World Superbikes: Alvaro Bautista pips Toprak Razgatlioglu to win Aragon Superpole race as Jonathan Rea finishes 12th

Reigning champion Bautista, his Aruba.it Ducati team-mate Nicolo Bulega and Razgatlioglu fought it out on the final laps for victory at round 10 of the championship.

World Supersport champion Bulega set the early pace and was in a determined mood after a technical problem ruled him out of Saturday’s opening race.

He was soon taken on by Razgatlioglu on the ROKiT BMW and the two title contenders swapped places at the front.

Bautista began to close in as the trio pulled clear of the pack and the two-time champion appeared to have something in reserve when he overtook team-mate Bulega on the penultimate lap before setting his sights on Razgatlioglu.

On the final lap, Bautista made his move at the last chicane, diving underneath the Turkish rider, who was unable to hit back on the long back straight as they blasted towards the final sweeping left-hand corner.

Bautista held on for only his third victory of the season by 0.088s as Razgatlioglu had to settle for the runner-up spot again after also finishing second in Saturday’s race behind first-time winner Andrea Iannone.

Razgatlioglu made his return from injury this weekend after suffering a collapsed lung in a spill at Magny-Cours in France earlier in September.

The 27-year-old is now 35 points ahead of Bulega with seven races in total remaining, including Race 2 at Aragon on Sunday (13:00 BST).

Rea is also back in action after injuring his thumb in a crash at Magny-Cours and the 37-year-old – 14th in Saturday’s race – will be looking to climb the order in the final race of the weekend.

Behind the top three, fourth in the Superpole race went to Saturday’s winner Iannone with Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW) and Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Ducati) the top six.

England’s Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team) was a faller.