With only ten laps to go, Yamaha rider, Toprak Razgatlioglu crashed out of the Portimao round of WSBK allowing Kawsaki's Jonathan Rea to win in Portugal.
Coming into the race, Rea found himself down 49 points behind Razgatlioglu. He suffered a few spills prior, at the opener and the Superpole race. With a total of 19 laps for the Portimao round, the race was classified as a full-distance race, which is a big deal for Rea as it was his first win since the Assen event back in July.
Midway through the race, Razgatlioglu on his Yamaha R1 rashed at high speed on lap 10 of 19 due to his front mudguard on his R1 breaking and slipping under his front wheel, causing him to lose traction and eventually exit via a slide off track.
The incident allowed Jonathan Rea to get in front of the pack, and eventually cut the points deficit down from 49 to just 24. Rea was locked in a heated battle with Scott Redding, furiously trading places throughout the race. Razgatliglu answered back by chasing down Rea.
The Turkish racer tried and tried to get back into striking distance, whittling down the lead and getting ahead of Rea, but only for a moment. Razgatlioglu ended up crashing on the final corner on the tenth lap of the race. Fortunately for him, he walked away without any injuries. Unfortunately, however, he was out of the race with Redding hot on Rea’s heels for the top spot.
However, Rea was in top form and showed no signs of slowing throughout the rest of the Portimao round, sailing to the finish line and officially marking his eleventh win of the 2021 season.
Razgatlioglu still is in the lead for this year’s WSBK season, but with a gap of only 24 points, and two rounds left, it could be anyone’s game.
