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Jamie Klein

Most WSBK: Rea beats Razgatlioglu to pole with new record

Saturday morning's third practice session at the Czech circuit took place in damp conditions, and while the track had dried in time for the 15-minute Superpole session, the whole field immediately headed out as soon as the light at the end of the pitlane turned green to make the most of a dry track.

It was Yamaha man Razgatlioglu that led the way on the first runs with a time of 1m31.578s, coming close to his record-breaking Friday practice effort and leading Rea by around two-and-a-half tenths.

The reigning champion lowered the bar again at the start of his second run as he improved to a 1m31.277s, but soon after that was beaten as Rea set the first ever sub-1m31s lap aboard a Superbike around Most, a 1m30.947s.

Championship leader Alvaro Bautista had looked on course for third spot, having briefly topped the times at the start of the second runs with a 1m31.567s.

But in the dying moments of the session, he was knocked off the front row by his Ducati teammate Michael Ruben Rinaldi, who set a 1m31.506s to outpace Bautista for the first time this year.

Joining Bautista on the second row will be the second Kawasaki of Alex Lowes and the satellite GRT Yamaha of Garrett Gerloff.

Scott Redding was seventh on the best of the BMWs, while the top 10 was completed by Andrea Locatelli (Yamaha), Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Ducati) and Lucas Mahias (Puccetti Kawasaki).

Honda endured a session to forget as its pair of rookies Iker Lecuona and Xavi Vierge could only manage 12th and 13th places respectively.

Peter Hickman also struggled on board the second works BMW, standing in for the injured Michael van der Mark, as he managed only the 21st-fastest time.

Leon Haslam's replacement at Pedercini Kawasaki for the weekend, Ryan Vickers, was 24th, while Czech wildcard Michal Prasek failed to clear the 107 percent mark aboard his privateer BMW.

Most World Superbike - Superpole results:

Cla # Rider Bike Time Gap
1 65 United Kingdom Jonathan Rea Kawasaki 1'30.947  
2 1 Turkey Toprak Razgatlioglu Yamaha 1'31.277 0.330
3 21 Italy Michael Ruben Rinaldi Ducati 1'31.506 0.559
4 19 Spain Alvaro Bautista Ducati 1'31.567 0.620
5 22 United Kingdom Alex Lowes Kawasaki 1'31.622 0.675
6 31 United States Garrett Gerloff Yamaha 1'31.627 0.680
7 45 United Kingdom Scott Redding BMW 1'31.684 0.737
8 55 Italy Andrea Locatelli Yamaha 1'31.718 0.771
9 47 Italy Axel Bassani Ducati 1'32.051 1.104
10 44 France Lucas Mahias Kawasaki 1'32.272 1.325
11 76 France Loris Baz BMW 1'32.282 1.335
12 7 Spain Iker Lecuona Honda 1'32.359 1.412
13 97 Spain Xavi Vierge Honda 1'32.367 1.420
14 29 San Marino Luca Bernardi Ducati 1'32.396 1.449
15 3 Japan Kohta Nozane Yamaha 1'32.455 1.508
16 5 Germany Philipp Oettli Ducati 1'32.501 1.554
17 2 Italy Roberto Tamburini Yamaha 1'33.044 2.097
18 23 France Christophe Ponsson Yamaha 1'33.266 2.319
19 52 Czech Republic Oliver Konig Kawasaki 1'33.286 2.339
20 50 Ireland Eugene Laverty BMW 1'33.297 2.350
21 10 United Kingdom Peter Hickman BMW 1'33.373 2.426
22 35 Malaysia Hafizh Syahrin Honda 1'33.456 2.509
23 36 Argentina Leandro Mercado Honda 1'33.481 2.534
24 77 Ryan James Kawasaki 1'34.049 3.102
  6 Michal Prasek BMW 1'35.766 4.819
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