Race 1
Reigning Champion Alvaro Bautista battled hard for victory at Imola as he edged closer to history while Toprak Razgatlioglu claimed his 100th podium despite Ducati receiving an engine rev deduction at the start of the weekend.
The opening laps were a sensational fight in front of the passionate Italian fans as two Italian riders led their first laps of the season.
On Lap 3, 2021 Champion Razgatlioglu made one of the best overtakes of the season as he went around the outside of Bautista on the entry to the Variante Alta to move into P2 behind Locatelli, before it all kicked off at the front as Locatelli, Razgatlioglu and Bautista battled for first.
Razgatlioglu was then able to get past his teammate a few laps later with Bautista & Jonathan Rea following suit. In the closing laps Rea dropped back with the leading pair battling it out for the win.
There was little to separate the pair throughout the first two-thirds but an error from the Turk allowed Bautista to pass him on the run down to Rivazza 1 to lead. He ran slightly wide at the final chicane but the #54 was unable to capitalise and remained in second.
From there, the reigning Champion pulled out a gap to claim his 49th win in WorldSBK, ahead of Razgatlioglu while Rea took third.
Race 2
After claiming the Superpole Race victory, Razgatlioglu then ended Alvaro Bautista’s streak of full-race distance victories in the World Superbike Championship after the Ducati rider crashed out of the Imola finale.
fell off his Ducati into the right-hander that completes the Turns 2/3 chicane.
It marked Bautista’s only second retirement of the season after his DNF in the superpole race at Mandalika and meant that he missed out on his first chance to break the record for most race wins in a season. Bautista’s retirement paved the way for Razgatlioglu.
Locatelli wouldn’t feature in the lead battle and it would be Bassani who would take the fight to the Turkish ace, after climbing from sixth on the grid.
After running behind Razgatlioglu for several laps, Bassani passed the 26-year-old at Tosa on lap 8, even managing to build a small lead in the shortened 15-lap race.
But Razgatlioglu managed to close back in on Bassani and managed to execute a clean pass into Rivazza 1 on lap 12, with the move ensuring he remains the only rider to win a race in 2023 other than Bautista.
The result also helped Razgatlioglu bring down the deficit to Bautista to 70 points with four rounds and 12 races still to run in the season.
Rea completed the podium for Kawasaki in third after a weekend in which the Japanese manufacturer elected not to take advantage of the additional revs handed to it under concession rules.
