Bautista Gets It Started in
Australia WorldSBK
T
he return to WorldSBK "nor-
mality"—starting a season in
late February at Phillip Island—
didn't disappoint, even if there
was no variety whatsoever in
the winners of all the main event
WorldSBK and WorldSSP races.
Friday was scorching, Satur-
day was dry then fully wet, and
Sunday a bit dry but changeable,
so it was a typical Phillip Island
weekend in yet another regard.
Superpole qualifying was a
close affair in dry track condi-
tions, with a whopping 13 riders
within one second, and 19 within
1.514 seconds.
Pole was taken by the super-
talent of Toprak Razgatlio
-
glu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon
WorldSBK Team) who got very
close to the all-time track best
with his 1:29.400.
Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it
Racing – Ducati) was second in
Superpole but the sensation of
the pre-race build-up was rookie
WorldSBK rider, Dominique
Aegerter (GRT Yamaha) who was
fast enough for third.
Every rider's Superpole pace
in dry conditions was deemed
meaningless when some seri-
ous rain arrived just at the wrong
time for the race-one WorldSBK
start.
The chaotic WorldSSP open-
ing race ran on so late it meant
that WorldSBK race one started
at 4:15 p.m., not 4:00.
It was so wet that one of the
reasons Bautista gave for pass-
ing convincing early race leader,
Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Rac-
ing Team), was to get out of the
plume of spray pushed out by
the lead bike's full wet rear tire.
Bautista and Rea both had
some big moments and lucky
escapes from big slides or spins,
but they dominated the rest,
even with Rea losing his quick-
shifter midrace, and having to
use his awkwardly mounted high
clutch lever (usually used once
only, when launching from the
grid spot). He had to use a lot
of handfuls of throttle changing
gears. It was fun, he said, but
not a definition most would use
Alvaro Bautista kicked
off the 2023 WorldSBK
Championship in
Australia with a sweep.
P28
WIND
IN THE
