Three races and three different winners at the Acerbis Czech round of the WorldSBK Championship at the Most Autodrome, July 29-30. Jonathan Rea got things started with the win in race one on Saturday, and then Toprak Razgatlioglu and Alvaro Bautista finished things off with wins in Superpole and WorldSBK race two on Sunday.
RACE 2 (Sunday)
Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) won a record 18th race in a single season, taking his own 50th WorldSBK race win in the final 22-lap fight at Most on Sunday.
It was a hugely entertaining fight after the leading duo of Bautista and Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK Team) left their chasers behind.
As they passed and re-passed, on lap 17, Toprak’s bike suddenly slid around out of T2 after he got by Bautista’s faster bike again into the first two turns – high siding him off in a weird low-side manner.
The problem was a blistered rear tire in two places, which suddenly deflated and caused his crash.
An unusual problem, unexpected by any, but one that also affected the rear tires of eventually third-placed Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) and sixth-placed Remy Gardner (GRT Yamaha) – if just not as severely as Razgatlioglu.
Rea looked set for third, but the final pace of Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Ducati) put him into second place after a close call between the two on the last sector. It was Petrucci’s third podium of the year but his first-ever runner-up spot in WorldSBK.
With Rea third, he was unaware of how fast the early grass-tracker Axel Bassani (MotoCorsa Racing Ducati) had been closing in, but he held him off by just 0.061 as three avaricious riders crossed the line together.
Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) secured fifth place and Gardner sixth.
Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK Team) was seventh, and Scott Redding (ROKit BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) was eighth.
Xavi Vierge (HRC Honda) and Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW) completed the top 10 before the start of the summer break.
After Razgatlioglu had been drawing Bautista back into the championship recently, the reigning champ’s superb ride at full gas before Razgatlioglu crashed saw him extend his championship lead significantly.
He now has a 74-point lead over Razgatlioglu, 427 to 352. Rea is third with 251 points.
WORLDSBK RACE 2 RESULTS
| 1. | Alvaro Bautista | (Duc) | |
| 2. | Danilo Petrucci | (Duc) | +4.652 |
| 3. | Jonathan Rea | (Kaw) | +4.725 |
| 4. | Axel Bassini | (Duc) | +4.786 |
| 5. | Michael Ruben Rinaldi | (Duc) | +7.538 |
SUPERPOLE (Sunday)
Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK Team) and Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) were the final protagonists for the Superpole Race win after each had negated the early leading challenge of Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing Ducati).W
In dry conditions after overnight rain, Razgatlioglu passed Rea, then Bassani, and set out to gap them both.
Rea hustled past Bassani shortly after Razgatlioglu had taken the lead and set about catching and passing the Yamaha rider, which he did manage for a very short time.
When Razgatlioglu retook the lead, he pushed on enough to beat Rea by 1.2 seconds.
Bassani had to finally surrender third to Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati), who came through from 14th on the grid in a controlled fashion.
With Bassani fourth, Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) was fifth, and front row starter Remy Gardner (GRT Yamaha) sixth, just beating Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team) in their almost race-long battle.
Another front-row qualifier, Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Ducati), got into a joust braking into the first corner on lap one and ran wide, allowing several riders through. He would finish eighth at the end.
Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW) was the top BMW rider in ninth, with Iker Lecuona (HRC Honda) 10th.
SUPERPOLE RESULTS
| 1. | Toprak Razgatlioglu | (Yam) | |
| 2. | Jonathan Rea | (Kaw) | +1.203 |
| 3. | Alvaro Bautista | (Duc) | +2.968 |
| 4. | Axel Bassani | (Duc) | +3.180 |
| 5. | Michael Ruben Rinaldi | (Duc) | +5.310 |
RACE 1 (Saturday)
In the opening race of the Acerbis Czech round of the WorldSBK Championship at the Most Autodrome, July 29, Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) ended his 252-day, 23-race win-less dry spell in strong style after a wet-then-drying 22-lap race that started with surprises and featured chaos and position changes throughout.
On a wet track but with an unknown prospect of more rain under leaden skies, Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing Ducati) was the early leader but had to eventually pit to change from his wet front and rear choices after Rea had passed him for the lead.
The rains never really re-appeared, causing those on wets to come in and pit, leaving the other competitors on an initial choice of the —seldom used—intermediates to fight it out for ultimate podium success.
Rea controlled the pace out front as the track improved and even the tremendous pressure and pace from Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK Team) could not stop Rea from scoring his first-ever race win at Most, and his first of what has been a challenging season so far.
It was JR’s first race win in WorldSBK since Phillip Island at the end of the 2022 season.
Razgatlioglu made some mistakes on his journey through the leading groups of riders and finished just over four seconds behind Rea at the flag.
Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) was only 12th, after stopping to change tires, and is now “only” 54 points ahead of Razgatlioglu in the championship fight.
Once more Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Ducati) secured a podium as he also ran on Intermediate tire options with skill and patience.
A trio of riders fought it out for the first of the off-podium places, with Scott Redding (ROKit BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) fourth, Iker Lecuona (HRC Honda) a close fifth and Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK Team) sixth.
Early and clear leader Bassani placed seventh and Dominique Aegerter (GRT Yamaha) eighth.
Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team) was ninth and Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW) was 10th.
Remy Gardner (GRT Yamaha) went from an early second place to 11th, one place up on Bautista.
Michael van der Mark (ROKit BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) was 13th in his comeback race.
Gordon Ritchie
WorldSBK Race 1 Results
| 1. | Jonathan Rea | (Kaw) | |
| 2. | Toprak Razgatlioglu | (Yam) | +4.007s |
| 3. | Danilo Petrucci | (Duc) | +7.939s |
| 4. | Scott Redding | (BMW) | +14.736s |
| 5. | Iker Lecuona | (Hon) | +14.903s |
