Phillip Island WSBK: Tyre gamble propels Bautista to SP race win

Ducati man Bautista was the only rider in the field to choose slicks on the grid for the 10-lap sprint, but the decision paid dividends as he was able to slice his way from 16th to a comfortable 15th win of his title-winning season.

Second place for Toprak Razgatlioglu has cemented his status as runner-up in the standings ahead of Jonathan Rea.

While poleman Bautista sunk down the order on the opening lap on what was a still partly-wet track following a pre-race downpour, Yamaha man Razgatlioglu surged into an early lead, with the Kawasakis of Rea and Alex Lowes joining him at the front to make it a three-way battle.

Both Razgatlioglu and Rea had chosen a wet front tyre and intermediate rear, while Lowes had gone with intermediates all round.

Initially it was Lowes who appeared to have made the better choice as he passed Razgatlioglu to lead on the second lap, but by the fifth lap Rea was back at the front, with Lowes slipping to third behind Razgatlioglu.

By this point, Bautista was already back inside the top 10 and set the fastest lap as the track continued to dry out, and it appeared only a matter of time before the Spaniard would join the leading group.

Lapping two seconds faster than the leaders, Bautista was back up to fifth by lap seven, as Razgatlioglu repassed Rea for the lead.

Next time by, Bautista made short work of both Andrea Locatelli and Lowes to climb to third, and at the start of the penultimate lap he made his move for second on Rea at the Southern Loop.

Razgatlioglu managed to cling to the lead for a few more corners, but the inevitable move came at Lukey Heights, with Bautista going on to win the Superpole race for only the third time in 2022.

Rea had no answer to Razgatlioglu in the closing stages, locking the six-time champion into his lowest position in the riders' standings since 2014, while Lowes fell short of the podium in fourth place.

Locatelli resisted a late charge from Scott Redding to finish fifth, as the BMW rider recovered to sixth from a pitlane start to change from wets to inters.

Garrett Gerloff again finished as the best of the independent riders in seventh aboard his GRT Yamaha, while Xavi Vierge (Honda) and Xavi Fores (Barni Ducati) completed the points scorers.

A small number of riders pitted to change tyres during the race, but the shorter race length offered little time to catch up for those that opted for such a strategy.

That meant both Michael van der Mark (BMW), who briefly ran in the top three on the opening lap, and the second Ducati of Michael Ruben Rinaldi ended up at the back of the field.

Phillip Island World Superbike - Superpole race results:

Cla	#	Rider	Bike	Laps	Gap
1	19	Alvaro Bautista	Ducati	10
2	1	Toprak Razgatlioglu	Yamaha	10	3.285
3	65	Jonathan Rea	Kawasaki	10	3.328
4	22	Alex Lowes	Kawasaki	10	6.670
5	55	Andrea Locatelli	Yamaha	10	9.238
6	45	Scott Redding	BMW	10	9.328
7	31	Garrett Gerloff	Yamaha	10	12.173
8	97	Xavi Vierge	Honda	10	13.427
9	12	Xavi Fores	Ducati	10	17.416
10	76	Loris Baz	BMW	10	18.069
11	44	Lucas Mahias	Kawasaki	10	27.298
12	35	Hafizh Syahrin	Honda	10	29.522
13	47	Axel Bassani	Ducati	10	32.064
14	36	Leandro Mercado	Honda	10	35.276
15	50	Eugene Laverty	BMW	10	35.868
16	5	Philipp Oettli	Ducati	10	40.015
17	3	Kohta Nozane	Yamaha	10	50.920
18	11	Kyle Smith	Kawasaki	10	51.281
19	49	Tetsuta Nagashima	Honda	10	51.701
20	52	Oliver Konig	Kawasaki	10	1'03.042
21	60	Michael van der Mark	BMW	10	1'11.979
22	21	Michael Ruben Rinaldi	Ducati	10	1'36.397
View full results