Toprak Razgatlıoğlu said it and did it. He had promised to win all three races of the Emilia-Romagna Superbike round and by achieving success in race 2 too he completed his mission. For three laps Nicolò Bulega remained in the lead and perhaps he hoped for a coup but the Turk was just looking for a feeling with his BMW in the hottest hour of Misano. On the fourth lap he found him and put on the turbo, he overtook the Ducati rider at the Quercia braking section and he left alone, amidst skids and raised wheels displayed with disarming naturalness. He crossed the finish line balanced on just the front wheel.
Toprak and BMW perfect couple
A great Toprak type, king of the “stoppie”, spectacular on the track and amiable in the pits, where he never misses an opportunity to underline how the victory is also thanks to BMW which followed his instructions. He had arrived at Misano second in the championship, he starts again at the top of the standings and with a 21 point advantage.
And to think that the heat at Misano must have been favorable to the Ducatis…
Bulega in defense
Nicolò Bulega defended himself honorably but He couldn’t do more than that and climbed onto the second step of the podium. He gave his all and this is demonstrated by the fact that he set the fastest lap of the race, and it’s the fourth time this has happened since the start of the season. But the Turk is a hammer while the Emilian still has to gather experience, it’s still his first year in Superbike and he once again put his team leader, Alvaro Bautista, behind him. Misano wasn’t the world champion’s best weekend. In race 2 he started from behind following the crash in the Superpole Race and did well to recover to third place; but it didn’t seem as incisive as other times, the impression is that the Panigale V4R is not easy to set up and this would also explain Alvaro’s fluctuating performance. Probably in Borgo Panigale they are already rolling up their sleeves to take action.
For Bautista it was a complicated round
Lowes is fourth
The Emilia-Romagna round confirms the good momentum of the Kawasaki ZX-10 RRperhaps not as fast as the BMW but consistent and able to adapt to different circuits. Alex Lowes he achieved another good placing, fourth, and his teammate Axel Bassani is also showing his teeth. This time Veneto stayed in the game, fought shoulder to shoulder with Danilo Petrucci and even though he had the worst of it, he came home with a seventh place which indicates that he was on the right path. As for Petrucci, hats off to his heroic effort: his injured arm is still not in place and the man from Terni suffered the pains of hell but with gritted teeth he achieved sixth place which is also the best placing for an “independent”. The Barni Racing boys welcomed his return to the garage with applause.
Locatelli positive
Applause also for Andrea Locatelli, good driving and a lot of determination which allowed him to cross the finish line in fifth place after several exchanges with Bassani.
Remy Gardner in eighth place he preceded Iker Lecuona, Jonathan Rea and a Andrea Iannone, unrecognizable. Throughout the weekend there was no way to find a decent setup and the Abruzzo native was only able to get to the finish line.
Delayed by a fall, Michael Ruben Rinaldi he still managed to get to the end and only missed out on the points by just 0″012, preceded in 15th place by Philipp Oettl.
Once again Michele Pirro fell to the ground in a weekend to forget, just as Garrett Gerloff and Xavi Vierge tumbled together.
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Bulega takes home a good second place
These are the top ten of Race 2
- 1. Razgatlioglu (Tur-BMW) 21 laps in 33’06″338
- 2. Bulega (Ita-Ducati) at 2″9
- 3. Bautista (Spa-Ducati) at 6″9
- 4. A. Lowes (GB-Kawasaki) at 9″9
- 5. Locatelli (Ita-Locatelli) at 11″9
- 6. Petrucci (Ita-Ducati) at 15″9
- 7. Bassani (Ita-Kawasaki) at 16″
- 8. Gardner (Aus-Yamaha) at 19″1
- 9. Lecuona (Spa-Honda) at 22″5
- 10. Rea (GB-Yamaha) at 27″2
Fast lap: Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) 1’33.307
Championship standings
1. Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) 179 points
2. Nicolò Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 158
3. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 155
4. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) 124
5. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Prometeon Yamaha) 94
6. Andrea Iannone (Team GoEleven) 83
