Round 4 of the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship is officially in the books, and it will be firmly remembered as the weekend of one man. Toprak Razgatlioglu, who has been untouchable all weekend, completed a first personal hat-trick in two years, as well as BMW’s first ever treble.
Razgatlioglu, fresh from winning on Saturday, finished ahead of Nicolo Bulega and Alex Lowes in the Superpole race and it was the same one-two in the final race.
The BMW rider from Turkey won by 2.9 seconds from Bulega to complete the weekend treble, with last year’s championship winner Alvaro Bautista in third.
The Turkish rider was temporarily relegated to fifth place at the start of Race 2, before the inevitable comeback came.
Nicolo Bulega and Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) were able to maintain the pressure by finishing Race 2 in P2 and P3 respectively, but neither could get close to “El Turco” at any point during the weekend on the Adriatic Coast.
Razgatlioglu replaced Bautista at the top of the championship with his race one win and now holds a 21-point advantage. Bulega sits second, three points ahead of Bautista.
Six-time champion Rea crashed out of Saturday’s opener and then came in eighth on his Yamaha in Sunday morning’s Superpole race.
The Northern Ireland rider has struggled for form in his first season with Yamaha and lies 14th in the championship standings.
