MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks

World Superbike race one was twenty laps of the long Catalunya circuit under a hot 27ºC Spanish sun. Scott Redding had a three place penalty for slow riding on the racing line.

Alvaro Bautista hit turn one first with his teammate Michael Ruben Rinaldi passing Dominique Aegerter and Jonathan Rea to take second place. Andrea Locatelli and Toprak Razgatlioglu passed Aegerter to put Yamahas in fourth to sixth place. Razgatlioglu passed Locatelli into turn one on the brakes in typical Razgatlioglu fashion, putting him in fourth place behind Rea for lap two.

Oliver König crashed out at the back of the field and it took a while to get his bike moved. With the long lap, it gave the marshals time to clear the bike before the front-runners arrived, avoiding red flags. Alvaro Bautista set a 1'41.879 on lap two, half a second ahead of Rinaldi and Rea.

Axel Bassani clawed his way through to fifth place, passing Aegerter and Locatelli to arrive a second behind fourth-placed Razgatlioglu.

On lap four, a red flag came out for Eric Granado crashing out at turn eleven and everyone headed to the pits. Alvaro Bautista was almost a second in front of Michael Ruben Rinaldi, Jonathan Rea and Toprak Razgatlioglu. Axel Bassani and Andrea Locatelli rounded out the second row with Dominique Aegerter, Xavi Vierge and Remy Gardner filling the third row for the restart.

Eric Granada waved to the crowd from his stretcher on his way to the medical centre. The restart would be a seventeen lap race.

After a sighting lap and a quick start procedure, with the temperature increased to 28ºC, Alvaro Bautista once again led his teammate Michael Ruben Rinaldi into turn one with Axel Bassani pushing Andrea Locatelli out of the way. Jonathan Rea took fourth place off Locatelli. Scott Redding and Lorenzo Baldassarri crashed at turn ten.

Lap two, and Rinaldi and Bassani bumped into each other in turn three behind Bautista, causing Bassani to gesticulate at Rinaldi, and further round the lap, Bassani pushed under Rinaldi, giving him a little nudge that smacked of revenge for turn three, and Rinaldi crashed out after contact, sliding into the gravel at turn ten. Bassani stayed on the track and held second place ahead of Rea. The incident was put under investigation.

Alvaro Bautista set as 1'41.747 lap on lap three and held a two second lead over Bassani, Rea and Razgatlioglu. Locatelli and Aegerter were a second behind, four laps in. Axel Bassani was given a long lap penalty, worth two and a half seconds, for his over-exuberant pass under Rinaldi. Bassani took his penalty and rejoined between Locatelli and Aegerter, but it looked like he clipped the green paint in his long lap.

At the start of lap seven, Alvaro Bautista led by over four seconds, with Jonathan Rea and Toprak Razgatlioglu glued together in second and third. Over a second behind the fight for second place, Andrea Locatelli, Axel Bassani and Dominique Aegerter were covered by half a second as Bassani's long lap penalty was put under investigation.

Lap nine, past half race distance, Bautista led by over six seconds with Rea and Razgatlioglu a quarter of a second apart. Axel Bassani led Andrea Locatelli and Dominique Aegerter a second and a half behind Rea and Razgatlioglu. Iker Lecuona and Alex Lowes were battling over two and a half seconds behind Aegerter, putting the in range for Bassani's drop if he got another penalty.

Ten laps of seventeen down, and Bautista had an eight second lead over Rea and Razgatlioglu. Axel Bassani was a second and a half behind them, clear of Locatelli and Aegerter and Bassani was cleared from another penalty as the stewards deemed him to have taken his penalty cleanly.

Bautista extended his lead, constantly running seven tenths of a second quicker than everyone else on track, lap after lap, starting lap thirteen almost ten seconds clear of the battle for second place. Alex Lowes crashed out of tenth place. Razgatlioglu looked on pace to pass Rea, but didn't get underneath into turn one on the brakes.

Axel Bassani's pace dropped as his tyres started complaining after thirteen hard laps, and Andrea Locatelli caught and passed him into turn one of lap fourteen. Aegerter wasted no time latching onto the back of Bassani but couldn't pass him into turn one of lap fifteen. Bassani held on to fifth place until turn four. Iker Lecuona closed up on the struggling Bassani, under half a second off him on lap sixteen of seventeen, and lapping fast enough to potentially catch and pass him on the last lap.

At the start of the last lap, Bautista led by over eleven seconds and Razgatlioglu finally struck in to turn one, untidily sliding into second place but Rea held on under two tenths of a second behind him for the remainder of the lap, tyres almost touching into turn nine and continuing the fight over the next few turns, but Razgatlioglu was able to hold the lead to under a tenth of a second over the line.

Alvaro Bautista stood on his pegs and coasted over the line with his arms in the air, winning by over eight seconds. Toprak Razgatlioglu led Jonathan Rea over the line to complete the podium. Five seconds further back, Andrea Locatelli and Dominique Aegerter took fourth and fifth places separated by un der a quarter of a second. Iker Lecuona led Axel Bassani by over two seconds at the flag.

Alvaro Bautista extended his lead over Toprak Razgatlioglu to sixty one points with Andrea Locatelli twenty one points further back. Jonathan Rea closed to twenty eight points behind Locatelli, one hundred and ten points off Bautista in the lead. Rea and Razgatlioglu both talked about fighting for second place tomorrow, writing off any chance of victory against a dominant Bautista.

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