improvements on the bike,
but it was a difficult time
here in Donington. I had a
couple of great starts, but
the first laps were not easy.
I tried to fight back through,
but we're struggling with
stability. We need to under-
stand what happened here,
but we took some good
data that will be useful for
most."
Bautista now leads Rea
by only 17 points, but most
importantly Razgatlioglu
is now a much closer 43
points back from the top
spot. It was not quite a
season restart, but for sure,
the inevitability of Bautista
and Ducati's championship
coronation has now been
very much put on hold.
WorldSSP
In warm and sunny con-
ditions, in UK terms at
least, the first race of the
WorldSSP weekend turned
out to be a straight fight
between championship
leader Dominique "Domi"
Aegerter (Ten Kate Yamaha)
and eventual second-place
rider Baldassarri (Evan Bros
Yamaha).
The battle ensued only
after a delayed start, a red
flag shown after less than
one full lap thanks to a crash
from leading force Nicolo
Beluga (Aruba-Ducati).
Raffaele De Rosa (Orelac
Racing VerdNatura Ducati)
had his first podium of the
year, almost seven seconds
adrift of the winner, and just
ahead of Yari Montella (Ka-
wasaki Puccetti Racing).
Things looked a little
tougher for Aegerter in race
two, but, even though he
had to leave his best pace
to almost last (he put in the
fastest lap of the race on
lap 17 of 19), he was still a
convincing winner.
Domi's season now reads
nine wins from 10 races,
beating his season-long rival
Baldassarri in race two by a
second.
Although third in race two,
long-time leader Bulega
could not live with the final
leading duo. Federico Cari-
casulo (Althea Ducati) was
fourth and the local Triumph
Street Triple RS of Stefano
Manzi in fifth in a good result
for the British based Dyna-
volt team and the local fans.
In the points, Aegerter
has 245, Baldassarri is
on 181 and Bulega 120—a
64-point championship lead
for Aegerter after five of 12
rounds.
Gordon Ritchie
WorldSBK
Race One
1. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Yam)
2. Jonathan Rea (Kaw)
3. Alex Lowes (Kaw)
4. Scott Redding (BMW)
5. Axel Bassani (Duc)
IN
THE
WIND
P40
Superpole
1. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Yam)
2. Jonathan Rea (Kaw)
3. Scott Redding (BMW)
4. Alvaro Bautista (Duc)
5. Alex Lowes (Kaw)
Race Two
1. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Yam)
2. Alvaro Bautista (Duc)
3. Jonathan Rea (Kaw)
4. M. Ruben Rinaldi (Duc)
5. Scott Redding (BMW)
(Top) It's fast
becoming the Domi
Aegerter show in
2022 WorldSSP.
(Bottom) Alvaro
Bautista bombed
out of race one
but rebounded for
second in race two.
