Jonathan Rea crashes out of World Superbike Superpole race at Portimao in Portugal

Rea, who started from pole alongside his Kawasaki team-mate Alex Lowes, slid off at Turn 5 when he lost the front of his machine after he attempted an overtake on Andrea Locatelli.

Lowes went down at the same corner in a separate incident in a disappointing start to Sunday for the Kawasaki duo at the penultimate round.

The incident means Rea and Lowes will line up on the fourth row for Race Two (14:00 BST).

Bautista gained two places when the Kawasaki riders crashed out with Toprak Razgatlioglu leading on the Pata Yamaha.

World champion Bautista picked off Locatelli for second place on the fifth lap and set his sights on Razgatlioglu, eventually reeling in the Turkish rider and drawing alongside Razgatlioglu on lap eight.

However, the 2021 champion kept his nose ahead thanks to his late-braking prowess, but Bautista was undeterred.

The Aruba.it Ducati rider tried again at the beginning of lap nine but Razgatlioglu held firm, setting up a grandstand showdown between the top two title protagonists on the final lap.

Bautista inched closer to the rear wheel of the Yamaha rider and capitalised when Razgatlioglu had a big slide at Turn 13, using the superior speed of the Ducati to power past on the exit of the corner on the main straight.

Bautista won by 0.142s to secure a double in Portugal, with Locatelli finishing third behind his Yamaha team-mate, four seconds back.

Remy Gardner (GRT Yamaha), Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) and Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Ducati) were the top six.

Bautista has now won 55 World Superbike races with Ducati, putting him level with four-time champion Carl Fogarty’s haul of victories achieved with the Italian manufacturer.

It was also a record 23rd victory of the season, with the 38-year-old now 55 points clear of Razgatlioglu with four races remaining.