WorldSBK Most Race 1 Results | Bautista punishes title rivals as Redding stars

Alvaro Bautista has extended his lead at the head of the 2022 WorldSBK Championship standings with an emphatic victory in the first race of the weekend at Most.

A pulsating encounter that swung back and forth in momentum between Bautista and fellow WorldSBK title contenders Jonathan Rea and Toprak Razgatlioglu, the Spaniard initially bided his time behind the pair before an attack at the half-way point caught his rivals by surprise and unable to respond.

Indeed, on a weekend that had seen the pace dictated by Razgatlioglu and Rea through practice and qualifying, Bautista was considered something of an outsider coming into the opening race from fourth on the grid.

A second row start meant he was very fortunate to avoid being caught up in a Turn 1/2 skirmish that saw his team-mate Michael Ruben Rinaldi - who had started ahead in third place - levered out of the way and down the order by an aggressive lunge from Andrea Locatelli.

Locatelli proceeded to cause further carnage for the pack behind when he then ran wide at Turn 3 and tracked through the gravel trap, scattering rivals behind him by popping back onto the track directly in front of them.

It meant the top three were able to escape three seconds up the road with Razgatlioglu leading Rea and Bautista.

With the trio holding station for the opening four laps, a pass for the lead by Rea simply triggered repeated back-and-forths between the pair over the next few laps, with Razgatlioglu getting Rea back under braking for Turn 1 on multiple occasions before the Ulsterman chose Turn 15 as his spot to get his own back later around the lap.

However, the feud - while entertaining - was also sapping time, with Bautista - having dropped off the lead fight for several laps - right back in contention.

As such, when the arrival of light rain flags on lap nine appeared to distract the lead pair, Bautista sensed his opportunity and duly seized second position from Razgatlioglu at Turn 20, which in turn gave him a clear run at slipstreaming past Rea on the home straight to move into the lead at the start of Lap 10.

It would go on to prove a knockout one-two blow by the Ducati rider, Bautista promptly taking control of the race just as Rea and Razgatlioglu found themselves in the clutches of the hard-charging Redding, the BMW rider having clawed himself into the fight after brilliantly bridging the three second gap to the leaders.

A double race winner at Most in 2021, Redding’s momentum didn’t stop at catching his rivals as he swept past Razgatlioglu with nine laps to go, before repeating the feat on Rea for second with two laps later.

Turning his attention to Bautista, Redding rallied briefly before losing touch as the race entered its final stages, releasing the Spaniard to complete a seventh victory of the season, as well as have the honour of scoring Ducati’s 1000th podium in WorldSBK.

As Bautista moved clear, Redding now found himself under renewed attack from Razgatlioglu for second place, the Turk snatching the spot with a firm overtake at Turn 13 on the final lap in a move that mirrored their clash at Most twelve months ago.

With Redding’s momentum checked by having to run over the rumble strip on the exit of the corner, Rea promptly followed through into third place at Turn 15. However, Redding swiftly regrouped, reclaiming the position on switchback to hold on for his and BMW’s second podium of the year.

Leaving Rea a disgruntled fourth, it means the margin between himself and Bautista at the summit of the standings sits at 30 points.

Behind Rea, Axel Bassani collected an impressive fifth place finish having followed Redding in breaking away from the chasing pack, the Italian coming home clear of Locatelli in sixth, Rinaldi seventh and Iker Lecuona, the Honda rider climbing to eighth at the flag.

Alex Lowes and Garrett Gerloff completed the top ten in a race that saw just a single retirement, with Loris Baz, Lucas Mahias, Philipp Oettl, Luca Bernardi and Xavi Vierge picked up the final points’ paying positions.

2022 WorldSBK Championship | Most, Czechia | Race 1 RESULTS