Sunday all category round up from Misano WorldSBK

2022 FIM Superbike World Championship
Round Four – Misano – Sunday

WorldSBK Superpole Race

It was clear from the off that Toprak Razgatlioglu was out for redemption in the Superpole race after his technical problem on Saturday cost him dearly in the championship chase. Razgatlioglu went hard at it with Jonathan Rea early on before the Yamaha man broke away.

Razgatlioglu was awesome to watch, carrying the rear wheel in the air while at lean on the way into turns at times, and other times backing it in through a smooth arc to the apex, a truly spectacular display of riding that is well worth watching if you didn’t get to enjoy the race live.

As the Turk disappeared into the distance the battle of interest unfolded between Rea and Saturday‘s winner Alvaro Bautista. The Ducati man eventually got the better of Rea to secure that second place.

Honda men Xavi Vierge and Iker Lecuona were aggressive and fast to fight their way through to fourth and fifth respectively while running the ten-lap distance on the qualifying spec’ Pirelli.

WorldSBK Superpole Race Results

WorldSBK Race Two

Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) claimed his second victory of the weekend with a seven-second margin after an early-race battle with reigning Champion Toprak Razgatlioglu.

Bautista found himself behind Razgatlioglu from the opening lap and looked to make a move on several occasions, first on Lap 4 through Curvone before Razgatlioglu responded into Turn 14 before the same result a couple of laps later.

On Lap 7, Bautista did make his move at Curvone and Razgatlioglu was unable to respond, allowing Bautista to clear on for his second win of the weekend and the 22nd victory of his career.

Bautista now has a 36-point lead over Jonathan Rea in the Championship standings after the opening four rounds of 2022.

Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) battled his way up from 10th on the grid to claim a second podium of the weekend, and the season, after making a move on Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) on the third lap of the race.

After Rinaldi’s move, Rea lost ground to the Italian but also kept a clear margin to the riders behind him to finish in fourth place, the first time this season Rea has finished a race outside the podium places.

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Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) claimed fifth place to claim his sixth top-five finish in the first 12 races of the season, although he had to fend off a late charge from Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing). Bassani once again got a good start to fight in the top group but dropped back before stabilising his pace at around the halfway mark of the race.

After losing out at the start of the race, Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) battled his way to sixth place for the third sixth-place finish of the round for the Italian, making a late move on Bassani at the end of the race.

Bassani came home in seventh place despite losing out after making his superb start, benefitting from Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) being given a Long Lap Penalty for track limits infringements in the race. Lowes had got ahead of both Locatelli and Bassani, but, after taking his penalty, finished in eighth place.

Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) had a rollercoaster race as he finished in ninth place, despite dropping down the order in the early stages of the race, to fight back and record a top-ten finish. Fellow BMW rider Loriz Baz (Bonovo Action BMW) rounded out the top ten.

The first retirement from the race was American rider Garrett Gerloff (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK) when he crashed at Turn 16 on Lap 3, while wildcard Gabriele Ruiu (Bmax Racing) was out of the race on Lap 4 with a technical issue. Italian rider Alessandro Delbianco (TPR Team Pedercini Racing) brought his bike into the pits with a technical issue, while Hafizh Syahrin (MIE Racing Honda Team) also retired with a technical issue on Lap 8 at Turn 10. After a strong start to the race, Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) had a crash at Turn 11 on Lap 12 which ended his race; the Spanish rookie was taken to the medical centre for a check-up following the crash. Following examination, Vierge was diagnosed with a fracture of the base of his third metacarpal bone in his right hand and fractures of the capitate and hamate bones in his right wrist. An incident between Vierge and Bassani will be investigated by the FIM WorldSBK Stewards.

WorldSBK will be back in action in five weeks for the fifth round of the WorldSBK campaign at Donington Park over the weekend of July 17.

WorldSBK Race Two Results

WorldSBK Championship Points

WorldSBK Rider Quotes

Alvaro Bautista

“It was a very exciting weekend. The feeling with my Ducati has been excellent since Friday, although, honestly, in the Superpole Race, we had some difficulties. The team did a great job, and in Race-2, I felt comfortable right away. The race for the World Championship title? I am not concerned about the Standings and don’t care about the points lead. I only care about having the feeling that I am on the right path. I am very happy to have given such emotions to all the Ducatisti fans. We have to keep on!”

