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Rachit Thukral

Portimao WSBK: Razgatlioglu hangs on to win Superpole race

Razgatlioglu blasted past pole-sitter Jonathan Rea at the start of the 10-lap sprint but soon had to contend with the championship-leading Ducati of Bautista, the two engaging in the kind of battle that has characterised much of the 2022 season.

Bautista was able to use the sheer grunt of his Ducati to snatch the lead from Razgatlioglu at the start of lap 2, but the Turkish rider fought back with the strengths of his Yamaha to reinstate the status quo.

With four laps to go Bautista was again able to inch ahead of the Yamaha on the start/finish straight, but Razgatlioglu managed to outbrake the Spanish rider to hold on to the lead.

Bautista continued to put the pressure on Razgatlioglu in the final laps of the race, but the defending champion was able to fend him off to score his 10th win of the 2022 season and reduce the deficit to Bautista in the standings.

Rea didn’t complete fall away from the leading duo as was the case in Saturday’s opening race, but the Kawasaki rider wasn’t really able to put up a real fight either and ended up 1.4s adrift in third.

Alex Lowes’ upturn in performance continued as he took the chequered flag in fourth, only half a second down on his Kawasaki teammate Rea, while Michael Ruben Rinaldi was a strong fifth on the second of the factory Ducatis.

Top independent rider honours went to Axel Bassani on the Motocorsa Ducati in sixth, as Garrett Gerloff crashed his GRT Yamaha with four laps remaining.

Factory Yamaha rider Andrea Locatelli finished seventh, while BMW’s Michael van der Mark secured his best result since his return from injury in eighth.

Loriz Baz (Bonovo BMW) and Xavi Vierge (Honda) completed the top 10. 

Portimao WSBK - Race results:

Cla # Rider Bike Gap
1 1 Turkey Toprak Razgatlioglu Yamaha  
2 19 Spain Alvaro Bautista Ducati 0.123
3 65 United Kingdom Jonathan Rea Kawasaki 1.434
4 22 United Kingdom Alex Lowes Kawasaki 1.976
5 21 Italy Michael Ruben Rinaldi Ducati 3.965
6 47 Italy Axel Bassani Ducati 5.969
7 55 Italy Andrea Locatelli Yamaha 6.067
8 60 Netherlands Michael van der Mark BMW 11.297
9 76 France Loris Baz BMW 11.945
10 97 Spain Xavi Vierge Honda 12.014
11 5 Germany Philipp Oettli Ducati 12.692
12 7 Spain Iker Lecuona Honda 12.937
13 45 United Kingdom Scott Redding BMW 15.165
14 44 France Lucas Mahias Kawasaki 18.996
15 50 Ireland Eugene Laverty BMW 20.677
16 33 United States Jake Gagne Yamaha 20.816
17 17 Germany Marvin Fritz Yamaha 24.172
18 29 San Marino Luca Bernardi Ducati 24.575
19 91 United Kingdom Leon Haslam Kawasaki 25.909
20 3 Japan Kohta Nozane Yamaha 26.206
21 36 Argentina Leandro Mercado Honda 26.421
22 23 France Christophe Ponsson Yamaha 27.390
23 35 Malaysia Hafizh Syahrin Honda 29.711
24 52 Czech Republic Oliver Konig Kawasaki 45.459
  31 United States Garrett Gerloff Yamaha  
  2 Italy Roberto Tamburini Yamaha  
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