Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1085429
30 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 24 FEBRUARY 2019 SPORTS SUPERBIKES JONATHAN Rea finished second in the first race of the 2019 World Su- perbike Championship in Phillip Is- land as series newcomer Alvaro Bau- tista won. Bautista, 34, riding a Ducati, became the first rider to win on his debut since Italian Max Biaggi in 2007. The Spaniard passed defending champion Rea on lap one of 22 and raced clear to win by 15 seconds, with Marco Melandri third on a Yamaha. Northern Irishman Rea, 32, was beginning his bid for a record fifth straight World Superbike title. Former 125cc world champion Bau- tista has made the move to WSB after nine years competing in MotoGP. England's Carl Fogarty is the only other rider to have won the champi- onship on four occasions after his tri- umphs in 1994, 1995, 1998 and 1999. Kawasaki's Rea and Englishman Alex Lowes battled for the runner-up spot for much of yesterday's race after long-time second-placed rider Leon Haslam crashed out, then restarted to finish 15th. Melandri came through from ninth place to third, as Lowes was edged in- to fourth after a thrilling last lap battle which saw the Italian pass at the pe- nultimate corner. Lowes' team-mate Michael van der Mark was fifth, breaking away from a battle behind between Toprak Raz- gatlioglu and BMW-mounted Tom Sykes, the Turkish rider taking sixth by 0.2 of a second. Sandro Cortese came home eighth on his WSB debut and Welshman Chaz Davies went from 16th on the grid to finish 10th. Eugene Laverty was 12th on his first competitive outing on the new Ducati Panigale V4. Leon Camier crashed unhurt at turn two after an early dice with close friend Davies. Rea second as Bautista takes win on series debut