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STK1000, Imola, ITALY, 15 Maggio 2017

Toprak Podiums In STK1000 As Deroue Still Leads WorldSSP300

After his recent Assen race win official Kawasaki STK1000 rider Toprak Razgatlioglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) took his Ninja ZX-10RR to his second podium of the season at Imola on Sunday.

In a race that was delayed by a series of red flag incidents in other classes the STK1000 contest got going much later than planned. After a red flag incident soon after the race began, the restarted and final race began at 17.17 and was shortened to nine laps.
 
From ninth on the grid Razgatlioglu made rapid and determined progress to be fifth at the end of lap one, then up to the third place he would keep to the flag by lap eight. He was four seconds from the win but his 16 points for third place mean he is still second in the overall rankings. Toprak is now 16 points from the Imola race winner, Michael Ruben Rinaldi.
 
Jeremy Guarnoni (Pedercini Racing Kawasaki) was involved in a crash early in the restarted race but retook to the track before entering the pits for repairs. He finished, but was two laps down at the flag. Jeremy is now sixth in the rankings, just a point behind fifth place.
 
Ilya Mykhalchyk (Triple M Racing Kawasaki) crashed at Turn 22 with one lap to go but remains ninth overall after taking good points scores in the opening two rounds at Motorland Aragon and Assen.
 
Toprak Razgatlioglu stated, “I had a good and fast race and took away lots of points, so I am happy. I have to say thanks to the team for all their work this week. It is good to get another podium, and at their home round too.”
 
In the WorldSSP300 championship, which is new for this season, championship leader Scott Deroue (MTM HS Kawasaki) had a tough Imola weekend on his Ninja 300. Despite a crash on Friday that contributed to him being only 21st in Superpole, he fought his way through to head up the second group of riders in this ultra-competitive class, ending up in 11th place.
 
His recovery to the points scoring positions means he leads the championship, largely thanks to his season opening wins in Spain and The Netherlands. He is now 14 points ahead of his closest pursuer.
 
Scott Deroue, stated: “I missed almost completely the first free practice after a small crash in the gravel trap, when I injured my shoulder. On Saturday I still had some pain but I tried to do my best. Finally I needed to start from 21st position. In the race I ended up in the second group and we couldn't close the gap to the leaders. I focused on getting the best possible result and tried to win in the second group. I succeeded and took eleventh, and five world championship-points. I'm happy to get them, because all weekend long it didn't look very good. You never know when you need these points.”