Aruba Ducati’s Alvaro Bautista made it eight wins from eight WorldSBK races at Aragon this morning, crossing the line with a six-second advantage over a terrific scrap for second place.
It was another walk in the park for the former MotoGP rider as he cruised away at the best part of a second a lap in the early stages but, as with yesterday, Jonathan Rea, Alex Lowes and Chaz Davies made it a great fight for the podium.
Rea was again second but had a very hard time from eventual third placed rider, Alex Lowes on the Pata Yamaha, who swapped places with the four-time champion several times and looked like he might have second in bag after a late error saw the Kawasaki man run wide.
Ducati, Kawasaki, Yamaha – the race winner may almost be a foregone conclusion in each race but the competition behind Bautista is strong.
Davies, on the second Aruba V4, could not double up on his Saturday podium finish but was right with the Rea/Lowes fight.
A three-rider group, comprising Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad), Eugene Laverty (Team GoEleven Ducati) and Leon Haslam (Kawasaki Racing Team) finished in that order, with Sykes fifth for the second time in two days.
Laverty lost his rear brake early on the race which compromised his performance while Haslam has split the stitches on an ankle operational scar. Sykes complained of liquid on his screen, which was making the back straight more difficult.
In a lone eighth place Jordi Torres (Pedercini Kawasaki) impressed at his home race, with Sandro Cortese (GRT Yamaha) and Toprak Razgatlioglu (Turkish Puccetti Racing) completing the top ten behind him.
A clash between Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha) and Michael Rinaldi (Barni Ducati) saw them both fall at turn one on lap one, with only VDM getting going again to finish last, and score a single championship point.
The Dutchman has an uphill struggle on his hands as he will start from the fourth row this afternoon while Rinaldi has been declared fit for race two but has a bruised wrist and ankle.
Leandro Mercado (Orelac Racing VerdNatura Kawasaki) did not start as he broke his wrist in a crash on Saturday.