Michael Rinaldi

“I am very happy. Yesterday’s podium was perhaps unexpected. In Race-2, however, the feelings with the bike were very good. In the Superpole Race, we had a problem that did not allow me to be competitive and forced me to start from tenth on the grid. I got off well, knowing I had all the cards to get to the front. I dedicate this result to my team, to the many Italian fans who support me, and especially to my family.”   

Toprak Razgatlıoğlu

“I’m very happy for the win in the Superpole Race after the technical problem yesterday! But also in Race 1 I was feeling some problems with the performance, and this morning we made a big improvement and the bike is much better – I ride like my style and I am enjoying the race, I’m very happy for this! I enjoyed a lot! In Race 2, I try my best because very, very hot conditions, last year I don’t remember this weather. Also, Alvaro was very fast, very fast pace. Some sectors, I am coming back to him, some sectors he is very fast – after ten laps, I say okay second position is enough for me in this race, to risk more would be difficult. I hope again in Donington I am fighting for the win – I love the circuit, and to have this weekend finishing in a good way ready for the next round, I am very happy. One first position and one second position, we improve the bike a lot and this is good motivation for Donington.”

Andrea Locatelli

“In the end we finish in P6-6-6, it was a difficult weekend for me here in Misano but for sure it was a big improvement with respect to last year which is a good point for us. We need to continue to work on the bike, and I need to trust myself on the bike to improve and to try to close the gap. We have a lot of data now, and it was the first race weekend in really hot conditions so we learned something about where we need to improve the bike set-up and where I need to improve myself. It is a good start to continue in these conditions.”

Paul Denning – Team Principal, Pata Yamaha

“After yesterday’s disappointment, Toprak’s team did an incredible job to first of all solve the fundamental problem and secondly, change the package to give Toprak something he could really get the best out of today. The dominant Superpole Race victory was just what we needed and he fought like an animal in Race 2, but didn’t have quite enough for a second victory. Congratulations to Toprak, his engineers and crew – we made a huge step today and this will take us forward to Donington in a much more confident mood. Loka’s results were a mirror of yesterday’s, but achieved in a different way. Race 2 saw him make a few errors in the first couple of laps, and it cost him a lot of track position but the positive aspect of the result was the way he kept digging in and pushing right to the end to secure another top six place which was excellent damage limitation. Thanks to all our partners and the huge number of fans that came to Misano this weekend, we hope they enjoyed the show!”

Jonathan Rea

“I felt at the beginning of the Superpole Race I was OK but as soon as the pace stepped up I couldn’t really go with Toprak. He was on it and had a really good rhythm. Then with Alvaro as soon as he got clear track, he was gone. I felt that I was riding to get the maximum from the bike, but it wasn’t enough. I was getting frustrated because they were just going away. In the long race I was fourth in T1 but then I got track position behind Toprak and Alvaro. I just settled into a rhythm I thought was OK. I was really struggling with entering corners, with sliding that was causing the front to chatter. I just had a pace that wasn’t good enough and struggled with grip. I had 2-3-4 race finishes for the weekend and we go out of here in one piece, with some points. I think we maximised what we could do. When I raced with Alvaro out there I didn’t feel I had anything for him, to be honest. He was on a different level here. We will see what happens in Donington.”

Alex Lowes

“What a shame that was. It was clearly tough conditions for us and our bike. I thought I had made a step but starting from the third row in the second race wasn’t going to be easy. I was in the battle for fifth but unfortunately I passed under a yellow flag, so when I raised my hand to let Lecuona go past, Lecuona and Bassani passed me, which put me further back again. I felt my pace was stronger than theirs but I just couldn’t get a rhythm. I couldn’t pass that was the biggest thing. I felt like I rode pretty well. A shame about the long lap but I didn’t get a warning on my dash display, just the long-lap penalty. If I had a warning I would have known not to go back on the green paint. The first long lap penalty for me in a race, so that was a new one, but it dropped us back and we finished eighth. Right now our bike is not loving the really hot sticky conditions, so we need to put our heads together and try to work on that. But I felt I did a good job. I will enjoy a pizza and a beer tonight with the family and come back in search of that first podium of the year first time out in Donington.”

Xavi Vierge

“The crash was a real pity because we’ve had an incredible weekend and were running a really good second race. I think the other rider (Axel Bassani) overtook me, touching my front wheel, so I found myself in direct line with the wall and had to jump off the bike. I was lucky because I touched the ground at very high speed. After an initial check, it looks like I might have broken something in my right hand but nothing important. So first thing tomorrow I will undergo more comprehensive examinations to understand our next steps in order to be ready to ride as soon as possible. I want to say thank you so much to my team and technicians because they are doing an amazing job.”

