[WSBK] Australia, Race 3: Álvaro Bautista wins on another planet

For the eleventh consecutive year, Phillip Island hosted the opening meeting of the season. This Australian track was the one on which the most inaugural events had been contested, followed by Donington, Valencia and Losail, with four. Furthermore, Phillip Island is the circuit where the most WorldSBK races have been held, with a total of 55 rounds, the first of which took place in 1990. 23 of the 55 WorldSBK races have been won by a Australian pilot at Phillip Island. The last was Troy Bayliss' double in 2008. Since then, representatives of seven different nationalities have triumphed at Phillip Island.

Alvaro Bautista, a newcomer to Superbike, would have liked to study the style of the four-time British Champion during the first Portuguese free tests, but that was not possible. As the Ducati rider explained, “ I wasn't able to learn much about Rea and the Kawasaki in Portimão. I only met him a few times and each time he stopped trying. This was probably to prevent me from learning anything about its riding or how the 2019 Kawasaki handles. But now I have another opportunity to study it a little better in Australia.” According to Carl Fogarty, “Bautista is the only driver who can counter Rea. He's stronger than Chaz! I can't say if he's strong enough to win the title, but he's definitely stronger than Chaz. » For the fifth year in a row, Johnny Rea could count on his four aces: his team leader Pere Riba, his electronics engineer Davide Gentile, and his mechanics Uri Pallares and Arturo Perez.

A normal grid

The positions on the starting grid for Race 3 are now determined by the results of Race 2. Finally! It took a long time for the drafters of the regulations to understand that the 4th in race 1 has no business being in pole position, if the 3rd is lost on the 3rd row. It's stupid (personal point of view), unsportsmanlike and dangerous. This is how Leon Camier found himself on pole of the C2 in Buriram, Lorenzo Savadori in Magny-Cours, and Xavi Fores in Argentina.

So let's return to Australia this year with a normal system. In pole position was Álvaro Bautista (Aruba Racing – Ducati) followed by Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK), Leon Haslam (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK), Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team), Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team), Marco Melandri and Sandro Cortese (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK).

The fastest at the start was Álvaro Bautista ahead of Johnny Rea, Leon Haslam, Michael van der Mark, Marco Melandri, Michael Ruben Rinaldi and Alex Lowes. Alessandro Delbianco fell without gravity. Bautista, Haslam and Rea were closely followed by the Yamahas of van der Mark and Melandri, while Eugene Laverty valiantly moved up to sixth position. Bautista set the fastest lap in 1'30.573 and opened up a gap of 1.4 over Haslam, and 2.2 over Rea, van der Mark and Melandri.

Bautista clearly stood out very quickly at the front, ahead of Haslam and Rea by 2.3. Melandri was fourth at 5.1 in the fight with van der Mark. Lowes for sixth place tried to resist Razgatlioglu, Davies, Cortese, Laverty, Mercado, Camier and Sykes. The Hondas and BMWs were really far from the leaders.

With 16 laps remaining, Bautista led Haslam by 5.8, joined by Rea, Melandri and van der Mark. The Spaniard and his Ducati totally dominated the race, and the Kawasakis which had dominated so far were more than 8 seconds behind the V4 R.

At mid-race, Bautista's Panigale was 10 seconds ahead of the ZX-10RR of Haslam and Rea, then the Yamaha of Melandri, van der Mark and Lowes.

9 laps from the checkered flag, behind Bautista far in front, only Melandri was able to resist Haslam and Rea for second position.

Van der Mark made a good effort and caught up with the peloton fighting for second position, made up of Rea, Haslam and Melandri. Lowes was closing in on them, 2 seconds behind van der Mark.

Johnny Rea took second position from his teammate Haslam, who regained it almost immediately. Rinaldi and Razgatlioglu lost ground and dropped out of points, beyond fifteenth position.

17 seconds behind Bautista, Rea took second ahead of Haslam, Melandri, van der Mark and Lowes. Bautista finally won ahead of Rea, Haslam, van der Mark, Lowes, Melandri and Davies.

Results of the third Superbike race:

Provisional ranking of the World Championship:

Provisional classification for the Manufacturers’ World Championship:

Video: 4 times World Champion, he vacuums:

Photos © worldsbk.com