WorldSBK Misano Race 1 Results | Bautista escapes to victory, Razgatlioglu DNF

Alvaro Bautista has extended his advantage at the head of the 2022 WorldSBK Championship standings with a formidable Race 1 win in Misano, while Toprak Razgatlioglu’s hopes of defending his title were dealt a massive blow when he retired with technical issues.

Coming into the weekend with a solid 17 point lead over Jonathan Rea in the standings, Bautista promptly sent a very clear statement to his title rivals by being ragged yet still very quick in the early stages, before pulling more than five seconds on the Kawasaki once he’d found his rhythm.

Indeed, having secured his first pole position since Argentina in 2019, Bautista made heavy work of the initial laps after being beaten to the hole-shot by Razgatlioglu before being levered out of the way by Rea on lap two too.

With Rea seizing the lead off Razgatlioglu on lap three, Bautista promptly followed suit to leave the Turk in a third place he’d steadily fade into before pulling off track at the end of lap 14 with mechanical problems on his Yamaha.

Up front, Bautista was crawling all over a steadfast Rea, his first two attempts at overtaking at Turn 4 concluding the same way with Rea getting the undercut.

As such, the Spaniard chose instead to use an element of surprise with his decisive overtake on lap 12 with an inch-perfect pass up the inside at the high-speed Curvone.

While a few wild moments on the Ducati allowed Rea to stay close for a few laps, once Bautista began pulling away, it happened quickly, finding more than five seconds over Rea during the last third of the race.

Extending his lead over the Kawasaki man to 22 points, perhaps more significant is now the huge 77-point margin to Razgatlioglu.

With Ducati celebrating a popular win on home soil, Michael Ruben Rinaldi joined the celebrations with his first podium of the season in third place, while Axel Bassani did his bit too as the top privateer on the Motocorsa Panigale with an impressive charge up the order from tenth on the grid.

Alex Lowes recovered from a poor opening to the race to recover back to fifth place, ahead home hope Andrea Locatelli, while Xavi Vierge led the Honda challenge in seventh. Garrett Gerloff, Iker Lecuona and top BMW rider Scott Redding rounded out the top ten.

2022 WorldSBK Championship | Misano, Italy | Race 1 RESULTS