More, from a press release issued by Dorna:
BACK IN BUSINESS: Redding reignites title challenge with Most Race 2 victory
A classy win for the Ducati rider saw him clear off at the front, whilst Toprak Razgatlioglu is now just three points off the Championship lead…
The final race for the 2021 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship at the Autodrom Most and the Tissot Czech Round was yet another intriguing spectacle. With Toprak Razgatlioglu and Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) first and second on the grid and going for the same tyre combination (standard SC1 front and SCX rear), Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) had opted for the SC1 front and SC0 rear. After hitting the front, Redding never looked back and beat Razgatlioglu, whilst Rea was a distant third.
OFF AND RUNNING: lights out for Race 2
As the race fired up, it was a blinding start from Toprak Razgatlioglu, who grabbed the holeshot from teammate Andrea Locatelli. Scott Redding initially got a poor first phase of his start but recovered to third, whilst Jonathan Rea was down in fourth with teammate Alex Lowes knocking right at his door, with Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) in sixth. There was a Turn 1 pile-up with Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) crashing, taking down Alessandro Delbianco (MIE Racing Honda Team); the incident forced Karel Hanika (IXS-YART Yamaha), Chaz Davies (Team GoEleven) and Isaac Viñales (ORELAC Racing VerdNatura) to go across the gravel. All riders were on their feet and relatively OK.
Prodding and probing all the time, particularly at Turn 1, Scott Redding finally got ahead of Andrea Locatelli on Lap 3 at Turn 20, placing his Ducati in the middle of the two Pata Yamahas. Jonathan Rea’s SC0 tyre had now come into its own and he was right with the three ahead of him, as teammate Lowes started to drop off. Further down the field, it was a bright start from Leon Haslam (Team HRC), who came up through the order into seventh from tenth on the grid.
PASS FOR THE LEAD: Redding pounces
Lap 5 saw Redding hit the front at Turn 1, passing Razgatlioglu after drawing alongside his rival down the front straight and getting the job finalized in the braking area. Meanwhile, Jonathan Rea wasn’t making the inroads predicted, as he was eight tenths behind Andrea Locatelli and slowly slipping back towards Alex Lowes, just half a second splitting them after seven laps. However, on Lap 8, Locatelli and Lowes made errors, meaning Rea was now back in the fight for third and got ahead of Locatelli on Lap 9 at Turn 20.
THE FIGHT BEHIND: everywhere you look…
It was a tight fight for sixth place as Sykes held position ahead of an inspired Leon Haslam, whilst Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) was only eighth. After a strong Superpole Race, Michael van der Mark (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) was up in ninth from 17th on the grid, whilst Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) having a quiet race in tenth place, but his pace began to pick up as the race evolved. Three laps later and it was all change in a first chicane shuffle, with Rinaldi now sixth ahead of Sykes, van der Mark, Gerloff and Haslam, with the ‘Pocket Rocket’ suddenly dropping back into the clutches of teammate Alvaro Bautista, who eventually got ahead of him with six to go.
Meanwhile, back at the front, Scott Redding was riding the race of his life as he eased clear of Razgatlioglu and broke the Turkish rider’s spirit. With the gap now over three seconds and with Razgatlioglu settling for second, Redding was able to run his own pace. Behind the top two, Rea was a further seven seconds behind whilst Locatelli was keeping him honest in fourth. Alex Lowes, also using the SCX tyre, was being caught by Rinaldi, van der Mark and Gerloff and with two laps to go, Lowes had less than a second back to Rinaldi.
LAST LAP TIME: Redding on fire
Scott Redding rode the perfect race for a first win since Estoril’s Tissot Superpole Race, taking the plaudits of the passionate Czech fans at Most. Razgatlioglu finished second and was now just three points behind Jonathan Rea in the Championship – Rea himself finishing third. Locatelli took fourth in another stunning performance, whilst Michael Ruben Rinaldi got fifth on the final lap with a pass on Alex Lowes at Turn 1. Yamaha’s strength’s this weekend mean that they are now three points clear of Kawasaki in the manufacturer standings, with Ducati another three further back.
Lowes held on for sixth as he ran out of tyre life at the end of the race, whilst former teammate Michael van der Mark was top BMW in seventh. Garrett Gerloff took a solid eighth as his trademark late-race pace saw him come on strong. Ninth went to Tom Sykes, whilst Alvaro Bautista completed the top ten. Leon Haslam was eleventh ahead of Chaz Davies who fought back after Turn 1-Lap 1 drama.
THE REST: how did it finish down field?
Tito Rabat (Barni Racing Team), Kohta Nozane (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) and Christophe Ponsson (Gil Motor Sport Yamaha) completed the points in Race 2. Behind them, Jonas Folger (Bonovo MGM Racing), Isaac Viñales, Karel Hanika, Marvin Fritz (IXS-YART Yamaha), Loris Cresson (OUTDO TPR Team Pedercini Racing) and teammate Jayson Uribe – after coming into the pits – completed the final results.
P1 Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
“I was trying hard this weekend! That’s why I was really upset with Race 1 because I put a lot of work in and I felt good. It was a bit aggressive but, come today, I let it go behind and I apologised for being a bit hot-headed. I like to retaliate in style and that was, for me, a really good race. In the Superpole Race, I was trying but I didn’t have the pace at the beginning. I said before there’s one race to go and I’ll try to win it. Managed to get a really good rhythm. I felt really good with the bike, it was working really well. I was just ticking off laps, I felt really good. I saw the gap growing behind and that put me a little bit more at ease so I could enjoy the last few laps. It was great to do it with the helmet for Brad, so I’m really happy that I can do that and give him as much energy as possible.”
P2 Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK)
“This weekend has been a very good weekend because we have taken many points for the Championship. Also, in the last race, I was fighting for the win. But Scott was very fast, and I felt the rear tyre dropping. I am fighting again but I thought it was better not to because I need many points for the Championship. Second position is good. I’m very happy.”
P3 Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK)
“I woke up a little bit delicate this morning. Yesterday was a big crash. I felt good on my bike. I really feel like I took the best out of our Ninja ZX-10RR this weekend. Really pushing on the limits. Just in this race, I didn’t have enough grip. I opted to go for the harder tyre. I hadn’t done a lot of work with the soft SCX tyre throughout the weekend, so it was a little bit of a gamble for us. I was a battling third, unfortunately not with the front group. Congratulations to those guys, they had a great race and a great weekend.”
