At the end of the race in Austin, Toprak Razgatlioglu, who finished 15th, would almost certainly have had a reason to celebrate his first MotoGP point.“Would have”? Well, we use the conditional tense because if, in addition to being your first points haul in the premier class, that point—that single, meager point—also represents the entire haul for the team you ride for over the course of an entire weekend, what exactly is there to celebrate? Almost nothing.
And in fact, when Toprak Razgatlioglu stepped up to the microphones after the Grand Prix of the Americas, he seemed far more concerned about Yamaha’s overall result than satisfied with his own personal performance. The Turkish rider’s situation seems paradoxical: being the best of the M1s on the track is the very reason to be worried. And it makes sense, because if you’ve already taken everything your bike can give you—and that’s a fifteenth-place finish 25 seconds off the lead—it means your highest ambition will be to win a battle among the underdogs. Not exactly the ideal scenario for a celebration.
“I’m happy, but not entirely,” Toprak made it clear right away, “because, okay, we did a good job as a Yamaha team, but overall, those twenty-five seconds behind the leader… aren’t really a good result. We still need to improve.”
What was wrong with the M1 today?
“In the race, I tried to do my best, as always. Especially at the start, I tried to pass Fabio. But Fabio, particularly at Turn 5, was really very strong. I don’t understand how his bike was able to brake so well, because my front tyre kept locking up under braking. I couldn’t try to brake later because the bike wouldn’t stop. But in the end, his tyre started to wear out too, and after passing him in another corner, I just tried to find my own rhythm.”
And how did you feel about the pace?
“I think it was tough for all the riders on this track because after twelve, fourteen laps, the bike really does get heavier and heavier and feels like a Goldwing!” the Turkish rider quipped. “But anyway, for me, getting a point is a positive thing. It’s my first point.”
But that doesn’t fully satisfy him.
“As I said, overall I can’t be happy because we’re twenty-five seconds off the leader. But I’ve learned a lot, because today I followed Fabio for many laps. I learned, I saw things, I understood certain things better.”
Looking ahead to Jerez, what are your expectations?
“Jerez is very difficult. The last time I rode there, it was on a Superbike. I did a test on the MotoGP bike, and it’s a whole different world: the riding style and the bike are different. You have to carry much more speed into the corner. I hope to adapt quickly to this style, because in testing I was still riding with the Superbike style.”
How is Yamaha’s development coming along?
“Yamaha is really pushing hard to improve further. We’ll see when we manage to take a big step forward. Maybe at the end of the year, I don’t know, maybe mid-season, maybe next year. We’ll see,” he concluded.