AS IT HAPPENED: Jonathan Rea wins WorldSBK race 1 at Phillip Island!
Alvaro Bautista may have wrapped up the 2022 World Superbike title last weekend in Mandalika, but the Ducati star heads into the finale neck-and-neck with former champion Toprak Razgatlioglu on 14 wins for the season.
As well as fighting for the honour of most victories, Razgatlioglu will also be battling Kawasaki legend Jonathan Rea for title runner-up, with the Turkish star holding a 37-point advantage heading into race one.
Although a potential 62-points are still available, Rea, seeking to end a 24-race win drought this weekend, has little to lose since he cannot mathematically drop lower than his present third in the standings.
Michael Rinaldi (Ducati) holds a 34-point lead for fourth but a much closer contest exists for fifth between Andrea Locatelli (Yamaha), Alex Lowes (Kawasaki) and Axel Bassani (Ducati) who are all covered by 15-points.
After a dry Friday the forecast rain arrived on Saturday morning, with Rea Razgatlioglu and Lowes leading a wet FP3. Conditions then improved for qualifying - when Bautista took pole from Rea, Alex Lowes and Razgatlioglu - before further showers soaked the track ahead of the opening race...
Jonathan Rea on being the first of the leaders to pit for slicks: "I thought why not roll the dice, let's go!"
Jonathan Rea is visibly delighted, punching the air with delight on the slowdown lap. After winning 5 of the opening 9 races, it had been a long wait for a sixth victory of the year. It's Rea's 118th win of his legendary WorldSBK career.
Fifth place for Alvaro Bautista hands Ducati the constructors' title to join the riders' crown.
Jonathan Rea breaks a 24-race win drought win a dominant victory in race one at Phillip Island. Toprak Razgatlioglu is six seconds behind the Kawasaki star for second, with another early leader - Alex Lowes - 15s back to complete the podium.
2 to go: Rea is on course to end his WorldSBK win drought, stretching back to Estoril.
Michael van der Mark loses the front of his BMW and crashes out at Turn 4.
5 to go: Locatelli outbrakes Bautista for fourth at the hairpin.
6 to go: Rea +5.7 Razgatlioglu +14s Bautista, Lowes, Locatelli.
But not for long, Lowes sweeps past Bautista and into third.
8 to go: Rea takes the lead from Smith, the Ulsterman has a 7.7s advantage over Razgatlioglu in third who is in turn almost 4-seconds clear of Bautista.
8 to go: Redding pits and hands the lead to Smith.
9 to go: Redding stays out, his BMW bucking along the home straight. Smith just behind him with Rea +11.5s in third.
10 to go: Lowes lost out by staying out, rejoining behind the likes of Rea and Razgatlioglu.
Redding now leads but is losing 8s a lap to the slick riders.
11 to go: Lowes pits from the lead, the mandated pit stop time is 63 seconds. Where will he rejoin?
11 to go: Lowes leads by 29s from Scott Redding and Kyle Smith.
Rea and Razgatlioglu rejoined in 10th and 11th. Bautista now pits, but Lowes is staying out.
Rea makes the call! The race leader pits for slicks, Razgatlioglu follows, but Lowes and Bautista stay out.
14 to go: Riders further down the order, including Rinaldi, are now pitting for slick tyres.
15 to go: Razgatlioglu runs wide and hands third to Bautista, his wet tyres could well be suffering on the drying track.
15 to go: The top 10 - Lowes, Rea, Razgatlioglu, Bautista , Bassani, Locatelli, Vierge, Gerloff, Mahias, Baz.
15 to go: Lowes, who hasn't won since Phillip Island in 2020, becomes the fourth different leader of the race.
16 to go: The sun is now beating down on the track and dry patches are appearing, still a long way to go!
The top 4 riders are nose to tail again, with Lowes passing Razgatlioglu for a Kawasaki one-two.
17 to go: Razgatlioglu passes Rea to lead into Turn 1, Rea tries to go around the outside of the Yamaha at Turn 2 but is forced to back off.
18 to go: Razgatlioglu is on Rea's rear wheel while Bautista and Lowes are still swapping places over third.
19 to go: Razgatlioglu passes Bautista for second at the Miller Corner (Turn 4) with Lowes demoting the Ducati rider to the back of the lead group in fourth.
20 to go: Rea is making a break, with Razgatlioglu now eager to get around Bautista.