2023 WorldSBK Championship Standings (Full Standings Here)

1. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 628
2. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) 552
3. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) 370
4. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) 327
5. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 251

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Race One
Alvaro Bautista’s (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) record-breaking campaign culminated in securing his second MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship title at the Circuito de Jerez – Angel Nieto after he won Race 1. The reigning Champion needed to score only two points to become a back-to-back Champion and he did just that to add his name to an exclusive club as he fended off Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) to end his hopes of taking the title fight until the last day of the season.

Bautista got the holeshot when the 20-lap race got underway and immediately looked to pull out a gap over his rivals, while Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) started from seventh but made his way into second by the end of Lap 2 knowing he had to win the race to have any chance of delaying Bautista’s coronation. With the #1 a few tenths clear, the #54 set about closing the gap and was faster in some sectors, while the Ducati was faster in others.

However, despite the Turkish rider’s pressure in the first half of the race, the reigning Champion was able to start edging clear with the gap reaching just under a second by the start of Lap 11. As the margin increased, so did his grip on the Championship. Needing just two points to win his second title, the #1’s victory by just over a second, after backing off on the final lap, meant he wrapped up the World Championship, to become the first Ducati rider to retain his title since Carl Fogarty in 1998 and 1999.

Razgatlioglu came home in second despite his valiant efforts in the early stages of Race 1, with the Turk finishing just over a second behind the now double WorldSBK Champion, with the #54 immediately congratulating his rival on the cool-down lap. The win was Bautista’s 25th win of the season, while it was his 87th podium in his WorldSBK career. For Razgatlioglu, it was his 114th rostrum to move him level with Tom Sykes as he took his 19th second place of the year.

The fight for the final spot on the podium was a three-way fight between Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK), who started from the fourth row, Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) and Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) in the early stages before the #22 dropped down in the closing stages. ‘Loka’ came through on Lowes at Turn 13 for P4 on Lap 12, before making the same move on future teammate Rea two laps later to claim third and his 14th career podium. Rea finished in fourth, just under a second back from the Pata Yamaha rider.

With Lowes dropping down the order, Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) and Philipp Oettl (Team GoEleven) battled for fifth, with the #9 taking P5 by just 0.887s. Petrucci was able to close in on Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) in the Independent Riders’ battle as the #47 crashed out after an incident with Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) at Turn 9 on Lap 14. The #21 was given a Long Lap Penalty for the incident and finished in eighth; six seconds behind Lowes who was able to stem his drop down the field for seventh. In the fight to be the second Ducati rider in the standings, Bassani’s non-score and Rinaldi’s eight points have allowed the latter to close the gap to just three points. For the Independent Riders’ battle, Petrucci now trails Kawasaki-bound Bassani by 28 points.

Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) claimed ninth after being unable to take advantage of Rinaldi’s penalty with the Italian coming out ahead of the #7 after serving his Long Lap Penalty. He was three seconds clear of teammate Xavi Vierge, while Tito Rabat (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) was 11th. With Kawasaki Puccetti using a factory ZX-10RR this weekend, the Spaniard was able to equal his best result in WorldSBK. He was two seconds clear of Lorenzo Baldassarri (GMT94 Yamaha) in 12th, while Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW) was the lead BMW rider in 13th. He fended off teammate Garrett Gerloff as he recovered from a Turn 2 crash on Lap 10, with the American able to battle back for two points. Malaysian rider Hafizh Syahrin (PETRONAS MIE Honda) rounded out the points scoring positions.

Oliver Konig (Orelac Racing MOVISIO) narrowly missed out on his first point of the year in 16th, as he finished less than a tenth away from the Malaysian. Late substitute Leandro Mercado (PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team) was 17th, just a few seconds away from his teammate, while Dominique Aegerter (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) was 18th. The #77 tumbled down the order in the opening stages after suffering a technical problem but was able to finish ahead of wildcard Florian Alt (Holzhauer Racing Promotion) in 19th.

After an impressive Tissot Superpole performance, Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) crashed out at Turn 8, after making contact with the back of Bassani’s Panigale V4 R, with the #47 able to stay on his bike despite the contact. The Australian was taken to the medical centre for a check-up following his crash and he will be reassessed tomorrow morning before Warm Up after suffering a deep abrasion on his right elbow. Gabriele Ruiu (Bmax Racing) had been fighting for top BMW honours but a technical issue around the halfway stage forced him into the pits. ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team riders also retired. Scott Redding brought his bike into the pits after completing seven laps, while Michael van der Mark crashed at Turn 13 a few laps later.

Check out the results from Race One here…

Tissot Superpole Race
Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) claimed his second victory of the Prometeon Spanish Round in the penultimate race of the 2023 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship season, while Dominique Aegerter (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) stormed to a maiden podium after he finished 1.5 seconds away from the two-time Champion. The fight for third went to the final stages of the red-flagged Tissot Superpole Race at the Circuito de Jerez – Angel Nieto in a race that’ll live long in the memory.

The first two laps were action-packed with changes everywhere you looked. Dominique Aegerter (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) got the holeshot but his lead only lasted until Turn 5 when Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) came bundling through for the lead. The lead group featured about six riders fighting for the lead, including Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati), Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK). However, towards the end of Lap 2, the race was red flagged due to track conditions. Aegerter’s engine had smoke pouring out of it, and he pulled off at the side of the track, while Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) crashed at Turn 5; the Spaniard went to the medical centre for a check-up and declared fit.

As three laps hadn’t been completed, the restarted eight-lap race got underway with the original grid; giving Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) a second chance after he crashed on the opening lap of the original race at Turn 6, while Aegerter and Lecuona were also able to restart. The restart was similar to the first one, with the #77 getting the holeshot again and this time leading for longer. Despite Lowes going through on the opening lap, Aegerter came through again at Turn 13, although Bautista passed him on the run into Turn 6 on Lap 2. On Lap 3, Lowes went down at Turn 1 and made contact with the bike of the Turkish rider’s bike, and the Brit went to the medical centre for a check-up. He was later declared unfit with a facial trauma and eyelid wounds.

While the battle for second ignited between Aegerter, Razgatlioglu and Rea, Bautista was able to pull out a gap to make it two from two at Jerez, an take his 58th WorldSBK win. He also secured the Tissot Award for 2023. In the second half of the race, the Swiss star did close in but fell back to claim second and his first WorldSBK rostrum, and the first Swiss rider on the podium; taking full advantage of Rea and Razgatlioglu squabbling behind. The #65 got ahead of the Turk on Lap 6 for second, and he was able to resist any further challenges to claim his 263rd career podium. It means the Race 2 front row will be comprised of Bautista, Aegerter and Rea.

Razgatlioglu will line up from fourth, with his P4 the first time he’s finished a race off the podium this season, climbing a full row forward from his Race 1 starting position, and he’ll be joined by teammate Locatelli on the second row. ‘Loka’ started from tenth but fought his way up to fifth place to give him a better starting position than he had in the first two races of the round despite his crash before the red flag. Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) took sixth, and the team’s results meant they confirmed the Independent Teams’ title with one race to go.

German rider Philipp Oettl (Team GoEleven) continued his strong weekend with seventh, just three tenths behind Gardner. He will be joined on the third row by Michael van der Mark (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) who finished eighth, three tenths back, and Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) in ninth. The #9 was in contention to snatch the Top Independent Riders’ title from Axel Bassani (Barni Spark Racing Team) but his single point wasn’t enough to keep the fight going into Race 2 despite the #47 not scoring; he was involved in an incident with Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW) at Turn 1 on Lap 6, which will be investigated by the FIM Stewards. Bassani therefore leaves Motocorsa Racing as a two-time Independent Riders’ title winner.

Check out all the results from the Tissot Superpole race here…

Race Two
Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) claimed a Prometeon Spanish Round hat-trick but he was made to work very hard for it as Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) did everything he could to bid farewell to Yamaha with one more victory. Nothing could separate the top two in the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship standings at the Circuito de Jerez – Angel Nieto, with the #54 demoted one place for a track limits infringement despite crossing the line in first after he and Bautista scrapped it out in Spain with an incredible 38 passes across their battle across the second half of the race, and 39 in total including the early laps.

Bautista initially got away well when the 20-lap race got underway, but his lead lasted only five corners as six-time Champion Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) forced his way through into the lead, looking to end his Kawasaki career on a high note. The #1 was in second but he ran wide at Turn 2 on Lap 2 which allowed Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) into P2 in the early stages.

However, Rea’s fairytale ended turned into a nightmare on Lap 5. He lost the front of his ZX-10RR into Turn 2 and crashed, dropping all the way down to 23rd and last; handing the lead to the #54 with double Champion Bautista, using a special yellow livery on his Panigale V4 R, into second. The 2021 Champion held a lead of just over a second although the #1 was hunting him down towards the end of the first half of the race.

From Lap 11, the gap between them was consistently reducing before one of the best races ever. On Lap 12, Bautista attempted a move on the inside of Turn 13 but the #54 was able to cut back and keep his lead before the Ducati rider claimed the lead on Lap 13 with a series of passes between the pair. The #1 got ahead on the back straight before his rival responded under braking at the Turn 6 hairpin, before Turns 9, 10 and 11 had three position changes: Bautista holding onto to lead at the end of the lap. On Lap 14, Razgatlioglu got through at Turn 1 but ran wide at the Turn 2 right-hander, allowing the Spaniard back through. Through the right-handers towards the end of the lap, the two rivals were exchanging positions, with Bautista finishing the lap ahead. On this lap alone, there were six changes of position at Turns 1, 2, 9, 10, 11 and 12.

The race continued to ignite with the pair fighting into Turn 6, Bautista getting the run on the straight with the Turkish star responding on the brakes. Later on that lap, at Turn 13, Bautista looked for a move on the inside before the Yamaha cut back to stay ahead on the start-finish straight, before a similar move on Lap 17. A lap later and the Spaniard tried a different move. He looked to outbrake the 2021 Champion at Turn 1, but ran wide which allowed third-placed Dominique Aegerter (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) to close in. It was a similar move on Lap 19 but again, he ran wide, setting up a last-lap showdown.

The Yamaha rider was leading throughout the final lap but his rival, once again, tried a move up the inside of the final corner. Razgatlioglu cut back to retake the lead and crossed the line in first, but he was demoted one place for exceeding track limits on the final lap, on the exit of Turn 13, which allowed Bautista to take his 59th win in WorldSBK, moving him level with Carl Fogarty. In total, the pair passed each other a scarcely believable 38 times from Lap 10 to Lap 20, with all but three corners on the Jerez circuit used to make a move. Razgatlioglu’s second place gave him his 100th podium for Yamaha in his final race with the manufacturer in his 131st race. In third was Swiss rookie was Aegerter, who was just three tenths away from victory, but still took his second podium of the season with third.

