WorldSBK: Alvaro Bautista dominant in Race One

Bautista wins the first WorldSBK race in Australia, after a frantic first race of the season.

Toprak Razgatlioglu started race one from pole position, but he would quickly drop back to third. Bautista led the way, under threat from Johnathan Rea in second place, with teammate Lowes overtaking Razgatlioglu.

Conditions were incredibly wet, with all riders on the wet weather tyre. Michael van der Mark was the first rider to be caught out by the conditions. The German would highside exiting the Hayshed, destroying his motorcycle.

Dominique Aegerter started the race in third place, in his first-ever WorldSBK race. He quickly dropped down to tenth place, ahead of his teammate Gardener.

Tom Sykes’ return to the WorldSBK paddock ended with 18 laps to go, he would pull into the pits. Sykes would retire his motorcycle, after struggling on the bike all weekend, and in the wet conditons.

Bautista and Rea continued to battle, with Bautista making a move for the lead at Stoner corner. Rea would begin to struggle as he lost the quickshifter on his ZX 10RR, losing the British rider time.

Rinaldi was struggling in the first race of the season, dropping down to 14^th position, after a great preseason.

Danilo Petrucci was in ninth position, in his return to the WorldSBK class with just 10 laps to go. The Italian would be quickly put under pressure from both Honda riders, with Vierge closing in.

Scott Redding was climbing up the order mid-race, with the BMW rider riding in seventh place. Satellite rider, Gerloff currently sat in 15^th, with Loris Baz briefly pitting with eight laps to go.

At the front Bautista continued to lead the way, with Rea a further second behind the Ducati. However, Bautista had multiple near crashes during the race including a save onto the main straight.

Drama for Kawasaki and delight for Ducati

Alex Lowes crashed out of the race, after trying to catch up to Razgatlioglu for third place. He crashed with exiting Stoner corner and showed how tricky the wet conditions were for the riders.

As the chequered flag waved it would be Alvaro Bautista who won race one at Phillip Island and the first race of the season. The Aruba.it Ducati rider won by a staggering 3.471 seconds, ahead of Rea.

Rea said: “I don’t know exactly what happened as I’ve just got back from parc ferme. I couldn’t change gears or backshift the way I wanted so it was back to old school riding. I had to re-learn how to ride the bike especially when braking. That was the hardest thing.

“Generally, I have to use my clutch to help but my clutch lever’s here for the start because I had my brake lever in place. It was one of those… it wasn’t the most beautiful riding style but I got to the end so pretty happy with that. We’ll analyse what happened.”

Pata Yamaha teammates, Razgatlioglu and Locatelli finished third and fourth positions. Alex Bassani rounded out the top five positions, on his Motocorsa Racing Ducati, after a consistent ride. HRC riders, Lecuona and Vierge finished just behind the Ducati of Bassani, in sixth and seventh place.

Petrucci would finish the race in eighth after he was demoted a position after a last-lap incident. The Italian made contact twice with Vierge when exiting MG corner.

Remy Gardener overtook his teammate in the closing stages of the race. Both riders would have a great race with the GYRT riders finishing in 12^th and 13^th position.

After a thrilling race one at Phillip Island, riders will have to do it all again on Sunday with two races to go. Conditions are looking better for the rest of the weekend, with race two looking dry.

Image credit: WorldSBK.com