Jonathan Rea seals podium brace at Imola in Italy as Toprak Razgatlioglu completes World Superbike double

World Superbike championship leader Alvaro Bautista, who won the opening race on Saturday, crashed out on the opening lap at turn three after taking the lead on the Aruba.it Ducati.

The Spanish rider had won every full distance race so far this season until a rare mistake ended his impressive run of wins at the seventh round of the championship.

Razgatlioglu’s victory on the Pata Yamaha gave him all 25 points, reducing reigning champion Bautista’s lead at the top of the standings to 70 points with five rounds remaining.

He won the Superpole race earlier to clinch Yamaha’s maiden World Superbike success at Imola, which returned to the calendar this year for the first time since 2019.

Race two was reduced by four laps to 15 due to scorching hot temperatures in Italy as a heatwave continued.

After Bautista’s demise, Razgatlioglu was the early leader from team-mate Andrea Locatelli, with Rea passing Alex Bassani for third.

Home hero Bassani swept into second place on the Motocorsa Racing Ducati after drafting past Rea and Locatelli on the home straight.

He then picked off Razgatlioglu to lead and was setting a blistering pace at the front.

Razgatlioglu, though, appeared content to shadow the Italian before making his move into Ravazza 1 with three laps to go.

Bassani reclaimed the lead after cutting underneath Razgatlioglu at Ravazza 2 but the Yamaha rider edged ahead again on the exit.

The 2021 world champion was able to make a break for it and Razgatlioglu went on to seal a double by 1.96s from Bassani on the satellite Ducati machine, with Rea – third for much of the 15-lap race on the Kawasaki – clinching the final place on the podium in a repeat of his result from Saturday’s race.

The 36-year-old Ulsterman was 2.45s down on Razgatlioglu, who has won four races in 2023, with Bautista winning 17 times this year to equal the record of most wins in a season held jointly by American Doug Polen (1992) and six-time champion Rea (2018 and 2019).

Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha) finished a lonely fourth ahead of Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Ducati), while British Superbike champion Bradley Ray was an excellent sixth on his debut at Imola on the Motoxracing Yamaha.

Rea remains fourth in the championship standings but is now only seven points behind Locatelli.

Scott Redding finished eighth on the factory BMW behind Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW) although fellow British riders Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team) and Leon Haslam (ROKiT BMW) failed to finish.

Lowes crashed out at Turn 7 while Haslam retired in the pits after running into the gravel.

Earlier, Razgatlioglu made a sensational race-winning pass on Bautista at Piratella on the penultimate lap, holding on for his first Imola victory in World Superbikes by two tenths of a second in the Superpole race.

Locatelli finished third with Rea in fourth in the 10-lap sprint.

Round eight of the championship takes place at Most in the Czech Republic before the summer break, resuming again at Magny-Cours in France from September 8-10.