Most WSBK: Razgatlioglu wins SP race after fierce Rea battle

Razgatlioglu and Rea spent most of Sunday morning's 10-lap encounter nose-to-tail, but their battle was decided in the favour of the former when Rea was forced to skip through the gravel on the final lap.

The Kawasaki rider was lucky to stay upright and hold on to second place, in the process cutting Alvaro Bautista's championship lead to 27 points ahead of the final full-distance race of the weekend.

As was the case in Saturday's opener, Razgatlioglu got the jump on poleman Rea at the start, and appeared to have the pace advantage in the early stages.

However, Rea never let his rival get more than about one second clear, and after the halfway mark he rapidly closed in to the point where he was right on Razgatlioglu's tail by the eighth lap.

That allowed Rea to dive through on the inside at the Turn 15 right-hander, but Razgatlioglu stuck close by and was able to get back ahead under braking for the Turn 1 at the start of the penultimate tour.

Rea wasn't close enough to repeat his Turn 15 maneouvre that lap, but a better run through the final two right-handers set him up to take the lead at the start of the final lap under braking at Turn 1.

Moments later, Razgatlioglu swept back ahead at the unusual spot of the high-speed Turn 4 left-hander, but a poor exit through Turn 13 opened the door for Rea to move back ahead as the pair approached Turn 15.

This time however Rea appeared to misjudge his braking and had to trudge through the gravel, clearing the way for Razgatlioglu to score his fifth win of the season unchallenged, although such was the duo's advantage over third-placed Bautista that Rea was still able to finish second.

Ducati rider Bautista had no answer to the pace of the top two, instead spending the race keeping his teammate Michael Ruben Rinaldi at bay.

Axel Bassani made it three Ducatis in the top five on his Motocorsa Racing example ahead of Andrea Locatelli's Yamaha and Iker Lecuona on the best of the Hondas.

Scott Redding slipped from seventh to 14th on the opening lap but fought his way back up to eighth aboard the BMW, while Garrett Gerloff claimed the final point on offer in ninth on the GRT Yamaha.

Alex Lowes crashed unaided at Turn 10 on the fourth lap, but the Kawasaki rider had made a late decision to try and start the race after his team had announced he would be sitting it out owing to illness, the Briton having also missed the morning's warm-up session.

Most World Superbike - Superpole race results:

Cla	#	Rider	Bike	Laps	Gap
1	1	Toprak Razgatlioglu	Yamaha	10
2	65	Jonathan Rea	Kawasaki	10	2.327
3	19	Alvaro Bautista	Ducati	10	3.406
4	21	Michael Ruben Rinaldi	Ducati	10	4.679
5	47	Axel Bassani	Ducati	10	7.127
6	55	Andrea Locatelli	Yamaha	10	8.328
7	7	Iker Lecuona	Honda	10	8.479
8	45	Scott Redding	BMW	10	10.308
9	31	Garrett Gerloff	Yamaha	10	10.506
10	97	Xavi Vierge	Honda	10	14.540
11	76	Loris Baz	BMW	10	14.634
12	44	Lucas Mahias	Kawasaki	10	14.760
13	5	Philipp Oettli	Ducati	10	15.271
14	29	Luca Bernardi	Ducati	10	18.008
15	35	Hafizh Syahrin	Honda	10	24.394
16	3	Kohta Nozane	Yamaha	10	24.574
17	36	Leandro Mercado	Honda	10	24.891
18	50	Eugene Laverty	BMW	10	26.956
19	10	Peter Hickman	BMW	10	28.649
20	2	Roberto Tamburini	Yamaha	10	35.860
21	6	Michal Prasek	BMW	10	57.426
	52	Oliver Konig	Kawasaki	8
	23	Christophe Ponsson	Yamaha	5
	22	Alex Lowes	Kawasaki	3
	77	Ryan Vickers	Kawasaki	2
View full results