Misano World Superbike Race (1) Results: Sensational Bautista leads Ducati 1-2
Alvaro Bautista has taken victory for the 12th time in 13 World Superbike races this season after another dominant display in front of Ducati's home fans.
There was drama before the five lights went out as Bradley Ray suffered a problem on the grid. Yellow flags were waved as a result before a very small delay.
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Once the race was set to get underway for a second time, a new race distance of 20 laps instead of 21 was confirmed.
Keen to break up Bautista’s rhythm at the start, Toprak Razgatlioglu instead lost secons pot to Rinaldi before attempting a obld move around the outside of turn four.
After initially getting ahead, Rzzgatlioglu was then stood up on the entry to turn five by Rinaldi as the Italian swooped back through.
Come the end of the opening lap both factory Ducatis stretched clear of Razgatlioglu, while Axel Bassani was harassing Jonathan Rea for P5.
After several failed overtakes, Bassani finally got through on the six-time world champion at Curvone.
Seemingly without the pace to challenge for victory, Razgatlioglu continued to lose time on laps two and three as Bautista also gained a few tenths over Rinaldi.
Behind the podium trio, Bassani was hotting up again as he began to challenge Danilo Petrucci for P4.
Bautista’s lead then broke the one second barrier on lap four as he gained close to four tenths on Rinaldi.
While Bautista’s lead over Rinaldi stablised at around 1.3 seconds, the latter was pulling well clear of Razgatlioglu as he opened up a gap of nearly two seconds.
Further back, Rea was finding it very difficult to maintain the pace of those ahead of him as the Kawasaki star lost a huge chunk of time on laps six and seven.
That gave Dominique Aegerter the chance to try and overtake Rea for P6, however, the Northern Irishman was proving tough to pass.
Aegerter remained close to Rea for several laps although the Superbike rookie was struggling to find a clear-cut opportunity.
Ahead of those two, the gaps were fairly stable as Bautista was still lapping quicker than anyone, while Rinaldi and Razgatlioglu were matching one-another’s times.
With just six laps to go Petrucci made a big mistake at turn eight as he crashed out of fourth position.
| 2023 World Superbike Misano, Italy - Race (1) Results | ||||
| Pos | Rider | Nat | Team | Time |
| 1 | Alvaro Bautista | SPA | Aruba.It Racing Ducati | 20 laps |
| 2 | Michael Ruben Rinaldi | ITA | Aruba.It Racing Ducati | +5.221s |
| 3 | Toprak Razgatlioglu | TUR | Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK | +8.971s |
| 4 | Axel Bassani | ITA | Motocorsa Ducati | +14.285s |
| 5 | Jonathan Rea | GBR | Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK | +18.594s |
| 6 | Dominique Aegerter | SWI | GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team | +19.021s |
| 7 | Alex Lowes | GBR | Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK | +21.036s |
| 8 | Iker Lecuona | SPA | Team HRC WorldSBK | +23.751s |
| 9 | Remy Gardner | AUS | GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team | +24.011s |
| 10 | Xavi Vierge | SPA | Team HRC WorldSBK | +29.081s |
| 11 | Scott Redding | GBR | ROKIT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team | +29.430s |
| 12 | Andrea Locatelli | ITA | Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK | +30.139s |
| 13 | Garrett Gerloff | USA | Bonovo Action BMW | +30.562s |
| 14 | Philipp Oettl | GER | GoEleven Ducati | +33.210s |
| 15 | Lorenzo Baldassarri | ITA | GMT94 Yamaha | +34.858s |
| 16 | Tom Sykes | GBR | ROKIT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team | +35.778s |
| 17 | Loris Baz | FRA | Bonovo Action BMW | +38.489s |
| 18 | Bradley Ray | GBR | Motoxracing Yamaha WorldSBK Team | +40.374s |
| 19 | Tito Rabat | SPA | Puccetti Kawasaki | +56.950s |
| 20 | Isaac Vinales | SPA | TPR by Vinales Racing | +1'03.273s |
| 21 | Ryo Mizuno | JAP | PETRONAS MIE Racing HONDA Racing | +1'30.052s |
| 22 | Danilo Petrucci | ITA | Barni Spark Racing Team | DNF |
| 23 | Luca Vitali | ITA | Orelac Racing Kawasaki | DNF |
| 24 | Hafizh Syahrin | MAL | PETRONAS MIE Racing HONDA Racing | DNF |
| 25 | Gabriele Ruiu | ITA | Bmax Racing BWM | DNF |
Misano World Superbike Records
Lap Record - Toprak Razgatlioglu TUR Pata Yamaha 1:33.722s (2022)
2022 Race Winners
Race 1 - Alvaro Bautista SPA Aruba.it Ducati
Superpole Race - Toprak Razgatlioglu TUR Pata Yamaha
Race 2 - Alvaro Bautista SPA Aruba.it Ducati
Alvaro Bautista started the race from pole despite a crash towards the end of the Superpole session. There were also late falls for Scott Redding and Gabriele Ruiu. The last of those caused a red flag as Ruiu's BMW leaked fluid onto the circuit.
Weekend schedule (UK Time)
Friday
09:30-10:15 - Free Practice 1
14:00-14:45 - Free Practice 2
Saturday
08:00-08:30 - Free Practice 3
10:10-10:25 - Superpole
13:00 - Race 1
Sunday
08:00-08:15 - Warm-up
10:00 - Superpole Race
13:00 - Race 2
