Bautista wins the final WorldSBK race of the 2022 season

Superbike FIM World Championship 2022
Round 12 – Phillip Island

WorldSBK Second race

The final race of the 2022 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship came to an early end after a red flag at the end of Round 18 with Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) winning the tough Race 2 at Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit for Grand Ridge Brewery Round Australia.

Bautista went up against Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki WorldSBK Team) during the full race as he claimed his 16th win of the season.

Bautista started at pole after his Tissot Superpole Race win earlier on Sunday and he finished last, but is far from straight ahead for the Spaniard. Dental. Bautista lost at the start but overtook Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) who battled for second place in the first rounds, with Bautista overtaking him in Round 2 to take third. before he overcame Rea in Turn 1 on round 7.

Rea didn’t let Bautista get away with him and always stayed at Bautista within a second, but he was unable to get past the 2022 Champion, with Bautista holding 0.357 seconds when the results were counted. The race was flagged red after a collision between Xavi Fores (BARNI Spark Racing Team) and Eugene Laverty (Bonovo Action BMW) in Round 1, Laverty was taken to the medical center for examination after the collision but he he’s still awake. Laverty was diagnosed with a pelvic injury and was airlifted to Alfred Hospital in Melbourne for further evaluation.

Behind the duo is the ongoing battle for third place between Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) and Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) with Lowes at the top, after he has already moved in the Turn 1 at the start of Round 15. That means Bautista has his 16th win of the year, matching his total wins since 2019, while he currently has 32 career wins; put him on an equal footing with Chaz Davies and Razgatlioglu. Rea advanced to 245 podiums in her career with second place while Lowes now has 33 podiums to her name.

Despite being in the lead group, Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) took fourth place after he passed, with Lowes moving up to the podium and taking down the 2021 Champion, race his last with number 1, down to fourth place. Two Pata Yamaha riders finished in the top 5 with Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) taking 5th to finish his season in the top 5. Redding was on the podium in the open lap. The head of the encounter lasted 18 laps, but he fell behind as the race progressed to sixth place.

Seventh place went to Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) as the second best Ducati racer in Race 2, ahead of Philipp Oettl (Team Goeleven), who finished as the be the top Independent racer in the final race of the year. Tetsuta Nagashima (Team HRC) had a strong debut weekend replacing Iker Lecuona with ninth place, while Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW) took tenth place as it prepared for the second season with the page. Independent BMW.

Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) ran in the top 10 in the early stages of the race but dropped to 11th place, just ahead of Michael van der Mark (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) in 12th place.

Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) ended his Kawasaki Puccetti career with 13th place, while Czech rookie Oliver Konig (Orelac Racing VerdNatura) took his points from Indonesia with 14th and further two points in Race 2 in Australia. Leandro Mercado (MIE Racing Honda) brought the final point of 2022 when finishing in 15th place.

Kohta Nozane (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) finished her WorldSBK career in 17th place, ahead of Hafizh Syahrin (MIE Racing Honda Team) and Kyle Smith (TPR Pedercini Racing Team) at 18th; the last classified racer in Race 2.

Garrett Gerloff’s Yamaha career (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) came to an end when he crashed in Round 2 in the opening lap, following an incident with Xavi Vierge (Team HRC), the Spaniard could re-entered but he took his bike into the pit and re-entered the two-lap race in 21st place; he was classified as retired after completing 13 laps.

Results of two WorldSBK . races

Final WorldSBK Championship Scores in 2022