MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks

World Superbike race two had the blue-clad Tambores de Alcaniz drumming on the grid as the riders lined up for eighteen laps around MotorLand Aragon. Both Lowes brothers are missing this race. The weekend's attendance was 27,605 and Sunday's race was at 25ºC with very little wind.

Alvaro Bautista led from pole position with Toprak Razgatlioglu on his tail. Andrea Iannone took third place from Nicolo Bulega and Michael van der Mark passed him on the outside after the pass. Bulega took fourth place back down the back straight into turn sixteen.

The leading five riders were covered by a second after one Lap with Garrett Gerloff and Danilo Petrucci within another half second. Bulega ran wide at turn twelve and recovered in ninth place as Razgatlioglu set a fastest lap of 1'49.365 behind Bautista. Gerloff and van der Mark swapped places fighting for fourth place with Gerloff coming out on top in lap three.

Lap four, Bautista, Razgatlioglu and Iannone were covered by half a second in the lead with Gerloff almost a second behind, closing fast with a 1'49.258 fastest lap. Back in seventh place, Bulega set a 1'49.172 fastest lap on lap four, under three seconds off the lead, as Gerloff dropped a few tenths off the podium places.

Razgatlioglu set a 1'48.811 fastest lap on lap five, putting a second into his gap from Iannone but remaining in Bautista's wake. Bulega passed van der Mark for sixth place behind Petrucci.

Bautista and Razgatlioglu matched their pace again, almost a second and a half ahead of Iannone and Gerloff, lap after lap, with Bautista setting a fastest lap of 1'48.720 almost half a second ahead of Razgatlioglu.

Nicolo Bulega passed Petrucci as Gerloff passed Iannone and Razgatlioglu set a new fastest lap of 1'48.612, two tenths off Bautista's lead.

At half race distance, nine laps of eighteen completed, Toprak Razgatlioglu sat a third of a second behind Alvaro Bautista with Garrett Gerloff more than three and a half seconds behind with Andrea Iannone and Nicolo Bulega looking to take the last podium spot off him. Bautista set a 1'48.533 fastest lap but couldn't shake off Razgatlioglu who was looking for his first victory at MotorLand Aragon. Bulega passed Iannone and then Gerloff into turn sixteen to take third place as Razgatlioglu set a 1'48.480 fastest lap over four seconds ahead of him.

Razgatlioglu entered the back straight a tenth of a second behind Bautista but he couldn't catch the Ducati down the straight. Iannone and Gerloff swapped back and forth, letting Bulega pull a few tenths away. As Iannone escaped from Gerloff, Petrucci closed up on the BMW.

Bautista and Razgatlioglu both set fastest laps on turn twelve, Razgatlioglu setting a 1'48.347 behind Bautista. Lap fourteen started with less than two tenths of a second between the leaders, over six seconds clear of third-placed Bulega. A lap later the gap between Razgatlioglu and Bulega was increased to over fourth tenths of a second as Bautista once again set a fastest lap, a 1'48.310.

With three laps left, Bautista led Razgatlioglu by over half a second, and it was time for Razgatlioglu to decide on pushing for a risky win or extending his championship lead with a pace eight tenths of a second off Bautista's pace in the lead. With two laps left, Bautista set a 1'48.169 fastest lap as Razgatlioglu settled for seconds place while maintaining the second-fastest pace on the track. Lap seventeen, Bautista set a 1'48.121 and held a lead of over two seconds as he started the last lap.

Razgatlioglu's pace dropped to a similar pace to the bikes behind him, almost eight seconds clear of Bulega in third place with Iannone and Gerloff fighting for fourth place over a second further back.

Alvaro Bautista won by over three seconds with Toprak Razgatlioglu extending his championship lead over third placed Nicolo Bulega. Andrea Iannone held off the advances of Garrett Gerloff with Danilo Petrucci under a second off them in sixth place.

With his second win of the day, Alvaro Bautista slowed Toprak Razgatlioglu's championship lead but with only two weekends left of the season, Razgatlioglu's lead of thirty nine points over Nicolo Bulega seems insurmountable.

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