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When Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) crashed out of the opening race of the Aragon weekend it must have set his mind racing. The fight or flight instinct in his brain must instantly have shifted into protection mode. With mind trying to shield the Spaniard from the pain of crashing out of the lead with one hand on the 2023 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship title, he would’ve been circumspect the rest of the weekend.

BAUTISTA’S BLUNDER: he crashed but didn’t lie down

Very quickly, it was clear this isn’t how the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati rider is wired. A crash out of 15^th position, the final points-scoring position, on the last corner of the same race showed his instinct was to fight. Fight for every point at every attempt. It was a brave approach that has worked well this year, Magny-Cours Race 1 for instance, but it can also catch him out. After the pointless opening race of the weekend how would Bautista react? By fighting his way through the races to claim back-to-back wins and leave Aragon with a 47-point advantage to Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK).

HIS OWN WORDS: “There were more mistakes in 2019; it was different”

Talking about his Saturday mistake at the end of the weekend with the international media in his debrief, Bautista said: “I think there were more mistakes in 2019; it was different. I was just pushing to the maximum. I wanted to have a five-second lead in the first three laps but now it’s different. Now, I try to get the maximum.

“It can depend on the conditions and I have a bit more margin. For example, in 2019, if I did a 1’49s in practice, in the race I'd have to do this because I did it in practice. If I tried to do a 1’49s on Sunday, believe me, I would’ve crashed! The approach from the last years is to understand how much I can push and where the limit is and not pass the limit. To try to have a little bit of margin to not make mistakes and to reduce risks.”

BLUE CORNER CHANCES: Razgatlioglu set to bounce back?

For Toprak, last weekend was a tough one. He never felt or looked comfortable at MotorLand Aragon. From the opening practice sessions onwards, he was chasing his setting. On Sunday he was also chasing his teammate, Andrea Locatelli. It was a strange sight to see Toprak looking like a mere mortal on corner entry last time out but now it will be up to him to find a step this weekend at Portimao. Bautista has his first chance this weekend to wrap up the title but it will be difficult for him. Toprak and Yamaha are strong at Portimao and will expect to fight at the front once again. When the calendar was announced, it was always likely that Bautista would be the strongest rider at Aragon and Portimao whilst Jerez is also a strong circuit of his.

Yamaha can only hope that Toprak finds the magic to fight with Bautista because with a long fourth gear corner that leads on to the straight it will likely be Ducati territory most of the way. In Aragon it was far from one way traffic but Bautista can pick and choose his moments to attack. For Razgatlioglu, and Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK), it isn’t that simple. The Tissot Superpole Race on Sunday once again showed both riders can be absolutely on the limit for every corner of a ten-lap race and still be beaten. For riders of the calibre of Razgatlioglu and Rea, that has to be demoralising.

TWO TO GO: Bautista won’t be underestimating Razgatlioglu

In Aragon, we saw the tension for the riders. The challenge of being at your absolute best 100% of the time is huge. They are embracing it and even though, round-by-round, Toprak has closed down the points gap to Bautista it still seems a little too large a gap to jump for the Turkish star. Maybe after this weekend in Portimao he’ll surprise us all and we’ll go to the final round of the year with the Number 54 still having a realistic chance of the title. Whilst it would be to underestimate Toprak’s chances...you can be sure Bautista isn’t.

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