Álvaro Bautista wins race 2 of the Superbike World Championship at the Jerez Circuit
Rider Álvaro Bautista wins race 2 of the Superbike World Championship at the Jerez Circuit, followed by Toprak and Aegerter.
The Superbike World Championship has rolled out onto the Jerez Circuit for race 2 of the weekend, looking to close out the 2023 season in style, with Álvaro Bautista dressed in yellow and eyes on the sky after the rain that fell on the Andalusian track during the superpole race.
The start was good for Álvaro Bautista, followed by Rea and Toprak, but the KRT rider passed Bautista on the first lap to finish his season in grand fashion; Toprak also got past him. It seems Álvaro has some issue with his bike, and we’ll see how it develops lap by lap. Meanwhile Rinaldi is picking off rivals and getting closer to the leaders, taking Locatelli and Gardner along with him.
With 16 laps to go, Rea went down, leaving Toprak in the lead and Bautista improving his lap times. It seems Álvaro has recovered from that rough patch early in the race. As the laps went by, Bautista kept cutting into Toprak’s advantage, and with 11 laps left he was right on the Turkish rider’s tail. A great battle between them, without a doubt the fight of the season, with Aegerter and Rinaldi glued to the leading duo.
And suddenly, the race of the century began, with Bautista and Toprak overtaking each other at every opening, while Aegerter and Rinaldi were the spectators in the front row, and at the slightest chance they went for the win in the last race of the 2023 Superbike Championship.
In the end, victory went to Toprak Razgatlioglu after a heart-stopping finish, but the Yamaha rider exceeded the track limits and lost a position, so the win goes to Bautista, followed by Toprak and Aegerter. The top 10 was completed by Gardner, Petrucci, Rinaldi, Oettl, Redding, Locatelli and Gerloff. Bautista has closed the year in style: Champion and a triple at Jerez.
On to the next season, 2024 SBK.
