Razgatlioglu and Rea spent most of Sunday morning’s 10-lap encounter nose-to-tail, but their battle was decided in the favour of the former when Rea was forced to skip through the gravel on the final lap.
The Kawasaki rider was lucky to stay upright and hold on to second place, in the process cutting Alvaro Bautista’s championship lead to 27 points ahead of the final full-distance race of the weekend.
As was the case in Saturday’s opener, Razgatlioglu got the jump on poleman Rea at the start, and appeared to have the pace advantage in the early stages.
However, Rea never let his rival get more than about one second clear, and after the halfway mark he rapidly closed in to the point where he was right on Razgatlioglu’s tail by the eighth lap.
That allowed Rea to dive through on the inside at the Turn 15 right-hander, but Razgatlioglu stuck close by and was able to get back ahead under braking for the Turn 1 at the start of the penultimate tour.
Rea wasn’t close enough to repeat his Turn 15 maneouvre that lap, but a better run through the final two right-handers set him up to take the lead at the start of the final lap under braking at Turn 1.
Moments later, Razgatlioglu swept back ahead at the unusual spot of the high-speed Turn 4 left-hander, but a poor exit through Turn 13 opened the door for Rea to move back ahead as the pair approached Turn 15.
This time however Rea appeared to misjudge his braking and had to trudge through the gravel, clearing the way for Razgatlioglu to score his fifth win of the season unchallenged, although such was the duo’s advantage over third-placed Bautista that Rea was still able to finish second.
Ducati rider Bautista had no answer to the pace of the top two, instead spending the race keeping his teammate Michael Ruben Rinaldi at bay.
Axel Bassani made it three Ducatis in the top five on his Motocorsa Racing example ahead of Andrea Locatelli’s Yamaha and Iker Lecuona on the best of the Hondas.
Scott Redding slipped to 14th on the opening lap but fought his way back up to eighth aboard the BMW, while Garrett Gerloff claimed the final point on offer in ninth on the GRT Yamaha.
Alex Lowes crashed unaided at Turn 10 on the fourth lap, but the Kawasaki rider had made a late decision to start the race after his team had announced he would be sitting it out owing to illness.
Results to follow
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Motorsport.com – MOTORBIKES – Stories…