WorldSBK Imola: Toprak Razgatlioglu: “I tried to keep fighting but it wasn’t enough”

The pair had one of their closest battles o𝓰f the season in the early stages of Race 1 before the reigning Wo🔥rldSBK champion pulled clear.
Something that’s becoming a regular occurrence for Razဣgatlioglu, the Yamaha rider had the pace to match Bautista when plenty of grip was available.
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But as the tyres started to drop Bautista got faster and faster and was able to set lap times thꦜat pushed Razgatlioglu into setting his fastest laps of the race, albeit they were still a few tenths slower.
Disappointed to miss out on a feature length race win once again, Ra♈zga🎃tlioglu told WorldSBK.com: "I’m waiting for 100 wins! We have time for this. Today, wasn’t a bad race.
"I’m 𝕴not ไ100% happy because I finished the race in second position. My goal is to win a race.
"In Race 1, I was feeling good but when the tyres started to drop, I saw the Ducati still had v▨ery good acceleration. I tried to keep fighting with him, but it wasn’t enough. It’s better than nothing."
Like R🌳azgatlioglu, Jonathan Rea also showed very strong pace during the first half of the race before coming across the line in a quiet third place.
The Kawas🐻aki rider was able to keep pace with the twᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚo leaders whilst they were battling, but when Bautista finally got the lead on lap eight, the gaps started to grow between the top three.
Rea said: "It was very tough! One of those races where I didn’t expect to be on the podium, even if it’s alw🍨ays the target.
"After a very tough Friday and Superpole, starting from 7 was difficult. I cut through the traffic very well in the first laps and got good track position♍, but then I didn’t have anything for ♚Toprak or Alvaro.
"They were just a little bit faster than me but I was the best of the rest. We nee🍰d to improve in some areas 💟for tomorrow; the bike feels quite good in the heavy braking zones but finishing the corner, we’re not good enough.
"We have some good data to move tomorrow and for the Su🅺perpole Race, I feel like we can be competitive enough; we🉐 need to get a good start and see where we are."