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/1507502
Razgatlioglu, Bautista Star at French WorldSBK Scorcher I t felt more like July in Jerez rather than September in the absolute center of France, but Magny Cours was a red-hot con- crete stovetop for everyone, from the fans to the riders. Uncertainty reigned in the French Republic, in many cases, and we had big entertainment if not race-long challenges to what were two winners across three WorldSBK races. In Superpole qualifying a little bit of history was made for Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW) as he took his first-ever pole and the first for an American rider since John Hopkins at Sil - verstone in 2011, on a Suzuki, no less. Gerloff set a new track best of 1:35.453 on his way to the pole, with Bautista just behind him and Rinaldi in third place. Un- fortunately for Gerloff, the races weren't as successful. "First Superpole 'win' ever. I'm pumped about it, for sure," said Gerloff. "It's cool because Toprak and Bautista and Jonny, those guys are not easy to beat in Su- perpole. I still can't believe that we were able to do it. Just felt like a solid lap. Over the moon about it. It was a good way to start the day." The first race build-up was suddenly deflated, even in the warm and generous sunshine, as a technical problem with a safety vehicle saw the race start delayed, and then the whole race cut from 21 to 20 laps. When the first race did get un - derway, the surprises kept com- ing, as Bautista's bike suddenly stopped on him after he had ne- gotiated the hard braking zone of the hairpin. Maybe a glitch from the restart chaos said many. The engine power had already been too low, said Bautista, and then his engine just stopped, elec - trically. His instruments then told him that it was okay to restart. He clawed his way back to 10th. WIND IN THE P60 American Garrett Gerloff captured his first-career WorldSBK pole in France. PHOTO: GOLD & GOOSE