GRT Yamaha ended the season on a massive high. Two podiums on the final day of 2023 season kept their podium streak going since they joined WorldSBK, while teammate Remy Gardner missed out on his first podium by just a second behind his teammate in Race 2. Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) was fifth ahead of Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) in sixth. The #21 had been in the podium fight but dropped down the order in the second half of the race, eventually finishing more than three seconds down on ‘Petrux’.

Philipp Oettl (Team GoEleven) was seventh and only eight seconds away from Bautista after 20 laps after completing yet another strong weekend as he searches for a 2024 seat. The German was ahead of Scott Redding (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) in eighth while stablemate Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW) took ninth. The American had crossed the line in tenth, but a post-race penalty for Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) meant the Italian was demoted to P10. The penalty proved crucial in the outcome of the Teams’ Championship. Both Aruba.it Ducati and Pata Yamaha finished tied on 879 points, but the title went to the Ducati team due to having more feature-length wins.

Check out all the results from Race two here…

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Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) won a dramatic Race 1 at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours and closed the gap in the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship standings to Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati). The #1 suffered technical problems in the early stages of the race before fighting back to the top ten. The Pirelli French Round provided yet another twist in what has been a stunning title fight with the gap now 55 points between the #54 and Bautista.

The race was reduced to 20 laps after a technical problem when riders took their positions on the grid following the warm-up lap, with the start delayed by a few minutes and a lap lost from the original race distance. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) got the holeshot and instantly looked to pull out a gap on his rivals, but Razgatlioglu overtook him on Lap 2 at Turn 13 by outbraking his Ducati.

A lap later, Bautista dropped down the order to 24th and last after a technical issue on the exit of Turn 5 although the #1 was able to get his V4 R moving again. While Bautista was making a comeback to finish in tenth, Razgatlioglu and Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) fought at the front of the field. The #54 was leading until Lap 5 when the Ducati rider made an aggressive move at Turn 11 to claim the lead.

On Lap 12, Razgatlioglu made a move at Turn 5 on the #21 to briefly move into the lead but the Italian was able to respond on the exit of the Adelaide hairpin and on the way to Turn 6 to re-take the lead. Two laps later and it was a familiar story but the 2021 Champion remained closer through the 180-degree hairpin, allowing him to make a move into Turn 11 with Rinaldi running wide through the chicane; as Razgatlioglu looked to take the racing line, Rinaldi was re-joining with the pair almost making contact but both continuing.

With Razgatlioglu remaining ahead, he was able to pull away from Rinaldi in second to claim his sixth win of the season and his 38th overall, while Rinaldi secured podium six of 2023 and his 20th in WorldSBK. Behind them, Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) secured third after making gains before an early-race fight with teammate Alex Lowes, who initially passed the six-time Champion at Turn 5 for third, before falling behind the Ulsterman. It was Rea’s 257th WorldSBK podium.

Polesitter Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW) initially dropped down the order over the first few laps but his tenacity and taking advantage of misfortune for others meant he was able to claim fourth for his best result since switching to BMW. Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) continued his strong form with fifth after a late-race battle with compatriot Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK), with the #9 coming through on the Yamaha rider at Turn 11 on Lap 18 for what was sixth but turned into fifth when Lowes dropped down the order in the final few laps. Scott Redding (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) was seventh with Lowes in eighth. The #22 had been behind Rea until the final laps, but he lost time when running across the Turn 11-12 chicane and losing four seconds on Lap 19, which dropped him down the order.

German rider Phillip Oettl (Team GoEleven) took his first top-ten finish since Race 2 at Donington Park by claiming ninth place, finishing 0.627s ahead of Bautista who was able to secure tenth and limit the damage in the Championship fight. With Razgatlioglu’s win, the gap between them is now 55 points. Dominique Aegerter (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) took 11th after he was unable to withstand Bautista’s late charge, with the two-time WorldSSP Champion only 1.671s down on the reigning Champion.

Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) led home a train of four riders all fighting for the lower end of the points-paying positions, finishing just three tenths clear of Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW). The Frenchman had celebrated his home round with a stunning second row performance in Superpole but fell down the order to 13th at the end of the 20-lap race. Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) was 14th, less than two seconds behind Baz, while Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) completed the points scorers.

Lorenzo Baldassarri (GMT94 Yamaha) crashed at Turn 3 on Lap 8 as he looked to give his team a strong home result, but the Italian brought his bike into the pits following the crash to retire. Isaac Vinales (TPR Team Pedercini Racing) retired from the race when he brought his bike into the box, as did Bradley Ray (Yamaha Motoxracing WorldSBK Team) on Lap 17.

Magny-Cours WorldSBK Podium Race One (Full Results Here)

1 Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK)
2 Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +2.656s
3 Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +4.773s

Tissot Superpole
Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) made it two from two at the Circuit de Nevers Mangy-Cours in 2023 after taking victory in a dramatic Tissot Superpole Race for the Pirelli French Round. The #54 finished ahead of MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship rival Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) after the reigning Champion made contact with teammate Michael Ruben Rinaldi halfway through the race, with the #1 able to continue before finishing second.

Bautista got the holeshot as the race started but his lead did not last long as Razgatlioglu went from third to first in one stunning move at Turn 5 on Lap 2, passing both factory Ducati riders under braking into the Adelaide hairpin. Rinaldi then moved ahead of teammate Bautista at Turn 11 on the same lap to claim second, with Bautista seemingly struggling for pace in the early laps before he started fighting back. On Lap 3, Rinaldi moved ahead of the Yamaha star at Turn 6 and remained there until Turn 5 on Lap 5.

Razgatlioglu looked to pass Rinaldi on Lap 5 for the lead, with the reigning Champion following the #54 and made contact with teammate Rinaldi. The Italian came off his bike and retired from the race. He was taken to the medical centre for a check-up, and subsequently declared fit, while Bautista continued the race. The incident was investigated by the FIM Stewards, with no further action taken. After initially dropping down behind the Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK machines of Jonathan Rea and Alex Lowes, Bautista was soon back up to second after overtaking Rea, while Lowes brought his machine into the pits to retire.

The #1 put in a series of race lap records to close the gap to his title rival but the 2021 Champion claimed victory by a second to become the first rider to win four consecutive races at Magny-Cours, while Bautista took his 80th podium. Six-time Champion Rea withstood a late charge from Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) to claim third and his 258th podium and his 20th at the iconic French venue.

Locatelli was fourth after missing out on a podium by just 0.244s while Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) continued his impressive form with fifth, six tenths behind compatriot Locatelli. The fight for sixth went down to the wire with Dominique Aegerter (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) passing Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW) at Turn 5 on the final lap to secure a second row start for Race 2.

Baz will start Sunday afternoon’s race from seventh ahead of Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) in eighth, with Aegerter, Baz and Bassani separated by around half-a-second. The #47 pulled off a memorable comeback in the Superpole Race after starting from 19th after enduring a difficult Friday and Saturday, before ensuring he secured a position on the third row as he looks to end the French Round on a high. The fight for the final spot on the third row between Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) and Phillip Oettl (Team GoEleven) went down to the wire, with Vierge just holding on ahead of the German.

After starting from pole position, Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW) dropped down the order before running slightly wide, with Scott Redding (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) hugging the kerb. The pair made contact and went tumbling into the gravel, with the incident investigated by the FIM Stewards and the #45 handed a Long Lap Penalty. Gerloff returned to the box but retired from the race.

Magny-Cours Tissot Superpole Race Podium (Full Results Here)

1 Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK)
2 Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +0.970s
3 Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +2.503s

Race Two
Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) bounced back to claim victory in Race 2 at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours as he took advantages of his rivals battling behind him in a red-flagged MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship race. The reigning Champion extended his lead by five points in the title fight ahead of Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) after the Turkish star battled hard with Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) for second place.

Bautista got a stunning start as the lights went out and immediately moved into the lead but faced stiff competition from Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) and Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK). Rea went for a move at Turn 5 on the reigning Champion on the inside, but Bautista was able to pick his bike up well and reclaim the lead instantly. Rea kept the pressure on the #1 but Bautista did start edging out a gap.

However, at the start of Lap 5, the red flags were deployed following an incident involving Dominique Aegerter (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) and Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) on the previous lap at Turn 5. Aegerter was taken to the medical centre for a check-up following the crash and declared unfit with a suspected concussion. The incident was placed under investigation by the FIM Stewards and Redding given a double Long Lap Penalty. Although he took to the grid for the restart, Redding had a technical problem on Lap 10 and retired after serving his penalty. At the end of Lap 4, Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) crashed at the final chicane, and he slid across the circuit and into the grass. He was able to take his bike back to the pits. Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) was unable to restart the race as he suffered a technical issue and could not bring his bike back.

On the restart, Bautista moved away well from P1 and, despite challenges from Rea and Razgatlioglu, was able to hold on to the lead. Razgatlioglu moved ahead of Rea on the exit of Turn 15 to claim second but a mistake at Turn 5, where he went in too deep and had to stand the bike up, allowed Bautista to escape in front while he fended off Rea. The #65 looked to overtake his rival on Lap 3 through Turn 4 and into Turn 5 but the Yamaha star cut back, before Rea made a similar move on Lap 6 and made it stick. On Lap 12, the 2021 Champion got a run on his long-time rival and overtook him under braking into Turn 5 to move into second.

Two laps later and the two Champions were side-by-side throughout much of the lap, with Razgatlioglu holding on to second place before Rea tried another move a lap later. Once again, the #54 came out on top in that fight. As the penultimate lap started, Rea looked for second but Razgatlioglu resisted before pulling out a gap on the final lap to beat Rea by just under a second. While those two were fighting, Bautista was out in front, and his gap extended to almost ten seconds before he rolled off in the final few laps before winning by six seconds. It was Bautista’s 51st win in WorldSBK and 81st podium. Razgatlioglu now has 107 podiums to his name, only two fewer than Carl Fogarty, while Rea’s moved onto 259 podiums.

Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) battled to fourth place in his 100th race start, with the Italian finishing fourth 26 times out of those 100 races. He was half-a-second clear of Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW) who capped off an excellent French Round with fifth after starting from tenth. The Texan put in several passes including on Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing), also celebrating his 100th start, at Turn 13 on Lap 13 to sixth, before they both passed Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) as he dropped to seventh in the closing stages. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) had been in this battle too but a late issue forced him to retire.

Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) secured eighth place and finished just two seconds away from ‘Petrux’ ahead, but he had to fend off both Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) and Philipp Oettl (Team GoEleven), with the trio separated by around four tenths. Oettl secured a top ten finish in France but finished 0.049s behind Vierge after enjoying a strong trip to Magny-Cours for the Independent Ducati rider.

