Riding into a fortress of a track for the grid’s numerous Ducati riders, Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) and his BMW M1000 RR had a mixed bag of results at MotorLand Aragon. The defending Champion took home Race 1, tying the record tally of 13 consecutive wins which he set last year; however, much to the relief of the rest of the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship field, that would prove to be his last win of the weekend. His main title rival Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) went on to top the weekend’s two other podiums on offer, in total decreasing Toprak’s title lead by just three points down to 36 with six races left.

SLIM MARGINS COST RAZGATLIOGLU IN RACE 2: “I tried to downshift, but I wasn’t feeling the engine brake. I had to use first gear to help me get the bike stopped”

“We started very hard, immediately fighting with Nicolo, and I really enjoyed it. I made a mistake on Turn 7, though. I tried to downshift, but I wasn’t feeling the engine brake. I could feel the rear pushing the front, so I had to use first gear to help me get the bike stopped. It was just a mistake, but if I had to keep fighting with Nicolo, we would have a very small chance of winning, because Ducati has a big advantage in the last corner. I tried everything I could in the race. I didn’t have many options in the last corner. I only have my one line. I tried to cover the inside more, but it wasn’t enough because the Ducati-s package works at a high level in Aragon. I did my best this weekend, and I feel motivated this weekend because I won Race 1 and finally got my win at Aragon”

LOOKING FORWARD TO PORTUGAL: “I’m not 100% thrilled with the weekend, but I’m happy”

The #1 has been in mercurial form in this second half of the WorldSBK season, leading to lots of pre-round speculation as to how the Aragon Round would play out. On one hand, Ducati have won the last eight races at Aragon; however, on the other, arriving at Race 1 on Saturday with 12 straight victories, the #1 looked poised to set a new win streak record. Something was going to have to give. Now 36 points ahead in the Championship standings, Razgatlioglu and the rest of the field move on to Estoril, another strong track for Bulega and the rest of the Ducatis, but if ‘El Turco’ can perform similarly to how he did here in Aragon, he will be in a great position riding into the season finale in Jerez.

Reflecting on his weekend and looking ahead to Estoril, Razgatlioglu said: “I think I only lost three points this weekend, I don’t think that is very bad. If I had been p2 in all three races, I would have lost more. I think this was a good weekend because, even coming into it, we knew that this was not a BMW track, but a Ducati track. However, we did a very good job; we had several very strong races, and now we go to Estoril. Ducati is very strong there, but I am always strong. I will fight with him again there because I need to win again. I’m not 100% thrilled with the weekend, but I’m happy.”

Catch the next instalment of Razgatlioglu vs Bulega on Friday, October 10^th, for the start of the EICMA Estoril Round! Watch with the WorldSBK VideoPass! Now just €9.99!