Toprak Razgatlioglu did not celebrate from the top of the podium, but celebrate he did after sealing his second Superbike World Championship. Razgatlioglu took a risk in joining BMW, which no rider ever had taken to a Superbike title. But he wanted the straight-line speed of the M 1000 RR after years of struggling with the slower – in a straight line – Yamaha YZF-R1. Combined with the new weight penalties for two-time World Champion Alvaro Bautista, Razgatlioglu was unstoppable on the BMW. Only a vicious crash in France that left him sidelined for two entire rounds kept Ducati’s Nicolo Bulega in the title hunt until the final round.
World Supersport 300 rookie David Salvador took his first podium in the class. It was a win, by 0.003 seconds.
American Garrett Gerloff topped the morning practice session but qualified tenth and finished Race One in tenth.
American Mallory Dobbs qualified eighth and finished WorldWCR Race One in ninth. Sonya Lloyd’s debut WorldWCR race ended with a crash. Lloyd said she was bruised but otherwise unhurt and planned to race on Sunday.