2021 Portimao World Superbike Race Two Result: A False Start, An Exploding Mudguard And A Racing Incident

By Jared Earle | Sun, 03/10/2021 - 13:58

After a shakeup in the morning's Superpole race, World Superbike benefits from the 22ºC weather, warming the track to a dry 37ºC. The start was delayed with a mix up with the lights. The mechanics ran out on track with stands and tyre warmers to the applause of the crowds celebrating anything even close to a race. The restarted race would be nineteen laps after another warm-up lap.

Scott Redding led into turn one, ahead of Andrea Locatelli and Michael van der Mark. Toprak Razgatlioglu and Jonathan Rea both charged through in the first few turns, passing Van der Mark for third and fourth places. As Razgatlioglu gets caught up behind Locatelli on turn thirteen, Rea slipped under razgatlioglu to line up behind Locatelli onto the straight to take second place into turn one. Scott Redding defended the lead but Rea charged through into the Craig Jones turn to go from tenth to first in a lap and a half.

At threw start of lap three, the leading trio of Rea, Redding and Razgatlioglu were three abreast i to turn one, with Scott Redding leading Toprak Razgatlioglu and Jonathan Rea as Razgatlioglu set the fastest lap, a 1'41.797. Andrea Locatelli was close by in fourth place with Michael Ruben Rinaldi and Alvaro Bautista over a second behind. Lap four, and razgatlioglu hits turn one too hard, taking the lead but overshooting and dropping to third. Scott Redding held the lead until turn five but his wide line let Rea take the lead with a tight apex. Razgatlioglu played the same move on him a few turns later. 

Lap five and the leading four were covered by under a second, with Rea, Razgatlioglu, Redding and Locatelli almost two seconds clear of Michael Ruben Rinaldi and Alvaro Bautista. Bautista took fifth off Rinaldi with Loris Baz and Michael van der Mark closely behind them. Lap seven of nineteen, and Rea led Razgatlioglu but Razgatlioglu, setting the fastest lap with a 1'41.522, cleanly passed Rea before turn one. Razgatlioglu took a sweeping line through turn eleven but Rea had the drive out of turn ten and the hill to hold speed underneath and take the lead. Scott Redding set a 1'41.519 as he kept on the pace. The leading trio were once again in a different race, with Andrea Locatelli over two and a half seconds off the leaders, then three and a half as Loris Baz and Alvaro Bautista caught up. 

On lap nine, Redding tried a pass into turn one, tagging Razgatlioglu's slider with his left wing as a gentle hello, but Razgatlioglu switched back to hold second place as Jonathan Rea set a 1'41.309 in the lead. 

At half race distance, Jonathan Rea led Toprak Razgatlioglu and Scott Redding with Andrea Locatelli four and a half seconds behind. Toprak Razgatlioglu then mimicked Jonathan Rea's crash from yesterday, throwing his Yamaha into the gravel trap at high speed, the front mudguard inexplicably exploding to cause the crash. Jonathan Rea led Scott Redding by over a second.

Andrea Locatelli inherited the last podium place, but Loris Baz was on his tail, closing fast and looking for a way past, with Alvaro Bautista right behind the pair as they started lap thirteen. Alvaro Bautista slipstreamed the pair but overshot the line through turn one and Loris Baz powered under the pair to take third place, five seconds behind Scott Redding who was almost three seconds off Jonathan Rea's lead.

At the start of lap fifteen of nineteen, Jonathan Rea led Scott Redding by three seconds and behind Redding, Loris Baz was dealing with Alvaro Bautista, with Bautista laking third from him into turn one, but missing the exit again to let Baz back through. Andrea Locatelli was over a second behind in fifth place. Lap sixteen, Bautista tried an outside line into turn one, leaning on Baz but Baz held the apex to come out in front yet again. Lap seventeen, Bautista tried an inside line and overshot the exit again, and Baz took third place back for the fourth or fifth lap in a row. Lap eighteen, Baz held enough of a gap onto the straight that Bautista could only catch him and not try a pass into turn one. Loris Baz went wide onto turn five and Bautista took third place, but went wide, as always, but this time as Baz snuck under Bautista, the Honda man was able to close the exit sooner. Baz on the apex hit Bautista as their lines intersected. Baz and Bautista hit hard and Bautista crashed out from the impact, shaking his fist at a rapidly receding Baz.

Jonathan Rea won over five seconds clear of Scott Redding, with Loris Baz three and a half seconds further back. Andrea Locatelli, over a second clear of Garrett Gerloff, took fourth place. The results were immediately declared uncertain as an investigation was opened in to the Baz/Bautista racing incident, but Baz's podium was quickly confirmed. 

Jonathan Rea found the spot Razgatlioglu cleaned with the broom yesterday and spewed rubber all over it to dirty it up with a burnout. Rea's win and Razgatlioglu's DNF put red within twenty four points of Razgatlioglu. Scott Redding's second place put himself within fifty four points of Razgatlioglu's lead and thirty points off Rea and one hundred and twenty four points up for grabs. Loris Baz's three podiums this weekend, with plenty of action to focus on, should put him on a lot of teams' lists for 2022. 

Two weekends remain in this championship fight, and it's still open to three riders. 

