Ducati’s Alvaro Bautista, won the opening World Superbike race at Misano on Saturday, picking up his 13th victory of the season.
Once again starting from the pole, Bautista was untouchable as he led a Ducati 1-2 over teammate Michael Ruben Rinaldi. The two works riders were sporting a unique yellow livery for this weekend.
Toprak Razgatlioglu, who finished third for Yamaha, currently trails 78 points behind Bautista in the standings of the riders with two races left at Misano on Sunday.
Axel Bassani of Motocorsa Racing, finished fourth overall as the highest independent rider Ducati rider and ahead of Kawasaki’s Jonathan Rea. Bradley Ray encountered a grid issue before to the lights went out, creating drama. As a result, there was a little delay before yellow flags were brought out. A new race length of 20 laps instead of 21 was confirmed after the race was about to start again.
In an effort to break Bautista’s rhythm right away, Toprak Razgatlioglu dropped a couple of pots against Rinaldi instead before making an unconventional move on the outside of turn four.
Razgatlioglu took the lead at first, but Rinaldi stood him up as the Italian flew back past on the entry to turn five. At the end of the first lap, both factory Ducatis pulled away from Razgatlioglu, as Jonathan Rea was being pursued by Axel Bassani for position five.
Bassani ultimately passed the six-time world champion at Turn 1 after numerous unsuccessful overtake attempts. On laps two and three, Razgatlioglu continued to lose time and didn’t appear to have the speed to contend for the win. Bautista also gained a few tenths over Rinaldi.
Bassani’s fight with Danilo Petrucci for P4 behind the podium trio was picking up steam once more. On lap four, Bautista’s advantage over Rinaldi nearly increased to four tenths, and his lead eventually surpassed one second.
The distance between Rinaldi and Razgatlioglu has grown to about two seconds, while Bautista’s advantage over Rinaldi has remained stable at about 1.3 seconds.
Rea was struggling to keep up with those in front of him further down as the Kawasaki driver lost a significant amount of time on laps six and seven.
Rea was now available for Dominique Aegerter to try and pass for P6, but the Northern Irishman was proving difficult to pass. Despite the fact that the Aegerter was finding it difficult to locate a clear opening, the rookie stayed close to Rea for a number of laps.
As long as Bautista continued to lap faster than everyone else and Rinaldi and Razgatlioglu matched one another’s speeds, the gaps between the two remained relatively steady. Petrucci made a critical error at turn eight with only six laps remaining, losing his spot in fourth.
Danilo Petrucci was among the non-finishers after a crash on his Barni Racing Ducati.
2023 WORLD SUPERBIKE MISANO RACE 1 RESULTS
| POS | RIDER | NAT | TEAM | TIME |
| 1 | Alvaro Bautista | SPA | Aruba.It Racing Ducati | 20 laps |
| 2 | Michael Ruben Rinaldi | ITA | Aruba.It Racing Ducati | +5.221s |
| 3 | Toprak Razgatlioglu | TUR | Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK | +8.971s |
| 4 | Axel Bassani | ITA | Motocorsa Ducati | +14.285s |
| 5 | Jonathan Rea | GBR | Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK | +18.594s |
| 6 | Dominique Aegerter | SWI | GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team | +19.021s |
| 7 | Alex Lowes | GBR | Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK | +21.036s |
| 8 | Iker Lecuona | SPA | Team HRC WorldSBK | +23.751s |
| 9 | Remy Gardner | AUS | GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team | +24.011s |
| 10 | Xavi Vierge | SPA | Team HRC WorldSBK | +29.081s |
| 11 | Scott Redding | GBR | ROKIT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team | +29.430s |
| 12 | Andrea Locatelli | ITA | Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK | +30.139s |
| 13 | Garrett Gerloff | USA | Bonovo Action BMW | +30.562s |
| 14 | Philipp Oettl | GER | GoEleven Ducati | +33.210s |
| 15 | Lorenzo Baldassarri | ITA | GMT94 Yamaha | +34.858s |
| 16 | Tom Sykes | GBR | ROKIT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team | +35.778s |
| 17 | Loris Baz | FRA | Bonovo Action BMW | +38.489s |
| 18 | Bradley Ray | GBR | Motoxracing Yamaha WorldSBK Team | +40.374s |
| 19 | Tito Rabat | SPA | Puccetti Kawasaki | +56.950s |
| 20 | Isaac Vinales | SPA | TPR by Vinales Racing | +1’03.273s |
| 21 | Ryo Mizuno | JAP | PETRONAS MIE Racing HONDA Racing | +1’30.052s |
| 22 | Danilo Petrucci | ITA | Barni Spark Racing Team | DNF |
| 23 | Luca Vitali | ITA | Orelac Racing Kawasaki | DNF |
| 24 | Hafizh Syahrin | MAL | PETRONAS MIE Racing HONDA Racing | DNF |
| 25 | Gabriele Ruiu | ITA | Bmax Racing BWM | DNF |
