Magny-Cours WSBK: Razgatlioglu completes weekend sweep

Yamaha man Razgatlioglu had to work hard to beat Rea's Kawasaki, but ultimately prevailed by 2.9 seconds to take his ninth win of the season and complete his first-ever perfect weekend in the championship.

The result is that with five rounds to go Razgatlioglu is 13 points clear of six-time champion Rea in the riders' standings.

Victory in the morning's Superpole race gave Razgatlioglu pole for the finale, and the Turkish rider converted that into an early lead, fending off a brief challenge from the other Kawasaki of Alex Lowes.

Rea slipped to third initially but forced his way ahead of teammate Lowes at the Imola chicane to retake second, and then found a way by Razgatlioglu on the following lap to take the lead.

Razgatlioglu repassed Rea at the Adelaide hairpin on lap four of 21, but Rea responded just a few turns later at the 180-degree corner, and was likewise able to fight back from a similar attack on lap 10.

But what proved to be the decisive pass came just a lap later, again at the Adelaide hairpin, with Razgatlioglu this time hanging on to lead over the line for the first time since the opening lap.

Rea hung on for several laps, launching a bold move at Adelaide on lap 15 and running wide, but after saving the front at 180 two laps later he steadily lost ground and was forced to concede defeat - extending his winless run to nine races, or three complete rounds.

Some eight seconds behind Razgatlioglu at the finish was Ducati man Scott Redding, who profited from a good start from fifth on the grid and a second-lap crash for Lowes to spend almost the entire race in third.

But Redding's title hopes are now looking increasingly faint as he now sits 75 points down on Razgatlioglu.

Andrea Locatelli made it 11 top-four finishes in a row on the second Yamaha, but only after a major moment with the BMW of Michael van der Mark on the start/finish straight - the two bikes made contact, forcing van der Mark's front brake on and almost causing the Dutchman to crash.

Van der Mark recovered from that scare to finish eighth, losing out to Chaz Davies on the Go Eleven Ducati, Alvaro Bautista on the Honda and Michael Ruben Rinaldi's factory Ducati.

Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha) and Tom Sykes (BMW) completed the top 10 finishers, both helped by a crash for Leon Haslam (Honda).

Orelac Kawasaki rider Isaac Vinales was a non-starter due to illness, having withdrawn from the Superpole race earlier in the day.

Race results:

Cla	#	Rider	Bike	Laps	Gap
1	54	Toprak Razgatlioglu	Yamaha	21
2	1	Jonathan Rea	Kawasaki	21	2.908
3	45	Scott Redding	Ducati	21	8.406
4	55	Andrea Locatelli	Yamaha	21	10.329
5	7	Chaz Davies	Ducati	21	10.734
6	19	Alvaro Bautista	Honda	21	11.467
7	21	Michael Ruben Rinaldi	Ducati	21	13.901
8	60	Michael van der Mark	BMW	21	15.640
9	31	Garrett Gerloff	Yamaha	21	16.254
10	66	Tom Sykes	BMW	21	20.911
11	47	Axel Bassani	Ducati	21	39.410
12	23	Christophe Ponsson	Yamaha	21	42.808
13	44	Lucas Mahias	Kawasaki	21	43.057
14	3	Kohta Nozane	Yamaha	21	44.106
15	53	Tito Rabat	Ducati	21	48.202
16	94	Jonas Folger	BMW	21	49.557
17	36	Leandro Mercado	Honda	21	51.981
18	84	Loris Cresson	Kawasaki	21	1'07.692
	91	Leon Haslam	Honda	4
	22	Alex Lowes	Kawasaki	1
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