Pata Yamaha’s Toprak Razgatlioglu continued his strong introduction to Indonesia by claiming the inaugural WorldSBK Superpole.
Razgatlioglu was straight out the blocks and straight up to speed once again for the qualifying session after a challenging FP3 had forced him to sit out of the majority of the morning due to a technical issue.
Superpole action began with the news Kawasaki’s Alex Lowes was declared unfit after an FP3 crash caused AC joint separation for the unfortunate Brit. The Derby-based rider sidelined along with Leon Haslam after the Honda rider was also ruled out due to a lack of strength and impairment resulting from his recent surgery.
Razgatlioglu took charge with a 1’33.544 lap as the bikes rolled out for the 15-minute session. Title-rival Jonathan Rea neatly behind for second, a tenth and a half adrift with Ducati’s Scott Redding bringing up third.
Andrea Locatelli claimed fourth after the initial run at the Lombok layout, from Axel Bassani and the BMW duo of Tom Sykes and Michael van der Mark while Alvaro Bautista circulated eighth. Go Eleven Ducati’s Chaz Davies kicking off his retirement weekend from 15th.
The final runs fired up with five minutes left on the clock. Rea striking first for pole with a 1’33.201, followed by Redding and Razgatlioglu before the Turk hit back. 1’32.877 the target in the penultimate minute with Locatelli and Garett Gerloff fighting hard for fourth.
A frustrated Rea entered pitlane, from second, as Tom Sykes claimed a second row position to start his final weekend from sixth. Bassani, Bautista, van der Mark and Leandro Mercado completed the top 10 ahead of the afternoon’s opening race.