Spanish rider Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) was 11th and 2.6 seconds down on Oettl as the flag fell with the #7 trying a new Honda chassis this weekend. He had a four-second margin over home hero Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW) in 12th as he finished in the points. Rookie Lorenzo Baldassarri (GMT94 Yamaha) gave this team something to cheer on home soil with 13th place, coming off the back of the team’s two WorldSSP podiums at their home round. Both PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team riders scored points with Hafizh Syahrin in 14th and Hannes Soomer four seconds behind. Soomer becomes the first Estonian rider to score WorldSBK points.

Isaac Vinales (TPR Team Pedercini Racing) narrowly missed out on a point as he finished three tenths down on Soomer, while Oliver Konig (Orelac Racing MOVISIO) was the last of the classified riders in 18th. Bradley Ray (Yamaha Motoxracing WorldSBK Team) had a stunning start as the lights went out for the second time as he moved in eighth, but he crashed at Turn 13 on the opening lap; the Brit dropped to last. Michael van der Mark (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) went down at Turn 5 on Lap 3 and retired from the race.

Magny-Cours Race Two WorldSBK Podium (Full Results Here)

1 Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
2 Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) +5.893s
3 Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +6.779s

Championship Standings

1 Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 467 points
2 Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) 410
3 Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) 290

The post WorldSBK: All The Action From Magny-Cours appeared first on Racing, Riding, Motorcycle Reviews, Race bikes, Tech Tips, Rider Training....

Race One
Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) ended his 252-day, 23-race streak without victory in the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship as an intermediate tyre gamble paid off handsomely for the six-time Champion. He started Race 1 for the Acerbis Czech Round on intermediate tyres, and didn’t change to slicks, as he returned to the top step of the rostrum at the Autodrom Most. Meanwhile, there was another Championship twist as Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) finishing second as Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) was 12th.

The opening laps proved to be beneficial for the wet tyre runners with Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) storming away from fourth on the grid to have a six second lead over Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) at the end of Lap 2; the pair started from the front row on full wet tyres. The pace dropped rapidly as the track quickly dried with Bassani lapping as much as four seconds quicker than Gardner behind him, expanding his lead to more than 10 seconds by the time Lap 4 concluded.

However, on Lap 5, Bassani started haemorrhaging time to Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK), with the six-time Champion starting on intermediate tyres. The gap came down from over 10 seconds to two by the end of Lap 6 before the Italian pitted on that lap; handing Rea the lead as Bassani opted for slick tyres and came ahead of all the riders who pitted before him. At the start of Lap 10, Bassani was within 58 seconds – the Pit Intervention Time – of Rea who had yet to stop. This gap continued to fall but the #47 wasn’t able to regain the time lost and finished seventh.

While Bassani was able to put in lap times in the 1’32s – around three seconds quicker than Rea – the battle out in front turned into Rea and Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon) with the 2021 Champion around eight or nine tenths quicker than his rival. Although the Turkish star kept closing the gap, Rea’s pace was enough to keep Razgatlioglu behind him to end his win drought that extended since Phillip Island Race 1 in 2022.

Rea was joined on the podium by Razgatlioglu and Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) with the Italian also opting to start on the inters and not stop for slicks. Rea was able to go with the wet tyre runners in the opening laps while other intermediate riders dropped down, including Razgatlioglu, before battling back. The top three were separated by just eight seconds after 22 laps as Ulsterman claimed his 119th career victory and ensuring he now has 15 winning campaigns in WorldSBK. Razgatlioglu took his 21st podium of the year, and his 19th consecutive for the fourth-longest all-time streak as he closed the gap on Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing) to 54 points. Petrucci gave Ducati a round number of podiums, with their 1050th at a venue they took their 1000th at last year.

Scott Redding (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) also didn’t stop as he claimed fourth place despite starting from the pitlane. Redding was the first to pit as he came in at the end of the Warm Up lap to switch to the intermediate tyres and he surged up the order to finish in P4, finding off a resurgent Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) in fifth. It meant all five manufacturers finished inside the top five, while Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) completed the top six. P4 to P6 were separated by under a second as they battled and switched positions.

Bassani finished the race in seventh, just over 23 seconds down on Rea despite opting to stop, with the Italian the highest-placed rider in the classification who had stopped. The #47 made up three positions on the final lap as he first overtook Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW) and Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) in one move to move into eighth, before he overtook Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) to secure seventh. Aegerter ended the race in eighth, with Lowes ninth and Baz rounding out the top ten.

Rookie Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) was 11th after starting from the front row. He pitted at the end of Lap 5 to switch tyres, finishing ahead of Bautista in 12th. The reigning Champion lost 18 seconds compared to the Pit Intervention Time which dropped him behind Gardner, with the Australian coming into the pits behind him but leaving ahead. Michael van der Mark (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) scored points on his return as he took him 13th, ahead of Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) in 14th and Tito Rabat (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) in 15th.

Lorenzo Baldassarri (GMT94 Yamaha) had been running in the points but a penultimate lap crash at Turn 2 dropped him down the order to P16, with the rookie three tenths behind Rabat. Xavi Vierge (Team HRC), Isaac Vinales (TPR Team Pedercini Racing), Roberto Tamburini (Yamaha Motoxracing WorldSBK Team) and Oliver Konig (Orelac Racing MOVISIO) rounded out the classified riders.

Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW) was the first retirement when he crashed out on Lap 6 and Turn 15, while Eric Granado (PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team) retired after completing seven laps. Teammate Hannes Soomer crashed out at Turn 20 with just a handful of laps to go while Philipp Oettl (Team GoEleven) brought his machine into the pits to retire.

WorldSBK MOST Race One Podium (Full Results Here)

1 Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK)
2 Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) +4.007s
3 Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) +7.939s

Tissot Superpole
Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) and Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) went head-to-head for victory in the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship in Sunday morning’s Tissot Superpole Race with the Turkish star claiming victory and denting Alvaro Bautista’s (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) Championship lead even further. The #1 battled his way from 14th on the grid to a podium place as he limited the damage in the title fight, with the gap cut to 49 points.

Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) surged from P4 to P1 when the lights went out as he went in search of his first victory, but soon found himself demoted to third behind Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) and Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK). The pair pulled away from the #47 as they battled it out for victory. The Turkish star gained two places on Lap 4 as he first overtook Rea before passing Bassani as he moved into the lead. On Lap 6, Rea moved ahead of the #54 after he ran wide at Turn 13 with a move into Turn 20, but the Yamaha rider responded at Turn 3 on the next lap.

The pair finished first and second while there was a battle for third raging behind them, which was decided at the penultimate corner on the final lap. With Bassani’s pace dropping off compared to the leaders, Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) was able to pass him at Turn 20 on Lap 10 to secure a podium finish from 14th on the grid to secure a front row start for Race 2, alongside Razgatlioglu and Rea.

Razgatlioglu’s win was his 37th win and his fifth of the year, while he’s closing in on Carl Fogarty’s 109 podiums with the 2021 Champion five down on the Brit. Rea celebrated his 400th WorldSBK race start with his 255th podium while Bautista added his 78th rostrum to his record.

Bassani’s fourth place means he starts in the same position as he did in the first two races of the Czech Round after missing out on a podium, and he’ll be joined by Ducati rival Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) as he finished fifth. Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) converted his front row start into sixth place to secure a second row start for Race 2 as his strong weekend continues.

Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) will lead away the third row in Sunday afternoon’s race as he took seventh place, ahead of Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark racing Team). The Italian dropped down the order after he ran wide at Turn 1 on Lap 1 before fighting back to secure eighth. Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW) was ninth as he secured the final place on the third row for Race 2, with Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) just missing out with tenth.

Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) retired from inside the top ten when he had a spectacular crash on the opening lap, ending his points streak which started at Portimao Race 1 last year. Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) started from ninth but crashed out on the opening lap when Rinaldi forced his way through on the Spaniard, dropping him down the grid for Race 2.

Tissot Superpole Race Podium MOST (Full Results Here)

1 Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK)
2 Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +1.203s
3 Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +2.968s

Race Two
Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing) completed a remarkable Sunday turnaround as he made MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship history with his 18th win of the 2023 season as title rival Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon) crashed out from the lead after initially resisting pressure from the reigning Champion. It gave Bautista a 25-point swing in the Championship standings as the #1 wrote his name into the record books.

Bautista didn’t get away well from the line as the lights went out but still found himself into the lead heading into Turn 1, before he tried to pull out a gap. In the early stages, Razgatlioglu and Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) battled hard over second with Rea making a move on the #54 at the first chicane on Lap 4 before the 2021 Champion responded almost immediately. From there, the Yamaha star closed the gap on Bautista where they had a barnstorming battle.

The pair were often looking to switch positions with Razgatlioglu claiming the lead on Lap 7 at Turn 13 with Bautista staying close and looking to make a move at Turn 1, but the Turkish star was able to respond under braking at the chicane. On Lap 12, Bautista’s tactic changed as he looked to pass his rival at Turn 20 on the inside, but the Yamaha rider responded through Turn 21 before the pair were battling under braking into Turn 1.

However, on Lap 17, Razgatlioglu’s race came to an end. He had a highside heading out of Turn 2 and into Turn 3 which forced him to retire while leading. This allowed Bautista to claim victory by more than four seconds and gain 25 points on his rival, with the Championship gap expanding to 74 points. The win was his 50th in WorldSBK, but it was also a historic one: the 18th win of his season means he has now won more races in one season than any other rider.

The battle for second went down to the wire with three riders separated by 0.134s across the line. Rea had been in second after Razgatlioglu’s crash but his pace was slower than Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) and Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) as the two Italians closed in on the Kawasaki. On the final lap, Petrucci went around the outside of Turn 21 and got a much better run down the straight to pip Rea to second by just 0.073s. Bassani, who lost a heap of time when he ran through the gravel at the chicane in the early stages, was 0.061s off the podium. Second place gave Petrucci his third podium in WorldSBK and his second of the Czech Round while Rea moved onto 256 career podiums.

Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) secured fifth place after dropping away from the podium fight in the closing stages, while Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) concluded the strongest weekend of his WorldSBK career with sixth as he finished three seconds down on Rinaldi. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) bounced back from his Tissot Superpole Race crash, and a grid slot outside of the top nine, to finish in seventh. He was ahead of Scott Redding (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) in eighth, the best BMW rider, while Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) claimed top Honda honours with ninth. Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW) completed the top ten.

Rookie Dominique Aegerter (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) was just half-a-second away from a place in the top ten as he came home in 11th while fending off Iker Lecuona (Team HRC). The Spanish rider was less than a tenth away from the double WorldSSP Champion as he finished 12th, while Philipp Oettl (Team GoEleven) and Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) duelled it out for 13th. Lowes was running in the top ten in the early stages but dropped down the order before coming home in 14th, 16 seconds clear of Michael van der Mark (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) who concluded his comeback round in the points.

