WorldSBK Most: Rea and Razgatlioglu battle for FP1 honours

Just 0.035s split WorldSBK title rivals Jonathan Rea and Toprak Razgatlioglu in the opening free practice session at Most on Friday morning.

The Kawasaki man bettered his long-term opponent with his penultimate lap of FP1 - a 1’31.893 - to relieve Razgatlioglu of the lead after a dominant second half. GRT Yamaha’s Garrett Gerloff completed the trio just under half a second adrift with championship leader Alvaro Bautista running sixth.

The momentum was firmly in the hands of the reigning champion as the action fired up in the Czech Republic following a clean sweep at Donington Park for the Pata Yamaha rider. Razgatlioglu having claimed his debut victory of the season at Misano and seemingly not looked back.

Perfect conditions greeted the Superbike class as the first 45 minutes at the 4.2km Autodrom Most kicked off with ambient temperatures in the mid-20’s, the treat of rain expected across the rest of the weekend. Razgatlioglu led the way in the early times thanks to a 1’32.915 pace with fellow Yamaha rider Gerloff seven-tenths behind on the GRT R1.

KRT’s Jonathan Rea trailed the BMW of Scott Redding in third and fourth before the six-time champion improved to top the times with a 1’32.707. Teammate Alex Lowes rising to fifth, just a second adrift, after ten minutes on track.

British Superbike and FHO teammates Ryan Vickers and Peter Hickman began their wildcard rides from 19th and 22nd respectively before the Pedercini stand-in improved to 17th. Vickers in for Leon Haslam on the satellite Kawasaki with Hickman replacing the injured Michael van der Mark - and super-sub Ilya Mikhalchik - on the factory BMW as Suzuka 8-hour preparations intensified.

Razgatlioglu headed Rea and Redding with half an hour to go, as last year’s