SBK Phillip Island, Bautista finishes on a high, winning Race 2 ahead of Rea

Alvaro Bautista rounds out the 2022 Superbike season on top. The final race of the year went to the Spaniard, albeit with a touch of luck. Race 2, which ran in dry conditions, was halted five laps ahead of time, when the red flag came out following an incident involving Eugene Laverty and Xavi Forés. The Irishman came off worse, requiring an ambulance.

When the race was stopped it was Bautista who was leading, just a few metres ahead of Jonathan Rea, who had to settle for second place. The same went for Toprak Razgatlioglu, who was lying fourth behind Alex Lowes, having already lost contact with the leading pair.

 

A tough weekend for Bassani and Rinaldi

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Rounding out the top five was Andrea Locatelli, with Scott Redding sixth ahead of Michael Ruben Rinaldi, who had a difficult weekend. Philipp Oettl can be pleased with eighth, while Tetsuta Nagashima and Loris finished ninth and tenth.

A disappointing race, and weekend in fact, for Axel Bassani, just eleventh, while Lucas Mahias rounds out his SBK adventure with a few points, in thirteenth, followed by Leandro Mercado, fifteenth. Garrett Gerloff and Xavi Vierge crashed on the opening lap, a DNF marking the end of the American’s time with Yamaha and team GRT.