Argentina WSBK: Redding wins, Rea cuts gap to Razgatlioglu
Ducati’s Scott Redding clinched his seventh victory of the 2021 World Superbike season following an intense battle with Jonathan Rea and Toprak Razgatlioglu in the final race in Argentina.
Scott Redding, Aruba.It Racing - Ducati
Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Rea and Razgatlioglu swapped positions a number of times in the first half of the race, with Redding also briefly taking the lead on lap 5 of 21.
Rea appeared to be the quickest of the trio and passed Razgatlioglu at several occasions into Turn 7, only for Kawasaki’s horsepower deficit to leave him vulnerable to Razgatlioglu on the following back straight.
But as it would turn out, Rea and Razgatlioglu would be left to squabble for second place, with Redding riding in a class of his own in the second part of the race.
Redding first cleared Rea with ease under braking for Turn 1 on lap 10 and even passed Razgatlioglu on the same tour, only to run wide at Turn 8 to allow the Turkish rider back in the lead.
However, he made no such mistake on the following lap, making the move stick on Razgatlioglu into Turn 7 before using the superior grunt of the Ducati to pull further clear of the Yamaha.
Crucially, Redding didn’t allow Razgatlioglu to come back at him, putting himself out of the Turkish rider’s sight with a series of fastest laps.
The Ducati rider went on to take a comfortable victory by 2.4s, although Razgatlioglu’s podium finish means he is now officially out of the title fight with a round to spare.
After Redding broke away from the rest of the field, Rea and Razgatlioglu began an intense battle for second position, with the Kawasaki rider eventually coming out on top to cut Razgatlioglu’s lead down to 30 points with 62 available in the title decider in Indonesia.
The Ulsterman got the overtake done into Turn 1 on the 15th lap and eventually finished the race just over a second clear of Razgatlioglu.
Motocorsa Ducati rider Axel Bassani remained with the leading pack for much of the race, even passing Redding for third at one occasion before finishing in a strong fourth position - bagging the honours for the top independent rider yet again.
Ducati’s Michael Ruben Rinaldi came out on top in a battle with the BMW of Michael van der Mark to finish fifth, while factory Yamaha rider Andrea Locatelli headed the satellite GRT Yamaha of Garrett Gerloff in seventh.
Making his comeback from injury, Chaz Davies finished an impressive ninth on the Go Eleven Ducati, beating the factory Hondas of Alvaro Bautista and Leon Haslam.
Race results:
Cla | # | Rider | Bike | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 45 |
Scott Redding
|
Ducati | |
2 | 1 |
Jonathan Rea
|
Kawasaki | 2.428 |
3 | 54 |
Toprak Razgatlioglu
|
Yamaha | 3.834 |
4 | 47 |
Axel Bassani
|
Ducati | 5.390 |
5 | 21 |
Michael Ruben Rinaldi
|
Ducati | 5.845 |
6 | 60 |
Michael van der Mark
|
BMW | 8.147 |
7 | 55 |
Andrea Locatelli
|
Yamaha | 12.040 |
8 | 31 |
Garrett Gerloff
|
Yamaha | 12.352 |
9 | 7 |
Chaz Davies
|
Ducati | 19.409 |
10 | 19 |
Alvaro Bautista
|
Honda | 20.183 |
11 | 91 |
Leon Haslam
|
Honda | 23.993 |
12 | 53 |
Tito Rabat
|
Kawasaki | 25.138 |
13 | 32 |
Isaac Viñales
|
Kawasaki | 27.407 |
14 | 3 |
Kohta Nozane
|
Yamaha | 28.568 |
15 | 36 |
Leandro Mercado
|
Honda | 36.415 |
16 | 50 |
Eugene Laverty
|
BMW | 39.213 |
17 | 23 |
Christophe Ponsson
|
Yamaha | 40.746 |
18 | 76 |
Samuele Cavalieri
|
Ducati | 56.034 |
19 | 4 |
Luciano Ribodino
|
Kawasaki | 1'36.692 |
20 | 39 |
Marco Solorza
|
Kawasaki | 1'36.776 |
View full results |
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