Most WSBK: Rea beats Razgatlioglu to pole with new record

Saturday morning's third practice session at the Czech circuit took place in damp conditions, and while the track had dried in time for the 15-minute Superpole session, the whole field immediately headed out as soon as the light at the end of the pitlane turned green to make the most of a dry track.

It was Yamaha man Razgatlioglu that led the way on the first runs with a time of 1m31.578s, coming close to his record-breaking Friday practice effort and leading Rea by around two-and-a-half tenths.

The reigning champion lowered the bar again at the start of his second run as he improved to a 1m31.277s, but soon after that was beaten as Rea set the first ever sub-1m31s lap aboard a Superbike around Most, a 1m30.947s.

Championship leader Alvaro Bautista had looked on course for third spot, having briefly topped the times at the start of the second runs with a 1m31.567s.

But in the dying moments of the session, he was knocked off the front row by his Ducati teammate Michael Ruben Rinaldi, who set a 1m31.506s to outpace Bautista for the first time this year.

Joining Bautista on the second row will be the second Kawasaki of Alex Lowes and the satellite GRT Yamaha of Garrett Gerloff.

Scott Redding was seventh on the best of the BMWs, while the top 10 was completed by Andrea Locatelli (Yamaha), Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Ducati) and Lucas Mahias (Puccetti Kawasaki).

Honda endured a session to forget as its pair of rookies Iker Lecuona and Xavi Vierge could only manage 12th and 13th places respectively.

Peter Hickman also struggled on board the second works BMW, standing in for the injured Michael van der Mark, as he managed only the 21st-fastest time.

Leon Haslam's replacement at Pedercini Kawasaki for the weekend, Ryan Vickers, was 24th, while Czech wildcard Michal Prasek failed to clear the 107 percent mark aboard his privateer BMW.

Most World Superbike - Superpole results:

Cla	#	Rider	Bike	Time	Gap
1	65	Jonathan Rea	Kawasaki	1'30.947
2	1	Toprak Razgatlioglu	Yamaha	1'31.277	0.330
3	21	Michael Ruben Rinaldi	Ducati	1'31.506	0.559
4	19	Alvaro Bautista	Ducati	1'31.567	0.620
5	22	Alex Lowes	Kawasaki	1'31.622	0.675
6	31	Garrett Gerloff	Yamaha	1'31.627	0.680
7	45	Scott Redding	BMW	1'31.684	0.737
8	55	Andrea Locatelli	Yamaha	1'31.718	0.771
9	47	Axel Bassani	Ducati	1'32.051	1.104
10	44	Lucas Mahias	Kawasaki	1'32.272	1.325
11	76	Loris Baz	BMW	1'32.282	1.335
12	7	Iker Lecuona	Honda	1'32.359	1.412
13	97	Xavi Vierge	Honda	1'32.367	1.420
14	29	Luca Bernardi	Ducati	1'32.396	1.449
15	3	Kohta Nozane	Yamaha	1'32.455	1.508
16	5	Philipp Oettli	Ducati	1'32.501	1.554
17	2	Roberto Tamburini	Yamaha	1'33.044	2.097
18	23	Christophe Ponsson	Yamaha	1'33.266	2.319
19	52	Oliver Konig	Kawasaki	1'33.286	2.339
20	50	Eugene Laverty	BMW	1'33.297	2.350
21	10	Peter Hickman	BMW	1'33.373	2.426
22	35	Hafizh Syahrin	Honda	1'33.456	2.509
23	36	Leandro Mercado	Honda	1'33.481	2.534
24	77	Ryan James	Kawasaki	1'34.049	3.102
	6	Michal Prasek	BMW	1'35.766	4.819
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