Razgatlioglu ‘was devastated, in tears’ after losing to Bautista at Portimao

Razgatlioglu put together two phenomenal performances on Sunday at Portimao, as he challenged Alvaro Bautista until the very last corner in both races.

Clearly down on straight-line speed, Razgatlioglu was riding beyond the limit to make up for lost time in sectors one, two and three.

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Every time Bautista passed Razgatlioglu, which was with ease coming out of the final corner, Razgatlioglu took huge risks at turns one, three and five to regain the lead.

It meant the lead changed hands over 35 times between the pair before Bautista pipped Razgatlioglu across the line.

After giving his heart and soul to try and win Razgatlioglu broke down in parc ferme, but the plaudits were quick to come in from his team manager.

Denning told WorldSBK.com: “Stout defence and incredible attack if you consider the moves into Turn 5; down the hill and off-camber. 

“Into Turn 13, taking the bike from a lot of bank angle and just throwing it to the inside. The defence and re-passes into Turn 1 at the end of the straight were thrilling to watch. 

“As the race went on, I started to believe a little bit it might happen. It was just a relentless sense of never, ever, ever giving up and trying to make it happen. 

“There was this cloud of inevitability, let’s say, that the performance of Alvaro and the package in the last corner and the acceleration up the hill and onto the straight, almost whatever Toprak did was going to create that final result. 

“Toprak rides aggressively but he’s so respectful. It was a fabulous race.”

Portimao was expected to be a strong circuit for Ducati and Bautista, which is exactly how it turned out to be.

But Razgatlioglu made all three races a lot closer than they should have been.

“To hold that pace over 20 laps, in those temperatures, with the performance deficit and weight disadvantage that’s clearly there on acceleration and also it makes it more difficult to stop the bike as well,” added Denning. 

“It was pretty incredible and an amazing show. Toprak’s all in and the only thing that would’ve made him happy was winning. 

“To get beat by a tenth in the last corner in the Superpole Race and then for that to be repeated after everything he achieved in the 20 laps was frustrating to say the least. 

“We lost a windscreen after the Superpole Race. Honestly, I’ve never seen Toprak as he was after Race 2. He was devastated. He was in tears because he got beat. 

“I think, when you leave that much out there, and you ride probably your best race of your life on the best package we could ever have given him, and you still get beat, his emotions came through then.”