Superbikes | Jerez Round, Race1: Bautista returns to victory

Endless emotions in the first race of the Acerbis Spanish Round in Jerez de la Frontera: Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) gets a good start from pole and tries to maintain the lead but Alvaro Bautista (ARUBA.IT Racig – Ducati) passes him on the outside between turns 4 and 5, taking the lead.

At the end of the first lap, Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) was third while his teammate, Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team), was battling Marco Melandri (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK) for fourth place .
The challenge for third place was contested between the two Pata Yamaha standard-bearers with three laps to go. At turn 8 the Dutchman overtook his teammate and began chasing Rea, who was in turn chasing Bautista.
The Yamahas didn't take long to catch up to the four-time world champion, increasingly reducing the gap to the Northern Irishman who was overtaken by van der Mark at turn 6 with 12 laps left until the checkered flag. Shortly afterwards it was Lowes' turn, he too got the better of the reigning world champion, at turn 2, where Rea made a strange mistake, repeated by the Yamaha Englishman at turn 5. An error that allowed the Kawasaki rider to regain position at turn 6 before starting a relentless battle.
Race 1 was full of battles for almost all positions. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Turkish Puccetti Racing) climbed from 11th to fifth position, giving rise to an exciting duel against Melandri who managed to impose himself on the Turk at turn 1 halfway through the race, but the Puccetti driver did not agree and overtook the Ravenna one lap later at the same corner. Only the checkered flag could stop the two standard bearers who had been busy overtaking each other for the entire race. Melandri returned to the top 5, a result he hadn't achieved since Race 1 at Phillip Island.
While van der Mark saw Bautista on the horizon, Rea and Lowes were fighting to get the better of each other by exchanging positions in a frenetic manner, until the last lap, when the reigning world champion went to the limit to collect as many championship points as possible. With Bautista alone at the finish line to win his 12th race of the season and van der Mark with second position consolidated, the duel for the third step of the podium was much more lively. Rea's extreme overtaking on Lowes saw the Yamaha rider crash to the ground.
Marco Melandri confirmed fourth place ahead of Razgatlioglu while Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) finished in sixth place. Chaz Davies (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) finished seventh ahead of Sandro Cortese (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK), Leon Haslam (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) and Michael Ruben Rinaldi (BARNI Racing Team) to round out the top 10.
Yuki Takahashi (Moriwaki Althea Honda Team) crashed on the first lap while Jordi Torres (Team Pedercini Racing) had to retire.