Gordon Ritchie | June 5, 2023
More than 70,000 fans turned out to see Misano’s WorldSBK offering, June 2-4, even if the Mugello MotoGP round is going to unfold nearby just one weekend later. The Ducatisti at Misano included many MotoGP stars (Bagnaia and Bastianini for starters), but from the highest to the lowest, race fans were treated to a Ducati-fest almost of the proportions of the World Ducati Weekend (WDW) that has been held at Misano several times in the past.
Alvaro Bautista headed a Ducati-dominated weekend at Misano.
Photos by Gold & Goose
All the subsequent success at Misano started early for the Ducati riders, with Alvaro Bautista (Aruba Racing Ducati) on pole at a record 1:33.017 pace—although not that far ahead of Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon) in second.
There were three V4R riders ranged out behind Toprak in the final Superpole qualifying order: Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba Racing), Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing) and Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing). Four Panigales in the top-five places told its own story.
Bautista led from basically start to finish, with his teammate Rinaldi running interference on Razgatlioglu.
Bautista was finally unchallenged after a tough first period of racing against Razgatlioglu, with his own teammate Rinaldi a clear second ahead of the Turk.
The special “home livery” yellow-painted Panigales were stunning to look at and stunning to behold in terms of pace. Bautista was over five seconds up on Rinaldi; Rinaldi 3.7 seconds up on Razgatlioglu over the 20-lap race, not the expected 21 after an engine blow-up forced an early end.
Toprak Razgatlioglu gave it his best at breaking up the Ducati stranglehold, placing second in two of the weekend’s three races.
Bassani was fourth after Petrucci crashed hard, losing out on a strong fourth position. Had he finished, it would have been four Ducatis in the top five places.
In the Superpole race, Razgatlioglu led Bautista after passing him early on, but came under pressure from the Ducati rider soon after.
Razgatlioglu got ahead of Bautista again, with the Spanish rider the only one on an SCX rear, not the new Pirelli SCQ.
Petrucci and Lecuona crashed together and with Lecuona seemingly pinned underneath his machine and Petrucci almost immobile, they were taken to the medical center.
The necessary red flag caused the race to be called after seven-and-a-bit laps, with the winner declared as Bautista, simply because he had reached an official trackside timekeeping point ahead of Razgatlioglu, having just re-passed him a little earlier.
The 1-2-3 was finally Bautista, Razgatlioglu and Rinaldi, with Bassani fourth, Rea fifth and Alex Lowes (KRT) sixth.
For race two, Lecuona was finally declared unfit with hip and ankle injuries. Petrucci came back to race in the final 21-lap race two, shortly after looking like he was heading to hospital, not the circuit medical center where scans showed he was battered, but not broken.
Nicolo Bulega maintains his championship lead in WorldSSP.
Bautista’s eventual push out front in race two was untouchable but there was rather too much close contact going on behind, as the early fight for each corner between Toprak and Rinaldi ended up with Rinaldi biting off more than his front tire could chew with six laps to go, trying to pass Razgatlioglu into T1 but running out of asphalt. He clipped the back of his rival’s rear tire and Michael tumbled fast and furiously in the gravel, but he stood up and walked away.
The rider Rinaldi probably finds himself in competition with for a factory Ducati ride in 2024, Bassani, inherited third, and he held it together to the flag, even with a six-time World Champion behind him, and took his first podium of 2023.
With the final 1-2-3 being Bautista, Razgatlioglu and Bassani, Jonathan Rea (KRT) got his best result of the weekend (scoring a 5-5-4). He also had brake lever adjustment issues to deal with, trapping his finger on the bars when his brakes got hot. Fourth was a good result, all things considered, in a tough season so far.
Bautista’s three wins make him a history man, breaking his own previous record by scoring 14 race wins in the first 15 races of a season.
The whole yellow Ducati WorldSBK weekend weirdness was of course turned into three pure gold bars for Bautista.
In the championship, after 15 races, Bautista has 298 points. Razgatlioglu is second with 212, the almost invisible Misano rider Andrea Locatelli (12-7-6) has 150 and Rea is at 129.
In WorldSSP, Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team) and Stefan Manzi (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) traded wins, with Bulega’s coming on Saturday and Manzi’s on Sunday. Bulega led Manzi home by 1.609 seconds in the first race, and the order was reversed on Sunday, with Manzi taking the win, just 0.208 seconds clear of Bulega.
Bulega maintains his championship lead over Manzi, 197-161. MV Agusta’s Marcel Schroetter is third with 148 points.
Ducati used the Misano round of the WorldSBK Championship to pay tribute to some of its historic bikes from the 1970s by painting Alvaro Bautista and Michael Ruben Rinaldi’s Panigale V4 Rs in Ducati yellow.
WSBK
Race 1
- Alvaro Bautista (Duc)
- Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Duc)
- Toprak Razgatlioglu (Yam)
- Axel Bassani (Duc)
- Jonathan Rea (Kaw)
Superpole
- Alvaro Bautista (Duc)
- Toprak Razgatlioglu (Yam)
- Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Duc)
- Danilo Petrucci (Duc)
- Axel Bassani (Duc)
Race 2
- Alvaro Bautista (Duc)
- Toprak Razgatlioglu (Yam)
- Axel Bassani (Duc)
- Jonathan Rea (Kaw)
- Xavi Vierge (Hon)
