Alvaro Bautista followed up his victory in the first race of the opening round of the 2019 World Superbike Championship in Australia to take the inaugural Superpole race on Sunday.
The Spanish series newcomer got his second win of the weekend in the new qualifying format – and will now be on pole for the second round of the championship.
The Aruba.it Ducati Panigale V4 R rider battled with Briton Jonathan Rea with the lead swapping three times during the 10 laps of Phillip Island, and took the win by 1.176 seconds.
Third on the grid will be Leon Haslam who finished 5.072 seconds behind the leader and Alex Lowes will be fourth, having edged out Michael Van Der Mark by 0.087 seconds.
The Superpole Race also carries points – with Bautista taking 12 to extend his lead over Rea to eight points, while Ducati rider Marco Melandri is third on 20, 17 points off the pace.