Iker Lecuona

“Overall I’m really happy with our weekend here. I think both me and Xavi did not expect this kind of speed, but we’ve both been very fast, worked together and finished very close to the front in all three races. In race 1, I maybe struggled a bit more but then in the Superpole race I battled hard with Rinaldi and Locatelli. I lost some time as a result, but my pace was strong, and I knew I could fight for the top five again in race 2. Starting from the second row helped a lot, and even though I struggled with the rear tyre in the early stages, lap by lap I felt more comfortable and in the second part of the race I could ride really fast. I’m very happy for now; we’re just nine points from fourth in the championship and to have finished in the top ten in every race tells us that we’re on the right track.”

Scott Redding

“BMW experienced a difficult weekend here last year so we came in and used it a bit as testing. Actually I was able to carry on the pace from Estoril; that’s not too bad. To be honest, in the races, we had quite a good race pace to be in sixth or seventh position but I struggled all weekend getting off the start line – I did not get one good start, and it’s very important to get away on the first laps but I was going back to 16th, 17th or maybe 18th and then you are battling with the guys and lose five seconds on the first two laps. What was positive from the weekend was we had consistent race pace; that was quite good for us and I am feeling again a step better on the bike but we really need to bring some things that allow me to get off the start to be there. I think I deserve it. We have been working well, we have the pace but we give it away at the start so simple things that need to be fixed. We have a bit of a break now and I hope for Donington we will have a solution and keep going from there.”

Eugene Laverty

“It has been a really tough weekend. We have tried many things with the bike to try and improve our pace but it did not seem to have much impact so it was tough to make some progress but we did our best and this is the maximum we leave with this weekend. I can’t be happy with that, nor the team nor BMW. We all want to improve, we’ll keep working hard and try to return stronger in the next one because this is not satisfactory. For the next races at Donington, we need to be back in the top ten like at the first round at Aragón where we were strong but since then I have had difficulties so I need to get the good feeling back again.”

Loris Baz

“It has been a difficult weekend. It started with bad luck and it seemed like this bad luck was just following all weekend. I am sad also for the guys in the team, because all the mechanics, everybody works so hard. In the Superpole race I did not have a great feeling after technical issues in the warm-up, and in this race, the top nine is the only thing we are looking for to have points. I was tenth or 11th and I tried it, pushed too hard and crashed. Then I tried again in race two, like I never really gave up this weekend, but the maximum we could do was P10. I had some issue again with the clutch and the brakes but I managed to bring some points for the guys. Until the clutch issue came up on the final laps, it was not too bad, I was not too far away from Scott. Now we try again at Donington; we never give up.”

Marc Bongers – BMW Motorrad Motorsport Director

“The weekend was not as satisfactory for us as we had hoped – neither with regard to the results nor the distance from the leaders. The top three or four positions are not achievable at the moment, that much is clear, but our goal is definitely to challenge for fifth place. In Sunday’s race, we showed that, as far as the lap times are concerned, we have the pace to compete in the group from fifth to eighth place. However, we had very bad starts – with Scott in particular – and consequently lost too much time in the opening laps. We could not recover from that. We must now find out what the cause was. It goes without saying that we must find even more pace from the bike. That goes for all four riders. We will now test at Donington on 28th June where we will try a few things out and focus more strongly on the start. Ilya had a tough weekend. After about 1,000 laps on Dunlop tyres and an endurance bike, it took him a while to adapt. What he then produced in the second main race was very pleasing. Loris was on a very similar level to Scott in race two, but had unfortunately had a little mishap in the morning’s Superpole race. He also struggled at the start, and with the clutch in general. Eugene also really struggled. The feedback from the riders is all very similar, and we must now deal with these points. All in all, we are not where we need to be. We must stick with it to make steady progress.”

WorldSSP600 Race Two

The battle for the win in Race 2 was decided on the penultimate lap as Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) beat Lorenzo Baldassarri (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team) on the penultimate lap.

Italian rider Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team) got the better start and moved into the lead at Turn 1, but ran wide at Turn 4 and dropped down the order before fighting back, allowing Baldassarri to take the lead as Aegerter also ran slightly wide.

