A TALE OF TWO HALVES

^‘How did that happen?’ is the question that Alvaro Bautista was surely asking himself as he entered the summer break for this year’s Motul FIM Superbike World Championship.

The WSBK series rookie turned the established order on its head at the start of the season, winning the opening four rounds.

At that point, the question most observers were asking was not ‘Would Bautista win the championship?’, but ‘How much would he win it by?’, such was the diminutive Spaniard’s dominance.

But now, nine rounds down, it seems that “normal services” have been resumed. By “normal”, we mean that Jonathan Rea, WSBK champion for the past four years, leads the championship and with four rounds remaining, is a strong possibility to take a