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Donington WorldSBK: Toprak takes podium after only 12 race starts

After only 12 WorldSBK race starts, a 21-year-old rider that even three time world champion Jonathan Rea rates as highly talented took his first podium finish - and in second place, not third. And he did it in front of the reigning world champion and without a factory bike.

Puccetti Kawasaki's Toprak Razgatlioglu repeated Leon Haslam’s 2017 feat of taking a privateer Kawasaki onto the podium at Donington, but the young Turk did it after a dozen races races and in his rookie year.

Michael van der Mark’s double win may be the story of the weekend but the magnitude of Razgatlioglu’s amazing win cannot be downplayed.

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He said it was partly to do with the track layout, and also running with Rea and Sykes in the early laps. “I like the track here, and I like the stop-go-track,” said Toprak. “Long corners, no good! Normally all race long I have a problem with the font sliding, Imola was the same, but no problem here. I had a good feeling from the bike.”

He had been eighth on Saturday in race one before he and Donington weekend team-mate Haslam clashed, and Toprak had to retire. But finding pace to hunt down the best Superbike riders there are, bar one, was due to several factors, some technical.

“It was not easy but what was different today was the tyre,” he stated. “We changed the tyre choice and made a little bit of a change in the electronics set-up. This morning I tried and made a good lap time, I was fastest in warm-up, and I started the race in tenth position. I followed Sykes and Johnny, and after I saw the riders sliding too much. My bike was sliding, but with safety.”

Still working on his English, but already much better than he was even a few months ago, Toprak has already learned the subtle English habit of understatement, it seems. “It was a good finishing position, my first podium in Superbike. It is the first Turkish podium as well in Superbike. I can speak a little English in a group but when I see a lot of people, I do not speak. In this small group is good.”

He was unfazed at passing Rea on his way forward, as he could see the world champion had a less then ideal grip level later in the race.

“I saw Jonathan was sliding too much on the left side and in the first sector he was a little slow, so I passed - because I saw Lowes behind and maybe he was coming forward. So I went.”

The fact that WorldSBK rules have lowered the rev limit of the factory bikes to the kind of level that a good privateer can expect from a self-tuned machine maybe also helped his cause. He certainly did not feel he was too disadvantaged by not having a KRT machine.

“There is not a big difference, just a little,” said Razgatlioglu about his machine versus Rea and Sykes’. “Top speed is the same. Only in turn exits they are a little faster, not a big difference. Maybe electronic settings are why. I have the same as the factory bike, suspension, electronics, the same.”

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