeing top WorldSBK force
Bautista relegated to fourth and
the second row, and Jonathan
Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) to
seventh and the third row.
The first race took place with as-
phalt temperatures soaring to 136
degrees but it was that dreaded
humidity that got the riders really
overheated and visibly drained at
the end of 19 intense laps.
The first race saw Locatelli
burst into an early lead until he
was overhauled by first Bassani,
then his own teammate and even-
tually all three riders who would
finish ahead of him.
At one stage it looked like any
one of Bautista, Razgatlioglu and
even Rea would be able to win
this one.
As Bautista scrapped with
Razgatlioglu, Rea, with clear track
in front after pulling through from
seventh, closed in for a time.
When Bautista finally passed and
broke away a little, Razgatlioglu
tried to follow, leaving Rea a re-
signed third.
At the end, Bautista won at
what looked like a canter, were it
not for the incredibly high track
temperatures of almost 140
degrees and Imola being an end-
lessly physical track.
Alvaro came into the press
scrum in the media center after
the race sweating profusely and
with an ice-pack on his head to
cool down.
The winning result had still
WIND
IN THE
P34
Toprak Razgatlioglu
(54) made the most
of Alvaro Bautista's
Race Two crash to
take the win and chip
away at the gap in the
championship.
