The man who won the 800th and 900th WorldSBK races also won the 1000th as Toprak Razgatlioglu triumped in the Tissot Superpole Race in changeable conditions before dominating Race 2 to take back-to-back trebles following his Donington Park success a fortnight ago.
Tissot Superpole Race
On late Sunday morning at Balaton Park, conditions were mixed. The rain had subsided in time for the race start but there was a split of riders risking it on slicks and others on intermediate rubber.
As it turns out, the slick tyres were not as much of a risk as the intermediate rubber overheated in the drying conditions. Despite only being a 10-lap affair, there were several passes for position throughout the grid as some of the riders on intermediates went forward before falling back and others could not find any performance at all while the slicks improved as the race progressed.
Nicolo Bulega was one of the riders to run intermediates and had a nightmare 10 laps that saw him come home 13th and starting in 10th for Race 2 as his championship rival Razgatlioglu kept his cool to pick up another victory. Although he held the lead from pole position at the start, by lap 3 the Turkish rider had fallen to 3rd and had to contend with Alvaro Bautista coming from 4th but by the halfway point was back at the front and never looked back as his slick tyres got up to temperature.
The two riders to pass Razgatlioglu for 1st and 2nd were Danilo Petrucci and then Sam Lowes. The intermediate tyres were working well for those such as Petrucci, his teammate Yari Montella and Alex Lowes but as the race wore on their advantage disappeared.
Montella crashed out after making up 6 places at the start and Andrea Locatelli lost 3 places with a trip through the gravel trap on lap 4. Locatelli at least remained clear of the thrilling battle for the final points positions down to 9th that set the grid for Race 2.
Tarron MacKenzie has replaced Scott Redding on the MGM Bonovo Ducati for this round and at one point the Scotsman attempted to pass Ryan Vickers and a fading Petrucci into turn 1. Ultimately, Vickers came home 7th ahead of MacKenzie and Jonathan Rea disposed Petrucci of 9th for an all-British row 3 in Race 2.
Tissot Superpole Race Results
Race 2
Razgatlioglu was briefly overtaken for the lead by Bautista at the start of Race 2 before the Turkish rider reasserted the lead at the end of the back straight on the 1st lap. From there, the BMW rider rode off into the distance helped by the squabbling for 2nd place that delayed his rivals.
Bautista, Sam Lowes and Locatelli began fighting for 2nd but it was not long before Bulega blasted up the order from 10th to join in. The runner-up in the championship was up to 5th by the end of lap 2 and so began a 4-way fight for 2nd place as Razgatlioglu disappeared up front.
Sam Lowes bullied Bautista out of 2nd place but the Spaniard was defiant and repassed the satellite bike as his teammate Bulega made it into 4th past Locatelli then the two factory Ducati’s swapped places. With 16 laps still to go, Bautista then ran wide at the same spot that Tito Rabat had a crash in qualifying earlier in the weekend that destroyed his biike but thankfully left the Spaniard unhurt.
To rub salt into Bautista’s wounds, his rival for 3rd in the championship – Petrucci – made it past Locatelli for 4th. Bulega and Sam Lowes (minus his fairing on one side) settled into 2nd and 3rd while Razgatlioglu continued to lap slightly quicker way out front.
Vickers was having his best WorldSBK race to date but was dealt a long-lap penalty for course cutting through a chicane then not losing at least 1 second through the sector not long after he passed Xavi Vierge for 6th. When Vickers went to serve the penalty, he braked too late and went off into the gravel, had to retake his long-lap, then crashed out of 14th.
Alex Lowes was the big mover in the closing stages as he made up a place when Vickers went down, another when he overtook his teammate, then made it around Vierge for 6th. MacKenzie lost 10th at the end to Yari Montella, while Rea was a lowly 12th.
Razgatlioglu’s 15th win of the season stretched his lead to 26 points over Bulega as the championship goes into its summer break. Bulega will be worried after back-to-back trebles for his BMW rival but the title battle will race on with 4 rounds left to go starting in September.
Race 2 Results
Feature Image Credit: WorldSBK