Bautista Cleans Up In Portugal
A
lvaro Bautista (Aruba Ducati)
was in his first potential title-
winning position at the Portimao
round of the WorldSBK Series,
September 29-October 1. To-
prak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha
Prometeon) was thinking of how
to stop him—by winning races, of
course. Jonathan Rea (KRT) was
looking at winning at least one
more time on a Kawasaki before
leaving for Yamaha, and maybe
this chance was it (especially
in the sprint race) at a track he
loves dearly.
On fresh tires, Rea took his
third pole of the season.
In race one, Rea had nowhere
to go when Bautista changed
his exit line in T3 on lap one and
gently hit Bautista's machine.
The Ducati was unaffected, but
Rea ran wide and regained the
track in a tricky sixth place.
He came through again to
third, but after the amazingly
tight and close-order combat
of the early laps, Bautista and
Razgatlioglu got away out front,
with Rea vainly chasing them
both.
Bautista had the measure of
the Yamaha rider's package, but
Razgatlioglu's determination and
extravagant skillset were pushed
to the outer reaches to close in,
then drop back a little—and then
finally settle for second place by
over two seconds.
It was another strong Bautista
win, aided by the fast final corner
and his bike's ability to leave the
others for dead under accelera
-
tion anywhere.
Bautista said he was negative-
ly affected by the strong and very
blustery wind that affected the
whole 20 laps of the first race.
Rea was disappointed not to
be able to fight after half-race
distance, but behind him, there
was another real fight.
Michael van der Mark (BMW
Motorrad) could not stop fourth-
WIND
IN THE
P36
Alvaro Bautista won
everything but wasn't
quite able to lock up
the championship.
PHOTOS: GOLD & GOOSE