Substitute rider Roberto Tamburini (Yamaha Motoxracing WorldSBK Team) was nine seconds behind the Dutchman as he finished in 16th, ahead of Spanish duo Isaac Vinales (TPR Team Pedercini Racing) and Tito Rabat (Barni Spark Racing Team). Estonia’s Hannes Soomer (PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team) was 19th while Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW) was 20th and two laps down. The American crashed at Turn 1 on Lap 1 and, while he re-joined the race, he spent two laps in the box.

Eric Granado (PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team) retired after a Turn 7 crash on Lap 2 as his race came to a premature end, while Lorenzo Baldassarri (GMT94 Yamaha) crashed on Lap 4 at Turn 1 which put the Italian out of the race. Home hero Oliver Konig (Orelac Racing MOVISIO) brought his Kawasaki machine into the pits in the early stages to retire.

 

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Discussing what caused Razgatlioglu’s crash, Pirelli’s Motorcycle Racing Director, Giorgio Barbier, said: “In WorldSBK Race 2, with the new C0567 rear specification, we recorded three cases of blistering: Rea, Gardner and Razgatlioglu. For the first two, the blisters were extremely small and had no effect on the performance and race result, whereas in Razgatlioglu’s case, the tyre had two more evident blisters and the telemetry data shows sudden deflation of the tyre. Even if the Yamaha rider’s race pace was extremely high and none of the other riders’ tyres show any signs of stress or wear, these types of episodes clearly must not occur, so we will conduct an in-depth laboratory analysis of the three tyres with blistering to figure out what may have caused it.”

MOST WorldSBK Race Two Podium (Full Results Here)

1 Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
2 Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) +4.652s
3 Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +4.725s

Championship standings

1. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 427 points
2. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) 353
3. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) 251

The post WorldSBK: All The Action From Autodrom MOST appeared first on Racing, Riding, Motorcycle Reviews, Race bikes, Tech Tips, Rider Training....

Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) overcame his rivals in an incredible Race 1 for the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship to record his 17th victory of the 2023 campaign in style. The Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari di Imola hosted a sensational battle as Bautista claimed took a stunning win ahead of Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) who racked up a century of podiums as he finished second.

The opening laps were a sensational fight in front of the passionate Italian fans as two Italian riders led their first laps of the season. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) got the holeshot from second and led until the final chicane on Lap 2, when Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) overtook his compatriot. At the start of Lap 3, Bassani had a huge wobble through Tamburello which dropped him down to fourth, before Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) went through at the Variante Alta at Turn 4.

On Lap 3, Razgatlioglu made one of the best overtakes of the season as he went around the outside of Bautista on the entry to the Variante Alta to move into P2 behind Locatelli, before it all kicked off at the front as Locatelli, Razgatlioglu and Bautista battled for first. The Turkish rider was able to get ahead of his teammate on the run into Turn 1 when Locatelli ran a bit wide into the final chicane and compromised his exit, although the Italian was able to defend from Bautista. The Spaniard demoted the home hero into third a lap later with an overtake into the Variante Alta before he set his sights on Razgatlioglu.

Razgatlioglu and Bautista pulled out a gap over Rea, who passed Locatelli on Lap 5 at the final chicane, to duel it out for victory although Bautista did lose second to the six-time Champion after he had a massive moment on the run to the Variante Alta on Lap 8; he swiftly re-passed to take second back. There was little to separate the pair throughout the first two-thirds but an error from the Turk allowed Bautista to pass him on the run down to Rivazza 1. He ran slightly wide at the final chicane but the #54 was unable to capitalise and remained in second. From there, the reigning Champion pulled out a gap to claim his 49th win in WorldSBK, ahead of Razgatlioglu while Rea took third.

Bautista’s win puts him on 17 for the season which equals the most in a season, putting him level with Doug Polen in 1991 and Jonathan Rea in from 2018 and 2019. One more win at any point throughout the season will give him the all-time record for wins in a single campaign with 18. Second gave Razgatlioglu his 100th WorldSBK podium and his 16th consecutive rostrum finish; the joint sixth-longest all-time streak. Rea racked up his 252nd podium, while Razgatlioglu and Rea have now shared the podium 75 times together.

Locatelli’s stunning start was rewarded with fourth place although he had to work hard as he fended off Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) in the closing stages. Rinaldi was the quicker rider and the gap between them on Lap 19, the final lap, was just over a second but the Yamaha rider was able to hold on lead a quartet of Italians inside the top seven. After his podium at Donington last time out, Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) headed into his second home round full of confidence and he scored sixth, 2.6s down on Rinaldi ahead. Bassani dropped down the order to finish seventh, having to fight hard to keep that position.

French rider Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW) was the top BMW rider as he took eighth, but he was very close to finishing one place higher. He put pressure on the Independent Ducati directly ahead of him but was unable to make the move before he had to defend from Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK). The Brit had to settle for ninth but finished just over three tenths down from the two-time race winner, while Scott Redding (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) completed the top ten.

Rookie Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) put in a strong charge to take 11th after a fierce fight with four riders. The Australian battled with Xavi Vierge (Team HRC), Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW) and Leon Haslam (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) to take 11th with the Honda rider in 12th; Vierge was forced to start from the back of the grid due to a tyre pressure limits infringement, but he was up to 17th in the early stages before claiming P12. American star Gerloff was 13th with stand-in BMW rider Haslam right behind. Bradley Ray (Yamaha Motoxracing WorldSBK Team) started from the second row and secured a point as he claimed 15th.

Tito Rabat (Barni Spark Racing Team) took 16th place, 19 seconds down on Ray ahead of him, as he fended off two Italians. Wildcard Gabriele Ruiu (Bmax Racing), who started from the pit lane, was 17th and only 0.181s down on the Moto2 World Champion while Roberto Tamburini (PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team) was 18th and last of the classified riders.

Lorenzo Baldassarri (GMT94 Yamaha) crashed out of his home race on Lap 3 when he went down at Turn 2, while German rider Philipp Oettl (Team GoEleven) retired just shy of the halfway mark of the 19-lap race. Czech rider Oliver Konig (Orelac Racing MOVISIO) retired shortly after Oettl while Eric Granado (PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team) crashed at Turn 18 on Lap 13. Spanish duo Isaac Vinales (TPR by Team Pedercini Racing) and Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) also did not complete the race. Swiss rookie Dominique Aegerter (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK) brought his Yamaha YZF-R1 machine into the pits on Lap 17 to retire.

WorldSBK Imola Race One Podium (Full Results Here)

1 Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
2 Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) +3.672s
3 Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +7.847s

Tissot Superpole Race
Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) beat Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) in an epic Tissot Superpole Race scrap at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari di Imola. The battle for victory went down to the final lap as the 2021 Champion fought hard to claim his first victory at Imola with the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship standings closing ever so slightly with the results in the Prometeon Italian Round.

Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) once again got the holeshot and defended valiantly despite pressure from teammate Razgatlioglu, with their battle allowing Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) to stay in contention. Razgatlioglu looked to pass his teammate on several occasions but was unable to make the move before the Spaniard bundled his way through on the Turkish star at the Variante Bassa at the end of Lap 5. Just a few corners later and the reigning Champion was out in front as he passed Locatelli into the Variante Tamburello.

It left the two Yamaha riders to fight it out and the 2021 Champion attempted to pass his teammate into the Tosa hairpin, but Locatelli held position. Heading out of Acque Minerali, Locatelli made a small mistake which allowed Razgatlioglu through forcefully at the Variante Alta. He soon closed the gap to Bautista out in front, with Razgatlioglu making the race-winning move at Piratella on Lap 9 as he caught his rival by surprise. Bautista kept him in his sights and looked for a way through on the final lap but the #54 was able to hold on for a hard-fought victory.

The Turk was able to hold on despite last-lap pressure from the defending Champion to claim his third win of the season and close the gap in the Championship standings by three points. It was his 35th win in WorldSBK, putting him alone at sixth in the all-time list. Bautista took his 77th podium while Locatelli resisted Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) in the second half of the race for his 12th podium. The front row for Race 2 will therefore be Razgatlioglu, Bautista and Locatelli.

Rea will lead off the second row after he moved up from seventh on the grid for the Superpole Race and he will be joined by two Italians who go in search of a stunning home result at home. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) and Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) renewed their rivalry as they battled over fifth place, with Rinaldi coming out on top after the #47 fell down the order, partly aided by a poor start.

Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team) will line up seventh for Race 2 as he finished 0.616s down on Bassani ahead. Danilo Petrucci’s (Barni Spark Racing Team) continued his strong run of form as he scored eighth place, the second consecutive Superpole Race he has taken points from. Scott Redding (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) will complete the third row in Race 2 as he secured ninth; just beating Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW) by 0.194s.

WorldSBK Imola Tissot Superpole Race Podium (Full Results Here)

1 Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK)
2 Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +0.244s
3 Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) +1.720s

Race Two
The gap in the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship standing was cut by the maximum 25 points as Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) took advantage of Alvaro Bautista’s (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) opening lap crash at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari di Imola. The 2021 Champion had to battle his way into the lead in the closing stages of Race 2 at the Prometeon Italian Round after Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) went hunting after a maiden win but was denied with a handful of laps to go.

Bautista got the holeshot in the shortened 15-lap race, but his race unravelled as soon as it started. He came off his Panigale V4 R at Turn 3 and into the gravel, ending his run of feature length wins in 2023. It allowed 2021 Champion Razgatlioglu to move into the lead as teammate Andrea Locatelli had to take avoiding action. While the Turkish star was in the lead, Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) pulled off a mega move to go from fourth to second.

He took advantage of Locatelli running wide at the final chicane at the end of Lap 2 and Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) being held up to blast past the pair on the run into the Tamburello chicane to take second. From there, he put in a series of fast laps to close the gap to the Yamaha rider. The gap was just over a tenth on Lap 7 with Rea in hot pursuit of the pair; less than half-a-second separating the top three.

On Lap 8, Bassani made his move on Razgatlioglu for first. He looked to overtake into the Villeneuve chicane first but that didn’t work out, before he went up the inside of his rival at the left-hand hairpin of Tosa. He initially pulled out a small gap, but Razgatlioglu kept in touch as the race entered the final third of the race. At the end of Lap 12, Razgatlioglu made his move into Rivazza 1 with the #47 aiming to cut back into Rivazza 2 although the #54 held on through the exit. On his first full lap with clear air, the Yamaha rider pulled out six-tenths as he went on to claim his first feature-length race win of 2023.

Razgatlioglu was able to claim his 36th career win and his 102nd podium, while it was also Yamaha’s 410th rostrum in World Superbike. Bassani took his sixth podium in the Championship, and his second this season, as he equalled his best result. Rea took two feature-length race podiums in a single round for the first time in 2023. With Bassani taking the fastest lap, a 1’47.491s, Bautista secured the Pirelli Best Lap Award for 2023.

