Scott Redding assesses his own chances in the title race, while also discussing the duel between Toprak and Jonny at the top.
The title race for the 2021 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship is still going strong, with Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK) leading Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) by just two points. Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing) had his title chances destroyed at Donington Park after a Race 1 crash and a failed Tissot Superpole Race tyre gamble. Race 2 was much better, with a fourth-place finish, but it has now been seven races without a podium, with a 66-point difference between the top of the Championship tree and the rest of the field.
The 0-point score for Rea in Race 2 on Sunday, when the Ulsterman made a rare error and crashed out of the race lead, was Redding’s saving grace during his difficult home round. Rea did remount to finish P20, but Redding debriefed the situation at the top of the standings during his post-race interview.
“The goal is always the Championship and here in WorldSBK, there’s many more points on offer in comparison to in MotoGP™,” began Redding. “The points gap just looks big and it will be hard, but it isn’t impossible. From what I heard and what I could see, it looked like Jonathan made a mistake under a little bit of pressure from Toprak.”
Redding, however, did not stop there, as the British rider went on to analyze how Jonathan Rea will handle the Toprak challenge, saying: “What’s going to happen now? Maybe I’m not there, but I’m there to pick up the pieces in a worst-case scenario. Now there’s someone else in the mix ruffling up Jonathan’s feathers, and I think that’s going to be hard for him to accept.
“We saw him make a mistake at Misano because he couldn’t get away with his own pace, couldn’t really win races, and it is the same here a little bit. Not that he’s struggling, but that he’s being put under a little bit of pressure. It won’t be easy for him but having Toprak there over the next races, we’ll see what happens.”
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