Superbikes | Misano Round, Race1: Bautista gives victory to Ducati

At the Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli” Race 1 of the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship goes to Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) who thus extends his lead in the standings over Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK), second today.
The Spaniard is the best at managing tire degradation, put under pressure by the over 50 degrees of the track: in the final stages he recovers the positions lost at the start and also manages to set the record lap.

On lap four, Bautista passed Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) for second position and then on lap 13 at the Curvone he also got behind Rea, taking a great success. In the first two thirds of the race it was a three-way battle between Bautista, Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) and Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) who, however, at the end of the 14th lap was the victim of a mechanical problem and saw the race end prematurely. his race.
Bautista wins with five seconds and 128 thousandths of a margin: for him it is the 21st victory in WorldSBK and thus joins Max Biaggi. For Rea it is podium number 224 and Kawasaki's 498th in WorldSBK; 500m is only two lengths away.

Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) starts very well from tenth place and is immediately a great protagonist. He starts a nice duel with Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) who then goes on to take his first podium of the season. Ducati is just five podium finishes away from reaching 1000 in WorldSBK. Bassani finishes fourth: it is the best performance of 2022 for the Venetian. Fifth place for Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) ahead of Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK).
Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) finishes seventh and leaves behind Garrett Gerloff (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team), Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) and Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) who completes the top ten.

Roberto Tamburini (Yamaha Motoxracing WorldSBK Team) finished 11th ahead of Kohta Nozane (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team), who made a good start before losing some positions. 13th place for Eugene Laverty (Bonovo Action BMW) who in the final stages overtook his teammate Loris Baz as well as Luca Bernardi (BARNI Spark Racing Team). The Frenchman closes the points.

Below are the top ten at the end of Race 1:

1. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
2. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +5.128
3. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +8.289
4. Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) +10.415
5. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +11.888
6. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) +13.320
7. Xavi Vierge (Team HRC)
8. Garrett Gerloff (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team)
9. Lecuona Ideas (Team HRC)
10. Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team)

Fast lap: Alvaro Bautista, Ducati – 1'34.221 (New record lap)