Alvaro Bautista: ‘It was crazy, a lot of riders touching’
Alvaro Bautista believes he should have used his extra pace at the beginning of Race 1 at the A🔜ustralian WorldSBK round.
Following a poor qualifying, WorldSBK champion Alvaro൲ Bautista made a stunning getaway to go from ninth to second by the time riders reached turn one.
But Bautista soon lost ground as he was overtaken by Nicolo Bulega🎶 and T🃏oprak Razgatlioglu.
However, it wasn’t until🌳 being pushed wide by Sam Lowes that Bautista’s p🌌roblems truly began.
The two-time world champion dropped to tenth as a result, and despite a quick overtake on Jonathan Rea, Bautista’s rec﷽overy ended there as he crashed at turn ten when trying to pass Axel Bassani.
“It was not the start to the season I dreamed ꧒of,” said Bautista. “But it could happen. I made a really good start from the third row and got second pᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚosition.
“At that moment I had a bit more to get the lead and increase the pace. But I decided to stay there and it was crazy because a lot of riders were in the group, lots of t♔ouching and on the third lap Sam [Lowes] touched me and took me outside of turn nine.
“I loඣs🌺t lots of places and when I tried to recover the places I crashed at turn ten. I could not do anything.
“I continued the race with the handlebar a bit too close, but we finished and co♑uld get more confidence with the bike.”
Bautista eventuallꦜy came across the line in 15th,ꦆ gaining one point as a result of his impressive pace despite the damage.
But when asked what he could have ach▨ieved, Bautista said a podium could have been👍 on the cards.
“I don’t know because there were many riders in the group,” Added Bautista. “In the morning I had a good feeling with ﷺthe pace.
“I think fighting🥂 for theജ podium was possible but I crashed so it doesn’t matter whether it was possible or not.
“The truth is that I crashed and we h༒ave another day tomorrow to try to get more confi✃dent with the bike and to take another step forward.”
With team-ma🥀te Nicolo Bulega going on to win, the potential for Bautista to do the same should📖 be there.
But the Spaniardไ is heading into Sunday’s double-header with no expectations.
B🤡autista said: “You cannot expect anything. Races until the checkered flag can involve eve🐷rything.
“I will try to make the same start because it was one of the best starts in my life, going f🌼rom P9 to second. Today I enjoyed passing a lot of other riders.
“There are no expectations for tomorrow."
