Bautista edges out Rea to win Phillip Island WSBK finale

Alvaro Bautista completed a Sunday hat trick at Phillip Island WSBK finale by defeating rival Jonathan Rea to win Race 2.

Alvaro Bautista edged Jonathan Rea to win the final World Superbike race of the season at Phillip Island as the red flags were displayed with a few laps left in the race.

On lap 18 of 22, the race was abruptly called off after an incident involving Eugene Laverty and Xavi Fores at Turn 1. This incident was most likely brought on by the onset of some light rain at the Australian track.

A decision was made after two-thirds of the race had been finished, awarding Ducati rider Bautista his 16th victory of his championship-winning campaign in an unspectacular manner. He had prevailed over the Kawasaki team of Rea and Alex Lowes.

On the opening lap of the only race of the weekend to get underway in dry conditions, Bautista took the lead from Rea into Miller turn (Turn 4), with a quick-starting Scott Redding coming through to take second.

On the third lap, Lowes overtook Bautista at the same bend, relegating the Spaniard down another position.

The newly crowned champion, though, quickly resumed his attack, past Lowes at the start of the fifth lap at Doohan corner before overtaking Redding at the Southern Loop.

When the seventh lap began, Bautista quickly overcame the six-tenth gap Rea had established and sped by him along the start/finish straight to retake the lead. After then, the race became a two-way battle between Bautista and Rea, with the Ducati driver doing just enough to hold off the leading Kawasaki until the race was stopped.

Toprak Razgatlioglu passed Lowes to claim third place as the BMW of Redding retreated, but the Yamaha rider was unable to overtake the leaders and had to exert significant effort to maintain Lowes in the pack.

At the beginning of lap 15, Lowes made his move for his second podium finish of the day despite being two seconds behind the lead pack and having no chance of catching up.

Razgatlioglu finished the season in fourth place, one spot ahead of teammate Andrea Locatelli from Yamaha, while Redding held onto sixth place. As a result, BMW passed Honda for fourth place in the manufacturers’ rankings.

The hopes of Honda maintaining first place were compromised on the first lap when Garrett Gerloff of GRT Yamaha collided with Xavi Vierge’s Fireblade at the Southern Loop, sending both vehicles into the gravel.

Tetsuta Nagashima, a stand-in for Tetsuta Oettl due to an injury, did a brave job preserving Honda honor, but he could only manage ninth position behind the Ducatis of Michael Ruben Rinaldi and the top independent Phillip Oettl (Go Eleven).

On the Bonovo BMW, Loris Baz finished in the top 10, although there was concern for the Frenchman’s teammate Laverty after his collision with Fores in his last WSBK race before retiring.

The Ulsterman was reported to be conscious as he was being carried on a stretcher into an ambulance to be transferred to the hospital. Fores, a Barni Ducati rider, appeared to avoid harm in the meanwhile.

2022 WORLD SUPERBIKE, PHILLIP ISLAND – RACE 2 RESULTS