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This is why Ducati lost the World Superbike title

Growing friction between the rider and manufacturer, which gave rise to reciprocal accusations in recent days between Bautista and Domenicali, is to blame for the lack of concentration

This is why Ducati lost the World Superbike title

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He believed and he achieved, Johnny Rea winning his fifth consecutive title in Superbike.

But did he really win it, or did Alvaro Bautista lose it, 'losing his way' after having dominated in Australia, Thailand, Aragon and Holland?
It's a rhetorical question, because in reality the winner is the rider who crosses the line first, and it doesn't matter for how much of the race he/she was leading the way.

From this standpoint, the Kawasaki rider used his energies in the best possible way, because while it's true that Bautista won the most, with 10 victories to Rea's 8, Rea was on the podium twelve times, with second and third-place finishes (11 seconds), while the Spaniard managed just three. Excluding the Superpole race of course, where Alvaro has won 5 to his rival's 4.

The problem is that the ducatista suffered an incredible number of DNFs, with 6 in all, three of which at a disastrous Laguna Seca round, while Jonathan has not retired once.
So the technical response is that Rea deserved to win because, as well as being the quickest, he has also made the least mistakes-

The question then, is not whether Rea deserves the title - as yes, he does - but rather why Bautista literally deflated at a certain point of the season.
And as it's impossible that the reason is technical, it can only related to management.

Despite his manager, Battistella, publically stating that Alvaro wanted to remain in Superbike, there was behind-the-scenes conflict with Ducati regarding the rider's strong desire to return to MotoGP.

During the negotiations, it seems likely that Bautista saw the door to paradise gradually pulled closed once Petrucci was confirmed.
At this point, and it seems almost obvious, Alvaro then moved his focus to salary, coming up against further difficulties there.

A situation that really destabilised him, causing him to lose the focus needed to beat a rider like Rea.

That Ducati was beaten due to the situation in the garage, rather than that on track, is further confirmed by the squabble that erupted between Claudio Domenicali and his (former) rider in recent days, proof of a relationship that has been deteriorating for a while.

The fact is that Ducati doesn't want to admit that titles are won by riders, and not by the bike alone, whether Superbike or MotoGP. And that the most complex mechanism involved is not the desmodromic system activating the valves, but the head of the person tasked with twisting the throttle

And contrary to that jewel of a timing device developed by engineer Taglioni, the most your head spins, the less balanced you are!

 

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