‘These things happen…’ – Cheery Bautista shrugs off Jerez crash

If many were surprised to see Alvaro Bautista’s seemingly unshakable comfort on the Aruba.it Ducati rocked by his unexpected crash out of the lead in the final World Superbike race of the weekend in Jerez, then the man himself was not one of them.

The ex-MotoGP rider moved the set pieces into what looked like being yet another comfortable win in race two as he moved into an early lead, only to low-side off the Aruba.it Ducati around turn one at the start of lap two.

Ruining what seemed destined to be a return to triple-winning ways having won race one and the Superpole Race at a relative canter, though Bautista had the measure of main rival Jonathan Rea – who finished fourth, fourth and second – all weekend, he instead leaves Jerez having ceded an advantage to the Kawasaki rider.

Despite this, a cheery Bautista shrugged off the incident as something that ‘happens in racing’, adding he won’t dwell too hard on it.

“I just crossed the front… these things happen. I didn’t do anything strange, I did it like normal. I think my feeling was the same, but these things happen in racing, we have crashed in the past and we will crash in the future. No problem.

“I will study what happened because in the data we may see more brake pressure or more lean angle but my feeling is I did nothing different from other laps. I try not to think about it too much.”

Going on to reveal it is only his second crash from the Ducati Panigale V4 R since joining the team – the other coming in tricky test conditions in Misano last week – he was unbothered by the small swing in the standings from 43 to 41 points, pointing out the outcome could have been worse given Rea’s troubles.

Interestingly, Bautista should have been on course for a point for 15th place, despite lapping 8 laps off the leaders having remounted and pitted in the wake of the crash. However, a red flag on lap 18 meant the race result was declared two laps early, meaning he hadn’t quite completed enough of the race to be classified.

“The gap in the championship is the same more or less, so it is not terrible. At the end was a pity to have those two laps because it means I wasn’t classified, so I didn’t score an extra point.”

“The Jerez weekend was amazing, not only because of my two wins but also for the atmosphere here in the paddock, and for all the fans who came to the circuit to witness the show. Now we have only to continue the great work we did this weekend and try and repeat the same sensations in the next round at Misano.”