Michael Van der Mark superbly stormed to his first World Superbike victory in nearly three years, taking the flag in torrential conditions which saw only 12 riders finish the race.

The conditions continued to deteriate and the whole field pitted for wet tyres barring Gerloff who braved the wet track on intermediates leaving him with a lead of over 30 seconds.

As Alex Lowes began to close in on Gerloff, the American crashed out of the lead with 15 laps remaining and despite remounting with a small lead pitted for wet tyres at the end of the lap.

Lowes inherited the lead and had a gap of over a second from Van der mark but the British rider tumbled out with 11 laps remaining. The British rider rejoined the race and was making strong
progress and putting himself in contention to recover a podium before being black flagged for riding his motorcycle in an unsafe condition.

Van der mark managed the race for the final 10 laps
and eventually crossed the line 8.2 secons infront of Alvaro Bautista. Danilo Petrucci scored his fifth podium of the season in third place. Scott Redding will rue what might have been, despite
joining the long list of crashers the Gloucestershireman equaled his best result of the season after recovering to forth place. Andrea Iannone recorded a strong fifth place
infront of honda duo Iker Lecuona and Xavi Vierge, Locatelli salvaged eighth following his early fall, fellow Italians Michael Ruben Rinaldi and Alessandro Delbianco completed the top 10.

Delbianco is competing this weekend in place of the injured Dominique Aegeter, this was his best ever World Superbike result after previously competing in the series full time in 2019.

Completing the finishers after suffering earlier crashes were Axel Bassani and Garret Gerloff in 11th and 12th. British riders Bradley Ray, Sam Lowes and Tarran Mackenzie all ran strongly
in the points, with Ray running as high as eighth, but unfortunately the trio all crashed out of contention. Remy Gardner, Tito Rabat and Ivo Lopes were the other riders to fall out of
contention while Philipp Oettl retired with a technical issue.

Jonathan Rea, Nicolo Bulega and Bradley Ray were taken to the medical centre and their conditions will be checked prior to Sunday’s warm up sessions to determine if they are fit to ride.

Featured Image: BMW Motorrad WSBK