Superbike kicks off with the second half of its season. And it does so with the maximum equality that can be given in the category. In fact, it is the tightest World Cup for many years, when the hegemony of Jonathan Rea even He was proclaimed champion on the track they are visiting this weekend. However, the rules of the game are very different this 2021. The mythical Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours will witness a new fight between Rea and Razgatlioglu, although without leaving aside a renewed Redding, which also enters the fight for the title.
A three-way battle that could turn everything upside down and that, of course, will keep the world championship alive until the last rounds of the season. After the last races in Navarra, Razgatlioglu arrives as the leader of the category in France and He does it tied on points with Rea. However, the number of complete race wins (i.e. without against the Superpole Races) puts it above Kawasaki’s, albeit only by a race difference. 311 points are shared by both drivers, with Redding on the hunt, 38 points away That he could keep cutting back to continue with that winning streak.
But it will be difficult to continue that winning streak at a track like Magny-Cours. The two top contenders for this World Cup they have always been very comfortable on the French track and, in addition, Razgatlioglu arrives wanting to remove the thorn that was nailed to him last year, when he could not score any points with the rain and the delicate conditions of that weekend. But Rea will not give in to the Turk. The Kawasaki rider has won on this track up to eight times, always on the podium with his current team, except in 2016. The challenge, without a doubt, seems complicated.
Bautista swims against the current
Honda continues to fight to get into the Top10 of the championship and Álvaro Bautista continues to notice that this is not his position. The Spanish, who has already signed his return to Ducati for 2022, did not have a positive weekend in Navarra, in fact, it was far from it. The one from Talavera de la Reina He was only able to score points in the second race on Sunday, with an eighth place, and saving the weekend a bit after two falls. Bautista continues to ask the Japanese brand for more, which still cannot find the right click in his project to make the final leap to fight for the positions in front, with Kawasaki, Ducati or Yamaha.
Rinaldi stays at Ducati
It is being a debut of ups and downs for the Italian, but Michael Ruben Rinaldi will continue one more season with Ducati. Therefore, he will be the one who accompanies Álvaro Bautista on his second career at Aruba.it Racing. So far in 2021, Rinaldi became one of the sensations during the Italian round at Misano. There, achieved his first victory in WorldSBK, adding the next day another triumph with the Superpole and ending the weekend at home with a podium. However, since then, the Italian has been missing in the resurgence of his partner, Scott Redding.