Jonathan Rea claims brace of top-six finishes as Alvaro Bautista romps to terrific World Superbike treble at Misano

Bautista has now won 10 races in a row on the Aruba.it Ducati and is 86 points clear at the top from Pata Yamaha’s Toprak Razgatlioglu, who claimed the runner-up spot twice.

Six-time champion Rea remains in fourth and is now 169 points behind reigning champion Bautista, who has won 14 of the 15 races held in 2023.

Rea, fifth in Saturday’s first race, was fifth again in the Superpole sprint race, which was halted on the seventh lap of 10 when Honda’s Iker Lecuona and Danilo Petrucci (Barni Racing Ducati) crashed at Turn 8.

Bautista was declared the winner by only 0.101s from Razgatlioglu, with Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Ducati) in third ahead of Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing Ducati).

In race two, Bautista was a comfortable winner by 8.4s from Razgatlioglu, with the final rostrum place going to Bassani.

Rea’s hopes of the podium were dashed in the second 21-lap race when he ran into problems with his brake adjuster.

“I felt we didn’t give in and didn’t give up today, even in race two when I had an issue with my brake adjuster from the start,” Rea said.

“Generally when the brakes get up to temperature you have to make some adjustment. The lever was stuck, so braking with one finger meant that the lever was stuck between my fingers. I had a lot of arm pump trying to stop the bike.

“While I was fighting with Axel Bassani, when I was in his slipstream the system was overheating and the brake lever was coming back too much. Out of the slipstream it was manageable. That stopped me fighting with him.

“When I had some space I could just maintain my lap time. In the Superpole race in the morning I felt quite strong. Axel, in some areas, was under my feet a little bit.

“In some areas he was better than others but there was no area where I could pass.”

Donington Park hosts round six of the championship from June 30 to July 2.