Superbikes | Portimao Round, Race2: Bautista wins in the sprint over Rea

Alvaro Bautista (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) puts a complicated period behind him, conditioned by too many "zeros" in the standings and an injury, thanks to the splendid victory in Race2 in Portimao: the Spaniard is now 91 points behind the leader of the general classification Jonathan Rea when there are still nine races available.
It won't be easy against an opponent like the Kawasaki rider but if the title now seems unrealistic for Bautista, the Ducati rider will certainly aim to make life difficult for his rival in the three rounds remaining until the end of the Championship.

Returning to yesterday's race, Bautista, starting from the second row, was unable to make a good start and remained stuck in sixth position throughout the first lap: for him the comeback began only one lap later, where he was already ahead of Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team).
Two laps later, the Toledo rider also overtook Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) in pursuit of Leon Haslam (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK), overtaking him at Turn 1 before focusing on Toprak Razgatlioglu (Turkish Puccetti Racing) in the course of the next lap.

The moment had come for the Spaniard to beat Rea who in turn had already managed to place his Kawasaki ahead of that of the promising young Turkish rider, who was at that point in third place. The Northern Irishman thus found himself one second behind Bautista who, this time, managed to get the upper hand.

“It was a complicated weekend for me especially because my shoulder still hurts and I don't feel 100%. Yesterday (Saturday) I used a lot of energy after the accident at Turn 1 and this morning I felt worse than yesterday. This afternoon I lost some positions at the start of the race and I had to make an even more demanding comeback but I wasn't worried because I was leading the group" - explained Bautista - "During the last two laps I pushed a lot and the tires resentful, I was no longer able to be as strong as I would have liked. I was lucky that it was the last round because I didn't have any strength left, so I can say I'm very happy. As far as mathematics allows, you have to fight until the end. We will do our best and then we will see what the final result will be."