WorldSBK: Alvaro Bautista magnificent at Mandalika

Alvaro Bautista wins the final race of the weekend and takes his fifth win of the weekend.

Pata Yamaha led the way with Toprak Razgatlioglu leading the way and teammate, Andrea Locatelli in second. Jonathan Rea made up positions to third place, ahead of Axel Bassani who was stuck between two Kawasaki’s.

Bautista had a lot of ground to make up on the opening laps of the race, after starting the race in 10^th. Bautista started in 10th due to crashing in the Superpole Race, Bautista made his way to eighth position, before catching the front group of riders.

Nine bikes were in the lead group, with nothing separating the entire group. Alvaro Bautista joined the lead group and started to regain positions and composure.

It was four wide at the front with Axel Bassani making contact with Toprak Razgatlioglu, pushing the Turkish rider to fifth position. Bassani also made a pass on, Andrea Locatelli, pushing the Italian wide and down to seventh. 

The whole group was getting pushed to the limit with Jonathan Rea having multiple moments. The six-time World Champion dropped won to fourth position, behind his teammate. Razgatlioglu would later find a way through Rea, to jump into fourth position onboard his Yamaha.

Bassani received a penalty to drop one position, after his aggressive moves earlier on in the race. He would let Alex Lowes through, only to be sat up by Razgatlioglu with contact being made.

Michael van der Mark high-sided at turn 11, with Philipp Oettl collecting the BMW rider. The red flag would come out, stopping the chaotic race, with both riders up on their feet.

Before the red flag, Scott Redding also crashed out of the race at turn 16 after contact with Locatelli. However, the red flag would come out and all riders returned to the pitlane, awaiting the restart.

The race would be restarted with a 14-lap sprint to the finish. Michael Ruben Rinaldi led the field through the first lap, with Razgatlioglu behind the Italian. Alvaro Bautista and Xavi Vierge made incredible starts and made their way to third and fourth place.

Jonathan Rea had a good start to the race, in fifth position on the factory Kawasaki. Rea’s teammate, Alex Lowes dropped down the order to 14^th position at the restart of the race.

Alvaro Bautista set the fastest lap of the race, with his sights set on the Yamaha of Razgatlioglu. With 10 laps to go Bautista made a pass for second position, causing both riders to run wide.

Axel Bassani had no response in the restart of the race and could not match the pace of Rinaldi. Bassani spent the race battling Vierge for fourth position, as the Honda rider matches the pace at the front.

Locatelli started to show better late-race pace compared to both Rea and Rinaldi. However, the Yamaha rider struggled to find a way past the six-time World Champion. Rea would find a way through Bassani one lap later, starting a fierce battle.

Jonathan Rea crashed out of the race at turn seven, with just five laps to go in the race. The British rider tucked the front, resulting in Rea scoring zero points in the final race of the weekend.

Rinaldi had a moment through turn six, saving a front-end crash and losing all his corner speed. Bautista caught up to his teammate and looked for a way through, in the hopes to claim his fifth win of the season.

Bautista made a move at turn 10 and bridged a gap between himself and his teammate. This caused Rinaldi to push too hard on board his Ducati and would run wide. This mistake allowed Razgatlioglu to second and Vierge onto the final podium position.

Alvaro Bautista crossed the line to his fifth race win of the year, ahead of Toprak Razgatlioglu. Xavi Vierge finished in third, with Michael Ruben Rinaldi crossing the line in fourth.

Andrea Locatelli finished Race Two in fifth position and would drop to third in the Championship standings. Petrucci finished sixth and claimed the independent race win, in his first year in the class. Lowes finished 13^th in the heavily reduced 15-bike WorldSBK field.

It was not easy for Bautista or Ducati in Race Two, but the Spaniard will extend his Championship lead to 37 points. The next round of WorldSBK will take place in six weeks’ time, on the 21st-23^rd of April.

Image credit: worldsbk.com