WSBK Jerez Superbike Race 1: Alvaro Bautista invincible, doubles world title

At almost 39 years old, the Spaniard won everything at Jerez: race 1 and his second SBK title, the third of his career. He will be back in MotoGP in two weeks.

About Paul Gozzi / Corsedimoto.com

Last year, Alvaro Bautista christened the first Superbike World Championship in Mandalika, Indonesia. He missed the taste of partying at home, and now he got that satisfaction too. A champion's epilogue: he first harpooned the Superpole, then he commanded the race from the first to the last corner. It was not a foregone conclusion, because the usually indomitable Toprak Razgatlioglu gave the impression for several rounds of wanting to play a trick on him. But the Ducati in the expert hands of Alvarito becomes a spaceship: very fast in a straight line, but above all formidable with each stroke of the accelerator. Horses, traction, tire management: Bautista knew how to find the alchemy of the pilot-magician.

A one-off return to MotoGP
At the time of MotoGP, he was said to be fast, sometimes, but not at the level of the top 4-5. In a fortnight he will make his debut in the top category at Sepang, Malaysia, as a Ducati factory rider. This will be an opportunity to settle a few scores and silence a few bad tongues. Then in 2024, he will return to Superbike, to defend number 1, at the age of 40. In the meantime, the Italian brand signs a new double, by adding the drivers' world championship to that of the manufacturers, frozen long in advance. Added to this is the domination in Supersport with Nicholas Bulega, who will be the new teammate of the double world champion from Tuesday. Bautista's statistics are increasingly brilliant: 25th victory (and 29th podium) in 34 races. In four years of Superbike, he won 57, and if he hadn't left (for the money...) to live for two years at the expense of Honda, who knows what the story would have been like...

Superbike Champions Guestbook
80s-90s

1988-89 Fred Merkel (Usa-Honda RC30); 1990 Raymond Roche (Fra-Ducati 851); 1991-92 Doug Polen (Usa-Ducati 888); 1993 Scott Russell (Usa-Kawasaki ZXR 750); 1994-95 Carl Fogarty (GB-Ducati 916); 1996 Troy Corser (Aus-Ducati 916); 1997 John Kocinski (Usa-Honda RC45); 1998-99 Carl Fogarty (GB-Ducati 996);

2000s-2010s

2000 Colin Edwards (Usa-Honda VTR-SP); 2001 Troy Bayliss (Aus-Ducati 996R); 2002 Colin Edwards (Usa-Honda VTR-SP); 2003 Neil Hodgson (GB-Ducati 999F03); 2004 James Toseland (GB-Ducati 999F04); 2005 Troy Corser (Aus-Suzuki GSX-R); 2006 Troy Bayliss (Aus-Ducati 999F06); 2007 James Toseland (GB-Honda CBR-RR); 2008 Troy Bayliss (Aus-Ducati 1098F08); 2009 Ben Spies (Usa-Yamaha YZF-R1); 2010 Max Biaggi (Ita-Aprilia RSV4);

2011s-2020s

2011 Carlos Checa (Spa-Ducati 1098R); 2012 Max Biaggi (Ita-Aprilia RSV4); 2013 Tom Sykes (GB-Kawasaki ZX-10R) 2014 Sylvain Guintoli (Fra-Aprilia RSV4); 2015-2020 Jonathan Rea (GB-Kawasaki ZX-10R);

2021s-23s

2021 Toprak Razgatlioglu (Tur-Yamaha YZF-1); 2022-23 Alvaro Bautista (Spa-Ducati Panigale V4R).

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Paul Gozzi

Classification credit: WorldSBK.com