WorldSBK faces its final stretch of the season. With this weekend’s appointment in Barcelona, Superbike has five pending appointments, although with the doubt of being able to travel to Argentina and Indonesia for the COVID pandemic. If it takes place, it will be lucky for the spectators, because there will be more races to enjoy the most even season of the championship in recent years, where Jonathan Rea’s hegemony could collapse in favor of Toprak Razgatlioglu, that he would begin to build his own.
To do this, the duel has to go ahead. And the outcome of the weekend at Magny-Cours is not forgotten. At least, for Yamaha and Razgatlioglu, who took a penalty for exceeding the limits of the track on the last lap of the Superpole Race. A punishment that left him without the treble in France and, what angered his team the most, That came up to four hours after finishing that first race on Sunday. All because of a Kawasaki protest led by Jonathan Rea, who already asked in the closed park to review the images of the action on the camera of his motorcycle.
A triumph for Toprak that was stolen in the offices and that leaves the championship tighter than it could have been. Now only three points separate him and Barcelona will be decisive to further extend the distance or have a new sorpasso of positions. The truth is that Jonathan Rea arrives more filmed in Catalonia: last year he won a race while the Turkish driver only raced on Saturday, missing the two events on Sunday and the experience of the Barcelona event. Also watch out for Redding: he’s still alive at the World Cup and the Ducati adapts very well to the Montmeló circuit.
Bautista’s opportunity
In a season where Alvaro Bautista He has not stopped suffering and where a fifth place is his best result of the year, the Spaniard lands on a track that he did well in his first year with Honda. Not that he won the race, he didn’t even get on the podium, but because the falls ruined his weekend. He was fifth in the first Barcelona race, he struggled to win the Superpole Race, but went to the ground. The same as in the second race that Sunday. With more experience in the Honda, and being his last year, the one from Talavera will try to win a second podium for the Japanese brand, the first this year.
SPP and SPP 300, also to be decided
Despite the fact that the premier class of the World Cup has a special attention this season, the two lower classes are not far behind. Supersport faces this weekend in Barcelona without its main leader, Dominique Aegerter, that he has to fulfill his participation in MotoE, that he travels to Misano. With which, the fight for the World Cup can be opened much more. The mattress is large, 62 points and will continue to lead despite what happens in Barcelona, but Steven Odendaal will have to put the batteries if he wants to fight the crown. Among the Spanish, Manu Gonzalez He comes after winning his first race in SPP and wanting to get into the Top 3 (now he is fifth).
In Supersport 300 the leader will be present, but the distance between the first and second is shorter. Adrián Huertas has three races left to resist to be champion of the category. In Magny-Cours he achieved two victories that extended his distance with Tom Booth-Amos and the line to follow for Montmeló will be the same: not give up a bit of ground in this tight fight. On the other hand, and more distance, Ana Carrasco arrives ninth in the championship, tied on points with Dorren Loureiro and with options to get into the Top 5. The Spanish will grit her teeth to achieve the goal, from which 23 points separate her.