Toprak Razgatlioglu fended off pressure from Nicolo Bulega all race to secure an important Misano WorldSBK Race 1 victory.
The Turkish rider reduced Bulega’s championship lead to 26 points, cutting the gap by five at the end of Saturday’s schedule.
Danilo Petrucci secured another crucial podium to strengthen his championship lead as the top independent rider.
Razgatlioglu took the holeshot from pole into Turn 1 followed closely behind Bimota rider Axel Bassani.
Original pole sitter Bulega impeded Petrucci in qualifying which meant he started in fourth, but he climbed up third after the first sector.
Leader Razgatlioglu made an uncharacteristic mistake as he ran wide at Turn 8, demoting himself down to fourth place in the process.
At the same corner Bahattin Sofouglu and Dominique Aegerter had a coming together, resulting in an early bath for both Yamaha riders.
Chaos continued at the same corner on Lap 2 as Bassani lost the front and crashed out of proceeding, promoting his team-mate Alex Lowes up to third place.
The two title protagonists occupied the lead two positions after Lap 3 and stormed into 3s advantage over the rest of the field.
Andrea Iannone’s weekend went from bad to worse after crashing out at the fast Turn 13, crashing out for the third time this season.
Razgatlioglu made an easy move on Bulega at the hairpin to regain the lead on Lap 4, but the two riders once again showed their capabilities over the rest of the grid.
Petrucci eyed an opening on the inside of Bimota’s Lowes on Lap 5, securing the all-important move on into Turn 8.
BMW rider Michael van der Mark’s race ended abruptly in the gravel trap at Turn 10, bringing his total number of crashes for the weekend to four.
His team-mate Razgatlioglu maintained the lead and dictated the pace until the halfway point, extending his gap from 0.2s to 0.5s on Lap 11.
GRT Yamaha rider Remy Gardner retired from the race after a crash, resulting in non-scores for both him and his teammate Aegerter.
Lowes and Petrucci enjoyed an intense but exciting battle on Lap 15, with the Lincolnshire-born rider forging his way through at Turn 2.
However, the Barni Spark Racing rider replicated his Turn 8 move from earlier in the race and held the position for the foreseeable future.
While locked in battle, Razgatlioglu and Bulega stretched their lead to over 14 seconds by Lap 17, as their lap times remained almost identical.
No overtake occurred in the latter stages due to Razgatlioglu displaying impressive pace in the closing laps, securing the win from pole position.
Razgatlioglu crossed the line by over a second after a close-fought battle with Bulega, securing his seventh win of the season in the process.
Petrucci racked up another podium after fending off late pressure from Bimota’s Lowes, finishing over 16.5s behind the lead duo.
Andrea Locatelli secured an quietly impressive fifth place for Pata Maxus Yamaha, finishing ahead of the Ducati duo of Alvaro Bautista and Sam Lowes.
Barni Spark Racing’s Yari Montella secured eighth place, finishing equidistant between Lowes and Honda’s Iker Lecuona.
Scott Redding produced a strong result for Bonovo Ducati to round off the top ten after overtaking Xavi Vierge in the final laps.
Jonathan Rea secured 12th place for Pata Maxus Yamaha with Ryan Vickers, Garrett Gerloff and Michael Reuben Rinaldi securing the final point scoring positions.
