BIMOTA IN PODIUM CONTENTION? Alex Lowes third, Bassani seveth…
Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) led the Bimota charge on Friday in Czechia, finishing third with a 1’31.607s, lapping around three tenths back from pacesetter Razgatlioglu as he showed strong pace. Teammate Axel Bassani put both KB998 Rimini machines in the top ten as he claimed seventh with a 1’31.738s, just a tenth back from his teammate but with four riders between the Bimota duo.
TRICKY DAY FOR YAMAHA: three riders crash, Locatelli leads the way
Andrea Locatelli (Pata Maxus Yamaha) was one of several crashers in FP1, when he crashed at Turn 17, but he was back out on track in FP2 as he claimed ninth place in the combined classification, with teammate Jonathan Rea four places behind the #55; Rea also crashed in FP1, at Turn 8. Bahattin Sofuoglu (Yamaha Motoxracing WorldSBK Team) has shown impressive speed at Most and finished the day in 14th place, ahead of Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) in 15th; the Australian had a crash at Turn 21 in FP1. Dominique Aegerter (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) and Tito Rabat (Yamaha Motoxracing WorldSBK Team) finished the day in 19th and 21st respectively.
HONDAS AS CLOSE AS EVER: Vierge just pips Lecuona
As is often the case at Honda, Iker Lecuona (Honda HRC) and teammate Xavi Vierge were close on the timesheets – to the point where, with seven minutes remaining, they’d both posted a 1’32.065s. However, in the final seconds, Vierge improved to a 1’32.014s to just move clear of Lecuona, although they finished P10 and P11 respectively. Tarran Mackenzie (PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda) finished in 20th while Zaqhwan Zaidi (PETRONAS MIE Honda Racing Team) was 22nd; the Malaysian rider had an early crash in FP2 at Turn 10 but was able to re-join the session.
GERLOFF CLOSE TO THE TOP TEN: just half-a-tenth away…
Garrett Gerloff (Kawasaki WorldSBK Team) finished in 16th as the sole Kawasaki rider on the grid, although, with a condensed field in FP2, was 1.2 seconds off the pace however, finding two tenths would move him up to 12th place.
The top six from Friday’s WorldSBK action, full results here:
1. Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) 1’31.318s
2. Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) +0.224s
3. Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) +0.289s
4. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +0.375s
5. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +0.403s
6. Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) +0.409s
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Source: WorldSBK.com