WSBK: Double debut victory for Bautista and Ducati

February 23, 2019 February 23, 2019

It was double debut victory for World Superbike rookie Alvaro Bautista and the brand new Ducati V4R at Phillip Island race 1 today, as the Spanish rookie dominated the race winning by a massive 14.9 seconds to reigning world champion Jonathan Rea.

World Superbike rookie Alvaro Bautista threw down an gauntlet of intent in Phillip Island race 1 as he dominated proceedings winning by 14.9 seconds to reigning world champion Rea, who said in the post race interview “I was riding tense after the issues we had last year” and immediately looking towards his rear tyre in parc ferme, but by the looks of it Bautista’s left hand side rear tyre was also destroyed.

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World Superbike returnee Leon Haslam looked impressive in race 1 challenging his Kawasaki team mate Jonathan Rea until he fell off with under half the laps remaining, he remounted and managed to salvage a single point finishing the race in 15th position.

Marco Melandri gave GRT Yamaha a podium in their debut race pipping the Crescent Yamaha of Alex Lowes on the very last corner of the race, with an amazing 4 overtakes on the last lap between the 2 riders, neither wanting to give up on the final podium spot, and with Michael Van Der Mark finishing 5th making it 3 Yamaha’s in the top 6 it is looking like it could be a strong season for the Japanese manufacturer.

Another impressive debut was the new BMW S1000RR in the hands of long term KRT rider Tom Sykes who bought the brand-new bike home in 7th with a pretty standard production engine in the BMW, battling early on in the podium group and in the final stages with Pucetti Kawasaki man Toprak Razgatlioglu who eventually claimed 6th place.

Sandro Cortese had a brilliant debut on his GRT Yamaha finishing 8th behind Sykes, and beating Aruba.it Ducati’s Chaz Davies who done a good damage limitation ride after qualifying down in 16th as the Welshman has been limited on track time as he continues to recover from injury.

With the first race of the year throwing up some big surprises who will come out on top in the brand-new superpole race and of course race 2?

Full results can be found here.

Find out on Motorsport.Radio.