WSBK: Brilliant Bautista Makes It 9 From 9

Alvaro Bautista continued to rewrite the record books in World Superbike history, as he rounded off the third weekend of the season with yet another hat-trick.

Despite the sunshine beating down on the Aragon plain, cold temperatures and stiff gusts were still prevalent as the final Superbike race of the weekend got underway.

Bautista (Aruba.it Ducati) bolted clear from the line and quickly began asserting his dominance once again. Throughout the weekend, the Spaniard has been on average 0.7s per lap quicker than anybody else. He is quite simply in the form of his life and completely at one with his machine.

Whilst Bautista may have once again dominated, but he was still pushing until the very last lap, to the extent where his was forcing the bike to bottom-out on the climb up from the final corner. He is still learning about the bike and how best to ride it. Could it be more ominous for his rivals?  

At its peak, the lead between himself and the rest of the field was 14.8 seconds, before freewheeling his way over the finish line. 9 wins out of 9 races and a 39-point lead in the championship after 3 rounds. Truly phenomenal from the 34-year old.

To cap it off, the result was the 350th WorldSBK race victory for Ducati, as well as their 900th podium finish.

Behind The flying Spaniard, there was a thrilling four-way fight for the remaining podium places between Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Ducati), Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha), Jonathan Rea (KRT) and Leon Haslam (KRT). Lowes had the edge through the first, sweeping corners but Davies had the answers down the straights. Rea spent the first half of the race caught in two minds whether to attack Lowes for P2 or fight off Haslam, who was constantly snapping at his heels.

The Yamaha rider began to struggle with tyre wear in the closing stages, and found himself a sitting duck to the two Kawasaki riders. Haslam forced his way past Rea, but the reigning world champion was in no mood to concede. The duo jostled and diced, with the Northern Irishman eventually forcing a pass and making it stick. Lowes was consigned to fifth place in the end, but it was another strong weekend for him.

With Haslam dealt with, Rea took on Davies and the two rekindled their war from previous seasons over the final two laps. Rea attempted a brave maneuver on the outside line at the high speed turn 4, but the stopping power of the Ducati ensured Davies held on to P2. But that was not the end of it, as the Welshman ran deep into turn 1 on the last lap, handing the advantage to Rea. It proved to be decisive, as the Kawasaki man held on to finish in second spot on the podium.

There was a very spirited ride from Jordi Torres (Pedercini Kawasaki) who found himself locked in a battle with Eugene Laverty (GoEleven Ducati) and Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha). Laverty emerged victorious of the trio, claiming P6, although the Irishman will be hoping for much better next time out, after throwing away a potential podium finish yesterday.

It was a disappointing afternoon though for the GRT Yamaha duo, Sandro Cortese and Marco Melandri. Despite a brilliant showing from Cortese during Saturday’s Superpole qualifying, race pace proved to be completely elusive. The duo circulated several seconds behind the main chasing pack, eventually finishing in P10 (Cortese) and P11 (Melandri) respectively.

There is no time to regroup for the field, as the series resumes next weekend at the TT Circuit Assen for the Dutch round of the championship.