Locatelli was demoted to fourth when Rea overtook him at Turn 9 on Lap 3, and he remained there for the rest of the race to take P4 and end his home round in a good way following on from his Tissot Superpole Race podium. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) was fifth ahead of a three-way scrap for sixth. Bradley Ray (Yamaha Motoxracing WorldSBK Team) took a career-best sixth after fending off two BMW riders. Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW) and Scott Redding (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) were separated by just half-a-second at the line with Baz taking P7.

Rookie Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) was ninth, five seconds down on the fight ahead. He also had a decent margin on the riders behind as they battled it out for a place in the top ten. Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) put Honda in the top ten for the first time this weekend as he, Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team), teammate Dominique Aegerter, Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW) and Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) battled it out.

The quintet was changing positions throughout the race with Gardner finishing 0.44s down on Lecuona in 11th while he was almost two seconds ahead of his teammate. Aegerter was 12th with Gerloff and Vierge directly behind; just 0.117s separated the trio. Philipp Oettl (Team GoEleven) was the final points scorer in 15th, with Lorenzo Baldassarri (GMT94 Yamaha) narrowly missing out on a home point. Gabriele Ruiu (Bmax Racing), who started from the pitlane after exceeding the engine allocation, was 17th ahead of Roberto Tamburini (PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team) in 18th and his teammate, Eric Granado, completing the classified riders.

Tito Rabat (Barni Spark Racing Team) crashed out of the race on Lap 5 at Turn 12, while Leon Haslam (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) retired after a trip across the gravel. It was a similar story for Oliver Konig (Orelac Racing MOVISIO) while Isaac Vinales (TPR Team Pedercini Racing) crashed at Turn 12 on Lap 9. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) had a tumble at Turn 7 on Lap 12 which ended his hopes of a top-six finish.

WorldSBK Imola Race Two Podium (Full Results Here)

1 Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK)
2 Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) +1.996s
3 Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +2.458s

Championship standings

1 Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 391
2 Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) 321
3 Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) 208

The post WorldSBK Imola: Bautista Crashes Out As Razgatlioglu Takes The Win appeared first on Racing, Riding, Motorcycle Reviews, Race bikes, Tech Tips, Rider Training....

Race One
There was no shortage of thrilling action in the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship at the iconic TT Circuit Assen in Race 1 during the Pirelli Dutch Round as Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) claimed a hard-fought victory in the Netherlands. He overcame his rivals and a three-place grid drop to fight his way from fourth place on the grid to finish ahead of Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) in the 21-lap race.

Bautista was given a three-place grid drop for the Race 1 grid for slow riding on the racing line in the Tissot Superpole session, which dropped him from pole position to fourth place. He was into the top three from the start before fighting with Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) who passed him into the chicane on the opening lap. Bautista was able to respond at Turn 1 to move back into the top three, before he started chasing down Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK).

Razgatlioglu was running in second place and looked to close down Rea to put a bike between him and Bautista but the reigning Champion overtook Razgatlioglu at the chicane on Lap 5 to move into second place, before moving into the lead on Lap 9 when he overtook Rea at the high-speed right-hander of Turn 6 to move into the lead. Although Rea tried to keep the pressure on Bautista, the Spanish rider pulled a gap on the six-time Champion with the trio setting into their respective positions.

Bautista’s victory was his 38th WorldSBK win and puts Ducati on 398 in WorldSBK with the Italian manufacturer just two away from a milestone 400th victory. It was also Ducati’s 698th race on the podium, meaning they could hit 400 wins and 700 races on the podium in the same race. Rea’s second place was his 247th in WorldSBK, as well as his 24th at Assen which puts the track level with Aragon and Portimao.

Fourth place went to a charging Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) after he moved up the order. He had been running in seventh place, behind Lowes, Scott Redding (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) and Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) but, as the laps progressed, he made his way up the order. Locatelli made a move on Lowes at Turn 5 on Lap 15 before following that up two laps later by overtaking Redding. He closed the gap to Bassani and overtook him on the last lap to claim fourth spot; continuing his record of not finishing outside the top five in 2023 and at the TT Circuit Assen. Bassani was fifth at the end of the race, ahead of Dominique Aegerter (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team), who passed Lowes and Redding in the closing stages, in sixth.

Lowes claimed seventh place at the end of the race, just over a tenth behind Aegerter, while Aegerter’s teammate, Remy Gardner, was eighth after a strong Race 1 for the Independent Yamaha team. Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) was another who made moves late on in the race as he claimed ninth place with Redding eventually finish in tenth. Redding had been fighting for fourth in the early stages of the 21-lap race but he fell down the order in the closing stages of the 21-lap race, finishing 0.259s behind Petrucci.

Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) was 11th after he bounced back from an incident with Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) where Vierge ran wide at the chicane and lost positions when Rinaldi overtook him. Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW), like a lot of riders, made moves in the latter stages of the race as he took 12th place; finishing just 0.187s ahead of Michael van der Mark (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK) in 13th. Two Ducati riders completed the points-paying positions with Philipp Oettl (Team GoEleven) in 14th and Rinaldi in 15th.

Lorenzo Baldassarri (GMT94 Yamaha) finished in 16th place after a late-race battle with French rider Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW), with Baz making his return from injury. Rookie Bradley Ray (Yamaha Motoxracing WorldSBK Team) was 18th in his first race for Yamaha although he was fighting in the points during the early stages of the race. Hafizh Syahrin (PETRONAS MIE Racing HONDA Team) was 19th ahead of Oliver Konig (Orelac Racing MOVISIO), Eric Granado (PETRONAS MIE Racing HONDA Team), wildcard Gabriele Ruiu (Bmax Racing) and Isaac Vinales (TPR by Vinales Racing) in 23rd.

Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) was the first retirement of the race when he crashed out at Turn 1 on Lap 6, forcing him to retire from the race. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) retired after bringing his bike back to the pitlane after he suffered a technical issue.

WorldSBK Assen Race One Podium (Full Results Here)

1 Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
2 Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +3.148s
3 Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) +3.891s

Tissot Superpole Race
The shortened Tissot Superpole Race in the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship was a fierce fight between Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) and Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) for victory at the TT Circuit Assen during the Pirelli Dutch Round. The pair could barely be separated throughout the eight-lap race as they secured a front row start for this afternoon’s Race 2 following their battle.

Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) got the holeshot as the lights went out and jumped into the lead of the race but Bautista was able to respond on the opening lap to re-claim first place before looking to build a gap. Rea and Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) both kept the pressure on Bautista while Rea’s teammate, Alex Lowes, was also in the four-rider group for victory.

As the race approached the final few laps, Bautista started to pull out a gap over Rea to claim victory in the Superpole Race and claim first on the grid for Race 2, ahead of Rea in second and Razgatlioglu in third. Victory for Bautista moved Ducati onto 399 wins in WorldSBK history and 699 races on the podium, while Rea’s second place set a new record for podiums at one track with 25. Razgatlioglu claimed his 89th podium in WorldSBK with third place.

Lowes finished in fourth place after losing time to Razgatlioglu, Rea and Bautista but he also had a margin of more than two seconds over Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) in fifth place after he had a fight with Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) and Dominique Aegerter (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team). Locatelli got through on Lap 6 while Bassani and Aegerter were fighting and separated by just 0.273s at the end of the line.

Aegerter took seventh and he will lead the third row in Race 2 as he withstood a charging Scott Redding (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) in eighth place. Aegerter held on by just 0.071s to take seventh spot in the eight-lap Superpole Race to secure a third-row start for Race 2. Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) will start from ninth in Race 2 after taking the same position in the Superpole Race as he looks to emulate his podium from Mandalika.

The race was shortened to eight laps following a technical issue for Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW) with possible fluid on the track, with the start delayed for this to be checked. Baz did not take part in the shortened Superpole Race following the issue.

WorldSBK Tissot Superpole Race Assen (Full Results Here)

1 Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
2 Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.916s
3 Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) +1.757s

Race Two
The battle for the lead involved Bautista, Razgatlioglu and Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) in the early stages of the race with all three taking their chance to lead throughout the race. Razgatlioglu made his move for the lead on Lap 3 but Bautista responded quickly, before Rea made his move on Lap 5 at the same Turn 8. Bautista was able to respond almost immediately to re-claim the lead and Rea’s race would come to an end on the following lap. He lost the front of his Kawasaki machine at Turn 9 on Lap 6 which put him out of the race.

It meant the fight for victory became between Bautista and Razgatlioglu, but the reigning Champion was able to pull out a gap over Razgatlioglu as he claimed his 40th WorldSBK win and Ducati’s 400th win in WorldSBK. Razgatlioglu was unchallenged as he took second place in Race 2 to continue his run of podium finishes, now at six races. He was directly ahead of teammate Andrea Locatelli in third, matching his podium tally from 2021 and doubling his count from 2022. Locatelli had to fend off a challenge from Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) who took fifth place.

Not only did Bautista’s victory give Ducati their 400th WorldSBK victory, it was also their 700th race on the podium to hit two milestones in one race. As it was Bautista’s 40th win, all on Ducati, he has exactly 10 per cent of Ducati’s WorldSBK victories. Razgatlioglu now has 90 podiums to his name while teammate Locatelli has ten, putting him level with Simon Crafar and Max Neukirchner while equalling his best podium tally to date.

Bassani had been running in the lead group during the first half of the race and was promoted to third following Rea’s crash but Locatelli made his way past his compatriot on Lap 8 at Turn 5 with a similar move to the one he made on Saturday against Bassani. Dominique Aegerter (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) backed up his sixth-place finish in Race 1 with fourth in Race 2. At the final chicane, the pair made contact with Bassani taking to the green and Aegerter staying on track. The incident was looked at and Bassani, who crossed the line in fourth, was demoted one place due to a track limits infringement on the final lap; Aegerter was therefore classified in fourth place, his best WorldSBK finish, with Bassani in fifth. It was yet another strong result for GRT Yamaha as Aegerter’s teammate, Remy Gardner, took sixth place after fighting his way through the field.

Scott Redding (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) claimed seventh spot after a hard-fought race for the British rider, finishing just over a second behind Gardner but also withstanding a late charge from rookie Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team). Petrucci finished in eighth place but was only 0.075s behind Redding at the end of the 21-lap race as he charged through the field. Ninth belonged to Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) after a dramatic race for the Brit. On the sighting lap, Lowes went into the gravel and he was able to bring his bike back to the pits for the team to work on. He was able to start the race from the back of the grid, rather than fourth place where he had been scheduled to, but was able to slice his way through the field to ninth place. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) took tenth place to end a difficult weekend in the top ten.

German rider Philipp Oettl (Team GoEleven) took 11th place, just over a second behind Rinaldi, while he had to fend off Garrett Gerloff (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) who finished in 12th place and only four tenths behind Oettl. Lorenzo Baldassarri (GMT94 Yamaha) took 13th place ahead of Hafizh Syahrin (PETRONAS MIE Racing HONDA Team) was 14th ahead of Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing); Sykes claiming his first point since returning to WorldSBK for the 2023 campaign.

