Jonathan Rea promised to solve a “small problem” with braking in order to compete for victory in Sunday’s race. The 6-time world champion checked the work that the team did after Saturday’s race during the warm-up and then “got into a fight” with Toprak Razgatlioglu at the Superpole Race. But… Results of the qualifying race.
Jonathan Rea managed to catch up and pass the Turk 3 laps before the finish, but Toprak made the Irishman in the most dangerous place of the Autodrom Most – at the entrance to the 1st turn after the starting straight.
Razgatlioglu managed to slow down the Kawasaki pilot, and they entered the turn, almost touching the sides. But still, clean!
Rea decided to rehabilitate himself on the next lap, and this time, he managed to pass Toprak along the internal trajectory in the starting chicane. The Turk responded later, but Rea did not agree with this and conducted a counterattack. However, this attack turned out to be too risky: Re leaked past the Yamaha pilot, literally hitting the Turk on the leg, but failed to slow down before turning – rolled out into the gravel. Rea had to cut a large chicane diagonally. He returned to the track 2nd, thanks to a huge gap from the 3rd Alvaro Bautista.
The management did not deprive Rea of his position – he punished himself, losing all chances of a fight for victory. Toprak scored another 12 points, slightly reducing the gap from the championship leader Alvaro Bautista, who again starts from the main grid line. At the finish, Bau looked pleased: he has a good position for the decisive race, and he has not lost anything. Ray admitted that he “acted too optimistically.”
Results of Superpole Race CzechWorldSBK (31/07/2022):
