Toprak Razgatlioglu claimed Yamaha’s first win of the 2021 World Superbike season in the final race at Misano, denying Ducati’s Michael Ruben Rinaldi a clean sweep of the weekend.
Starting second on the grid, Razgatlioglu first attempted to pass polesitter Rinaldi at Turn 4 on the opening lap, only to run wide and allow an opportunistic Jonathan Rea to pass both of them in one move.
However, six-time champion Rea didn’t have the pace to head the pack on his factory Kawasaki, with first Rinaldi dispatching him at Turn 8 on lap 3 and Razgatlioglu then following the Italian on the next tour at the same corner.
From there on Razgatlioglu kept the pressure up on Rinaldi as the two engaged in a straight duel for victory, finally making the decisive move on lap 9 going into Turn 14, the slowest corner on the track.
Rinaldi tried to fight back with seven laps to run in the race, but the Turkish rider upped his own pace to bring the gap back up to one second and prevent any chances of a late attack.
This marked Razgatlioglu’s first WSBK win since his pair of successes in the Portimao finale last year, ending the duopoly of Kawasaki and Ducati in 2021.
Rea finished third on the lead Kawasaki behind Rinaldi, missing out on a win for the first time in any round this season, but he actually extended his points advantage as his chief rival Scott Redding (Ducati) again finished outside the podium in fourth.
GRT Yamaha’s Garrett Gerloff earned the honour of the top independent rider after passing the factory Kawasaki of Alex Lowes with less than a handful of laps to run, with Axel Bassani also impressing on the Motocorsa Ducati to bag a seventh place finish.
Alvaro Bautista could only manage eighth on the Honda, with Yamaha’s Andrea Locatelli and BMW rider Michael van der Mark completing the top 10.
Van der Mark’s teammate Tom Sykes slipped from seventh at the start to finish a disappointing 12th, behind the Puccetti Kawasaki of Lucas Mahias. Kohta Nozane (GRT), Tito Rabat (Barni Ducati) and Eugene Laverty (RC Squadra Corsa BMW) were the last of the points scorers.
Chaz Davies’ miserable weekend continued as he was forced to pull into the pits with a reported mechanical problem on his GoEleven Ducati, having crashed out of the previous two races at Misano.
WORLDSBK MISANO, ITALY – RACE RESULTS
| POS | RIDER | NAT | TEAM | TIME |
| 1 | Toprak Razgatlioglu | TUR | PATA Yamaha | 21 Laps |
| 2 | Michael Rinaldi | ITA | Aruba.It Ducati | +1.286s |
| 3 | Jonathan Rea | GBR | Kawasaki Racing Team | +2.987s |
| 4 | Scott Redding | GBR | Aruba.It Ducati | +9.102s |
| 5 | Garrett Gerloff | USA | GRT Yamaha | +10.695s |
| 6 | Alex Lowes | GBR | Kawasaki Racing Team | +13.117s |
| 7 | Axel Bassani | ITA | Motocorsa Ducati | +17.621s |
| 8 | Alvaro Bautista | SPA | Team HRC | +17.893s |
| 9 | Andrea Locatelli | ITA | PATA Yamaha | +22.458s |
| 10 | Michael Van Der Mark | NED | Motorrad BMW WorldSBK Team | +25.118s |
| 11 | Lucas Mahias | FRA | Kawasaki Puccetti | +27.107s |
| 12 | Tom Sykes | GBR | Motorrad BMW WorldSBK Team | +28.353s |
| 13 | Kohta Nozane | JPN | GRT Yamaha | +33.391s |
| 14 | Tito Rabat | SPA | Barni Ducati | +38.817s |
| 15 | Eugene Laverty | IRL | RC Squadra Corse BMW | +41.262s |
| 16 | Jonas Folger | GER | Benovo BMW | +43.046s |
| 17 | Isaac Vinales | SPA | Orelac Racing Kawasaki | +53.844s |
| 18 | Christophe Ponsson | FRA | Gil Yamaha | +1’00.109s |
| 19 | Samuele Cavalieri | ITA | Pedercini Kawasaki | +1’11.934s |
| 20 | Loris Cresson | BEL | Pedercini Kawasaki | +1’23.648s |
| 21 | Chaz Davies | GBR | GoEleven Ducati | DNF |
| 22 | Leon Haslam | GBR | Team HRC | DNF |
