SBK | Aragon, Superpole Race: Bautista beats Rea and Toprak!

The Motorland Aragon track brings us back to the old and beloved battle between the top three Superbike riders, who in the Superpole Race make the difference over their pursuers by engaging in a battle of tenths and overtaking. However, Alvaro Bautista came out on top and won the short race after a very tense battle until the checkered flag.

The reigning world champion builds a strategic but crazy race in which he redeems himself after the crash in Race 1. If halfway through the race he seemed to be a spectator of the duel for the victory between Jonathan Rea and Toprak Razgatlioglu, it is on the last lap that he breaks the deadlock and overtook first the Turk and then the Kawasaki rider, going on to win and confirming the leadership.

Jonathan Rea, dominating from the traffic lights, tries to escape but is stopped by the reigning world champion, who overtakes him right on the last straight and goes on to win. The Kawasaki rider somehow “plays as a team” with Bautista and finishes second, keeping Toprak Razgatlioglu behind, who with the third position achieved in the Superpole Race loses ground in the standings.

If the first three arrive at the finish line separated by less than three tenths, Andrea Locatelli passes under the checkered flag in fourth position, but a good five seconds behind. The Yamaha rider precedes Michael Ruben Rinaldi, winner of Race 1 but only fifth on Sunday morning and exactly one second behind his compatriot on the R1.

However, the Aruba standard bearer manages to keep Iker Lecuona behind him, attacking in the early stages but then trailing by another second and sixth at the finish line. Behind the Spaniard we find his teammate Xavi Vierge and both Honda HRCs manage to grab the top 10. Philipp Oettl had a good race, also in the top ten group and eighth at the checkered flag. Closing out the top 10 are Garrett Gerloff, ninth and first of the BMW riders, and Remy Gardner, tenth on the GRT team’s Yamaha.

Scott Redding is struggling, 11th ahead of Danilo Petrucci, who started from behind and was unable to pull off another comeback like the one seen yesterday. The rider from Terni from the Barni team fits in between the two official BMWs, finishing ahead of Michael van der Mark, 13th. Dominique Aegerter is 14th. Axel Bassani’s Sunday starts uphill, at the start the Motocorsa team rider recovers positions, but takes a nosedive which forces him to fall back into the rear group, subsequently finishing the Superpole Race in 15th position. So do the other Italians: Lorenzo Baldassarri is 21st, Gabriele Ruiu withdraws.