Rea Makes it Three Podiums, Petrucci Doubles Down in the Top 3, Bautista Wins Race 2

July 30, 2023Ray Milton
WorldSBK

World Superbike weekend has come to an end at Autodrom Most. Starting with the Superpole race. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) came out swinging in a battle with Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK). Rea was riding with a new wind this weekend coming off of a win in race 1. Razgatlioglu edged out Rea by 1.203 seconds. Alvaro Bautista returned to the podium after a disappointing race 1. The podium helped with championship points damage control, Bautista would follow the Superpole race up with a win in Race 2. Bautista ended up extending his lead in the championship by 4 points.

Jonathan Rea walked away from the weekend with three podiums. We did not officially see if the Kawasaki team finally decided to take advantage of the performance increase allotted to them by the FIM stewards. Regardless it appears he is finding chemistry with the bike and will look to improve his championship standings position. He is currently 102 points behind Toprak Razgatlioglu with a lot of work to do.

Of note Danilo Petrucci secured two more podiums this weekend. It’s clear that Petrucci is finding a groove with his Ducati V4R. In the last few rounds he has returned to his podium finishing ways. We will see if Petrucci can add more to the win column. There are plenty of opportunities to do so with 3, potentially 4 races to go in the season.