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/1525243
field gradually but assuredly. He would be second in the opening race, Petrucci third, and fourth was the figure of recent Kawasaki Puccetti Racing sign - ing for 2025, Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW), holding Lowes back in fifth place. Michael van der Mark (RoKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) was an early podium contender, and, even in finishing sixth, was less than five seconds from teammate Razgatlioglu. Razgatlioglu equaled the record of successive race wins in WorldS - BK (11) with his success in race one. One milestone achieved. From the start of the Super - pole race, Petrucci was up front but was passed by Razgatlioglu and Lowes as they entered turn one, and Petrucci went off line. With two laps gone, Razgatlio - glu had opened up a small gap over the determined Lowes, with Petrucci third. Those two Toprak chasers would reverse positions, and Lowes had to work hard to get back onto the final podium spot. Van der Mark was fourth. In fifth place, Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) won the internal factory Ducati battle with Bautista. A strong and very intense ride from Xavi Vierge (HRC Honda) placed him seventh, and just eight seconds from the winning rider Razgatlioglu. Razgatlioglu's celebration this time was to pretend to do a bit of target pistol shooting, in hom - age to his uber-cool countryman Yusuf Dikec, who had earned a medal at the Olympics with one hand in his pocket. In fairness, it is one of Razgatlio - glu's hobbies at home, too. In the final race of the weekend, over 20 laps again, Razgatlioglu and co. were challenged by high winds that changed direction inten - sity, making it a very tricky contest. Even with his one wing only in place, Razgatlioglu survived more early action to run clear, even if he was chased all the way and only won his 13th race in succession (and 15th of the year) by a nar- row 0.035 of a second. His final companion on track was a factory Ducati rider, but not Bautista. He had fallen at turn five while in the shadow of Razgatlioglu, leaving the road clear for Bulega—suffer- ing from a nasty cold and sore throat—to catch Razgatlioglu. The tall Turkish star was not going to be caught on the final turn, it seemed, but Bulega got awfully close over the line. The final Toprak winning cel - ebration was a trackside game of cards, then almost the entire BMW factory team joining Toprak in the famous Portimao swimming pool after all the media duties. Just to cap it all off, this was Toprak's 54th career win, match- ing his own famous race number. With Bautista out, the impres- sive post-Rea era Kawasaki force that is Lowes hung on to third in race two and his second podium trophy of the day. A resurgent Andrea Iannone (Team GoEleven Ducati) was fourth. In the championship, Razgatlio- glu has 365 points, Bulega 273, Bautista 223 and Lowes a closing in 213. WorldSSP To no-one's surprise, Adrian Huertas (Aruba.it Racing – Duca- ti) won Superpole on his official Ducati, with Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Ducati) second. It was much more of a surprise when Montella just cleared off to win the opening race by over three seconds from Huertas. The change of schedule saw each World Supersport race start at 4:30 p.m., in the heat of a Por - tuguese summer. VOLUME ISSUE AUGUST , P39 Yari Montella roared back into title contention with two WorldSSP race wins.