DEFINING STORIES, ROUND 6: Toprak makes it 10 on the spin as Bautista’s title tilt flops at Most
A record-breaking Most attendance, a fly-pass, Petrucci, Iannone and Locatelli all back on the rostrum and more: the Czech Round was memorable
The halfway point of the 2024 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship came at Most in the Czech Republic, now widely regarded as one of the must-attend events of the Czech motorsport calendar. Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) was in fine fettle as he eased to a third hat-trick on the spin, whilst behind, reigning double World Champion was having a nightmare round despite it being the event where the feeling improved. Enjoy Race 1 and Race 2 here and catch up on all the behind the scenes fallout from Bautista’s weekend to forget with our UNFILTERED episode from Most!
RAZGATLIOGLU DAZZLES: another hat-trick, Toprak unstoppable
Having tripled at Misano and Donington Park, it was a hat-trick of hat-tricks for the #54 who was hurtling to success after success. He was now completely unleashed and there was nothing that the opposition could seemingly do about it. A dominant Race 1 was met with combat in the Superpole Race’s early stages from Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) and teammate Alvaro Bautista but Toprak dealt with them before clearing off. It was Bulega again who challenged him in the opening to Race 2 but a Turn 16 pass saw Toprak check out.
BAUTISTA’S SUNDAY NIGHTMARE: future looking set after a Most to forget
Whilst Toprak was in dreamland, Bautista was in a horror show. A crash with teammate Bulega on the last lap of the Superpole Race left him needlessly down field on the starting grid again for Race 2. By the time they got to Turn 1 on Lap 1, he tangled with Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Ducati) – who had podiumed with Andrea Iannone (Team GoEleven) in Race 1 – and crashed, ending his hopes in the gravel. A title tilt had fallen apart like a cheap watch and Bautista was now more than 100 points behind Toprak in the title race. Elsewhere, this opened up the opportunity for someone else to grab a podium and that honour went to Andrea Locatelli (Pata Prometeon Yamaha), back on the rostrum for the first time since Australia. In his media debriefs however, Bautista was quick to deflect attention away from a poor weekend, confirming that he and Ducati were speaking in order to renew their contract.
2025 LOADING: relive all the drama from 2024 and further back with the WorldSBK VideoPass!
