WSBK – WorldSBK 2019: Razgatlioglu extends one year at Kawasaki Puccetti – Pre-Owned KAWASAKI

WorldSBK 2019: Razgatlioglu extends one year at Kawasaki Puccetti

WSBK - WorldSBK 2019: Razgatlioglu extends one year at Kawasaki Puccetti - Pre-Owned KAWASAKI

Just off his first Superbike podium, Turkish rider Toprak Razgatlioglu confirms that he will continue his promising career with Kawasaki Puccetti next year. The young and courageous foal of Sofuoglu intends to continue his ceaseless and impressive progress !

Last Saturday at Donington Park (Great Britain), Michael van den Mark won, ahead of Jonathan Rea "Himself". The next day, the Yamaha rider confirmed his new status within the WSBK by achieving the double, this time !

Site readers – who, as everyone knows, are a little more fortunate than others – already know by heart the name of this great hope for motorcycle speed in Turkey, as well as his race number, obvious to remember: the n ° 54, that of his mentor Kenan Sofuoglu who comes from in Supersport.

This former student of the Red Bull MotoGP Rookie Cup (10th in 2013 and 6th in 2014) is not at his first achievement: at the end of 2014 already, he had won his very first race in Superstock 600! And the following year, he won the title in this same category within the Kawasaki Puccetti team..

WSBK - WorldSBK 2019: Razgatlioglu extends one year at Kawasaki Puccetti - Pre-Owned KAWASAKI

Although he didn’t have the same smashing success in Superstock 1000 (5th in 2016), he still held on to the title last year, scoring three wins in eight races and finishing second in the championship 8 points behind. Michael Rinaldi on Ducati.

This year, the young rider (he will be 22 on October 16, 2018) is logically mounted in Superbike, still supervised by Manuel Puccetti and his Italian team: we do not change a team that will soon win in World Superbike ?! Razgatlioglu is also more supported than ever by Sofuoglu…

WSBK - WorldSBK 2019: Razgatlioglu extends one year at Kawasaki Puccetti - Pre-Owned KAWASAKI

In addition to their shared passion for motorcycles and speed, the two Turks are indeed sadly linked by tragedies: Kenan has already lost two brothers and a son while Toprak’s father, a famous motorcycle stunter in Turkey, was killed there. last winter. But "The Show Must Go On"…

The spectacle, Toprak rightly assured it Sunday by going to seek an incredible second place by means of an astounding overtaking on the "Number One" of the discipline. Jonathan had played the instructor for the "No. 54 bis" during tests in Portimao in September. The lesson was well learned … and today the pupil surpasses the teacher !

Note that for fans of the World Superbike, the British rider of the weekend was not the double winner Michael van der Mark (27% of the 4200 votes), nor the new queen of the WorldSSP 300 Ana Carrasco (16%). . But Toprak Razgatlioglu who won 57% of the vote !

The boy’s talent, his magnificent overtaking and his second place on Sunday do not explain everything: he has enormous support from his compatriots! On Facebook, the Kawasaki rider currently eighth in the provisional with 78 points has nearly 120,000 "friends" !

WSBK - WorldSBK 2019: Razgatlioglu extends one year at Kawasaki Puccetti - Pre-Owned KAWASAKI

By way of comparison, it is a little more than Loris Baz who has already finished 5th in the Superbike championship in 2015 then rode three years in MotoGP (101,000 fans). It is also half less – only! – than the vice-world champion Chaz Davies (217 K) and four times less than the triple world champion Jonathan Rea (435 K).

Seen in this light, Razgatlioglu’s commercial potential seems as fabulous as its sporting potential: Kawasaki and the Puccetti team are well aware of this and in the long term, Toprak could become even more popular than Kenan (the young retiree is appreciated by 1.6 million people on Facebook).

Official statements

Toprak Razgatlioglu:
“Since 2015 we’ve had a lot of success together and I was recently able to land my first WorldSBK podium at Donington. The package is one of the best available and race after race we are making progress together. Knowing that I can keep going. to develop myself with this team next season is a motivation to always do my best. I will work hard to get better results as soon as possible, for me and for all those who believe in me! "

Manuel Puccetti, team manager:
“Within the team, this young talent grew from his first season in STK600 until he arrived in WorldSBK this year. We wanted to keep him focused on the season by making sure he was sure to keep working. with his team next year. We all believe in his great talent and, as he has already proven to us, we are sure that if we continue to work hard with him in 2019, we may soon see him get more important results in the championship ".

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