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Estoril WSBK: Rea seals record sixth title as Redding retires

Jonathan Rea clinched a record sixth World Superbike title with a fifth place finish in Race 1 at the Estoril decider, as Yamaha rider Toprak Razgatlioglu claimed his second victory of the season.

Jonathan Rea, Kawasaki Racing Team

Jonathan Rea, Kawasaki Racing Team

Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Both title protagonists Rea and Scott Redding crashed in the Superpole session on Saturday morning, qualifying down in 15th and 23rd respectively, as Razgatlioglu claimed a maiden pole position on the factory Yamaha.

The two riders were on the move early on, gaining eight positions each on the opening lap to run in seventh and 15th respectively.

But while Redding’s recovery slowed down, Rea continued to move up the order, executing a brilliant double pass on Kawasaki teammate Alex Lowes and Michael van der Mark at Turn 1 on lap 2 before clearing Leon Haslam and Michael Ruben Rinaldi on the following tour.

The title was effectively settled in Rea's favour when Redding’s hastily-rebuilt Ducati began to slow down on lap 6 with an apparent technical problem, forcing the British rider to retire.

Despite Redding’s DNF, Rea continued to push for the next few laps, overtaking the GRT Yamaha of Garrett Gerloff and then chasing long-time leader Razgatlioglu with the aim of clinching the 2020 crown with his 100th career win.

However, his pace began to drop off in the middle of the race, allowing first Ducati’s Chaz Davies and then Gerloff to push him outside the podium positions. Haslam also managed to overtake Rea the final lap, but with Redding out, fifth was enough for Rea to clinch his sixth consecutive title and cement his position as the most successful rider in the series.

Out front, Razgatlioglu claimed his first victory since the Phillip Island opener by a dominant margin of three four seconds, with Ducati’s Davies and Gerloff rounding out the top three ahead of Honda man Haslam and Rea.

Lowes finished sixth on the second factory Kawasaki bike, ahead of the top independent bike of Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Go Eleven Ducati), Xavi Fores (Puccetti Kawasaki), Loris Baz (Ten Kate Yamaha) and Tom Sykes (BMW).

Former MotoGP rider Alvaro Bautista was running inside the top 10 when he lost the front end of his Honda with three laps to go at the turn 6 double left-hander. 

Yamaha's Michael van der Mark likewise suffered a crash while holding fourth position behind Rea.

Race results:

Cla # Rider Bike Laps Gap
1 54 Turkey Toprak Razgatlioglu Yamaha 21  
2 7 United Kingdom Chaz Davies Ducati 21 3.039
3 31 United States Garrett Gerloff Yamaha 21 4.220
4 1 United Kingdom Jonathan Rea Kawasaki 21 9.645
5 91 United Kingdom Leon Haslam Honda 21 15.732
6 22 United Kingdom Alex Lowes Kawasaki 21 15.926
7 21 Italy Michael Ruben Rinaldi Ducati 21 16.205
8 12 Spain Xavi Fores Kawasaki 21 17.842
9 76 France Loris Baz Yamaha 21 18.035
10 66 United Kingdom Tom Sykes BMW 21 18.404
11 94 Germany Jonas Folger Yamaha 21 20.834
12 50 Ireland Eugene Laverty BMW 21 30.026
13 36 Argentina Leandro Mercado Ducati 21 31.886
14 13 Japan Takumi Takahashi Honda 21 47.164
15 51 Brazil Eric Granado Honda 21 48.801
16 32 South Africa Sheridan Morais Kawasaki 21 56.970
17 19 Spain Alvaro Bautista Honda 21  
18 84 Belgium Loris Cresson Kawasaki 20  
  64 Italy Federico Caricasulo Yamaha 0  
  60 Netherlands Michael van der Mark Yamaha 0  
  45 United Kingdom Scott Redding Ducati 0  
  71 Italy Matteo Ferrari Ducati 0  

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