Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

USA

Misano WSBK: Bautista dominates as Rea crashes

Ducati's Alvaro Bautista eased to victory in the Misano World Superbike Superpole race to extend his championship lead after title rival Jonathan Rea crashed late on.

Alvaro Bautista, Aruba.it Racing-Ducati Team

Alvaro Bautista, Aruba.it Racing-Ducati Team

Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Bautista took over the lead from poleman Rea at the start of lap three, and quickly built up a healthy advantage, with Rea finishing fifth after rejoining from a late fall at Turn 10.

Saturday race winner Rea grabbed the holeshot off the line, with GRT Yamaha's Sandro Cortese slotting into second ahead of Bautista.

The Ducati rider quickly usurped Cortese, and took the lead from Rea before they reached the first turn at the start of the third tour.

Once in the lead, Bautista immediately put eight tenths between himself and Rea, opening that gap to nearly one second on lap five.

Bautista continued to extend his lead over Rea, before the Kawasaki rider crashed at Turn 10. He rejoined in sixth having clung onto his ZX-100RR as it rolled on the tarmac.

Remaining unchallenged to the chequered flag, Bautista cruised to his 14th win of the season by 7.2 seconds to open his championship lead back up to 39 points and secure pole for this afternoon's second feature race.

Alex Lowes made up for the disappointment of crashing from the lead in race one on Saturday to finish second on the Yamaha, with KRT's Leon Haslam beating Kawasaki stablemate Toprak Razgatlioglu (Puccetti) to claim the marque's 400th podium in third.

Rea managed to overhaul the sister GRT Yamaha of Marco Melandri – who started from 19th due to a six-place penalty for his collision with Chaz Davies at Jerez – on the final tour to recover to fifth after his earlier tumble.

Michael Ruben Rinaldi led Barni teammate and wildcard Michele Pirro to finish seventh, with Leandro Mercado (Orelac) taking the final point in ninth from GoEleven stand-in Lorenzo Zanetti.

Cortese fell from a maiden WSBK podium in third at the final corner on lap seven, while Ducati's Davies crashed early in the race but rejoined to finish a lowly 17th.

BMW's Tom Sykes was involved in the battle for the final podium place in the closing stages, but was forced to park up when his S1000RR developed a mechanical issue on the last tour.

 

Cla Rider Bike Laps Gap
1 Spain Alvaro Bautista
Ducati 10
2 United Kingdom Alex Lowes
Yamaha 10 7.261
3 United Kingdom Leon Haslam
Kawasaki 10 9.154
4 Turkey Toprak Razgatlioglu
Kawasaki 10 9.405
5 United Kingdom Jonathan Rea
Kawasaki 10 12.835
6 Italy Marco Melandri
Yamaha 10 13.056
7 Italy Michael Ruben Rinaldi
Ducati 10 13.688
8 Italy Michele Pirro
Ducati 10 15.104
9 Argentina Leandro Mercado
Kawasaki 10 17.310
10 Italy Lorenzo Zanetti
Ducati 10 18.742
11 Spain Jordi Torres
Kawasaki 10 19.674
12 France Loris Baz
Yamaha 10 19.941
13 Germany Markus Reiterberger
BMW 10 23.350
14 Japan Yuki Takahashi
Honda 10 25.652
15 Japan Ryuichi Kiyonari
Honda 10 36.196
16 Switzerland Dominic Schmitter
Yamaha 10 39.260
17 United Kingdom Chaz Davies
Ducati 10 45.423
United Kingdom Tom Sykes
BMW 9 1 Lap
Germany Sandro Cortese
Yamaha 6 4 Laps
Italy Alessandro Del Bianco
Honda 4 6 Laps
Samuele Cavalieri
Ducati 10 Laps

Be part of Motorsport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Misano WSBK: Rea inherits dominant win after Lowes crash
Next article Misano WSBK: Rea holds off Razgatlioglu, Bautista crashes again

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

USA