Rea Doubles Up At Misano WorldSBK
F
or a rider who won a race at
Misano, and still leads the
championship, Alvaro Bautista
(Aruba.it Racing Ducati) left the
stadium-style circuit of Misano
World Circuit Marco Simoncelli,
for round seven of the 2019 FIM
WorldSBK Championship, June
22-23, angry with himself.
He finished third in a wet race
one, won the short Superpole
race and was leading the big finale
on Sunday when he, once again,
inexplicably fell while leading.
It was a genuinely dramatic
moment as he had a similar ex-
perience in the previous round at
Jerez, and his only realistic cham-
pionship rival Jonathan Rea (KRT)
moved to within 16 points.
It was unthinkable, not just the
crashes, but the way he had been
dominating up until Imola, round
five. People were really thinking
that the new Ducati V4 R was
going to be simply unbeatable,
given the way it exits corners and
given that Bautista had found a
happy and repeatable place with
its setup. Bautista was brim-
ming with confidence even after
Imola, but after two falls in similar
circumstances, and Rea riding
as hard and effectively as he ever
has, maybe it is his confidence
or over-confidence that has now
caught Bautista out.
"I am angry with myself be-
cause I made two mistakes in two
races, and this is not acceptable,"
said Bautista. "I lost 48 points
because it is possible to win both
races. But this is for learning. I am
a rookie in this class and maybe
now is the first two races that
between the Superpole race and
race two there is more difference
in the track conditions."
Rea was not immune from the
loss of points at times either in
Misano, where he set Superpole
by a margin of 0.355 seconds to
his next nearest rival, and Bautista
was only fifth.
Rea won the opening race on
Saturday afternoon after another
wet-race performance that proved
masterly, although the unfortunate
Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha) may
have won had he not suddenly
IN
THE
WIND
P36
With Alvaro Bautista in the
gravel, Jonathon Rea (1)
had to battle with Toprak
Razgatlioglu for the race-two
win. He got it, barely.
