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THE FINAL STUNT: did Assen misfortune lead to Toprak title success?

Monday, 21 March 2022 08:44 GMT

Razgatlioglu was taken out of Race 2 at Assen at the opening corner while title rival Jonathan Rea went on to secure a hat-trick of wins…

The Final Stunt documentary takes a look at crucial moments throughout the 2021 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship season and one moment features heavily: the Race 2, Turn 1 collision between Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) and Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) at the TT Circuit Assen.

American rider Gerloff got a superb start from the middle of the pack to challenge for the lead of the race going into Turn 1, but the GRT Yamaha rider collected Razgatlioglu and forced the Turkish star out of the race. Razgatlioglu came into the Dutch Round with a two-point advantage over title rival Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK), but the Ulsterman’s hat-trick of victories combined with Razgatlioglu’s non-score in Race 2 meant he opened up a 37-point lead over Razgatlioglu at the end of the weekend.

In the immediate aftermath of that crash, as Razgatlioglu returned to the Pata Yamaha box, he was seen saying the Championship was over. Reassurances from Paul Denning that it wasn’t were also seen, but did that incident help Pata Yamaha and Razgatlioglu throughout the rest of a hotly contested 2021 campaign?

Crew Chief to Razgatlioglu, Phil Marron, opens up on the dynamic of the team following Assen. He said: “It definitely changed the whole dynamic in the team. I noticed that as well, we’ve also mentioned this in the box. Unlucky that it happened to be Garrett that crashed into Toprak, but that removed pressure from everybody.”

Mentor and five-time WorldSSP Champion Kenan Sofuoglu is another who believes that, in the long run, it helped Razgatligolu to avoid the Turkish star having too much stress. He said: “I believe that the things in Assen, what happened, it was very good for us. Because Toprak arrived leading the championship too early. If you lead the Championship too early, it can give you stress. The Assen crash made Toprak much more relaxed and much stronger.”

Team Manager Denning believes Razgatlioglu was able to reset very quickly with the help of the team and Sofuoglu. He said: “I think with our help, and certainly with the help of Kenan, he managed to reset very quickly and was, within a couple of days, excited about the next race and looking forward to getting back to it.” Razgatlioglu’s excitement for the next race at Most was shown on track with a sensational last lap pass against rival Scott Redding.

Watch The Final Stunt in full and follow all the action from WorldSBK in 2022 using the WorldSBK VideoPass!