Gordon Ritchie | September 8, 2019
2019 Portugal World Superbike Results—WorldSBK Race Two
A great multi-rider fight for the win in Race Two, the final race of the Portimao WorldSBK weekend, saw championship contenders Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) and Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) take turns to lead in the first half of the 20-lap contest, as five riders made up a charging front group.
Bautista bounced back for his first win in a long time in race two.
Bautista got the front and started to stretch the group out behind, with Rea fighting to maintain his half-second gap up to the lead.
Toprak Razgatlioglu (Turkish Puccetti Racing) became a more defined third as the laps counted down.
Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) finally got the better of his old friend Leon Haslam (Kawasaki Racing Team) going into the first corner braking area, but Haslam dug in to stay on his tail.
Up front just as Bautista looked like he may make a clean break with seven laps to go Rea responded to keep the gap under a second each time.
Only the top three riders – plus the advancing Loris Baz – were inside the 1’42 lap time mark as the two-thirds distance mark was reached and then passed. Only Bautista was inside the 1’42s with a handful of laps left, as he stretched out his advantage with two laps left to 1.5 seconds.
As Haslam had a go at passing Lowes again VDM almost got Haslam, as Baz closed in on them all from behind.
Rea cut the advantage of Bautista to just over a second with two laps to go and the final gap across the line was just 0.111 seconds after Rea demonstrated great pace and fight in the final lap.
Razgatlioglu was a solitary third, with Lowes winning his personal battle with Haslam for fourth.
Sixth place was taken by Loris Baz, winning the sprint to the line from Van der Mark.
Marco Melandri (GRT Yamaha) placed ninth and Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) was tenth.
In the championship, Rea leads Bautista by 91 points; Lowes is third, five points ahead of van der Mark.
2019 Portugal World Superbike Results—WorldSBK Race Two
2019 Portugal World Superbike Results—WorldSSP Race
An early fight between Federico Caricasulo (BARDAHL Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha) and Isaac Vinales (Kallio Racing Yamaha) saw the Spanish rider finally slow and then retire, leaving Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) and the slow-starting Randy Krummenacher (BARDAHL Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha) in the early podium places.
Amidst the confusion, it was Caricasulo (64) who would get the win.
Krummenacher took second but in his attempts to close in on Caricasulo the top three became a top five again, as Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha) and Raffaele De Rosa (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) completed one strong leading peloton.
Just over half race distance Krummenacher unleashed his full pace again and finally eased into the lead with Caricasulo close behind and all others dropped off the pace just a little.
Just before the 2/3rd mark in the race De Rosa’s bike snapped around and he came close to a highside, but somehow saved it, as he was out of the seat several times. He pulled out and red flag was thrown on lap 14 of 18, as De Rosa came off the track waving his arm as a signal to stop the race.
With Caricasulo in the lead a jus the right point, he was finally classified as the race winner by 0.333 seconds from Krummenacher, leaving a ten point gap between them with three rounds left. Krummenacher has 193 points and Caricasulo 183.
Mahias was third, just 0.263 seconds behind the winner.
Cluzel was fourth, 2.5 seconds down, with Ayrton Badovini (Team Pedercini Racing Kawasaki) fifth, and Cluzel’s team-mate Corentin Perolari sixth.
Official Kawasaki rider Hikari Okubo was just behind Perolari in seventh place.
Jules Danilo (CIA Landlord Insurance Honda), Loris Cresson (Kallio Racing Yamaha) and Miguel Pons (H43 Team Nobby Talasur Blumaq Yamaha) rounded out the top ten.
Starting from the back of the grid, Kyle Smith (Team Pedercini Racing Kawasaki) fell after a clash with Christian Stange (Gemar Ciociaria Corse Honda).
2019 Portugal World Superbike Results—WorldSSP Race
2019 Portugal World Superbike Results—WorldSBK Sprint Race
Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) rode as the start-to-finish leader of the ten-lap sprint race at Portimao, winning his second race of the weekend and his 11th of the year.
Rea (1) rode away for another win.
Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) pushed through to finish second, overtaking Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) near the end and hanging on with an advantage of 0.2 seconds over the Yamaha man across the line.
Toprak Razgatlioglu (Turkish Puccetti Racing) had an aggressive and fruitful run through from row five to fourth place, with Leon Haslam (Kawasaki Racing Team) fifth.
Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) was the last man to overtake long-time second place runner, Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team).
Front row starter Sandro Cortese (GRT Yamaha) was eighth, Loris Baz (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) ninth and Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) was a disappointed tenth after his first day podium in the longer first race. He had started from the fourth row, in 12th place.
2019 Portugal World Superbike Results—WorldSBK Sprint Race
2019 Portugal World Superbike Results—WorldSBK Race One
Hot weather conditions welcomed the restart of the World Superbike Championship in Portugal after its long summer break, but increasingly track temperatures meant that the best lap time for each of the main riders was set in the slightly cooler morning Free Practice session.
After the long summer break, Rea was right back to where he started out front.
Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) ended up fastest of all, with a 1:41.931 that was 0.078 seconds faster than the next best on the day, Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati).
Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) pushed his way to third today one place ahead of Toprak Razgatlioglu (Turkish Puccetti Racing).
Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) ended up fifth and Leon Haslam (Kawasaki Racing Team) sixth, 0.357 seconds down on his team-mate Rea.
Recent struggler Markus Reiterberger (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) came good in seventh place, with Loris Baz (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) a strong challenger again on the lone Ten Kate bike.
Sandro Cortese (GRT Yamaha) and eventual FP2 improver Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) rounded out the top ten.
Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Barni Racing Team Ducati) was 11th and FP1 faller Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) was 12th.
Superpole and then Race One for the WorldSBK class will take place on Saturday at Portimao.
For more WorldSBK news and results, click here
2019 Portugal WorldSBK Results–Friday Qualifying
