Toprak Razgatlioglu “really happy” with maiden WorldSBK wet weather win

The WorldSBK Superpole Race at Assen was the first wet race of 2025, and for Toprak Razgatlioglu it marked his first wet weather victory.

The Turkish rider started strongly, and chased down early leader Nicolo Bulega. He caught and passed the championship leader who would later retire with a bike issue, and Razgatlioglu took a relatively comfortable 3.8-second win – his fourth of the season – to regain the 12 points he lost in the championship battle in Race 1.

“I’m really happy because this is my first win in the wet, and I’m really happy for this,” Razgatlioglu said in his post-race parc ferme interview.

“Thanks to the team, who made a really good setup for me in the wet conditions.

“I’m also surprised, just the first lap I’m watching Bulega, I understand the tyres, I understand the grip; because this morning I didn’t ride the bike because we didn’t have any more stickers for the tyres.

“But anyway we did an incredible job, we will see now in [Race 2] because we have a different setup – I hope I’m feeling much better on the bike and I’m fighting for the win.”

Lowes: Assen the “perfect place” for maiden WorldSBK podium

Sam Lowes’ second place was his first World Superbike podium, coming a day after his first WorldSBK pole position was turned into a frustrating DNF.

Lowes said he was “nervous” at the start, but despite running wide at the first turn he was able to display strong pace to come back to third place, and was then able to take advantage of the aforementioned technical problem for Bulega to clinch second.

“Obviously, I was a bit nervous at the beginning [after] yesterday, not finishing the race – I was a bit too cautious,” Lowes said in his post-race TV interview.

“I felt good, I felt good this morning, I felt good in the middle part of the race, and really happy to get this first podium in Superbike.

“Last year was tough, so it’s nice. Assen is a great track, many people, great fans, so it’s a perfect place to do it and we’ll try to have a solid race later but it’s been a nice weekend.”

Bautista: “Today it was important to finish the race”

For Alvaro Bautista, who caused Lowes’ DNF in Race 1 by crashing out himself while trying to pass his Ducati brand-mate, the Superpole Race was about seeing the chequered flag as much as standing on the podium.

“After yesterday’s crash, today it was important to finish the race – maybe today was not the best conditions to do it,” he said after the race in his parc ferme interview.

“I tried to understand the track; it was very tricky because especially in the second part of the race it started to dry very quick and we like a [dry] line. Inside the line, these tyres were a bit soft, but outside the line it was slippery, so you have to choose.

“At the end, I tried to manage, finishing the race was great, but finishing on the podium was even better – especially for this afternoon’s race.”