Misano WSBK: Bautista outduels Razgatlioglu to win again

Bautista started second behind polesitter Razgatlioglu and passed the reigning champion at Turn 11 on the opening lap, only for the Yamaha rider to snatch back the lead a few corners later with a block pass.

This became a trend in the early part of the race with Bautista making multiple successful moves at Turn 3, only for a feisty Razgatlioglu to tuck underneath him at the following right-hander.

It took him until lap 7 of 21 to make the decisive move for victory, with the Spanish rider this time covering off the inside line into Turn 4 to prevent the 25-year-old from making a late lunge.

Razgatlioglu desperately tried to cling on to Bautista’s Ducati for the next part of the race, even receiving an official warning from the stewards for exceeding track limits.

Ultimately, Razgatlioglu had no answer to Bautista’s pace as he cruised to a dominant 7.1s win, bolstering his chances of scoring a maiden title in WSBK.

Third place in the race went to Bautista’s teammate Michael Ruben Rinaldi, who charged from the lower reaches of the top 10 after a difficult Superpole race to round off his home round with a podium - his second of the year.

Rinaldi’s impressive performance pushed Kawasaki star Jonathan Rea down to fourth, the six-time WSBK champion not finishing on the podium for the first time this season, not counting the second Assen race where he was involved in a clash with Razgatlioglu’s Yamaha and retired.

Iker Lecuona finished a strong fifth in the sole remaining Honda after teammate Xavi Vierge suffered a huge crash at Turn 11 on lap 12.

Sixth place went to Andrea Locatelli on the factory Yamaha, while Motocorsa Ducati’s Axel Bassani was once again the top independent rider on a day GRT Yamaha’s Garrett Gerloff retired with a crash at Turn 1.

Behind, Alex Lowes finished a disappointing eighth after picking up a long lap penalty for repeatedly exceeding track limits, as factory BMW rider Scott Redding led home satellite rider Loris Baz (Bonovo MGM) in ninth.

Race results:

Cla	#	Rider	Bike	Time	Gap
1	19	Alvaro Bautista	Ducati	33'12.030
2	1	Toprak Razgatlioglu	Yamaha	33'19.224	7.194
3	21	Michael Ruben Rinaldi	Ducati	33'23.149	11.119
4	65	Jonathan Rea	Kawasaki	33'26.931	14.901
5	7	Iker Lecuona	Honda	33'30.804	18.774
6	55	Andrea Locatelli	Yamaha	33'32.247	20.217
7	47	Axel Bassani	Ducati	33'33.179	21.149
8	22	Alex Lowes	Kawasaki	33'35.563	23.533
9	45	Scott Redding	BMW	33'41.668	29.638
10	76	Loris Baz	BMW	33'50.861	38.831
11	5	Philipp Oettli	Ducati	33'52.911	40.881
12	2	Roberto Tamburini	Yamaha	33'53.618	41.588
13	29	Luca Bernardi	Ducati	33'55.383	43.353
14	50	Eugene Laverty	BMW	33'55.863	43.833
15	37	Illia Mykhalchyk	BMW	33'55.919	43.889
16	3	Kohta Nozane	Yamaha	33'56.727	44.697
17	53	Tito Rabat	Kawasaki	34'01.405	49.375
18	36	Leandro Mercado	Honda	34'14.478	1'02.448
19	52	Oliver Konig	Kawasaki	34'34.838	1'22.808
	97	Xavi Vierge	Honda	10 laps
	35	Hafizh Syahrin	Honda	14 laps
	25	Alessandro Del Bianco	Kawasaki	14 laps
	16	Gabriele Ruiu	BMW	18 laps
	31	Garrett Gerloff	Yamaha	19 laps
View full results