World Superbikes: Jonathan Rea strikes back with victory at Portimao as Toprak Razgatlioglu crashes out

Rea came out fighting after the six-time World Superbike champion crashed in Saturday’s first race and again in the Superpole race, which he was leading when he was caught out by the wet conditions.

The Kawasaki rider went into the final race of the weekend at the Portuguese track trailing Razgatlioglu by 49 points, but in another title twist, the Turkish rider crashed out of second place at the same corner where Rea came off at high speed on Saturday.

In a freak incident, the mudguard of Razgatlioglu’s machine appeared to come off, going under his front wheel and causing him to lose the front.

As a result, Northern Ireland rider Rea has slashed Razgatlioglu’s advantage to 24 points with two rounds remaining in Argentina and Indonesia.

Rea, who was leading when Razgatlioglu crashed out, sealed his 13th victory at Portimao and his 110th WSBK success by 5.4s from Aruba.it Ducati’s Scott Redding, with Loris Baz finishing on the rostrum in third on the Team Go Eleven Ducati.

Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha), Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha) and Michael van der Mark – who won the wet Superpole race on the factory BMW – rounded out the top six.

Despite Rea’s two DNFs, Razgatlioglu only increased his lead by four points over the weekend to top the championship with 478, while Rea has 454 and Redding 424.

The championship breaks for two weeks before the penultimate round takes place at San Juan in Argentina from October 15-17, where Rea was a double winner in 2019.