World Superbikes: Fourth straight win for Alvaro Bautista as Jonathan Rea struggles in ninth

Spaniard Bautista battled with Pata Yamaha’s Toprak Razgatlioglu in the early stages of the race in the searing heat before making his move on lap five.

Bautista was then able to manage the race from the front and went on to secure Ducati’s first victory at the Mandalika International Street Circuit by almost five seconds from pole man Razgatlioglu, who was a hat-trick winner in Indonesia last season.

Razgatlioglu’s team-mate, Andrea Locatelli, overhauled Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing Ducati) for third.

Northern Ireland’s Rea had qualified in fifth place but was hit with a three-place grid penalty due to slow riding in Superpole qualifying after hampering Philipp Oettl (Team Go Eleven Ducati).

The 36-year-old struggled on his Kawasaki and dropped down the order to finish ninth after a last-lap fight with team-mate Alex Lowes.

Rea made a pass at Turn 1 on the final lap but championship newcomer Dominique Aegerter (GRT Yamaha) swept past both Kawasaki riders to snatch eighth.

It was another disappointing result for six-time champion Rea, who was over 14 seconds down on race winner Bautista at the finish, and comes after he finished seventh and eighth respectively in last Sunday’s races at Phillip Island in Australia.

Rea had started the new season down under with a runner-up result in the wet but now finds himself 49 points behind Bautista.

Lowes was earlier involved in a scrap for fourth place with Bassani before losing ground after the midway point of the race.

Former MotoGP rider Danilo Petrucci (Barni Ducati) claimed his best result in his maiden season in World Superbikes so far in fifth, with Michael van der Mark making a late charge on the factory BMW to take sixth.

Honda’s Xavi Vierge finished seventh ahead of Swiss rider Aegerter after he was picked off by Van der Mark with a few laps to go.

Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Ducati) was a faller on lap one after a clash with Bassani.

Bautista leads the championship by 37 points from Locatelli, with Razgatlioglu moving into third ahead of Rea.

The Superpole race on Sunday is at 02:30 GMT with race two at 05:30 GMT.