Results:

Pos No. Rider Bike Gap
1 1 J. REA Kawasaki ZX-10RR  
2 45 S. REDDING Ducati Panigale V4 R 5.425
3 11 L. BAZ Ducati Panigale V4 R 8.905
4 55 A. LOCATELLI Yamaha YZF R1 12.289
5 31 G. GERLOFF Yamaha YZF R1 13.956
6 60 M. VAN DER MARK BMW M 1000 RR 15.289
7 21 M. RINALDI Ducati Panigale V4 R 20.639
8 91 L. HASLAM Honda CBR1000 RR-R 20.933
9 47 A. BASSANI Ducati Panigale V4 R 26.031
10 50 E. LAVERTY BMW M 1000 RR 26.276
11 36 L. MERCADO Honda CBR1000 RR-R 31.493
12 32 I. VINALES Kawasaki ZX-10RR 41.117
13 3 K. NOZANE Yamaha YZF R1 42.583
14 23 C. PONSSON Yamaha YZF R1 48.074
15 94 J. FOLGER BMW M 1000 RR 51.009
16 76 S. CAVALIERI Ducati Panigale V4 R 57.467
2021
11
World Superbikes
Portimao, Portugal
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Comments

I can't decide if Jonathan Rea is the luckiest man alive or Toprak is the unluckiest. Every time Toprak lays down a performance to take control of the championship something comes out of left field to knock him back. None of his nonfinishes has been down to an error on his part. Two mechanical mishaps and a torpedo job from Gerloff. Jonathan Rea has some kind of magic spell cast over him. Crazy!

WTF? Has the team said anything about what broke and caused the crash? There was a cable attached, but what exactly happened. And he IS unlucky. They've both had 3 DNF's, but none have been Toprak's fault. Topark's heartache is a plus for us: the last two races should be a barn burner!

Just watched it this morning, having fortunately avoided knowing the results.  I was initially thinking some sort of tyre failure with the guard and sensors etc as collateral damage?  But watching the incident again there's no visible evidence of tyre bits, I think a sensor coming adrift and taking out the gaurd on the way around does seem likely.

Unfortunately it's not so much luck as two errors by the team, that's another part of JR's dominance over the years is that his team are just so strong.  Happening to be in the way of Gerloff trying to win on the first corner was bad luck though.

I admit my irrational dislike of Rae might cloud my judgement, but Toprak's corner entry just seems much faster than others.  He's not divebombing in and running wide or parking it mid corner, he goes in crazily late, but gets it turned and carries the speed.  I saw Redding try the inside move on Toprak on turn 1, but unlike Toprak, he had to run wide to do it.

It was impressive how totally calm Toprak was just minutes after the crash in the pits though, imagine if that had happened to Aleix Esparago!  :)  Toprak's just been generally faster than Rae all year, so although this result is a setback I hope he can regroup for the third time and pull clear again.  The final round in Indonesia is going to be a wildcard with a lot of unknowns.

Right? Isn't this current moment in WSBK something fantastic? Rea has been matched by a Turkish rider in Blue. Hand Green 500 revs, won't change anything. Redding is about to swap to BMW, which has just shown itself quite capable and rideable. Timing may be good. Red gets a few old-new riders that offer much. So forth. Hooray! 

Then next yr Supersport gets a diversity makeover too. Red twins (one for a good Moto2 Italian)? Fast Triumph and MV Ag triples? Cool. Fun days.

Yes !

So glad someone else sees Toprak's corner entry the way I do.

And the Redding move where you clearly see he wanted to make good on the 'threats' he made in parc fermée the day before and the race before. By going wide actually proving my point of view. If you run wide while stuffing it on the inside, yes, one can say it's naughty and needs compliance by the other rider. But if you can actually hold the line like Toprak does in the majority of his passes, I can't really see a reason for complaining.

Arriving late into the corner? Well that's just a difference in style and clearly a good way for the Yamaha to be ridden.

...Toprak has been better on the brakes and corner entry. Quite frankly, he's so much better on the brakes it's almost ridiculous. He'll go in hotter/deeper and still get the bike stopped and hit the apex....amazing, considering who he's racing against. Team wise, I agree. His bike/team has let him down twice and if he ends up losing the WC, they better hang their heads, because theri rider hasn't made an error all year.

He is a demon on the brakes-incredibly late braker and like you said he gets the bike turned and doesn't run wide in the process. Redding literally admitted he was fearful of him, by stating every time you are in the lead you hear him  coming....way to gift your opposition the mental edge......

Big shout out for Baz - he came here on a bike which Chaz Davies has struggled to get to grips with all year and gets 3 podiums (yes I know about his demotion in race 3). 

love to see him in WSBK in 2022 - wasted in US though the $$$$ and weather are probably better. Give him the 2nd Aruba bike and see what he can do. You never know he might be back on the satellite back with more factory support & a big pay cheque! 

 

Contractually no he wont be - but Yamaha could do with someone like Toprak to give Fabio a run for his money and to shake things up. Plus with a WC under his belt and not getting any younger - he would be hot property. I have a sneaky suspicion he has a clause in his contract that if he winsWSBK  - he will be Motogp bound. Dorna would love him in the paddock. Can you imagine Toprak vs Marques ?

There was a fatal accident ,many years ago in WSBK. During heavy braking, the front forks bottomed out and somehow the front mudguard broke and hugged the tire for a revolution. This severed the front brake lines and the rider went off track at high speed. The bike cartwheeled into the trees. May have been Donnington. Seeing a part of the mudguard come around hugging the tire with a cable or line attached on Toprak's Yamaha reminded me of the past accident. I see Toprak as lucky, just as the three young blokes in Moto3 are. In life, sheep have been known to hit the fan (according to Colin Mochrie).