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Australia

Buriram WSBK: Bautista wins after Rea clash

Alvaro Bautista continued his winning streak in World Superbike by beating Jonathan Rea in Race 1 at Buriram, after surviving early-race contact with the Kawasaki rider.

Alvaro Bautista, Aruba.it Racing-Ducati Team

Alvaro Bautista, Aruba.it Racing-Ducati Team

Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Rea passed pole-sitter Bautista at the first corner of the race but he couldn't shake off the Spaniard, whose Ducati has enjoyed superior top speed throughout the weekend.

After spending two laps shadowing Rea, Bautista made a move at Turn 3, only for the Northern Irishman to cut back aggressively.

The duo made contact and Bautista came close to crashing, but they carried on, with Rea retaking the lead and Bautista falling behind Alex Lowes.

Bautista quickly passed Lowes and Rea could enjoy a lead of around one second for a handful of laps before Bautista closed the gap, and made a move into Turn 3.

Rea was largely able to keep up with Bautista afterwards before his pace dropped in the final stages, as he started to lose a second per lap to Bautista.

The Ducati rider eventually won by a dominant 8.2s to take his fourth consecutive victory with Rea also continuing his streak of second-place finishes.

Rea himself enjoyed a comfortable gap to third, which was occupied by Alex Lowes for the entire race, the Briton taking his first podium finish of the year, closely followed by Pata Yamaha teammate Michael van der Mark.

Rea's Kawasaki teammate Leon Haslam beat Marco Melandri (GRT Yamaha) for fifth.

Sandro Cortese brought a fourth Yamaha into the top seven, with Barni's Michael Ruben Rinaldi finishing as the second-best Ducati, 27.6s behind Bautista.

BMW's Tom Sykes had been up to fourth after the start but couldn't stay in contention for the top positions and settled for ninth, followed by Toprak Razgatlioglu (Puccetti Kawasaki).

Eugene Laverty crashed at the final turn early in the race, while Chaz Davies - who continued to struggle with the Ducati Panigale V4 R - also had a fall at Turn 3.

Race results

Cla Rider Bike Laps Time/Gap
1 Spain Alvaro Bautista  Ducati 20 31'06.051
2 United Kingdom Jonathan Rea  Kawasaki 20 8.217
3 United Kingdom Alex Lowes  Yamaha 20 14.155
4 Netherlands Michael van der Mark  Yamaha 20 14.623
5 United Kingdom Leon Haslam  Kawasaki 20 18.554
6 Italy Marco Melandri  Yamaha 20 18.681
7 Germany Sandro Cortese  Yamaha 20 25.603
8 Italy Michael Ruben Rinaldi  Ducati 20 27.627
9 United Kingdom Tom Sykes  BMW 20 28.789
10 Turkey Toprak Razgatlioglu  Kawasaki 20 32.153
11 Spain Jordi Torres  Kawasaki 20 33.033
12 Argentina Leandro Mercado  Kawasaki 20 33.254
13 United Kingdom Leon Camier  Honda 20 34.232
14 Germany Markus Reiterberger  BMW 20 43.041
15 United Kingdom Chaz Davies  Ducati 20 54.495
16 Thailand Thitipong Warokorn  Kawasaki 20 1'15.758
17 Alessandro Delbianco  Honda 20 1'25.108
  Japan Ryuichi Kiyonari  Honda 8 12 Laps
  Ireland Eugene Laverty  Ducati 2 18 Laps

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Edition

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