significant injuries.
Due to his heavy medica-
tion for the pain, he did not
ride, leaving Kawasaki on 999
race starts just as WorldSBK
was about to hit 1000.
And, if you are like almost
everyone, asking what the
race without a Ducati starter
was, it was race two during
the one-off weekend in Istan
-
bul Park in Turkey in 2013.
"In the end, I am not too
bad; it was just unfortunate,"
Gerloff said. "It would be
tough to race today, I am not
going to lie, but I had painkill
-
ers yesterday, and that has
made me unfit for Sunday's
races. But I am okay—just
beaten up, and I am hurt
-
ing pretty bad. But we have
a long time until the next
round, so I will be fine."
The Superpole race was
held in semi-damp and
eventually dry conditions,
with riders opting for slicks,
intermediates, or a cocktail
of both.
Those who chose slicks
chose wisely.
Razgatlioglu won, of
course, and in doing so he
became the special rider who
had won the 800th WorldSBK
race (on a Kawasaki), the
900th (on a Yamaha), and
now the 1000th on a BMW.
It is a wildly strange statistic,
given the talents that were
around then and now.
The Superpole race
brought home Sam Lowes
you ever
needed a single
photo to sum up
former WorldSBK
race winner
Michael Ruben
Rinaldi's 2025
season, here you
have it as his
Yamaha goes up
in smoke.
Andrea Iannone's
mishap wiped out nearly
a third of the grid at
turn two of race one.
He wasn't a popular boy
after this one.
VOLUME ISSUE JULY , P77
