Submitted by Jared Earle on
Ten laps of Aragon would determine the grid positions for race two later today, and it would provide some great racing.
Alvaro Bautista escaped at the front and Jonathan Rea made up four places into turn one, but Michael van Der Mark and Michael Ruben Rinaldi crashed into turn one, with Marco Melandri sent wide. Rinaldi was sent to the medical centre for a checkup.
Alex Lowes passed Sandro Cortese for second place with Chaz Davies and Jonathan Rea both pushing Tom Sykes to sixth place and at the end of lap one, Davies went wide at the end of the straight and Rea struck instantly. A lap later, Rea put himself between Lowes and Cortese, taking third place while Bautista set the fastest lap.
Lap three of ten and Alvaro Bautista had a two second lead over Alex Lowes and Jonathan Rea. Jonathan Rea passed Alex Lowes at the same spot he took third from Sandro Cortese, in front of the medieval wall.
As the battle raged behind them, Rea and Lowes were glued together under three seconds from Bautista for three laps, but on lap six, Lowes closed up on Rea through the sequence of corners before the long back straight and Lowes took second place into turn sixteen, making use of the clean air behind Rea.
Alex Lowes was in second place as Alvaro Bautista turned up the pace for the last four laps, and Jonathan Rea was coming under attack from Chaz Davies in fourth place. A mistake at turn one of lap eight almost lost third place for Rea, but he recovered his composure and got back to attacking Lowes as Davies looked on.
Lap nine, Rea tried to pass Lowes at turn one, and the pair rode side by side through the first four corners with Rea coming out of turn four ahead, and able to defend Lowes's counterattack at turn five. The battle for second raged on for one more lap, but as Rea, Lowes and Davies hit the last chance to rearrange themselves down the straight, over five seconds from Bautista, none of them made a fault and they made it to the end of the straight, round the corners and to the flag in the same order.
Alvaro Bautista won again, ahead of Jonathan Rea again, with Alex Lowes fending off Chaz Davies for the podium and the last place on the front row of the grid for race two. Davies heads row two, alongside Tom Sykes and Eugene Laverty.
Results:
Pos | No. | Rider | Bike | Gap |
1 | 19 | A. BAUTISTA | Ducati Panigale V4 R | |
2 | 1 | J. REA | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 5.791 |
3 | 22 | A. LOWES | Yamaha YZF R1 | 5.906 |
4 | 7 | C. DAVIES | Ducati Panigale V4 R | 6.052 |
5 | 66 | T. SYKES | BMW S1000 RR | 9.217 |
6 | 50 | E. LAVERTY | Ducati Panigale V4 R | 9.921 |
7 | 91 | L. HASLAM | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 10.221 |
8 | 81 | J. TORRES | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 11.961 |
9 | 11 | S. CORTESE | Yamaha YZF R1 | 13.712 |
10 | 54 | T. RAZGATLIOGLU | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 14.218 |
11 | 33 | M. MELANDRI | Yamaha YZF R1 | 19.481 |
12 | 2 | L. CAMIER | Honda CBR1000RR | 21.149 |
13 | 23 | R. KIYONARI | Honda CBR1000RR | 27.041 |
14 | 52 | A. DELBIANCO | Honda CBR1000RR | 43.317 |
15 | 60 | M. VAN DER MARK | Yamaha YZF R1 | 1'20.614 |
RET | 28 | M. REITERBERGER | BMW S1000 RR | 5 Laps |
RET | 21 | M. RINALDI | Ducati Panigale V4 R |