Bautista’s WorldSBK clean sweep

Debutante Alvaro Bautista has stunned the WorldSBK paddock after decimating the field in a clean sweep of race wins at the opening round of the 2019 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship.

Just like he did in yesterday’s longer race one, the 34-year-old Spaniard got the holeshot from the front row of the grid at Phillip Island and was untouchable on the Panigale V4 R.

He increased his lead by about one second per lap over the battling Kawasaki pair of Jonathan Rea and Leon Haslam, and coasted over the finish line to make it three wins from as many starts.

MORE: Bautista wins first ever WorldSBK ‘sprint’

As well as imposing victories in the two 22-lap races, Bautista also prevailed in the all-new 10-lap sprint race, which was held earlier today.

“If someone had told me before Philip Island that we’d have a weekend like this I wouldn’t have believed them,” said Bautista. “Mt team has worked really well, and this weekend we were ready for a fight.

“I pushed a little harder than yesterday’s 22-lap race, as I knew Johnny (Rea) would try and stay with me like he did in the sprint race.

“Thanks to Ducati and the while team, because they have all worked so hard.”

In the final race Rea finished second, ahead of Haslam and the Yamaha trio of Michael van der Mark, Alex Lowes and Marco Melandri.

Chaz Davies (Ducati), Sandro Cortese (Yamaha), Eugene Laverty (Ducati) and Leon Camier (Honda) saw out the top 10.

With Bautista doing as he pleased at the front, the main interest in race three was the hard and clean battle between Rea and Haslam, with Melandri also latched onto the Kawasaki pair for a number of laps.

PHILLIP ISLAND WORLDSBK RESULTS

Rea managed to build a small but decisive break on the final lap, while Melandri had fallen into the clutches of van der Mark and Lowes – ultimately being overtaken by both of them at the death knell.

Rea was magnanimous in defeat, in what he described as a weekend of “damage limitation”.

“Congratulations to Alvaro; it takes a big job to come here as a rookie and win three races in a row,” said Rea. “I was very happy with my weekend. It was a massive damage limitation coming here, as it’s really not the strongest track for me or my bike.

“To come away with an outright lap record, pole position and three second places – we couldn’t ask for much more.”

Sixteen riders made the distance in race three, with Toprak Razgatlioglu (Kawasaki) and Aussie Troy Herfoss (Honda) pulling out with mechanical issues, while Alessandro Delbianco (Honda) crashed.

After one of 13 rounds, Bautista leads the 2019 WorldSBK title on 62pts from Rea (49), Melandri (30), Lowes (30), van der Mark (29), Haslam (24), Cortese (19), Davies (15), Tom Sykes (BMW, 12) and Laverty (12).

Round two will be held at the Chang circuit in Thailand from March 15-17.

MORE: Bautista romps to WorldSBK victory

Swiss rider Randy Krummenacher has celebrated his 29th birthday in fine style by winning today’s opening round of the 2019 Supersport World Championship at Phillip Island.

His second WorldSSP victory at Phillip Island – and his third overall in the class – came with 6.157 seconds to spare over Frenchman Jules Cluzel, with Federico Caricasulo, former MotoGP rider Hector Barbera and Thomas Gradinger completing a whitewash of the top five positions by Yamaha in the 16-lap race.

Australia’s Tom Toparis (Yamaha) – backing up after a clean sweep of the Aussie Supersport category this weekend – finished in a superb 11th to score four world championship points.

PHILLIP ISLAND WORLDSSP RESULTS

"What a great day; it couldn't be any better really!” said Krummenacher. “To win the first race here in Phillip Island is a great way to start the season, and a good way to celebrate my birthday, too!"

After safety concerns relating to excessive rear tyre wear, the race included a compulsory pit stop window to change tyres between laps six and 10.

It was during that period where the race opened up for Krummenacher, who enjoyed a trouble-free stop while his teammate Caricasulo took off with the pit stand still latched onto his back wheel.

The indiscretion cost the Italian about an extra 10 seconds in the pits – and with it any chance of continuing his front-running battle with Krummenacher.

Caricasulo crossed the finish line 7.338 seconds behind Krummenacher, who set the fastest lap of the race with a 1min.32.267secs.

Japan’s Hikari Okubo (Kawasaki) was sixth from Corentin Perolari (Yamaha), Peter Sebestyen (Honda), former Moto2 rider Jukes Danilo (Honda) and Loris Cresson (Yamaha).

Meanwhile, MV Agusta hope Raffaele De Rosa high-sided at turn two on lap three, but remounted to finish out of the points in 18th.

Toparis was delighted with his result after starting the race from 16th on the grid.

“The bike was good all weekend, and I let the Landbridge Transport team down after I had a big crash in testing on Tuesday which saw us lose about four hours of track time,” said Toparis. “That set us back a bit, but to finish 11th is a great result – and I am so grateful the team did such a great job in the stop.”

Yamaha privateer Aiden Wagner has completed an extraordinary return to the local road racing ranks by claiming the overall victory in round one of the 2019 Australian Superbike Championship at Phillip Island.

The Queenslander won today’s third and final 12-lap race to complete a 2-1-2 scorecard at Phillip Island on his YZF-R1 – his first local Superbike event since March 2015 before he went WorldSSP racing.

He now takes a 16pt lead (71 to 55) over fellow Yamaha rider Cru Halliday into round two at Wakefield Park, near Goulburn (NSW), from March 22-24.

Josh Waters (Suzuki, 50pts) was third overall in round one, followed by Kawasaki pair Mike Jones (49pts) and Bryan Staring (48ts).

“It was unbelievable to take the round win, and I knew I still had it in me,” said Wagner. “Even though we are a privateer team, I have an awesome group of experienced guys with me and I had high hopes after a recent test at Phillip Island.

“The results didn’t really show in WorldSSP, but that experience has now made me a better rider.”

ASBK ROUND ONE RESULTS

Today’s race provided a brilliant round one climax, as an initial five-way dice at the front eventually morphed into eight screaming superbikes constantly swapping positions around the 4.448km grand prix circuit.

And the pace was red-hot as well, with Jones setting a new lap record (1:31.881) as he spent most of the race arm-wrestling with Wagner for the top spot.

However, Wagner was consistently the more aggressive, and on the last lap he was unchallenged as he brought up his second win in succession ahead of Jones, Halliday, Daniel Falzon (Yamaha), Waters, Wayne Maxwell (Suzuki), defending champion Troy Herfoss (Honda) and Staring.

Race one winner Maxwell was back in action after his dramatic last-corner exit in race two when he and Wagner touched, while Aussie WorldSBK icon Troy Bayliss (Ducati) was again absent after two big crashes on Friday and Saturday saw him break fingers on both hands.

In the Supersport ranks, Tom Toparis was in a class of his own at Phillip Island with a clean sweep of victories, completing the round on 76pts ahead of fellow Yamaha riders Nic Liminton (60) and Oliver Bayliss (52).