WSBK Portimao: Jonathan Rea third as Toprak Razgatlioglu seals double | Riders' thoughts with 'critical' Victor Steeman after Supersport 300 crash

Razgatlioglu had to pull out all the stops to keep championship leader Alvaro Bautista at bay, with the Spanish rider able to capitalise on the superior speed advantage of his Ducati on the pit straight to briefly edge past Razgatlioglu’s Pata Yamaha.

However, Razgatlioglu’s prowess on the brakes into Turn 1 at the end of the straight enabled him to keep his nose in front and the reigning champion resisted Bautista’s determined efforts to win the 10-lap Superpole sprint race by a tenth-of-a-second on the line.

Pole man Rea dropped to second place at the start of the race and was then bumped back to third by Bautista, who came through from fourth place on the grid.

Six-time champion Rea was able to keep pace with the leaders before eventually losing ground on his Kawasaki with a few laps to go, consolidating third.

Rea was 1.3 seconds behind runner-up Bautista and half-a-second ahead of his Kawasaki team-mate Alex Lowes.

Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Ducati) took fifth followed by Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing Ducati), with Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha) and Michael van der Mark (BMW Motorrad) completing the top eight.

Eugene Laverty finished 15th on Saturday and secured the final championship point again in the Superpole race on the Bonovo Action BMW.

Bautista remains 51 points clear of Razgatlioglu going into race two (14:00 BST) on Sunday, with Ulsterman Rea 22 points further behind in third.

Rea – third in Saturday’s opening race behind Razgatlioglu and Bautista – is in the midst of his longest spell without a race win since he joined Kawasaki in 2015.

The 35-year-old’s last win came at Estoril in Portugal in May, with all 17 races since won by Bautista (8) and Razgatlioglu (9).

Rea has won five times so far this season with Bautista claiming 11 victories and Razgatlioglu 10.

Saturday’s race was cut from 20 laps to 14 following a delay after a crash in the World Supersport 300 race.

Dutch rider Victor Steeman was airlifted to Faro Hospital after sustaining a head injury in the incident. He is reported to be in a critical condition.

The start of the World Superbike race was held back until the medical helicopter returned to the circuit to provide cover.

Double winner Razgatlioglu said he was not in the mood to celebrate following news of the serious incident.

“First, I say that this weekend we started very strong and we are here [podium] again,” he said.

“Thanks to my team because they did a very good job. But today I’m not really happy because the 300 rider Steeman had a big crash today and we are waiting for good news.”

Rea also said his thoughts were with the injured 22-year-old.

“It doesn’t really matter what has gone on right now and I hope the kid who crashed earlier is okay.”