Jonathan Rea crashed out at the start of the final lap in the World Superbikes Superpole race in Barcelona while in second spot as Alvaro Bautista continued his domination of the series.

But as he tried to hold off Toprak Razgatlioglu, Rea’s Kawasaki slid off just before corner one on the last lap.

Spaniard Bautista’s win was his 10th victory in 11 races so far this season.

The defending champion finished 2.11 seconds ahead of Turkish rider Razgatlioglu with Italian Andrea Locatelli completing the podium positions a further 0.27 seconds in arrears.

Rea seemed none the worse for wear after his spill as he was taken back to the pits by bike.

After winning race one on Saturday from Razgatlioglu and six-times champion Rea, Ducati rider Bautista completely dominated the shorter Superpole event as he led by 0.691 seconds after lap one.

The defending champion’s advantage was 1.712 seconds by halfway and despite the rain causing the positions behind him to change on several occasions in the closing laps, the Spaniard was never threatened.

Rea was in fourth position when the rain started to fall on lap eight but as the chasers behind Bautista began to back up, the Northern Irishman was able to move ahead of Michael Ruben Rinaldi and Razgatlioglu.

However, as Razgatlioglu attempted to regain second spot at the start of the final lap, Rea touched the white line going into corner one following the fast finishing straight and slid off into the gravel.

Bautista’s win extends his series lead over Razgatlioglu to 64 points and the Spaniard will be fancied to complete a weekend treble in race two later on Sunday.

Locatelli remains third in the standings, 87 points behind Bautista, with fourth-placed Rea now 122 points off the pace.

World Superbike standings

1. Alvaro Bautista (Spa) Ducati, 211 points

2. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Tur) Yamaha, 147

3. Andrea Locatelli (Ita) Yamaha, 124

4. Jonathan Rea (NI) Kawasaki, 89

5. Axel Bassani (Ita) Ducati, 86

6. Dominique Aegerter (Sui) Ducati, 77