Toprak takes all-three victories in Portimão, the Turkish rider delivered an outstanding trio of races.

Fresh from creating history in the afternoon superpole race, Toprak Razgatlioglu continued his scorching streak of form by securing his fourth straight treble in the final race of round seven of the World Superbike season.

Early race contact between the Turkish star and Kawasaki’s Alex Lowes while battling for the lead resulted in severe damage to Toprak’s BMW as his front left wing flew off his machine. With Lowes running off the track following the collision Razgatlioglu was left in the lead, however it soon became clear the damage sustained was hindering his performance.

With Toprak struggling and unable to pull away from Aruba Ducati duo; Alvaro Bautista and Nicolo Bulega, it looked for all the world that Toprak’s winning streak would be coming to an end. Unfortunately while in hot pursuit of the lead, disaster struck for Ducati as Bautista lost the front of his bike at turn five with only five laps remaining and in doing so, all but ending his ambitions of winning a third title this season. Although the Spaniard was able to rejoin, this left him well outside of the points and not enough time to recover.

These events placed Bulega as the only remaining challenger to a 13th consecutive win for the record breaking Razgatlioglu. Despite the Italian’s best efforts, Toprak wouldn’t be denied and took the closest victory margain of the season by just 0.035s. Although visibly disappointed to have missed out on the win, Bulega has a lot to be pleased with as he secured his 12th podium of the year in what is his rookie season.

Lowes recovered to complete a double Sunday podium in third place ahead of Italian duo Andrea Iannone and Danilo Petrucci aboard their Ducati’s in forth and fifth. Northern Ireland’s Jonathan Rea saved his best result of the weekend until last, finishing a fine sixth and taking the honours as top Yamaha. Michael van der Mark, Garrett Gerloff, Xavi Vierge and Dominique Aegerter completed the top ten. Gloucestershire’s Scott Redding scored his first points of a challenging weekend finishing in 14th, while 2022 British Superbike Champion Bradley Ray was unable to add to the three points he’s scored so far this season finishing in 18th, one place in-front of the remounted Bautista. Wildcard, Hafizh Syahrin finished in 22nd and three laps down after his own crash at turn five.

Featured Image: WorldSBK.com.