Alvaro Bautista has enjoyed an absolutely incredible year; as he entered Misano WSBK with 11 victories from 12 races, and he continued that streak on Sunday.
The reigning WorldSBK champion currently holds 14 victories out of a possible 15 after sweeping all three races at Misano WSBK.
Toprak Razgatlioglu took the early lead in the race, followed closely by the factory Ducati duo, with Michael Ruben Rinaldi losing to Alvaro Bautista at the end of lap one to finish third.
Bautista had taken the lead and was attempting to pull away at the front of the field by the end of the second lap. The Italian was attempting to pass Razgatlioglu, who had been holding onto his position for as long as he could, further back.
Axel Bassani finished fourth, ahead of Jonathan Rea and Alex Lowes in the order of finish. After four laps, Bautista already had a two-second lead over Rinaldi. Lowes crashed as he was trying so hard to battle in the race for the top spots.
With ten laps remaining, Bautista and Rinaldi trailed each other by 3.5 seconds, with Razgatlioglu in third place trailing the Italian by less than half a second. With seven laps remaining, the Turkish Yamaha rider moved into second place, making it appear like Bautista had already secured the victory.
He attempted to pass Toprak in turn one of the subsequent lap, but he pushed too hard and failed to prevent that his Ducati touched the rear of “Razga’s” Yamaha, who managed to avoid the collision despite the contact. Rinaldi made the error and wound up on the gravel, forcing him to retire.
Axel Bassani, who had moved up to third place, was 16 seconds behind leader Bautista. Fourth place finisher Jonathan Rea was more than a second and a half behind. Xavi Vierge finished ahead of Andrea Locatelli and Danilo Petrucci in the race for sixth place.
There were no further surprises after Bautista’s second victory. By finishing in second position once more, Toprak continued his pursue for the championship lead, while Bassani earned a satisfying podium. Rea finished in fourth place, and Xavi Vierge did well to round out the top five.
