Bautista Closes In On WorldSBK
Title in Argentina
E
arly in the season three rid-
ers looked like they could
realistically be world champion.
After the latest round in Argen-
tina round, October 21-23, it
now it looks like only one. Alvaro
Bautista has not officially won
the WorldSBK Championship for
Aruba.it Ducati yet but even with
124 points still up for grabs in the
final two rounds, a lead over the
nearest rival of 82 points is a little
more than just handy.
He is riding the wheels off the
fast red thing when he needs
to, and with Toprak Razgatlioglu
(Pata Yamaha) and Jonathan Rea
(Kawasaki Racing Team) on his
tail, that is quite often.
His advantage on the straight
and under acceleration is clear,
but he is not making any mis-
takes and winning every time he
realistically can.
Superpole qualifying on
Saturday became a game of
one-upmanship between the
three big WorldSBK players, with
Razgatlioglu going under the 1:36
mark, then Bautista beat that
time, then Rea beat them both
until Razgatlioglu did the impos-
sible and beat that scorcher, too.
The first race was more error
than epic for Razgatlioglu, how-
ever, as he fell on lap one while
pushing to try and pass Bautista
on the inside at the turn eight/
nine squiggle.
He lost adhesion on the dirty
asphalt and his sliding bike got
too close for comfort to Bautista,
who had to take evasice action
and dropped to fourth place for
a time.
IN
THE
WIND
P36
Alvaro Bautista's not quite
there yet, but he's ultra-
close to wrapping up the
WorldSBK Championship.
