Ggreat show of strength by Toprak Razgatlioglu who wins the Misano Superpole Race. The Turkish BMW driver took the lead but after a few corners Nicolò Bulega overtook him on the inside. A declaration of war that Toprak had willingly accepted, following the Ducati rookie until the fourth lap, and then passing him at the oak bend.
In an attempt to get away from his uncomfortable opponent, on the fifth lap the Turk set a new record for the Romagna track (1’32”687). The tug of war between the two lasted until the seventh lap, when the Turk’s lead reached one second. From then on the Team Aruba.it driver basically raised the white flag, while Toprak continued to push, crossing the finish line with a lead of 1.6 seconds.
Witnessing the beautiful duel up close was an exceptional Alex Lowes, who is reaping great results with a Ninja that until last year seemed like the Cinderella of SBK. Thanks to concessions but above all thanks to the great work of Pere Riba, Lowes has become a fast and consistent driver.
Yet another fourth place for Andrea Locatelli who held off a recovering Andrea Iannone, a good fifth. Axel Bassani, eighth in a Superpole Race that he has never loved, also attests to the fact that Kawasaki has improved. The Venetian driver preceded Iker Lecuona, the revived Jonathan Rea (still sore from yesterday’s crash in Race1) and the usually heroic Danilo Petrucci, who with his ninth position collected the last available point.
Tenth place for Dominique Aegerter, ahead of Michael Ruben Rinaldi who showed signs of recovery. Sixteenth position for Michele Pirro who had never taken part in a Superpole Race. The Ducati test rider preceded Alvaro Bautista, the disappointment of this Romagna sprint race. The Spaniard slipped at the entrance to the sunset curve on the fifth lap and once back on the bike he managed to recover from last to seventeenth position, marking the first empty spot in his ranking, which now sees him in second place at 15 points from Razgatlioglu and with a lead of just one point over Bulega.
