Record champion Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki) bumped overall leader Alvaro Bautista (Ducati) into the gravel trap in the second main race of the Superbike World Championship at Magny-Cours. The Spaniard calls for more drastic measures.
The incident happened on lap 2: Toprak Razgatlioglu was leading ahead of Alvaro Bautista, Jonathan Rea cornered the Spaniard on corner entry and cleared him. Rea received a long-lap penalty for this maneuver, but it only cost him about 2.5 seconds – the Northern Irishman finished fifth and saved eleven points.
Bautista could hardly believe what had happened. “Rea drove irresponsibly, touched me and pushed me off the track,” said the 37-year-old in the world feed. “It’s unbelievable that a world champion like him can do such a maneuver. It wasn’t a driving error, it was intentional. The punishment he received for this is not fair. He drove straight into me and I fell. If you intentionally send another rider out and only get a long lap penalty, you win more than you lose.”
Bautista again had the speed for 1st place, safe for the podium. As a result of the incident, he lost 25 points to winner Razgatlioglu and eleven to Rea. The Aruba Ducati rider is now just 30 points ahead in the overall standings.
“I’m not currently dealing with the championship, I’m concerned with the maneuver,” emphasized Bautista. “It’s unacceptable to do something like that in a race. In a world championship race and by a great champion like him. I’m lucky that I don’t miss anything physically. Points are points – but it is more important that such actions are not repeated.”
Results Superbike World Championship Magny-Cours, race 3:
1. Razgatlioglu, Yamaha, 21 laps
2. Rinaldi, Ducati, + 2,024
3. Bassani, Ducati, + 4,742
4. Lowes, Kawasaki, + 5,084
5. Rea, Kawasaki, +10,679
6. Redding, BMW, + 11,955
7. Locatelli, Yamaha, + 15,188
8. Gerloff, Yamaha, +15.443
9. Baz, BMW, +16,870
10. Lecuona, Honda, + 18,367
11. Öttl, Ducati, + 25,740
12. Mahias, Kawasaki, + 33,872
13. Bernardi, Ducati, + 38,188
14. Tambourine, Yamaha, +41,389
15. Nozane, Yamaha, + 42,657
16. Ponsson, Yamaha, +50,863
17. Gutierrez, Kawasaki, +54,487
18. König, Kawasaki, >+ > 1 min
19. Syahrin, Honda, + > 1 min
DNF Laverty, BMW
DNF Vierge, Honda
DNF Van der Mark, BMW
DNF Mercado, Honda
DNF Bautista, Ducati
Status after 20 of 36 races:
1. Bautista, 332 Punkte. 2. Razgatlioglu 302. 3. Rea 285. 4. Rinaldi 167. 5. Locatelli 166. 6. Bassani 151. 7. Redding 145. 8. Lowes 145. 9. Lecuona 140. 10. Vierge 82. 11. Gerloff 76. 12. Baz 75. 13. ttl 53. 14. Mahias 41. 15. Bernardi 27. 16. Tamburini 25. 17. Laverty 18. 18. van der Mark 15. 19. Nozane 13. 20. Fores 12. 21. Mykhalchyk 10. 22. Ponsson 8. 23. Syahrin 4. 24. Haslam 4. 25. Mackenzie 3. 26. Hickman 2. 27. Mercado 2.