Aegerter had to make his way past Yari Montella (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) which he duly did at Turn 4 on Lap 5 to move into second place. After that, he set his sights on Baldassarri at the front of the field and first made his move for the lead on Lap 12 at Turn 4, before Baldassarri responded at Turn 14.

On Lap 17 of 18, Aegerter made his move at Turn 11 to claim his seventh consecutive win in WorldSSP and becoming the first rider to have at least seven wins in two different seasons, having taken 10 in 2021.

Baldassarri claimed second place for the fifth time in 2022 but will take confidence from the fact he was able to match Aegerter throughout both races, with the Italian now on seven podiums in his rookie campaign.

Bulega finished third after making a move on Montella at Curvone on Lap 5 to move into third place, where he remained for the rest of the race.

After showing strong pace throughout the round, Stefano Manzi (Dynavolt Triumph) claimed his best WorldSSP result with fourth place after battling up the field from ninth on the grid; the result also marks Triumph’s best result of the 2022 season since returning to the Championship. Manzi finished more than two-seconds clear of Turkish star Can Oncu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) in fifth and Federico Caricasulo (Althea Racing) in sixth; Caricasulo ran wide at Turn 1 on Lap 11 but was able to battle back for sixth place.

Montella ended up in seventh place after the 18 lap race after a late-race battle with team-mate Oncu, with the Italian finishing more than 4.5 seconds clear of compatriot Mattia Casadei (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) in eighth place. Casadei fended off a late charge from Frenchman Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha) in ninth while Raffaele De Rosa (Orelac Racing VerdNatura WorldSSP) rounded out the top ten after bouncing back from his Race 1 crash.

Ben Currie had a difficult weekend as he continues a return to strength after serious pre-season injuries but unfortunately didn’t claim any points at Misano.

Countryman Oli Bayliss (BARNI Spark Racing Team) and Unai Orradre (MS Racing Yamaha WorldSSP) crashed at Turn 14 on Lap 4, with both riders retiring from the race. Bayliss had qualified in the top ten and again showed signs of increasing competitiveness which will give the young Aussie heart as he looks towards redemption at Donington.

Oli Bayliss – DNF

“It wasn’t the best weekend for us. Yesterday we completed a strong qualifying but then we didn’t finish either of the races. I’m really sorry for the team and for having involved Orradre in the crash. Now we’ll focus on making up for things at Donington.”

WorldSSP600 Race Two Results

WorldSSP600 Championship Points

WorldSSP300 Race Two

In a typically frenetic WorldSSP300 race, Diaz moved into the lead of the race with two laps to go and, despite late pressure from his rivals, was able to hold on to race victory. It means he now has a 20-point lead in the Championship as he moves back into top spot after his title rivals faltered during the race. Diaz’s margin of victory was 0.408s at the end of the race.

Japanese rider Yuta Okaya (MTM Kawasaki) made a late move into second place to take his eighth podium in WorldSSP300, putting him level with Bahattin Sofuoglu and Adrian Huertas, while Victor Steeman (MTM Kawasaki) claimed third place after a dramatic race.

Hugo De Cancellis (Leader Team Flembbo) took fourth after battling with Steeman for the podium, with the pair separated by just 0.003s at the line.

German rider Dirk Geiger (Fusport-RT Motorsports by SKM-Kawasaki) equalled the best result of his WorldSSP300 career as he took fifth place, ahead of compatriot Lennox Lehmann (Freudenberg KTM – Paligo Racing); Lehmann had crossed the line in fifth but was demoted one place for exceeding track limits on the last lap. Lehmann completed yet another comeback after battling his way from the middle of the pack.

Italian rider Mirko Gennai (Team BrCorse) had been in the leading in the group during the race but found himself down in seventh place ahead of fellow Italian rider Kevin Sabatucci (Kawasaki GP Project) with less than a tenth separating the pair. Sabatucci had a two-tenths margin of Ruben Bijman (MTM Kawasaki) in ninth and wildcard Alfonso Coppola (VM Racing Team) in tenth. Coppola started from the back of the grid, 31st place, after a tyre pressure infringement on the grid but battled his way up to the lead group. He also was forced to drop one position during the race for overtaking under yellow flags during the race, with the wildcard eventually carding tenth.

Young Aussie Harry Khouri unfortunately crashed at Turn 10 seven-minutes into the race.

WorldSSP300 Race Two Results

WorldSSP300 Championship Points

2022 WorldSBK Calendar