Defending champ Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki) made a huge dent in Alvaro Bautista’s (Ducati) championship points lead this weekend at Misano by winning both of the main races, and finishing 5th in the Superpole race. Bautista, who has largely dominated the championship this year, had a difficult weekend and sees his points lead shrink from 41 points to 16 over the consistent Rea.
In Race 1, a wet and wild event with two red flags, Tom Sykes (BMW) and Bautista followed Rea home in second and third place, respectively. Sunday’s main event saw Rea take another victory … this time with two Kawasakis joining him on the podium, including Toprak Razgatlioglu in second and Leon Haslam in third.
Bautista handed Rea a big chunk of points in Race 2 after low-siding and ultimately finishing in 14th position. Bautista did manage to win the short Superpole race (which pays relatively few points) ahead of Alex Lowes (Yamaha) in second and Haslam in third.
You will find full results for Race 1 here, the Superpole race here and Race 2 here. For additional details and points, visit the official WSB site.
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Wow have things changed in WSB. Rea with 2 wins last weekend is playing for keeps. And his aggressive pass on Lowes on June8 shows he’s not on the track to make friends. Its going to be interesting to see how Bautista and Ducati handle this new found pressure.
Marquez would have landed right side up in one fluid motion and not t have lost a place
I’ve never seen something like this. not even Marquez:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcaZEP6xdZk
The most unbelievable thing to me is how easily he lifts the bike off the ground. I dropped an SV650 once and wasn’t sure I’d be able to get it back up at first and I’m not a little jockey like that guy is. ha ha!