One round a Turkish legend leaves high-level competition behind; the next, one of his disciples starts to cement his own legacy. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) took the figurative baton from Kenan Sofuoglu this Sunday at Donington Park. The five-time WorldSSP champion and motorcycling legend can retire without fear: Turkish racing is in good hands for years to come.

Razgatlioglu was tenth on the grid on Sunday, after a last-lap collision with teammate Leon Haslam (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) left him down and out the day before. It was a tough break for the Turkish rider, who had battled through the Superpole 1 earlier in the day and showed fantastic pace. But on Sunday, he managed to redeem himself.

The first time the field crossed through the finish line, Razgatlioglu was still in tenth position, but his climb began there. In one lap, he managed to scale three positions, and another two in the next three laps. His battle with Lorenzo Savadori (Milwaukee Aprilia) for fourth was drawn-out and tough, with both riders giving their all during eight strenuous laps. But once that was settled, the Turkish rider never looked back: he shot ahead to the front three, stuck in an embittered battle for the lead, and, fresher than his rivals, mounted an amazing podium attack that included overtaking Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) in the final lap.

An exhausted Razgatlioglu was very pleased at how the weekend ended: “I’m really happy. We had good lap times this morning during the warm up. From the race start, in tenth, I followed Sykes and Johnny. There was too much traffic, but after I could do some overtaking. I’m really happy to be on the podium the first Turkish rider to get one in WorldSBK”.

“I had a really good feeling on the bike, it was perfect”, he says. “Second place is great”.

Catch the highlights of Toprak’s race, including his podium-setting overtake on Rea, thanks to the WorldSBK VideoPass.