Racing incident or driver error? Make your own judgement…

A new angle showing the collision between Toprak Razgatlioglu and Jonathan Rea during the second WorldSBK race in Assen has given a clearer view of the circumstances leading up to the controversial entanglement.

The two title contenders were riding in the lead on lap six with Razgatlioglu in the lead from pole position when the Turk passed Turn 1 before pulling it back to the racing line.

However, the open door had invited Rea to carve the interior and with the two coming to the racing line at the same time, the Yamaha and Kawasaki became entangled, pulling them both to the ground.

While the international TV feed did not show the incident from an outside perspective – the only footage at the time being gleaned from on-board cameras – video filmed by fans from the stands between Turns 1 and 2 shows the fight in its entirety.

We’ll delegate if you think Rea or Razgatlioglu were responsible, or if it was just a “wrong place, wrong time” racing incident, but it’s obvious that Razgatlioglu was sitting while he was speeding. its recovery after the minor error. , while Rea was still at bank angle.

The riders themselves, meanwhile, blamed themselves for instigating the accident, which leaves Rea around 15 points behind Alvaro Bautista, while defending champion Razgatlioglu faces a 45-point deficit.

What’s more, the angle reveals how close Bautista was to getting caught in the fray, with the Spaniard crediting his deft reflexes to get on the anchors without clipping any of the pirouette bikes just ahead.