YOU COULD feel the anticipation on the 50,000-strong weekend crowd at Donington: the feeling that someone could displace the astounding combination of Alvaro Bautista and his Aruba Ducati – and maybe even in more than one short race. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) has been brilliant here for years, and Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha) scored his first triple header race win at Donington only last year, even in a season in which Bautista would basically dominate.
A dry Superpole saw a novelty that was once commonplace, Rea securing a pre-race win. On the new asphalt he posted a 1m26.041s, which was just 0.068sec ahead of Bautista. With Rea also fastest on Friday, thanks to his FP1 dry weather time, things were looking good for scrap up the front of at least most of the opening 23-lap race.
Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Ducati) was third in Superpole, after following Bautista for a bit, Razgatlioglu lined
