Alvaro Bautista: “Some of them hit my bike” / Superbike World Championship

Under normal circumstances, Toprak Razgatlioglu (BMW) and Alvaro Bautista (Ducati) would fight for victory in the first race in Assen on Saturday afternoon. But nothing is out of the ordinary this weekend in the province of Drenthe in the Netherlands, the weather continues.

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Welcome back to Assen, Nicholas Spinelli

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Alvaro Bautista

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Toprak Razgatlioglu

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Alvaro Bautista

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Michael van der Mark and Toprak Razgatlioglu

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Nicolò Bulega

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Alex Lowes

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Xavier Virgo

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Michael van der Mark

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Toprak Razgatlioglu

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Scott Redding

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Philipp Öttl

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Nicholas Spinelli

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Nicolò Bulega

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Garrett Gerloff

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Scott Redding

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Nicolò Bulega, Jonathan Rea & Toprak Razgatlioglu

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Pollsetter Jonathan Rea

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Superpole – Nicolò Bulega, Jonathan Rea & Toprak Razgatlioglu

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Winner Nicholas Spinelli

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1. Rennen – Toprak Razgatlioglu, Nicholas Spinelli & Alvaro Bautista

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The two world champions on light tires caught up with leader Nicholas Spinelli, who was the only one in the field to start the race with the starters when the race was stopped on lap 15 due to oil on the track. Locatelli’s Yamaha).

After lap 14, Spinelli was declared the winner and Razgatlioglu took second ahead of Bautista because, looking back, he passed the Spaniard at the last second at the chicane before the start/finish.

Due to frequent changes and difficult conditions, Bautista is enjoying his third place: in the overall standings he is now equal with Toprak in second place and only one point behind the leader, fellow Aruban Nicolo Bulega.

“Abortions can happen, luckily it didn’t happen because of the fall,” Alvaro said during a meeting with a few media representatives. “The race was crazy, at the beginning I had to ride very carefully and defend my position. Others hit my bike, but I enjoyed it. I feel like I did my best, so I’m happy. In the first half of the circuit I had to ride very gently and not take any risk because the track was wet, in the second half I had to push as hard as I could. The track was always changing, so you can’t improve the bike setup. Achieving that with a podium finish is great.

The 39-year-old described the experience as “very important” in that situation, as well as a good feeling for the bike. “When you’re driving fast on a wet track, you need a lot of confidence,” emphasized the three-time world champion. “You have to know how the bike performs. And finally you also need luck. In situations like this, the front or rear wheel often slips and you can’t save it. I have benefited from a few red flags in the past, but not this time – this is it. No accident , Toprak and I would fight for victory in the end;