Oliver Konig (Orelac Racing MOVISIO) was 16th and almost 10 seconds down on the points-paying positions and he had to fend off Eric Granado (PETRONAS MIE Racing HONDA Team) in 17th place. Isaac Vinales (TPR by Vinales Racing), making his first start of the 2023 campaign, was 18th after a late fight with wildcard Gabriele Ruiu (Bmax Racing). Ruiu was just 0.020s behind Vinales at the end of the race.

Three riders crashed in quick succession on Laps 2 and 3 in separate incidents. Bradley Ray (Yamaha Motoxracing WorldSBK Team) crashed at Turn 9 on Lap 2, Michael van der Mark (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) crashed at Turn 16 and Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) crashed at Turn 1 on Lao 3. Van der Mark was taken to the medical centre for a check-up following the crash and he was subsequently transported to hospital for further assessments on a suspect left femur fracture. Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW) was another who retired from the race when he crashed at Turn 15 on Lap 8, while Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) crashed at Turn 4 on Lap 12; he did re-join the race but brought his bike into the pits and retired.

WorldSBK Assen Race 2 Podium (Full Results Here)

1 Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
2 Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) +3.915s
3 Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) +7.416s

Championship Standings After Assen (Full Standings Here)

1 Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 174 points
2 Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) 118
3 Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) +104

The post WorldSBK RD3 Assen: Bautista Scores Yet Another Hat-Trick appeared first on Racing, Riding, Motorcycle Reviews, Race bikes, Tech Tips, Rider Training....

Race One
A delayed start to Race 1 in the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship provided plenty of drama as rain came down before the start of the race at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit for the Grand Ridge Brewery Australian Round. Reigning Champion Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) claimed a stunning victory in difficult conditions after an incredible overtake on rival Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) as the #1 started the season on top in Australia.

Bautista started from second place but got the holeshot at the start of the race before being passed by Rea, who took his 378th WorldSBK start in Race 1 and moved ahead of Troy Corser at Turn 10 on the opening lap of the race. From there, Rea and Bautista pulled away from the chasing pack as they battled it out for the win. Rea had been able to pull out a gap of just over a second at points during the first half of the race but Bautista never lost touch and slowly started reeling the six-time Champion in.

On Lap 10, Bautista made his move at Stoner Corner, the high-speed left-hand corner to take the lead of the race and he remained there for the final 12 laps of the race. Bautista had a huge slide through Turn 8 a couple of laps after passing Rea but, although the Ulsterman closed in, Bautista once again pulled away to take victory by more than three seconds at the end of the race.

Behind the leading duo, it was a bit of a lonely race for polesitter Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) as he finished in third place but six seconds down on Bautista and 10 seconds ahead of teammate Andrea Locatelli as the factory Yamaha duo finished in third and fourth respectively. Bautista’s victory claimed Spain’s 70th WorldSBK victory while it was his 59th WorldSBK podium finish. Second was Rea’s 246th podium while Razgatlioglu claimed his 83rd podium in WorldSBK.

Italian rider Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) battled his way up from 14th to fifth at the end of the 22-lap race which included two stunning opening laps to put himself into the top ten. He slowly picked off his rivals before dropping back from Locatelli and settling for fifth.

Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) was the lead Honda rider in sixth as he gained positions from 11th on the grid on his first WorldSBK race at Phillip Island. Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) was another who gained places throughout the race as he took seventh place. The pair had battled throughout the final lap with an incident investigated by the FIM WorldSBK Stewards after the pair made contact. Petrucci had crossed the line ahead of Vierge but was demoted one position for irresponsible riding, meaning Vierge was seventh and Petrucci eighth.

In what was a bit of a theme for riders who finished in the top ten, Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) took eighth spot after fighting from 17th on the grid, finishing ahead of BMW duo Scott Redding (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK) and Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW) with American star taking a top-ten finished on his first BMW race start after starting towards the back of the grid. Gerloff was around five seconds down on Redding at the end of the race as they finished as the highest-placed BMW riders.

Phillip Oettl (Team GoEleven) had shown strong pace throughout both the Australian Round and the Official Test in the week proceeding the event, and the German rider took 11th spot in the wet conditions. He was ahead of Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) who took 12th on his WorldSBK debut on home soil, finishing ahead of teammate Dominique Aegerter in 13th. Aegerter had started on the front row but dropped back during his first WorldSBK race and his first in wet conditions to take points on his debut. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)  was 14th at the end of the 22-lap race while Hafizh Syahrin (PETRONAS MIE Racing HONDA Team) claimed the final points position in Race 1 with 15th place.

Eric Granado (PETRONAS MIE Racing HONDA Team) was 16th on his return to the Championship, finishing two seconds down on his teammate, while rookie Lorenzo Baldassarri (GMT94 Yamaha) was 17th and almost three seconds down on Granado. Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW) was 18th after he brought his M 1000 RR into the pits during the race and returning to the track a lap down.

Michael van der Mark (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) was the first retirement of the race when he crashed at Turn 8 on Lap 2 after he had a highside, which ended his first race of 2023 prematurely. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) crashed out of the race on Lap 15 at Turn 2, with Lowes going to the medical centre for a check-up following the crash.

Lowes was subsequently declared fit. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) had a technical issue during the race and lost two laps in the early stages after bringing his bike into the pits on Lap 5. He did briefly re-join the race but retired from the race. Oliver Konig (Orelac Racing MOVISIO) also retired from the race after he ran wide at Turn 4 and then bringing his bike into the pits.

WorldSBK Race One Phillip Island Top Three (Full Results here)

1 Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
2 Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +3.471s
3 Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) +6.168s

Tissot Superpole Race
The MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship’s Tissot Superpole Race was 10 laps of drama no matter where you looked at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit for the Grand Ridge Brewery Australian Round. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) claimed victory for his second race win of the weekend as he finished ahead of teammate Michael Ruben Rinaldi, while there was drama in the top six as teammates collided from a strong position.

Bautista got the holeshot at the start of the race but was passed by Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon) at Turn 4 on the opening lap, before Bautista passed him at the start of Lap 2 down the Gardner Straight. From there, Bautista was able to hold on to take his 34th WorldSBK win, putting him level with Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) and his 60th WorldSBK podium. He was ahead of Rinaldi in second who secured second place with a move on Razgatlioglu on Lap 4 at Turn 1, with Razgatlioglu taking third spot.

Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team) was the lead Kawasaki rider in fourth place. Lowes had been running in the podium places in the early stages of the race but dropped down as he was passed by Rinaldi and then Razgatlioglu around the halfway stage of the race. Lowes was able to resist pressure from Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) to take fourth spot and Locatelli in fifth, ahead of Philipp Oettl (Team GoEleven) in sixth to secure a second row start for Race 2.

Six-time Champion Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) took seventh spot after he lost time and positions on the opening lap after he was forced wide by Dominique Aegerter (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) at Turn 4, with Rea unable to make moves back through the order. Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) finished eighth and Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) took ninth to take a third row start in Race 2. Bassani had a late-race battle with Michael van der Mark (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) with the pair separated by half-a-second at the end of the race.

It was a disastrous outcome for the GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team when Remy Gardner attacked teammate Dominique Aegerter on Lap 6 at Turn 4. The pair made contact and both riders retired from the race. It means Aegerter will start Race 2 from 10th place and Gardner in 11th when they were running in the top six in the Superpole Race. The incident was placed under investigation by the FIM WorldSBK Stewards who decided to look at the incident after the race, with Gardner given a Long Lap Penalty for Race 2 for irresponsible riding.

WorldSBK Phillip Island Tissot Superpole Podium (Full Results Here)

1 Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
2 Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +2.462s
3 Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) +3.060s

Race Two
There was drama through Race 2 in the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship during the Grand Ridge Brewery Australian Round at the iconic Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit as Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) made history with his fifth WorldSBK hat-trick in commanding fashion ahead of his teammate, while Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) could only manage eighth place as Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) didn’t score points in Race 2.

Reigning Champion Bautista led from the start and he was able to bring teammate Michael Ruben Rinaldi with him in the early stages of the 22-lap encounter with the pair separated by less than a second for the first few laps, before Bautista started pulling a gap to his teammate to win by more than six seconds ahead of his teammate for the second Ducati 1-2 of the day in WorldSBK following their Tissot Superpole Result.

Bautista’s hat-trick means he became the first rider to take a second hat-trick at one circuit following his 2019 triple while he also became the first rider to take five WorldSBK hat-tricks. It was also his eighth win at ‘The Island’, making him the most successful rider at the circuit. In terms of his career, it was his 61st WorldSBK podium and Ducati’s 395th win in WorldSBK. For Rinaldi, he claimed his 16th WorldSBK podium.

Behind the two Ducati riders, Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) claimed his first podium of the season with third place after taking third spot which he claimed from the start of the race as the Italian pulled away from the chasing group. Third place for Locatelli gave him his seventh career podium, putting him 54th in the all-time list for podium finishes. It was his best Phillip Island finish in WorldSBK, having taken fourth or fifth place in his previous five races.

The battle behind the podium trio was a 22-lap affair with Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) holding on for fourth after starting from ninth on the grid as he fended off a late challenge from Philipp Oettl (Team GoEleven) in fifth. The pair did have a gap behind them at the end of the race but that did not tell the full story of the battle which featured several riders including 2021 Champion Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) and six-time Champion Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team).

Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) was able to fight his way up to sixth place behind Oettl and Bassani while double WorldSSP Champion Dominique Aegerter (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) was seventh after starting tenth on the grid. Aegerter and Lecuona both made late-race moves on Rea to demote the Ulsterman to the order to eighth place, while it was a disastrous ending to the race for Razgatlioglu and Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK).

Both were involved in the mega battle for fourth and Razgatlioglu looked to make a move around the outside of Lowes heading into Turn 4 on Lap 17. Lowes lost the front of his ZX-10RR machine heading into Miller Corner, the right-hand hairpin, which collected Razgatlioglu. Both were forced to retire from the race following the crash, costing them valuable points early on in the season.

Rea ended the race with an almost four-second gap to Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) in ninth place as he ended his first WorldSBK round inside the top ten. This also applied to Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) who ended the race in tenth despite a Long Lap Penalty for irresponsible riding in the Tissot Superpole Race after a crash with teammate Aegerter. He had crossed the line in 11th place but Xavi Vierge (Team HRC), who had taken the chequered flag in tenth, was demoted one place for overtaking under yellow flags which demoted him to 11th.

12th place down to 15th were rounded out by the four BMW riders on the grid. Michael van der Mark (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) was 12th, more than eight seconds down on Vierge, while teammate Scott Redding was 13th and more than four seconds down on his Dutch teammate. Redding had to fend off the two Independent BMW riders with the trio separated by half-a-second at the end of the race. Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW) was 14th, 0.179s down on Redding, while teammate Loris Baz was 15th and a further 0.402s back.

