Shoulder injury consigns Bautista to zero score at Laguna

Alvaro Bautista leaves Laguna Seca without having scored a single point after an injury he sustained in a crash during the Superpole Race forces him to retire from race two.

Having crashed out of race one – his fourth tumble in eight races – the once-dominant championship leader was down and out again in the Superpole Race after being caught up in a tangle with Toprak Razgatlioglu.

This time, however, Bautista would not come away unharmed, the ex-MotoGP rider taken to Clinica Mobile where he was diagnosed with a ‘left shoulder separation/dislocation’.

Though he’d make the start on the Aruba.it Ducati, Bautista lasted only a single lap before pulling into the pit lane to withdraw.

Mercifully for the Spaniard heads into the summer break with eight weeks to recover and recalibrate on the back of a dismal run of form that has seen him cede a huge championship 61-point lead to drop a vast distance behind Jonathan Rea in only four events.