Bautista: I was able to make my own strategy

Alvaro Bautista has hailed an “extraordinary” home round at Aragon to maintain his perfect start to the World Superbike championship with nine wins out of nine having been unchallenged throughout which allowed him to run his own strategy and pace.

The former MotoGP star produced two copies of his race one performance at his home track to complete a comfortable third hat-trick of race wins and extend his lead in the standings to 39 points over Jonathan Rea.

While Bautista faced challenging conditions in all three races at Aragon, he feels being able to plot his own race strategy ensured he had trouble-free performances with the Aruba.it Racing Ducati V4 R.

“It has been an extraordinary weekend for me. Winning three races here in Spain in front of my family, my friends and the Spanish fans was really great,” Bautista said. “In all three, I was able to make my own strategy, that is get a fast start and maintain my own pace.

“The conditions in the three races were different, especially today in the Superpole Race which took place in the morning when it was very cold. Luckily it got a bit warmer for Race 2, but you could really feel the wind.

“Despite this, I was able to stay focussed, understand the situation on the track and push hard all the way.

“In the end we have won nine races out of nine and I’m so happy about that. The team has done an incredible job, we are on the right path and I’d like to thank Aruba, all Ducati and my team because the congratulations should also go to them.”

Bautista’s final win at Aragon notched up Ducati’s 350th victory in the World Superbike championship, while he has matched Neil Hodgson’s record feat of nine straight wins at the start of the 2003 season.

Bautista could be under threat from a rev limit change from World Superbike rule-makers ahead of the next round at Assen (April 12-14) when organisers can implement maximum rev tweaks on a performance-related basis for all manufacturers.