WorldSBK: Alvaro Bautista dominates Race One

Alvaro Bautista continues his dominance and wins the first race of the weekend in Indonesia. 

Before the race had got underway there was drama, with multiple riders struggling with illnesses throughout the race weekend. Eric Granado and Remy Gardner would announce that they would no longer be taking part in the race weekend. Both riders were suffering from acute gastroenteritis.

Toprak Razgatlioglu would lead the way with drama striking at turn one, involving Michael Ruben Rinaldi. The Italian had a tough race start, out braking himself at turn one, causing a collision. This crash put Rinaldi out of the race action for the day, after hitting the back of Alex Bassani. 

Danilo Petrucci had a great start to his race, placing himself as the highest rookie in the class. He would be quickly put under pressure by Andrea Locatelli, who left Phillip Island in second in the Championship. The ex-MotoGP rider would not be able to hold off Locatelli, dropping down to fifth.

Jonathan Rea would start low down the field, due to an earlier grid penalty and was forced to fight his way through the field. The six-time world champion quickly made his way into eighth place.

Toprak Razgatlioglu’s lead did not last long, as Alvaro Bautista began to make his way closer to the Yamaha rider. With just 17 laps to go, Bautista made the move to the lead of the race, as he tries to make it four out of four wins this season. Bassani followed his fellow Ducati rider past Razgatlioglu, promoting himself to second place.

Michael van der Mark sat as the first BMW in ninth position, with his teammate, Scott Redding behind. Redding would later retire from Race One of the weekend, due to a mechanical issue.

Tom Sykes also pitted mid-way through the race, due to an issue with his Petrucci Kawasaki. The British rider was also one of the riders who was struggling with an illness this weekend in Indonesia.

Philipp Oettl and Dominique Aegerter had a tougher race, compared to last weekend at Phillip Island. Both riders battled for the final points-scoring positions in the race.

Kawasaki struggling

Both Kawasaki riders began to drop back in the race, dropping down the field as the race progressed. Lowes dropped down to sixth with Rea in eighth position, as Michael van der Mark began to chase Rea. Van der Mark quickly found a way through, as Rea looked to have no rear grip, with Aegerter now closing in. 

Loris Baz was having a good race weekend, after qualifying in sixth position, six-tenths off pole. In the race, the Bonovo Action BMW rider dropped back down to 11^th position, after a tricky race.

At the front, Alvaro Bautista would win the 37^th race of his career by 4.8 seconds from Toprak Razgatlioglu. He would take Ducati’s first race win at the Mandalika circuit, and his fourth in a row.

Locatelli finished on the podium in third position, continuing Yamaha’s consistency this season. The Italian will continue to hold second position in the standings, 37 points behind Bautista. Bassani ended his race in fourth, with Petrucci in fifth making Ducati dominate much of the top positions.

Michael van der Mark would make his way up to sixth position, after making his way through on both Kawasaki’s. However, frustrations began to boil over on the other side of the garage. Redding would break the front screen on his BMW and began to show his frustration in the pit box.

After a great race with some manufacturers struggling at Mandalika, riders will have to do it again on Sunday. Conditions are looking mixed for the rest of the weekend, with teams looking for more to battle Bautista.

Image credit: worldsbk.com