in the wet, at 180 mph, chasing
Bautista for all he was worth.
The final opening podium
place went to Razgatlioglu, who
had already passed eventual
faller Alex Lowes (Kawasaki
Racing Team). He had a giant
high-side for reasons he could
not fathom.
The 2022 "big three" were at
it again in race one, but in a very
different way from their often-
titanic fights last season.
Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yama
-
ha Prometeon WorldSBK Team)
was fourth, and top-placed
independent rider was Axel Bas-
sani (MotoCorsa Racing Ducati)
in fifth place—impressive from a
14th-place grid spot with all that
spray.
Iker Lecuona (HRC Honda)
on the improved Fireblade, was
sixth but 24 seconds from the
race win.
The 10-lap Superpole race on
Sunday was the property of Bau
-
tista from the early stages, and
the Ducati celebrations contin-
ued apace, with Michael Ruben
Rinaldi's new more focused
2023 approach paying off with
a convincing second place, even
ahead of third-placed Razgatlio-
glu.
Rea had earlier been put off-
track by the over-ambitious Ae-
gerter, and fought hard to finish
only seventh, never really finding
a way past the riders in front. It
was clear his latest setup was
not quite clicking, and it would
get much worse.
Lowes had a good shot at a
podium place early on but fourth
was all he could do, and it would
be his only finish of the week
-
end.
Fifth was the clearly improved
Locatelli, with privateer Philipp
Ottl (Team GoEleven Ducati)
sixth.
The final race of the mixed-
up P.I. race weekend—behind
Bautista's constant victory gar-
dening—was a shook-up world
indeed.
Bautista cleared off again,
Rinaldi followed and pushed on
to finish second, although over
six seconds from triple-victor
Bautista.
Locatelli was making a strong
case to be the rider from last
year's "second string" of tal-
ent (almost always behind the
Bautista, Razgatlioglu, Rea 2022
triumvirate), as his third place
and first podium of the season
pushed him up to second place
overall after a tricky first round.
Rinaldi was of course second
Following a pair of third-
place finishes in race one
and Superpole, Toprak
Razgatlioglu crashed out
of race two after tangling
with Alex Lowes.
VOLUME ISSUE FEBRUARY , P29
