Alvaro Bautista never stops: after taking full loot at Phillip Island, he restarts from Mandalika with a new success and in Race 1 he triumphs, once again making the difference over the rest of the grid. Starting from the front row, he immediately got in front to dictate the pace, crossing the line almost five seconds ahead of Toprak Razgatlioglu, second at the checkered flag.
Nothing could be done by the Yamaha rider, who had tried to stop the Ducati standard bearer by winning Superpole. Although he started from the first box, Toprak could not help but follow up and finish Race 1 on the podium. On paper, Mandalika is a congenial track for the R1 and both the official standard bearers prove it, who monopolize the podium but have to deal with the Spaniard. In fact, Andrea Locatelli’s good moment continues also in Indonesia, closing the first heat in third position.
Six seconds separate Locatelli from the winner, but the Yamaha rider from Bergamo showed excellent pace, having only been “bottled” in traffic in the early laps. An excellent Axel Bassani remains at the foot of the podium, who also confirms himself as the best independent in Indonesia. The Motocorsa team rider is combative and competitive and is the second Ducati rider to cross the finish line. Danilo Petrucci is also smiling, who on his debut on the Mandalika track manages to keep up and crosses the finish line in fifth position.
Among the Ducatis, the other official is missing: in fact, disaster for Michael Ruben Rinaldi, who despite having the pace to fight for the top positions, finds himself a spectator in Race 1. The Aruba team rider crashes a few corners from the away and ends up in the gravel after touching Bassani’s rear wheel, in an attempt to overtake. Rinaldi’s race ends after a few metres, as he accumulates the first zero of the season and will seek redemption on the Indonesian Sunday.
Things aren’t any better for Jonathan Rea, who despite not falling into a crash, still shows enormous difficulties. The Kawasaki rider is never able to keep up with the leaders and starts the weekend with a penalty. In fact, in Superpole he hinders Philipp Oettl and loses three positions on the grid. At the start he is unable to stay with the leaders and his only satisfaction is to pass under the checkered flag in front of his teammate Alex Lowes. The two Kawasaki standard-bearers are in fact ninth and tenth respectively.
In front of the Northern Irishman in enormous crisis there is also the BMW of Michael van der Mark. The Dutchman is the only official standard-bearer to reach the finish line. A double-faced Saturday therefore for the Monaco manufacturer, which sees van der Mark in sixth position but Scott Redding stopped in the pits and decidedly altered. Honda is also smiling, which despite the great difficulties it has shown, grabs the top 10 with Xavi Vierge, seventh. Iker Lecuona instead does not go beyond the 12th position.
Dominique Aegerter also slips into the group of the top ten, who also shows himself to be very combative in Mandalika. The Swiss takes eighth position in the final stages with a great overtaking on Jonathan Rea and is the only one of the GRT riders to take part in the race. In fact, Remy Gardner was out, forced to miss the first heat due to a gastrointestinal virus. Same problem for the other rookie Eric Granado.
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