Lorenzo Baldassarri (GMT94 Yamaha) finished his debut WorldSBK weekend in 16th place, ten seconds down on Baz in 15th place. Malaysian rider Hafizh Syahrin (PETRONAS MIE Racing HONDA Team) was 17th ahead of Oliver Konig (Orelac Racing MOVISIO) in 18th and Eric Granado (PETRONAS MIE Racing HONDA Team) in 19th with the Brazilian finishing as the last classified rider.

Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) was the first retirement of the race after he crashed out at Turn 11 on Lap 8. Sykes was two laps down after he brought his bike into the pit lane in the early stages of the race and crashed shortly after re-joining.

WorldSBK Phillip Island Race Two Podium (Full Results Here)

1 Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
2 Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +6.191s
3 Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) +9.099s

Championship Standings (Full Standings Here)

1 Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 62 points
2 Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) 34
3 Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) 31

The post WorldSBK Rd1 Reports: Bautista Scores Hat-trick At Phillip Island appeared first on Racing, Riding, Motorcycle Reviews, Race bikes, Tech Tips, Rider Training....

Race One
The first race in Australia for the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship for almost three years was an instant classic in a wet-to-dry flag-to-flag race at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit for the Grand Ridge Brewery Australian Round. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) claimed victory after being one of the first leading riders to pit as the conditions improved at the circuit throughout the 22-lap race. Rea’s race win ended his victory drought which had been brewing since the Estoril Round in May.

Rea was one of the first leading riders to pit when he changed from wet tyres to slicks on Lap 10, along with Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK), and came out in fourth place in the overall race but in the net led with the riders ahead not pitting. The race winning overtake came on Lap 15 when he overtook Kyle Smith (TPR Team Pedercini Racing) around the outside of the Turn 4 hairpin; Smith opted not to pit during the race as he took a gamble to stick with wet tyres.

It had been a lead group of four riders in the wet conditions with Rea, Razgatlioglu, polesitter Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) and Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team). Lowes had been leading when the first riders started pitting but opted to be the last of the riders from the lead group to pit, dropping him down to fourth place before he passed Bautista in the closing stages to take third place, behind Razgatlioglu; whose pit stop on the same lap as Rea moved him into second place. Bautista pitted on Lap 11 of 22, just one lap later than Rea and Razgatlioglu, while Lowes pitted on Lap 12.

Rea’s victory gave him his first win in 181 days and 24 races as well as moving him on to 118 wins in WorldSBK; double the number of Carl Fogarty who is second in the all-time list. He also became the first rider to have a winning career spanning more than 13 years. Razgatlioglu claimed his 81st podium, and the 28th of his 2022 campaign, while Lowes took his 32nd podium with third place despite losing time in the pit stops.

Fourth place went to Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) after he had another strong result, with the Italian passing Bautista in the closing stages shortly after Lowes had. Lowes’ move on Bautista came on Lap 17 when he went around the outside of Turn 9 to move into the podium places. However, the results of the race mean Ducati secured the 2022 Manufacturers’ Championship, the 18th time for them in WorldSBK. The best Independent rider for Race 1 went to Garrett Gerloff (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) in sixth spot as he pitted on the same lap as Bautista.

Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) just missed out on the top Independent honours by 1.406s to Gerloff as he took seventh spot, finishing ahead of Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) in eighth spot who was 5.5 seconds down on Bassani. Despite finishing behind Gerloff, Bassani’s seventh place ensured Motocorsa took the top Independent Teams’ title for 2022. Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW) was the lead BMW rider in ninth spot and ensured all five manufacturers were in the top ten, while stand in rider Tetsuta Nagashima (Team HRC) rounded out the top ten in his first WorldSBK race, replacing the injured Iker Lecuona.

Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) took 11th spot and his results helped the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati squad secure the Teams’ Championship for the first time since 2020, finishing ahead of Smith. Despite Smith leading at the end of Lap 14 after opting to stick with his wet tyres on a constantly drying track, he rapidly dropped back down the order but took 12th place for his first points in WorldSBK as well as the team’s highest-scoring points haul of the season. He held off a late charge from Xavi Fores (BARNI Spark Racing Team) in 13th, with Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) and Hafizh Syahrin (MIE Racing Honda Team) rounding out the points-paying positions; Syahrin was one of the first riders to make the switch to slick tyres when he pitted on Lap 6.

Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) was one of the last riders to pit and finished in 16th place; less than a second behind Syahrin despite the gap in when they pitted. Leandro Mercado (MIE Racing Honda Team) was 17th with Eugene Laverty (Bonovo Action BMW) in 18th and Oliver Konig (Orelac Racing VerdNatura) in 19th; Konig was running in the podium places, along with Redding and Smith, when he pitted at the end of Lap 13. Philipp Oettl (Team Goeleven), the only rider to start on a rear intermediate tyre, ran through the gravel on the opening lap. He brought his machine back into the but re-joined the race a lap down and finished in 20th place.

Japanese rider Kohta Nozane (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) brought his bike into the pits on the opening lap of the race to retire. Michael van der Mark (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) retired on Lap 21 of 22 after his second crash of the race. His first crash came at Turn 10 on Lap 7, while his second as at Turn 4 on the penultimate lap which forced him out of the race.

WorldSBK Phillip Island Race One (Full Results Here)

1 Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK)
2 Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) +6.247s
3 Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +15.435s

Phillip Island Tissot Superpole Race
The final Tissot Superpole Race of the 2022 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship campaign was one that’ll live long in the memory after a stunning slick tyre gamble on a wet Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit track by Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) for the Grand Ridge Brewery Australian Round. Bautista was the only rider in the top nine to start on slick tyres and he made it work as he fought back from a difficult start to take victory by more than three seconds.

Bautista started from pole position but, with slick tyres on a track that was still wet, rapidly dropped down the order and was classified in 14th place at the end of the opening lap. However, as the track tried following a pre-race rain shower, Bautista’s times got faster and faster and he picked his way through the field to claim his 15th victory of the season, passing his rivals on Lap 9 of 10; passing Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) at Turn 2 and Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx) at Turn 9. Bautista will start from first for Race 2, alongside Razgatlioglu and Rea, who were separated by just 0.043s at the line in Razgatlioglu’s favour, meaning Razgatlioglu secured second in the World Championship standings Both Razgatlioglu and Rea were on intermediate tyres.

Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) took fourth place, 6.670s down on Bautista at the end of the race, ahead of Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) in fifth place. Locatelli had to fend off Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) who, like Bautista, took a gamble albeit later on in proceedings. Lining up on the grid on Pirelli’s rain tyres, the British rider pitted at the end of the warm-up lap to switch to intermediate tyres to take sixth place and to line up for Race 2 from the second row of the grid.

American star Garrett Gerloff (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) took seventh place in the thrilling encounter, while Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) was eighth. Vierge had a strong start on the intermediate tyre but dropped down the order, finishing ahead of Xavi Fores (BARNI Spark Racing Team) who took the final point in the Superpole Race, and also secured himself a third row start for Race 2; his best result since returning to Barni Ducati team.

Along with Redding, Philipp Oettl (Team Goeleven) pitted at the end of the warm-up lap to switch tyres, although he did not make the same progress as he finished in 16th. Oettl was penalised by 0.695s for a pit intervention time infringement, with riders required to spend 63 seconds between pit entry and pit exit. Michael van der Mark (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) had a storming start and was running in the podium places, but he pitted at the end of Lap 2 to change tyres. Like Oettl, van der Mark had a pit intervention time infringement and was penalised by 3.560s. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) was another who opted to change tyres, with the Italian finishing second.

WorldSBK Phillip Island Tissot Superpole Race (Full Results Here)

1 Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
2 Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) +3.285s
3 Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +3.328s

Phillip Island Race Two
The final race of the 2022 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship race was ended early following a red flag at the end of Lap 18 with Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) taking a hard-fought Race 2 victory at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit for the Grand Ridge Brewery Australian Round. He fended off Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) throughout the full race as he secured his 16th win of the season.

Bautista started from pole position following his Tissot Superpole Race victory earlier on Sunday and he finished there at the end of the race, but it was far from straight forward for the Spanish rider. Bautista did lose ground at the start but worked his way past Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team), who fought his way into second place in the early laps, with Bautista passing him at Turn 2 for third place before he overtook Rea at Turn 1 on Lap 7.

Rea did not let Bautista pull away from him though and always stayed within one second of Bautista, but he was unable to overtake the 2022 Champion, with Bautista holding on by 0.357s when the results were taken from. The race was red flagged after a collision involving Xavi Fores (BARNI Spark Racing Team) and Eugene Laverty (Bonovo Action BMW) at Turn 1, with Laverty taken to the medical centre for a check-up following the crash but he was conscious. Laverty was diagnosed with a pelvic injury and taken to Alfred Hospital in Melbourne by helicopter for further assessments.

Behind the duo, there was a battle brewing for third place between Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) and Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) with Lowes coming out on top, after he made the move at Turn 1 at the start of Lap 15. It meant Bautista took his 16th win of the year, matching his total from 2019, while he now has 32 career wins; putting him level with Chaz Davies and Razgatlioglu. Rea moves on to 245 career podiums with second place while Lowes now has 33 rostrum visits to his name.

Despite being in the lead group, Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) took fourth place after he passed by, with Lowes moving into the podium position and demoting the 2021 Champion, his last race with the #1 plate, until fourth place. Two Pata Yamaha riders finished in the top five with Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) taking fifth place to end his season in the top five. Redding had been in the podium places in the opening laps of the 18-lap encounter, but he dropped back as the race progressed to sixth place.

Seventh place went to Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) as the second-best Ducati in Race 2, ahead of Philipp Oettl (Team Goeleven) who finished as the top Independent rider in the final race of the year. Tetsuta Nagashima (Team HRC) rounded out a strong debut weekend as he stood in for Iker Lecuona with ninth place, while Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW) took tenth place as prepares for a second season with the independent BMW outfit.

Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) had been running inside the top ten during the early stages of the race but dropped down to 11th place, just ahead of Michael van der Mark (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) in 12th place. Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) rounded out his Kawasaki Puccetti career with 13th place, while Czech rookie Oliver Konig (Orelac Racing VerdNatura) backed up his point from Indonesia with 14th place and two more points in Race 2 in Australia. Leandro Mercado (MIE Racing Honda) took home the final point of 2022 as he finished in 15th place.

Kohta Nozane (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) ended his WorldSBK career with 17th place, finishing ahead of Hafizh Syahrin (MIE Racing Honda Team) and Kyle Smith (TPR Team Pedercini Racing) in 18th; the last classified rider in Race 2.

