MOTOGP NEWS - Alvaro Bautista made it a hat-trick of wins in the opening round of the 2019 World Superbike season this weekend.
The Ducati rider was making his SBK debut after nine years in MotoGP and got off to the best start possible at Phillip Island in Australia. In doing so, he became the first rider since Max Biaggi in 2007 to win on his SBK debut and the second to take a clean sweep of wins on debut since 1996.
Early on Sunday, the Spaniard edged reigning WSBK champion Jonathan Rea in the first ever ten lap sprint race, introduced this year in order to shake things up.
Rea would have been buoyed by his pace in the sprint race, he could not match the flying Spaniard in the final race of the weekend. Bautista’s superior pace and tyre management saw him open up an 18 second lead at one point.
Following Rea - who secured a hat-trick of runners-up places - in third was Kawasaki teammate Leon Haslam. The first Yamaha to cross the line was Michael van der Mark, who passed Marco Melandri on the final lap to finish fourth.
