Bautista wins Argentina WorldSBK opener with 12 starters
Full Argentina WorldSBK Race 1 results
Alvaro Bautista has clinched his 16th World Superbike race win of the season in controversial circumstances as six riders sit out the opener in Argentina over safety concerns.
Full Argentina WorldSBK Race 1 results
Alvaro Bautista has clinched his 16th World Superbike race win of the season in controversial circumstances as six riders sit out the opener in Argentina over safety concerns.
The Aruba.it Racing Ducati rider headed up a starting grid of just 12 riders, seeing off a first-lap battle against Michael van der Mark and Jonathan Rea, to charge to victory ahead of the newly-crowned five-time World Superbike champion Rea.
Toprak Razgatlioglu carved his way up to third place for Puccetti Kawasaki in front of Pata Yamaha duo van der Mark and Alex Lowes.
Leon Haslam, who voiced objections to racing in the opener, recovered from a tricky qualifying to take sixth place for Kawasaki ahead of BMW’s Tom Sykes, Pedercini Kawasaki’s Jordi Torres and local hero Leandro Mercado on the Orelac Racing Kawasaki.
Alessandro Delbianco rounded out the top 10 for Althea Honda in front of BMW’s Markus Reiterberger as Michael Ruben Rinaldi claimed 12th place despite finishing three laps down for Barni Ducati.
Eugene Laverty, Marco Melandri, Ryuichi Kiyonari, Sandro Cortese, Chaz Davies and Leon Camier all opted not to start the race, while Loris Baz was ruled out by injury sustained in a crash during qualifying.
The six riders chose not to race due to safety concerns having seen slippery conditions, caused by a dusty and dirty track, which hampered practice and qualifying at Circuit San Juan Villicum.
Despite late meetings between World Superbike organisers and riders, the race declared safe to run by both the FIM and Dorna which has duly split opinion between the riders in the paddock.
