Jerez WSBK: Bautista dominates as Rea and Lowes collide

Ducati's Alvaro Bautista took a dominant victory in the opening World Superbike race at Jerez as Jonathan Rea finished a provisional third after sending Alex Lowes into a crash.

Rea converted his pole position into a Turn 1 lead but Bautista looked racy from the get-go and passed his rival at Turn 5 on the opening lap.

Bautista then pulled away, with Rea only a few tenths slower initially, but the Kawasaki rider's pace soon deteriorated.

Rea's deficit to Bautista was five seconds by lap 9 but the Northern Irishman had to turn his attention to the charging Yamahas of Michael van der Mark and Alex Lowes.

Van der Mark quickly made a move at Turn 6 with Lowes also following suit a lap later but, while the Dutchman pulled away, Lowes couldn't shake Rea off.

Bautista continued to pull away from van der Mark and eventually won his 12th WSBK race by 7.1s, with the latter completing a similarly lonely race in second.

Lowes and Rea meanwhile engaged in a thrilling battle, the duo switching positions numerous times.

Lowes looked to have made the decisive move at Turn 13 on lap 15, but Rea stayed close to him and made a desperate move at the final corner of the race.

But Lowes crashed as a result of the incident, with Rea crossing the line third. The incident is currently under investigation.

GRT Yamaha and Puccetti Kawasaki riders Marco Melandri and Toprak Razgatlioglu had a race-long battle for fifth - which became fourth after the Lowes crash - with the Italian eventually winning the duel.

BMW's Tom Sykes finished sixth followed by Chaz Davies (Ducati), Sandro Cortese (GRT Yamaha), Leon Haslam (Kawasaki) and Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Barni Ducati).

Ten Kate Yamaha scored four points with Loris Baz in 12th, as Yuki Takahashi, Leon Camier's replacement at Honda, crashed at Turn 1.

Cla	Rider	Bike	Time
1	Alvaro Bautista	Ducati	-
2	Michael van der Mark	Yamaha	7.119
3	Jonathan Rea	Kawasaki	15.323
4	Marco Melandri	Yamaha	19.951
5	Toprak Razgatlioglu	Kawasaki	20.107
6	Tom Sykes	BMW	23.096
7	Chaz Davies	Ducati	26.834
8	Sandro Cortese	Yamaha	29.526
9	Leon Haslam	Kawasaki	29.707
10	Michael Ruben Rinaldi	Ducati	31.218
11	Markus Reiterberger	BMW	31.999
12	Loris Baz	Yamaha	36.824
13	Leandro Mercado	Kawasaki	46.045
14	Tommy Bridewell	Ducati	47.804
15	Alessandro Del Bianco	Honda	52.105
16	Alex Lowes	Yamaha	55.046
17	Ryuichi Kiyonari	Honda	55.795
	Jordi Torres	Kawasaki
	Yuki Takahashi	Honda
View full results