MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks

The day opened at a warm 26ºC and all penalties earned in qualifying served. Ten laps of Autodrom Most would give both points and grid places for race two this afternoon. Once again, hard tyres were used.

Toprak Razgatlioglu and Nicolo Bulega led into turn one with Alvaro Bautista making a quick start from seventh place to take third place. Bulega passed Razgatlioglu into turn fifteen and was followed by Bautista a few turns later to start lap two of ten with a Ducati one-two.

Alex Lowes took fourth place from Danilo Petrucci with Remy Gardner Andrea Locatelli and Andrea Iannone behind him. Scott Redding and Sam Lowes crashed out together at the start of lap three just after Razgatlioglu set a 1'31.561 fastest lap. Lowes lost control of his bike and Redding crashed into it as Lowes slid into the gravel into turn one and was taken to the medical centre with a suspected broken collarbone.

Turn twenty, Razgatlioglu passed both Bautista and Bulega but Bulega had the better line out of the corner and regained first place. However, Razgatlioglu set another fastest lap, a 1'31.298, as he took the lead into turn one on the brakes.

Lap four, Razgatlioglu managed the lead over Bulega as Bautista had a moment that let Alex Lowes try to get past, but Bautista held his nerve as the pair cornered side-by-side.

At half race distance, Razgatlioglu started to stretch out his lead and set a fastest lap on lap five, a 1'31.180, as he decided to spend what was left in his tyres, starting lap seven with lead of two thirds of a second over Bulega and ending it with a one second lead.

Lap eight of ten, Razgatlioglu left the fights behind him as Bulega had his teammate Bautista determined to pass him. Alex Lowes settled into fourth place, almost two seconds off the podium with Remy Gardner leading the fight for fifth place over two seconds behind.

Lap ten, last lap, Razgatlioglu was a second and a half in the lead as Bautista tried to pass Bulega into turn one, pushing Bulega into the gravel trap as Bautista crashed at low speed as he went wide on the exit of turn one and into the gravel of turn two, once again losing a wing. Bulega had enough of a gap to recover before Alex's Lowes caught him, losing over two seconds in the gravel but holding second place.

Toprak Razgatlioglu took his fiftieth career win and his ninth win in succession, scoring himself pole position for race two this afternoon and extending his championship lead. Nicolo Bulega pushed his bike the last few metres into parc fermé as Alex Lowes slinked in behind.

The podium places will take the front row of the grid in the last race of the weekend with Danilo Petrucci leading the second row, alongside Remy Gardner and Andrea Locatelli. The third row is made up of Andrea Iannone, Michael van der Mark and Jonathan Rea. 

Toprak Razgatlioglu extended his championship lead to fifty nine points over Nicolo Bulega, seventy nine over Alvaro Bautista and one hundred and six over Alex Lowes. Razgatlioglu told his team to hold off celebrating until he brings the third win home this afternoon.

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