The Superbike World Championship season has begun, with the rookies making an impression in the first race at Phillip Island. Rookie Nicolò Bulega was the winner after starting from pole position, while fellow newcomer Andrea Iannone finished in third place – after a four-year suspension.
It was the former MotoGP rider, now representing Team GoEleven, who took the holeshot. However, Alex Lowes (Kawasaki) was the one who led at the end of the first lap… where Iannone would arrive at turn one of the second lap and stay there until the sixth lap.
Álvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Ducati) climbed from ninth to fourth, but his recovery was compromised by a fall on the fourth lap. The lead changed hands in the front group until the mandatory pit stops that took place between the ninth and 11th laps. Iannone, Bulega, and Lowes were among the first to change tires.
Before the pit stops, Bulega had already been leading since the seventh lap, and returned to the top of the standings on the 12th of the 20 laps and never looked back. The man from Aruba.it Ducati ended up winning with a 2.280s lead over Andrea Locatelli (Pata Prometeon Yamaha) – who was one of the protagonists of the second part of the race and even led, after adopting a different strategy by only stopping in the pits on lap 11.
In a completely Italian podium, Iannone marked his return to racing with an impressive third place after four years away due to suspension. Lowes finished fourth and, in his first race for ROKiT BMW, Toprak Razgatlioglu crossed the finish line in fifth. Bautista was able to recover from the fall to 15th place to score one point. Jonathan Rea (Pata Prometeon Yamaha) could only manage 17th, making it a difficult weekend for the British rider so far.
Results:
