2023 Misano World Superbike Race 2 Result: Reigning In Romagna

By David Emmett | Sun, 04/06/2023 - 12:29

Alvaro Bautista has taken another crushing victory at Misano to take the triple for the weekend, leaving the rest of the field trailing in his wake.

It didn't look that way in the opening moments. Toprak Razgatlioglu got an outstanding start, taking the lead into the first chicane, ahead of Bautista and Michael Ruben Rinaldi. Rinaldi then slid under his Aruba.it teammate at Turn 4, pushing Bautista back into third.

Bautista took half a lap to regroup, taking second back from Rinaldi through Curvone, and getting onto the back of Razgatlioglu. Another half a lap, and Bautista used the drive of the Ducati out of Turn 6 to get past the Pata Yamaha rider down the back straight on the way to Turn 8.

From there, there was no catching Bautista. The Spaniard opened a gap, and in the latter half of the race, was six tenths faster than Toprak Razgatlioglu, and 1 second or more quicker than everyone else on the grid. Bautista's lead was so big that he could afford to celebrate on the final lap, before crossing the line.

If Bautista's victory was dominant but unexciting, there was some entertainment for second. After Bautista got through on Razgatlioglu, Michael Ruben Rinaldi also got past, and looked like making it an Aruba.it Ducati 1-2. But the Pata Yamaha rider dug in, and slowly closed the gap back to Rinaldi, and found a way past at Turn 8 on lap 15.

A lap later, Rinaldi made a mistake into Turn 1, trying to brake to catch Razgatlioglu, and clipped the rear of the Yamaha before crashing out. That left Razgatlioglu safe in second.

Axel Bassani came home in third on the Motocorsa Ducati, after having fended off challenges from Jonathan Rea. The Kawasaki rider finished a comfortable fourth, while Xavi Vierge put the Honda into fifth, ahead of a tight fight with Andrea Locatelli on the second Pata Yamaha, and Danilo Petrucci on the Barni Ducati.

Results:

Pos No. Rider Bike Gap
1 1 A. BAUTISTA Ducati Panigale V4R  
2 54 T. RAZGATLIOGLU Yamaha YZF R1 8.446
3 47 A. BASSANI Ducati Panigale V4R 18.368
4 65 J. REA Kawasaki ZX-10RR 20.174
5 97 X. VIERGE Honda CBR1000 RR-R 22.344
6 55 A. LOCATELLI Yamaha YZF R1 23.307
7 9 D. PETRUCCI Ducati Panigale V4R 23.552
8 31 G. GERLOFF BMW M1000 RR 24.905
9 5 P. OETTL Ducati Panigale V4R 25.255
10 87 R. GARDNER Yamaha YZF R1 27.253
11 77 D. AEGERTER Yamaha YZF R1 27.529
12 76 L. BAZ BMW M1000 RR 36.856
13 66 T. SYKES BMW M1000 RR 38.066
14 45 S. REDDING BMW M1000 RR 52.235
15 35 H. SYAHRIN Honda CBR1000 RR-R 1'02.594
16 32 I. VINALES Kawasaki ZX-10RR 1'09.448
RET 28 B. RAY Yamaha YZF R1 4 Laps
RET 21 M. RINALDI Ducati Panigale V4R 6 Laps
RET 34 L. BALDASSARRI Yamaha YZF R1 7 Laps
RET 70 L. VITALI Kawasaki ZX-10RR 10 Laps
RET 22 A. LOWES Kawasaki ZX-10RR 14 Laps
RET 88 R. MIZUNO Honda CBR1000 RR-R 19 Laps
RET 53 T. RABAT Kawasaki ZX-10RR  
2023
5
World Superbikes
Misano, Italy
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Comments

That Duc is positively dancing beneath Bautista.

Good to see Morbidelli enjoying his time in his next pit box. I wonder if they'll send him a year early and put some other hapless victim in the Yamaha MotoGP team? 

I'll admit to being a full on Bologna fan boy ...  but if the rest of the season mimics what we've had so far, not a good thing.  Someone needs to bring the fight to Alvaro, or the fight needs to be brought to him.

I am not sure how anyone is supposed to take the fight to Bautista. He is riding superbly and some of the footage of him riding alone and unchallenged were beautiful and showed a rider and machine in great synch. .

When Toprak is struggling with Rinaldi and Rea is clearly beaten by Bassani it revels that, particularly at this track, there is a machine imbalance in place that it is going to be hard for any rider to bridge.

I suspect in terms of loading the front Bautista may even be riding within himself and hence avoiding his previous front end loses experienced  in both MotoGP and WSBK.

 

A couple of years ago WSBK was knocking spots off MotoGP for drama. This year it’s a yawn fest at the pointy end and this cannot be good for spectator numbers. There is no way Alvaro is 9 seconds faster than Toprak over race distance and Dorna need to do something fast to re-balance the series.