WorldSBK Most Race 1 Results | Razgatlioglu pips Redding as Rea crashes twice

Toprak Razgatlioglu has hauled himself right back into the 2021 WorldSBK title fight with a sensational last gasp victory at Most, as Jonathan Rea was forced to retire after crashing twice.

Coming into the sixth round of the season on the back foot and 37 points down on Rea after an accident triggered by Yamaha stablemate Garrett Gerloff in Race 2 at Assen, Razgatlioglu produced one of his best-ever rides to hunt down long-time leader Redding and getting his defining move done on the penultimate corner.

His success came in tandem with Rea enduring a shocker of a race after suffering a low-speed crash at Turn 1 with nine laps to go, before barrelling out of the race in more spectacular circumstances with four to go.

Indeed, Rea’s first tumble was arguably the key that unlocked Razgatlioglu’s brilliant charge to victory having relieved him of pressure form behind to focus on breaking down a lead margin that stood at two seconds with ten to go.

Redding had looked on course for victory after muscling his way into the lead with a brilliant shimmy on lap four that saw him take Rea for second before out-braking Razgatlioglu into turn one moments later.

With Rea and Razgatlioglu tripping each other up, it allowed the Ducati rider into a healthy lead. However, it was already beginning to come down as Redding’s tyres waned when Rea skidded into the gravel trap around the tricky turn one, scene of several falls in a race of attrition.

Indeed, such was the retirement rate, Rea was still able to remount in 11th but that proved elementary a few laps later when he crashed more heavily at Turn 14 in the closing stages.

Back at the front, Razgatlioglu was back on the tail of Redding with two laps remaining, setting them up for a grandstand final lap. The Turk gave a taster of what was to come when he dived through at Turn 7, only to run deep and allow his British rival back through.

However, Razgatlioglu used the Yamaha’s strength in agility to haul the R1 back ahead coming into the final double right-hander, before resisting a visibly frustrated Redding on the run to the line by 0.040secs.

His fourth WorldSBK win of the year, coupled with Rea’s exit, the gap between the two now stands at 12 points in the Kawasaki rider’s favour.

Though finishing some 13secs back, Andrea Locatelli added to Yamaha’s joy with his second WorldSBK podium in succession, ahead of Michael Ruben Rinaldi, who had to work hard to resist a hard charging Axel Bassani, the rookie privateer landing his and Motocorsa Ducati’s best-ever WorldSBK finish.

Garrett Gerloff paid the price for a bad start to leave him sixth, ahead of Honda duo Alvaro Bautista and Leon Haslam, while Tom Sykes and wild-card Marvin Fritz completed the top ten.

With only 14 riders reaching the chequered flag, on a desperate day for Kawasaki, Alex Lowes still scored points in 12th despite an earlier crash.

Others to drop out included Michael van der Mark, Chaz Davies and Tito Rabat, each crashing out.

2021 WorldSBK Most, CZE | Race 1 RESULTS