MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks

Much like yesterday, the rain hit the island hard. After delay after delay, the track was checked at 15:30 and the decision was pushed back until 16:00 local time. Astonishingly, after discussions with key riders, a decision was made to go racing, with a quick start twelve lap race in the rain.

After an uneventful sighting lap, the riders lined up and the light went out. Toprak Razgatlioglu led into turn one, ahead of Andrea Locatelli and Garrett Gerloff, but Scott Redding and Jonathan Rea pushed through a confusing turn one to take second and third place. Rea took second place off Redding into turn ten as four riders headed in to the same bit of track. 

After one lap, Rea led Razgatlioglu, Redding and Axel Bassani with Michal Van der Mark and Tati Mercado close behind. Razgatlioglu lined up alongside Rea and took the lead into turn twelve. Michael van der Mark set the fastest lap of 1'46.089 closing up to Axel Bassani to make the leading group five bikes.

Scott Redding took the lead into turn ten, but Jonathan Rea took it back briefly until Redding took it back into turn twelve. Tati Mercado unfortunately crashed out behind the action. Scott Redding set the fastest lap, a 1'45.301.

At turn nine, Jonathan Rea rode round the outside of Scott Redding to take the lead back and set a fastest lap in the process, a 1'44.597.

Axel Bassani and Toprak Razgatlioglu made contact around turns fifteen and sixteen and Bassani was put into the path of Michael van der Mark who nudged him off the track and out of the race as Rea set the fastest lap, beaten by Redding a lap later with a 1'44.058.

At half race distance, Scott Redding led Jonathan Rea as Michael van der Mark took third place from Toprak Razgatlioglu. The incident between van der Mark and Bassani was put under investigation and Redding set a 1'43.648 lap.

Into turn ten of lap seven of twelve, Jonathan Rea took the lead back from Scott Redding, as the pair led the fight between Toprak Razgatlioglu and Michael van der Mark by over three seconds. Van der Mark and Razgatlioglu made close passes throughout the lap as Jonathan Rea set a 1'43.362 with five laps left. A lap later, Rea posted a 1'43.172 with Scott Redding right behind him. Van der Mark and Razgatlioglu continued to swap places with van der Mark taking third back. 

Michael van der Mark avoided a penalty for his clash with Axel Bassani as Scott Redding and Jonathan Rea set identical lap times, a fastest lap of 1'42.835 two tenths apart on track. A lap later, Redding took the fastest lap with a 1'42.421, over six seconds ahead of van der Mark and Razgatlioglu. Ten seconds back from Razgatlioglu, Tom Sykes sat in fifth place on his last race with BMW, three seconds ahead of Garrett Gerloff.

Down the straight to start the last lap, Scott Redding powered past Jonathan Rea, with a 1'42.390, to take the lead before the first turn. Into turn ten, Redding couldn't hold the line and Rea snuck underneath to take the lead. Redding took the lead into turn fifteen, but was wide into sixteen as a result, letting Rea switch underneath to take the lead onto the straight.

Jonathan Rea won by less than three tenths over Scott Redding, with Michael van der Mark seven seconds behind taking third place, three seconds ahead of Toprak Razgatlioglu. Eleven seconds further back, Tom Sykes led Garrett Gerloff by almost three seconds to take fifth place. Chaz Davies ended his World Superbike career in twelfth place.

Jonathan Rea met his team halfway round the track and they put the number 65 back on the front of his Kawasaki, relinquishing the number one plate.

Jonathan Rea's win was his thirteenth of the year, matching Toprak Razgatlioglu's number of wins, but it was Yamaha who took the manufacturer's title, and Garrett Gerloff who took the independent rider's title. 

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