Toprak was gone straight
away, so far ahead that eventual
second-placed rider Lowes said
later in the media scrum that
he never saw him, even after
he worked his way through to
yet another podium in what has
been a big year already as the
"de facto" team leader in Kawa
-
saki since Jonathan Rea defect-
ed to Yamaha.
Bautista picked off his rivals
one by one to move up to the po-
dium places, but when Redding's
bike suffered a technical issue
and he had to retire trackside,
Bautista's rostrum position was
absolutely secured.
Fourth was Beluga, recovered
from his own off-track excursion.
Fifth, and feeling more like his
old self, was Rea, taking his R1
to his best long-race finish of the
year. He outmuscled and then
outrode his teammate Andrea
Locatelli to leave Locatelli sixth.
Hometown hopeful Tar
-
ran Mackenzie (Petronas MIE
Honda) fell on lap one at turn
seven. He suffered a back injury
and a more significant head
knock, which kept him out of any
further races for the weekend.
In the Superpole race, Bulega
got the holeshot, but Razgatlio
-
glu soon stamped his authority
again, with a new lap record on
lap three once he had gotten
past Bulega at the Melbourne
Hairpin. We were down to
1'25.733 pace by now.
Those two top podium places
were fixed from then on, but
just behind a small step for a
giant WorldSBK figure was be
-
ing imprinted by the true GOAT,
Jonathan Rea.
A podium seemed like an
impossible dream even at the
previous round in Misano.
But Rea, starting from row
three, jumped into third and rode
like his old self to scoop up his
first podium in Yamaha colors,
transforming his season almost
instantly. None of the chasing
band of Redding, Alex Lowes
or Locatelli could make up any
ground on him.
Bautista was fast in his
VOLUME ISSUE JULY , P41
Razgatlioglu now has a
41-point lead in the WSBK
Championship.