Garrett Gerloff’s (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) Yamaha career ended when he crashed at Turn 2 on the opening lap, after an incident with Xavi Vierge (Team HRC), with the Spanish rider able to re-join the but he brought his bike into the pits and re-joined the race two laps down in 21st place; he was classified as retired after completing 13 laps.

WorldSBK Phillip Island Race Two (Full Results Here)

1 Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
2Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.357s
3 Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK)

Final 2022 Championship Standings (Full Standings Here)

1 Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 601 points
2 Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) 529
3 Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) 502

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2022 has flown by in record-breaking speed as we’ve enjoyed the rollercoaster journey of another historic season of racing. So, it’s only fitting that a true classic venue brings us the showdown of the season, the 35th of WorldSBK action. The Grand Ridge Brewery Australian Round and the iconic Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit will draw the curtains on a mesmerising season and with the titles decided, new development tyres joining the allocation and a first visit to ‘The Island’ since the start of 2020, the stage is set for a classic weekend Down Under. 

The title race is all done and dusted for Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati), meaning he can relax for Australia and Phillip Island this weekend. The last time at Phillip Island saw Bautista debut for Honda and take two well-deserved top six finishes from 16th on the grid, but he’s perhaps best remembered for his emphatic debut with Ducati in 2019, when he swept to three dominant wins, the first of which was nearly 15 seconds and the biggest dry margin in Phillip Island’s WorldSBK history. Whilst the title is done, attention turns to the Manufacturers’ Championship; Ducati just need a top four finish and they’ve got the job done in Race 1, whilst the Teams’ Championship will be secured if they don’t lose more than 34 points to Pata Yamaha. The battle for fourth should be job done for teammate Michael Ruben Rinaldi, who is 34 points clear of Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK). Outscoring his countryman by four points will give him fourth overall.

In second place, it looks settled for Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK), who relinquishes his crown after just one season. He’s 37 points ahead of title rival Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) and if he maintains that gap, he’ll take the runner-up position. Razgatlioglu has a good track record at Phillip Island and took a stunning maiden win with Yamaha, heading up WorldSBK’s second-closest podium of all time. The outgoing World Champion aims to sign off the season in style but knows that the combination of his rivals and their packages will be a strong one. Teammate Locatelli has a mathematic chance at fourth overall in the Championship but realistically, he’ll aim to get fifth bagged, with just 15 points covering three riders to seventh place.

Third place going into his “second home round” of the season, Jonathan Rea is on record as solely looking for race wins and whilst he’s conscious that a win won’t mean that he and his Kawasaki team don’t have to look for improvement, it’s something he’ll look to achieve. Six wins on ‘The Island’ for Rea, he is within striking distance of matching Troy Corser’s record of seven at the circuit, but he knows it’ll be tough. A Superpole Race win in 2020 is his only win in the last eight races there and he’ll be hoping to end his win drought, whilst teammate Alex Lowes is the most recent winner at the track as he held off Rea for victory in Race 2 in 2020. He’s sixth in the standings, 11 points behind Locatelli, who’ll face Phillip Island on a WorldSBK bike for first time.

It’s game on for eighth in the Championship, although perhaps it is Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) who already has it in the bag, as he’s one point clear of the injured Iker Lecuona (Team HRC). It’s a big weekend for Redding, who returns to Phillip Island for the first time since his WorldSBK debut weekend, where he took three podiums with Ducati back in 2020. Redding is the lead BMW rider in the Championship and whilst that’s already locked in, he’ll hope to propel the German manufacturer to fourth in the Manufacturers’ Championship, as they’re currently three behind Honda. Teammate Michael van der Mark was in the battle for victory aboard Yamaha machinery in 2020, and he’ll aim to end his 2022 season well and also help BMW take fourth.

After Iker Lecuona’s injury sustained in FP2 at Mandalika, he slipped to ninth in the standings and is one point behind Redding. Lecuona’s had a stellar first season aboard the Honda and has had podiums and plenty of top five finishes, although he’s a major doubt for the weekend ahead. Honda’s hope lie with Xavi Vierge (Team HRC), who looks certain to stay in the top ten in the Championship. He’ll have the aim of outscoring BMW to try and deliver fourth for Honda, at a circuit he knows well from his Moto2 World Championship days. The Spaniard took a podium at the track in 2018 with third, as well a fifth the year before. Could he utilise Honda’s super concession update further this weekend?

Already crowned the best Independent Rider for 2022, Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) is seventh and just four points off Lowes in sixth and just 15 from Locatelli in fifth. Bassani’s been a stand-out performer in WorldSBK in 2022 and he and the Motocorsa Racing team have delivered pound-for-pound. It is however Bassani’s first time at Phillip Island, so perhaps he’ll not be as far forward as we’ve seen before. Garrett Gerloff (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) is the next Independent rider as he readies for a final weekend with his team at the track where it all began. Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW) is 17 points behind Gerloff but always goes well at Phillip Island, with it being the last track he led a race at back in 2020. After being ruled out of Race 2 at Mandalika, Philipp Oettl (Team Goeleven) hopes to be back fit enough for the season finale, whilst it’s the same for Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) behind him, the Frenchman going to Australia for his final round with Manuel Puccetti’s outfit.

In 16th overall, Eugene Laverty (Bonovo Action BMW) is getting ready for an emotional final round of his career and will look to sign off on a high at the circuit he took a last victory at back in 2014 for Suzuki. Xavi Fores (BARNI Spark Racing Team) has Laverty in his sights for Championship position and has been a podium finisher in Australia before, whilst he’s just ahead of Kohta Nozane (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team), who also gets ready for his final round in WorldSBK before he moves to Moto2 World Championship action in 2023. Completing the running, Hafizh Syahrin (MIE Racing Honda Team) and teammate Leandro Mercado hope for more points before their season ends, whilst after becoming the 587th different rider to score points in WorldSBK history, Oliver Konig (Orelac Racing VerdNatura) will hope to continue that trend on his Phillip Island WorldSBK debut.

Championship Standings After Mandalika

1 Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 553 points
2 Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) 487
3 Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) 279
4 Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 279

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Bautista returned to Ducati for the 2022 season after two seasons away and did so in perfect fashion, taking his first win of the season in the Tissot Superpole Race at the season-opening Aragon Round. He also left MotorLand Aragon as the title leader following his Race 2 victory. Rea was able to fight back at Assen but that lasted for just one day as Bautista extended his lead again in Race 2, with the newly-crowned Champion leading the way from Assen’s Race 2 onwards. A Race 1 crash at Donington Park dented Bautista’s lead but he bounced back in style; taking 15 podiums in the 18 races that followed including a hat-trick at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. A crucial part of Bautista’s title-winning campaign was his fights with both Razgatlioglu and Rea, particularly with the 2021 Champion throughout the Estoril, Portuguese and Argentinean Rounds.

Bautista began his career in the Spanish Championship from 1995 to 2002. In 2002, he was fighting for the title until the final race. In the same year, he made his first appearance in the FIM 125cc World Championship as a wildcard. He became a 125cc Grand Prix winner in 2006 at the Spanish GP. With eighth victories claimed that season, he secured his first World Championship title. The Spanish rider then moved up to the 250cc class, claiming 28 podium places including eight victories. Bautista stepped up to the FIM MotoGP World Championship in 2010. During his eighth seasons in MotoGP, he claimed three podium places and one pole position, with a fifth place as his best classification in the Championship standings in 2012. In 2019, Bautista made his WorldSBK debut with Ducati, finishing his rookie season with 16 wins, 24 podium places, 4 pole positions and 15 fastest laps as he secured second place in the Championship standings.

In 2020, he switched to Honda, racing for the Team HRC squad. Over the 2020 and 2021 seasons, he claimed three podium places for the Japanese manufacturer before returning to Ducati and the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team for the 2022 season. With 14 wins and 29 podium places, Alvaro Bautista became the 2022 WorldSBK Champion at Mandalika. Bautista becomes the ninth different rider to take a Riders’ Championship for Ducati with the Italian manufacturer securing their 15th Riders’ Championship overall. He’s the third different rider in three years to take the crown, as well as being from a third different country and on a third different bike, emphasising the competitive parity in WorldSBK. The newly crowned WorldSBK Champion will remain with Ducati in 2023 and both will aim to continue challenging many records.

Alvaro Bautista: “It’s incredible, I’m so happy. It’s a dream come true, especially after the last two years and all the difficulties. I want to say thanks to everyone who trusted me, to give me this chance to fight for good places and we got the Championship at the first time of trying. Today was the first time I felt a bit nervous or stressed, but it was in Race 2 on the grid before the start. I tried to manage the emotions and when I was in first, I was making a lot of mistakes because I had too many thoughts in my head! I just preferred to stay second behind Toprak, but he was very strong, so I could just follow him. So happy. It’s difficult to know what to say. I’m just so happy. During the whole season, I was so happy because I had a lot of experience from the past. I tried to be the best possible rider, not make mistakes. I think our performance has been really, really high. I think I had the best performance level ever from Toprak and Jonathan. They performed at a really high level in all races. I was lucky that I made fewer mistakes than them. What’s important is also consistency. I could beat Jonathan, a six-time World Champion and Toprak, a one-time Champion, breaking all the records at all the tracks which means the level is so high. We can win with this amazing level.”

Giulio Nava, Bautista’s Crew Chief: “We worked really hard for this; this team and Ducati. I’ve been working with Alvaro for many years and I’m super happy to be here with him, seeing him achieving these results. It means a lot. I’m very lucky to work with him. You create very a strong relationship together. We joke together. Alvaro is like my brother. It’s difficult for me to explain what it means, but it means the world to see him winning.”

Luigi Dall’Igna, Ducati Corse General Manager: “It is a wonderful day for us. We worked a lot with Alvaro in the past and in 2019 we did a fantastic job until the middle of the season. In the end, we could not win the crown. Today, in the end, and it was a fantastic emotion. It was a special day. This is probably one of the best seasons of his life. This year, and 2006, were two really amazing seasons for him. He won the 2006 125cc World Championship and today he won WorldSBK. He’s a real fantastic rider and I’m really, really happy he could get the title today.”

Bautista World Championship Career:

• 2002-2006: 125cc – First Race: Spanish GP 2002 | Best result: P1
• 2007-2009: 250cc – First Race: Qatar GP 2007 | Best result: P1
• 2010-2018: MotoGP – First Race: Qatar GP 2010 | Best result: P3
• 2019-2022: WorldSBK – First Race: Australian Round 2019 | Best result: P1
• 2022: World Superbike Champion

Bautista Info:

• Place of birth: Talavera de la Reina, SPA
• Age: 37
• Team: Aruba.It Racing – Ducati
• Bike: Ducati Panigale V4R
• First round: Phillip Island 2019
• Race starts: 130
• Wins: 30
• Podium places: 56
• Pole positions: 5
• Fastest laps: 27
• Title: 1

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