2021 San Juan Villicum World Superbike Superpole Race Result: Close, As Usual

The World Superbike Superpole race would determine the grid for race two, the last race of the weekend. Ten laps of San Juan Villicum would determine the winner.

Toprak Razgatlioglu took the lead from Scott Redding with Jonathan Rea taking up third place. Michael Ruben Rinaldi got a terrible start from third place and ended up in eighth place. Redding tried a few passes on Razgatlioglu while also fending off attempts from Rea behind him, but the positions stayed the same after one lap. Alex Lowes sat in fourth place behind his teammate with Axel Bassani and Andrea Locatelli behind him. Razgatlioglu held the fastest lap for two tenths of a second until Scott Redding took it from him with a 1'37.729. 

On lap three, Axel Bassani passed Alex Lowes into turn eight. Michael van der Mark tried to pass Andrea Locatelli into turn ten, but he went wide and lost seventh place to Michael Ruben Rinaldi. Scott Redding made a mistake and lost a few tenths to Razgatlioglu, starting lap five almost a second off the leader with Rea on his tail. The second group, led by Axel Bassani, was now almost two seconds off the leading trio.

Five laps completed, half race distance, Toprak Razgatlioglu led Scott Redding by nine tenths of a second with Jonathan Rea seven tenths further back. Axel Bassani was two seconds further back, a second ahead of Alex Lowes. Andrea Locatelli was a second off Alex Lowes with Michael Ruben Rinaldi, Michael van der Mark, and Garrett Gerloff within striking distance, less than a second covering the four. Scott Redding set the fastest lap on lap six, an outright lap record of 1'37.345, closing to within under half a second of Razgatlioglu.

With two laps to go, Jonathan Rea was settled in third place, two seconds behind Scott Redding who was hounding Toprak Razgatlioglu. Alex Lowes was in charge of the five-bike race for fifth place. Alex Lowes made a mistake and dropped to ninth place, leaving fifth place to Michael van der Mark. 

On the last lap, Scott Redding started within a tenth or so of Toprak Razgatlioglu and made a pass into turn seven, but he went wide and left a gap for Razgatlioglu to switch back underneath for the exit, with much better drive onto the straight to be able to hold the lead into the passing place of turns eight and nine. Redding made one last attempt to pass into turn fifteen, but he could only draw up alongside.

Toprak Razgatlioglu won the Superpole race with Scott Redding halfway alongside him over the line, just five hundredths of a second off the win. Jonathan Rea took third place three seconds later with Axel Bassani two seconds further back. Michael van der Mark won the battle for fifth place, ahead of Andrea Locatelli, Garrett Gerloff and Michael Ruben Rinaldi.

With the win, Toprak Razgatlioglu extends his lead over Jonathan Rea to thirty four points. Scott Redding nudges ever closer to being out mathematical contention, seventy five points off Razgatlioglu and forty one off Rea.

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