Yamaha on Toprak and BMW victory: “It hurts” / Superbike World Championship

The transition of Toprak Razgatlioglu from Yamaha to BMW and Jonathan Rea from Kawasaki to Yamaha was interesting and surprising. The motivations were the same, namely the hope of having a more powerful package in the fight with Ducati star Alvaro Bautista, but after the first two meetings of the season the results could not have been more different.

Although the BMW M1000RR was classified as a weak motorcycle, Razgatlioglu has already achieved two victories and four podiums, while Rea has only single-digit results with the Yamaha R1 – 8th place in the second race in Barcelona.

You can imagine: Like the joy at BMW, the frustration at Yamaha is just as great.

“We never said that Toprak would not be competitive no matter what bike he rides. “But I have to admit that from the point of view of the team and Yamaha it was a painful thing,” Yamaha team boss Paul Denning had to admit sadly. “While Toprak feels good, he can use his talent and is capable of great actions. He surprised me and us because Barcelona has always been a track where it was difficult to match the tires.”

Along with Assen, the Rea parade route is on the program from April 19. There is no doubt that if the 37-year-old can find a setting that feels good, he will not be noticed on the slopes of the Netherlands and can fight for podium places.

“We’ll see,” Denning thought as he considered the field of elite contestants. “There is still a lot of racing to be done and as we have said several times, this year you will not be able to pick one, two or three drivers to win at a particular track.”